kimbofo

Manhattan snaps

Place: Looking towards Midtown from Pier 86, on the Hudson River.
Date: Wednesday October 17, 2007.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ3.

Will wonders never cease? I finally posted all my New York pictures on Smugmug. Yes, I know, it only took me 6 weeks!

As well as viewing my pictures from the top of the Rockefeller Building, you can now see all the snaps I took while I was on the Bike the Big Apple Bike Tour. All my other photographs -- and let me warn you now, there are a lot *cough cough* -- are in one big 152-pictures gallery entitled New York -- October 2007.

You might want to take a toilet break now before you start the marathon viewing session!

Top of the Rock

Place: Looking towards Central Park from atop the Rockefeller Centre observation deck, New York.
Date: Saturday October 20, 2007.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ3.

Back in 2005, T and I queued for hours and hours and hours to get to the observation deck of the Empire State building. The view, of course, was amazing, but it was so windy and there were so many people up there that I wasn't convinced that all the queuing had been worth it.

So when I was researching my solo trip in October I decided I wasn't going to visit any tourist attractions that involved vast amounts of queuing. The Rockefeller Centre's newly opened observation deck on the 70th floor -- appropriately dubbed Top of the Rock -- seemed to fit this "rule". But just in case, I turned up early -- shortly after 9.30am on a bright, sunny Saturday morning -- and was pleasantly surprised that there were only a handful of people in front of me.

Upstairs, on the three-tier observation deck, there was plenty of freedom to move around and take in the breath-taking view without other people getting in the way. I had wanted to ring T and say "guess where I am?" but I couldn't get a signal. I took a stack of photographs to show him instead, and you can now view them here -- yes, I'm still sorting out my piccies a month later!

Cycling in Manhattan

Just in case you don't normally read my cycling blog, you might like to pop on over to find out about my 26-mile cycle trip around the streets of New York, which I took on my recent visit to the Big Apple.

Possibly my favourite park in the whole wide world

Place: Bryant Park, New York.
Date: Sunday October 21, 2007.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ3.

The first time I visited New York in May 2005 I fell in love with Bryant Park. Sandwiched between 40th and 42nd Streets and Fifth and Sixth Avenues, it's like a little green oasis nestled among a canyon of skyscrapers.

During my recent visit -- my third -- to New York I made a beeline for this park one rather unsettled Friday morning. The clouds above threatened rain, but it held off while I perched on one of the park's trademark green chairs and ate a quick breakfast of black coffee and a fruit muffin bought from one of the cute kiosks. I sat and people-watched for a bit, before moving on to explore more of the park.

Unfortunately, the lawn was closed due to a bustle of industrial-type activity: they were putting an ice-rink in place. When I came back on the Sunday the rink was still being built and the park was busier than ever, buoyed in part by the unusually warm weather. There were lots of couples and families milling around.

I bought a home-made lemonade (lots of ice and deliciously sharp, sour lemon juice) and sat in the sun for a bit, before heading back to my hotel to pick up my luggage and head out to the airport. It seems silly to say it, but I felt a real wrench having to leave Bryant Park behind. I really do love this place. There's such an attention to detail -- in the garden beds, the street furniture, the layout -- that appeals to the landscape architect in me. I have visited a lot of parks in my time, but I think this one is quite possibly my favourite of all time.

Halloween pumpkins

Place: Union Square, New York.
Date: Saturday October 20, 2007.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ3.

Having grown up on a diet of home-grown Queensland Blue pumpkins -- giant apple-shaped vegetables with thick almost-impossible-to-cut grey-green skin -- I still find it mildly surprising whenever I stumble upon the big orange pumpkins that are available here in the Northern Hemisphere. To me, these impossibly orange, painfully round orbs are like cartoon vegetables: they don't seem quite real.

And so, while flitting around New York, earlier this month, I found myself smiling whenever I saw these ludicrious looking vegetables dotted around the city in shop windows and on street corners as part of the Halloween displays that Americans seem so obsessed by. I discovered these ones -- so bright you needed sunglasses to look at them -- lined up at a farmers' market in Union Square. They looked magnificent.

The Paramount

Place: Room 317, Paramount Hotel, New York New York.
Date: Wednesday October 17, 2007.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ3.

Have you ever seen a bedstead like this one? Me neither. Or at least not until I stayed at the Paramount Hotel in New York last week.

Of course, having researched the hotel quite thoroughly on the internet beforehand, it wasn't a shock to find Vermeer's gilt-framed Girl with a Pearl Earring in my room, but the novelty of it never wore off. The bed itself was deliciously comfortable: the sheets were exquisitely soft and the pillows were just perfect. I am incredibly fussy about my pillows, so this is really saying something.

All the reviews on TripAdvisor.com (to which I became addicted after researching our Italian trip in August) banged on about how small the rooms were, but I didn't find this a problem. I was only sleeping there, not holding a ballroom dance! Mind you, I was staying in the room by myself --  I imagine if T was with me we would have trouble finding space for two suitcases, let alone two bodies.

The only quibble I had was the lack of tea and coffee-making facilities in the room, but the wonderful Dean & Deluca bakery next door more than made up for this. Although all the cup-cakes, delicious slices and funky donuts I ate means my waistline might not agree with me!

Looking up in Manhattan

Place: Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building, New York, New York.
Date: Sunday October 21, 2007.
Camera: Panasonic DMC-TZ3.

I'm back after a solo run to Manhattan, where I indulged in much shopping and sight-seeing, trudging the streets with my camera at the ready. Unfortunately, I'm still feeling the after-effects of the five-hour time difference, having gone straight to the office for a full days' work as soon as my flight touched down at Heathrow on Monday morning. Yes. The word tired doesn't even come close.

I'm hoping a relatively quiet weekend might help my bodyclock to fully readjust -- and then I might just find the energy to tell you more about the trip and post some of the many photographs I took.