Our 30 day trip to the US. Part 1 San Francisco. (LONG).
Dec 8th, 2012, 03:34 PM
#1
Our 30 day trip to the US. Part 1 San Francisco. (LONG).
US Trip Nov 2012
30 Oct 2012
Our flight from Nelson to Auckland wasn’t until 3pm, I had debated about going into work in the morning, but then thought what the heck I am on HOLIDAY, let’s make the most of it. DH and I did some last minute grocery shopping for the cats we were leaving behind. We were also leaving my Mum behind (she has lived with us for the last 7 years, and has Alzheimers). Up to now the longest we had been away since she had come to stay was about a week. We had a three or four caregivers coming in to look after her and the three cats for the 30 days we were going to be away.
The flight to Auckland was uneventful it takes just over an hour from Nelson. We arrived just after 5pm and our plane to San Francisco was leaving at 7.30pm. The international terminal in Auckland is about 10 minutes walking distance away, or there is a free shuttle bus that goes by every 15 minutes. We opted to walk; we only had our carry-on as the checked luggage had been checked through to SFO from Nelson. It only took ten minutes to get through security hardly anyone in the queue. Tuesday must be a slow night. The buzzer went off as I went through the scanner, so I got wanded (is that a word?). Turned out I had a metal button on my jeans that set it off.
We boarded at 6.30pm so didn’t have long to wait. However we were counting down the hours once we were in the air, eleven and a half hours is a long time to be sitting in a seat, with not much legroom. We were lucky as there were only the two of us in the four row middle section, so could spread our a bit. I did try sleeping across two seats but that was just as uncomfortable as trying to sleep sitting up. Do you know when you are watching the air map showing where you are it seems to take forever to go the 10,000 kilometres!! After watching a movie or two, dozing in fits and starts, it was finally 6.30am and time for breakfast. After watching another movie we landed in San Francisco at 11.30am, seemed to taxi for ages before we got to a terminal. It’s amazing to think we left New Zealand at 7.30pm on the 30th October and arrived at 11.30am on the same day.
San Francisco. Day 1
Here is a tip. Even if you need to go to the restroom desperately, when you finally get into the terminal, don’t. You need to go as fast as possible without stopping to get into the immigration queue before the rest of the passengers, especially if there is more than one plane arriving at the same time. Get your place in the queue and then go. I decided I needed to stop, and when we got to immigration the queue was very long. There were about 4 long zig, zags, and it was taking 25 minutes to move into the next zig, or zag!!. The passengers who had US passports were going through very fast, and eventually these lanes were opened up to us non-residents also. Things started to move more quickly then, and we didn’t have the eye scan or the fingerprints taken either. We were told though that this was an exception and would happen next time we came in. The immigration officer was very nice and polite, and welcomed us to the US. At 1.30pm we were finally through, we were tired and hungry and just wanted to get to our hotel. We had thought about taking a shuttle, earlier but flagged that idea and took a cab instead. Cost about $ 50.00 to get to our hotel the Coventry Motor Inn in Lombard Street.
I was a bit disappointed in the Coventry Motor Inn but it was my fault. On a Trip Advisor review a few months ago I had read that you could get a view of the Golden Gate bridge from some of the rooms. Someone had said they got a great view of the 4th July fireworks. I wrote about this on Fodors and was told that there is no way you would be able to see the bridge from any of the rooms. I e-mailed the Coventry and asked it we could have a room with the view of the bridge. They did exactly as I asked, and gave us a corner room overlooking Lombard St, but with a great view of the bridge. We were on the third floor. We loved waking up and looking out the window to see the Golden Gate bridge each day. Normally a clear view in the morning, but one day was completely fogged in by mid afternoon. The downside of having this room., was it was very noisy, we were woken up early both days, with the garbage collectors, and also sirens etc from the traffic. We had stayed in the Columbus Motor Inn on a previous trip and I think I prefer that one to the Coventry as far as noise goes. However the Coventry was close to some great shopping and restaurants on Union St., and once we worked out where to catch the bus, location wasn’t a problem.
The room we had was large, it was clean, we ordered a refrigerator for three days at a cost of $ 5 per day and it had free Wi-fi. The only complaint was the noise.
The weather was perfect in San Francisco while we there. I wasn’t sure what to pack, as we were going to New Orleans, and New York City on this trip so needed both summer and winter clothes. I ended up wearing the summer T’s and capri’s I had packed for the New Orleans temperatures in San Francisco. This meant we had to do a Laundromat trip as soon as we got to New Orleans. Fortunately there was a laundry in the hotel.
After we had settled in to our room, we needed to find somewhere to get something to eat. It had been a good few hours since breakfast. I had done a bit of research and knew there were shops on Chestnut Ave, a block over from Lombard St. The first place we saw was a Starbucks (yes I know there are much better places but we were hungry). We got two hot teas, and two scones, (pronounced like long), but the server said two scones (pronounced like moans). Warren spied an Apple shop over the road, and was in heaven. No Apple shops in Nelson, closest one in Wellington where our son lives. He left me drinking the very hot tea and went for a visit. He had tried to check our e-mails when we got to the hotel and the mouse pad on the lap-top didn’t seem to be working. He decided he needed to get a mouse. When we got back to the hotel the mouse didn’t work either. He finally figured out that this fault had happened before and by undoing the back and taking the battery out, and putting it back in solved the problem.
We walked along Chestnut Street for a bit but were both very tired so made our way back to the hotel for a rest. Around 5.30pm we decided to have a look at Union St and find somewhere for dinner. This was just a block away in the other direction from Chestnut St. A lot of the shops had Halloween window displays which we loved. Took quite a few photos, as Halloween is not that big a deal in New Zealand. A lot of houses had their steps and porches decorated also. We found a lovely French restaurant close by, called Café Des Amis where we had dinner. Great food and five minutes walk from the hotel. We went to bed very early to try and catch up on some sleep, but got woken up very early.
San Francisco Day 2.
The first thing we needed to do was to to figure out how to get the 3 day Muni pass which is the most cost effective way of getting around San Francisco. It costs $ 21.00 each and gives you unlimited travel on the buses, streetcars and cable car. Seeing the cost of a cable car trip was $ 5.00 normally, it was the way to go. After googling to find the closest place to our hotel we worked out how far we had to walk. The nearest place seemed to be Polk Street. This was the same street that our Fodors GTG was going to be tonight so we checked out where the Lemongrass Thai Restaurant was at the same time. It was a steep walk to Polk Street but the views were great. We took photos of the houses on the way. By the time we got the Muni pass it was getting on in the morning and I wanted to go and see Golden Gate Park.
We caught a bus in Chestnut St which took us to the Park via the Golden Gate bridge. Unfortunately we ended up getting off at the wrong stop at the other side of the park. Instead of following the directions I had researched I listened to a man on the bus giving directions to other tourists. They got off there so we did too. I think they were going someplace else. We were looking rather lost with a map in out hands, when a very helpful man told us which direction to go and how to get to the Japanese Tea Garden. I knew there was a free walking tour there at 1pm and thought we would miss it. We wandered our way through the park, came to Stowe lake where the paddle boats were, but it is the off-season and a weekday so there was no-one around. We found the path to the Tea Garden and arrived just on 1pm. There was a tour guide waiting there, and was just about to leave when we turned up. We were the only ones on the tour, and learned a lot about the history of the place. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour.
We went to the De Young cafe for lunch, had a massive turkey sandwich, which we shared. We didn’t go into the museum. We caught another bus to downtown but had forgotten about the Giants Parade. We were going against the flow of people as hundreds/thousands were making their way home. It was very busy, but fun to be amongst it all.
Fodors GTG
We were meeting some Fodorites tonight for dinner, originally we were going to go to Oakland but the restaurant that Thereyet had chosen was closed for Halloween. Dayenu suggested the Lemongrass Thai restaurant in Polk St, which wasn’t too far from us. Aparnz had offered to pick us up but we decided to walk. Thereyet and Artsnletters were also there. A fun evening, with great company. Thereyet gave us Obama buttons and had managed to find one for Dayenu that was in Hebrew. Thereyet and Aparnz did a great job of selecting the food choices. It was raining by the time we finished so Aparnz drove both Dayenu and us back to the hotel.
San Francisco Day 3.
This was our last day in San Francisco. We had done most of the touristy things on our previous trip 5 years ago so were happy just walking around, and had nothing specific planned, although we did want to have a look at the marina and Fort Mason.
Warren had been trying to download the free Fodors apps but because we lived in NZ wasn’t having any luck. He decided to go visit the Apple shop again and see if they could help. He arrived at 9.45am but the doors were locked and a queue was forming up outside. The shop opened at 10am. Once inside he waited ten minutes but no one served him so he gave up and we decided to walk to the Marina. We walked through Fort Mason, over the hill to Fisherman’s Wharf. Went to the Ghirardelli chocolate shop and bought some Halloween chocolates for the grandchildren that were now half price. They had soft toys attached to them. Also bought some for us that were in a San Francisco cable car tin. They didn’t last long. We came across a genuine replica (an oxymoron) American diner called Lori’s where we decided to have brunch. We were only having two meals most days as the hotel wasn’t doing free breakfasts. Enjoyed Lori’s although the bacon was a bit crispy, difficult to cut with plastic knives!!!
We then joined the queue to catch the cable car. Had done them before but couldn’t not do it again. Waited for about 20 minutes or so. Loved going up hill in the cable car, we managed to sit on the outside although it was a bit of a squash. I wasn’t brave enough to stand on the outside. We got off at Union Square, and had a look at some of the shops. We each had a huge ice-cream at Ghirardelli’s in Unions Square. It was in a food court not sure of the name of the place we were in.
Tried catching a bus home later, but got the wrong one and ended up at the Castro. We didn’t really look around; we needed to get back to the hotel as we were going to Beach Blanket Babylon that night. We eventually made it home but for a long time weren’t sure if the bus was going in the right direction. We did have to change buses, but the driver was very helpful and told us where to change. As we had been walking so much I think I strained a muscle in my foot and it was getting very painful. Not a good start for the next few weeks.
Warren walked down to a pizza place and got a pizza for dinner, it was about twice the size you get in New Zealand for half the price. We worked out the best way to get to Beach Blanket Babylon, and fortunately one of the buses on Chestnut Street went close to Green St. We loved Beach Blanket Babylon. The costumes were outrageous, but it was very funny, and very topical. As Warren said it reminded him of one of the local school productions where they change the words to songs to fit the situation.
We had, had an e-mail the day before to say our flight to New Orleans had changed from 1.30pm to 4pm, so now had most of Friday for sight-seeing also. Our daughter Adrienne has a good friend in San Francisco and we had arranged to meet her and her husband for brunch at Dotties’s at 9.30am. They would stand in the queue from 9am and we would meet them there. We were actually about 10 minutes late by the time we worked out which bus to take, but they were at the entrance just as we got there. As we were 4 people we had to wait a bit longer, the people behind us who were a couple got in before us. We had a huge brunch, and very nice too, and it was great to catch up with Adrienne’s friend. After that we took the F street car, to the Ferry building, and the Embarcardero. We had ordered a shuttle from the hotel for 1.30pm as our flight was at 4pm so eventually made our way back there to get our bags. There was no problem leaving them there when we checked out at 9am. The shuttle fare was $ 16.00 each, which is markedly cheaper than taking a taxi. We did have to pick up another couple of people on the way.
We had no problems checking in, although we did have to ask someone how to print off our boarding passes. We had tried from the hotel but wouldn’t let us. Just as it got to boarding time we were told there was a mechanical problem with the plane, they were trying to fix it and we would be updated at 4.30pm. We were told the same thing at 4.30pm and would update again at 5pm. At 5pm we were told they were bringing in another plane but would have to shift to another gate. There was a mad rush as passengers took off for the other end of the terminal. When we got there we were told there was a problem with the replacement plane and another one would have to be brought in. There were some unhappy passengers by this stage. Warren and I weren’t particularly happy either as we were not sitting together. Apparently this is common on US planes, we found it very strange. We tried to get it changed but no luck. Others were trying to change too.
We finally left just after 7pm and arrived in New Orleans at 1.30am.
To be continued.
30 Oct 2012
Our flight from Nelson to Auckland wasn’t until 3pm, I had debated about going into work in the morning, but then thought what the heck I am on HOLIDAY, let’s make the most of it. DH and I did some last minute grocery shopping for the cats we were leaving behind. We were also leaving my Mum behind (she has lived with us for the last 7 years, and has Alzheimers). Up to now the longest we had been away since she had come to stay was about a week. We had a three or four caregivers coming in to look after her and the three cats for the 30 days we were going to be away.
The flight to Auckland was uneventful it takes just over an hour from Nelson. We arrived just after 5pm and our plane to San Francisco was leaving at 7.30pm. The international terminal in Auckland is about 10 minutes walking distance away, or there is a free shuttle bus that goes by every 15 minutes. We opted to walk; we only had our carry-on as the checked luggage had been checked through to SFO from Nelson. It only took ten minutes to get through security hardly anyone in the queue. Tuesday must be a slow night. The buzzer went off as I went through the scanner, so I got wanded (is that a word?). Turned out I had a metal button on my jeans that set it off.
We boarded at 6.30pm so didn’t have long to wait. However we were counting down the hours once we were in the air, eleven and a half hours is a long time to be sitting in a seat, with not much legroom. We were lucky as there were only the two of us in the four row middle section, so could spread our a bit. I did try sleeping across two seats but that was just as uncomfortable as trying to sleep sitting up. Do you know when you are watching the air map showing where you are it seems to take forever to go the 10,000 kilometres!! After watching a movie or two, dozing in fits and starts, it was finally 6.30am and time for breakfast. After watching another movie we landed in San Francisco at 11.30am, seemed to taxi for ages before we got to a terminal. It’s amazing to think we left New Zealand at 7.30pm on the 30th October and arrived at 11.30am on the same day.
San Francisco. Day 1
Here is a tip. Even if you need to go to the restroom desperately, when you finally get into the terminal, don’t. You need to go as fast as possible without stopping to get into the immigration queue before the rest of the passengers, especially if there is more than one plane arriving at the same time. Get your place in the queue and then go. I decided I needed to stop, and when we got to immigration the queue was very long. There were about 4 long zig, zags, and it was taking 25 minutes to move into the next zig, or zag!!. The passengers who had US passports were going through very fast, and eventually these lanes were opened up to us non-residents also. Things started to move more quickly then, and we didn’t have the eye scan or the fingerprints taken either. We were told though that this was an exception and would happen next time we came in. The immigration officer was very nice and polite, and welcomed us to the US. At 1.30pm we were finally through, we were tired and hungry and just wanted to get to our hotel. We had thought about taking a shuttle, earlier but flagged that idea and took a cab instead. Cost about $ 50.00 to get to our hotel the Coventry Motor Inn in Lombard Street.
I was a bit disappointed in the Coventry Motor Inn but it was my fault. On a Trip Advisor review a few months ago I had read that you could get a view of the Golden Gate bridge from some of the rooms. Someone had said they got a great view of the 4th July fireworks. I wrote about this on Fodors and was told that there is no way you would be able to see the bridge from any of the rooms. I e-mailed the Coventry and asked it we could have a room with the view of the bridge. They did exactly as I asked, and gave us a corner room overlooking Lombard St, but with a great view of the bridge. We were on the third floor. We loved waking up and looking out the window to see the Golden Gate bridge each day. Normally a clear view in the morning, but one day was completely fogged in by mid afternoon. The downside of having this room., was it was very noisy, we were woken up early both days, with the garbage collectors, and also sirens etc from the traffic. We had stayed in the Columbus Motor Inn on a previous trip and I think I prefer that one to the Coventry as far as noise goes. However the Coventry was close to some great shopping and restaurants on Union St., and once we worked out where to catch the bus, location wasn’t a problem.
The room we had was large, it was clean, we ordered a refrigerator for three days at a cost of $ 5 per day and it had free Wi-fi. The only complaint was the noise.
The weather was perfect in San Francisco while we there. I wasn’t sure what to pack, as we were going to New Orleans, and New York City on this trip so needed both summer and winter clothes. I ended up wearing the summer T’s and capri’s I had packed for the New Orleans temperatures in San Francisco. This meant we had to do a Laundromat trip as soon as we got to New Orleans. Fortunately there was a laundry in the hotel.
After we had settled in to our room, we needed to find somewhere to get something to eat. It had been a good few hours since breakfast. I had done a bit of research and knew there were shops on Chestnut Ave, a block over from Lombard St. The first place we saw was a Starbucks (yes I know there are much better places but we were hungry). We got two hot teas, and two scones, (pronounced like long), but the server said two scones (pronounced like moans). Warren spied an Apple shop over the road, and was in heaven. No Apple shops in Nelson, closest one in Wellington where our son lives. He left me drinking the very hot tea and went for a visit. He had tried to check our e-mails when we got to the hotel and the mouse pad on the lap-top didn’t seem to be working. He decided he needed to get a mouse. When we got back to the hotel the mouse didn’t work either. He finally figured out that this fault had happened before and by undoing the back and taking the battery out, and putting it back in solved the problem.
We walked along Chestnut Street for a bit but were both very tired so made our way back to the hotel for a rest. Around 5.30pm we decided to have a look at Union St and find somewhere for dinner. This was just a block away in the other direction from Chestnut St. A lot of the shops had Halloween window displays which we loved. Took quite a few photos, as Halloween is not that big a deal in New Zealand. A lot of houses had their steps and porches decorated also. We found a lovely French restaurant close by, called Café Des Amis where we had dinner. Great food and five minutes walk from the hotel. We went to bed very early to try and catch up on some sleep, but got woken up very early.
San Francisco Day 2.
The first thing we needed to do was to to figure out how to get the 3 day Muni pass which is the most cost effective way of getting around San Francisco. It costs $ 21.00 each and gives you unlimited travel on the buses, streetcars and cable car. Seeing the cost of a cable car trip was $ 5.00 normally, it was the way to go. After googling to find the closest place to our hotel we worked out how far we had to walk. The nearest place seemed to be Polk Street. This was the same street that our Fodors GTG was going to be tonight so we checked out where the Lemongrass Thai Restaurant was at the same time. It was a steep walk to Polk Street but the views were great. We took photos of the houses on the way. By the time we got the Muni pass it was getting on in the morning and I wanted to go and see Golden Gate Park.
We caught a bus in Chestnut St which took us to the Park via the Golden Gate bridge. Unfortunately we ended up getting off at the wrong stop at the other side of the park. Instead of following the directions I had researched I listened to a man on the bus giving directions to other tourists. They got off there so we did too. I think they were going someplace else. We were looking rather lost with a map in out hands, when a very helpful man told us which direction to go and how to get to the Japanese Tea Garden. I knew there was a free walking tour there at 1pm and thought we would miss it. We wandered our way through the park, came to Stowe lake where the paddle boats were, but it is the off-season and a weekday so there was no-one around. We found the path to the Tea Garden and arrived just on 1pm. There was a tour guide waiting there, and was just about to leave when we turned up. We were the only ones on the tour, and learned a lot about the history of the place. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour.
We went to the De Young cafe for lunch, had a massive turkey sandwich, which we shared. We didn’t go into the museum. We caught another bus to downtown but had forgotten about the Giants Parade. We were going against the flow of people as hundreds/thousands were making their way home. It was very busy, but fun to be amongst it all.
Fodors GTG
We were meeting some Fodorites tonight for dinner, originally we were going to go to Oakland but the restaurant that Thereyet had chosen was closed for Halloween. Dayenu suggested the Lemongrass Thai restaurant in Polk St, which wasn’t too far from us. Aparnz had offered to pick us up but we decided to walk. Thereyet and Artsnletters were also there. A fun evening, with great company. Thereyet gave us Obama buttons and had managed to find one for Dayenu that was in Hebrew. Thereyet and Aparnz did a great job of selecting the food choices. It was raining by the time we finished so Aparnz drove both Dayenu and us back to the hotel.
San Francisco Day 3.
This was our last day in San Francisco. We had done most of the touristy things on our previous trip 5 years ago so were happy just walking around, and had nothing specific planned, although we did want to have a look at the marina and Fort Mason.
Warren had been trying to download the free Fodors apps but because we lived in NZ wasn’t having any luck. He decided to go visit the Apple shop again and see if they could help. He arrived at 9.45am but the doors were locked and a queue was forming up outside. The shop opened at 10am. Once inside he waited ten minutes but no one served him so he gave up and we decided to walk to the Marina. We walked through Fort Mason, over the hill to Fisherman’s Wharf. Went to the Ghirardelli chocolate shop and bought some Halloween chocolates for the grandchildren that were now half price. They had soft toys attached to them. Also bought some for us that were in a San Francisco cable car tin. They didn’t last long. We came across a genuine replica (an oxymoron) American diner called Lori’s where we decided to have brunch. We were only having two meals most days as the hotel wasn’t doing free breakfasts. Enjoyed Lori’s although the bacon was a bit crispy, difficult to cut with plastic knives!!!
We then joined the queue to catch the cable car. Had done them before but couldn’t not do it again. Waited for about 20 minutes or so. Loved going up hill in the cable car, we managed to sit on the outside although it was a bit of a squash. I wasn’t brave enough to stand on the outside. We got off at Union Square, and had a look at some of the shops. We each had a huge ice-cream at Ghirardelli’s in Unions Square. It was in a food court not sure of the name of the place we were in.
Tried catching a bus home later, but got the wrong one and ended up at the Castro. We didn’t really look around; we needed to get back to the hotel as we were going to Beach Blanket Babylon that night. We eventually made it home but for a long time weren’t sure if the bus was going in the right direction. We did have to change buses, but the driver was very helpful and told us where to change. As we had been walking so much I think I strained a muscle in my foot and it was getting very painful. Not a good start for the next few weeks.
Warren walked down to a pizza place and got a pizza for dinner, it was about twice the size you get in New Zealand for half the price. We worked out the best way to get to Beach Blanket Babylon, and fortunately one of the buses on Chestnut Street went close to Green St. We loved Beach Blanket Babylon. The costumes were outrageous, but it was very funny, and very topical. As Warren said it reminded him of one of the local school productions where they change the words to songs to fit the situation.
We had, had an e-mail the day before to say our flight to New Orleans had changed from 1.30pm to 4pm, so now had most of Friday for sight-seeing also. Our daughter Adrienne has a good friend in San Francisco and we had arranged to meet her and her husband for brunch at Dotties’s at 9.30am. They would stand in the queue from 9am and we would meet them there. We were actually about 10 minutes late by the time we worked out which bus to take, but they were at the entrance just as we got there. As we were 4 people we had to wait a bit longer, the people behind us who were a couple got in before us. We had a huge brunch, and very nice too, and it was great to catch up with Adrienne’s friend. After that we took the F street car, to the Ferry building, and the Embarcardero. We had ordered a shuttle from the hotel for 1.30pm as our flight was at 4pm so eventually made our way back there to get our bags. There was no problem leaving them there when we checked out at 9am. The shuttle fare was $ 16.00 each, which is markedly cheaper than taking a taxi. We did have to pick up another couple of people on the way.
We had no problems checking in, although we did have to ask someone how to print off our boarding passes. We had tried from the hotel but wouldn’t let us. Just as it got to boarding time we were told there was a mechanical problem with the plane, they were trying to fix it and we would be updated at 4.30pm. We were told the same thing at 4.30pm and would update again at 5pm. At 5pm we were told they were bringing in another plane but would have to shift to another gate. There was a mad rush as passengers took off for the other end of the terminal. When we got there we were told there was a problem with the replacement plane and another one would have to be brought in. There were some unhappy passengers by this stage. Warren and I weren’t particularly happy either as we were not sitting together. Apparently this is common on US planes, we found it very strange. We tried to get it changed but no luck. Others were trying to change too.
We finally left just after 7pm and arrived in New Orleans at 1.30am.
To be continued.
Dec 9th, 2012, 03:22 PM
#3
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nelsonia:
I am enjoying your report. Those long international flights do wear you out.
I didn't quite understand your remark that you and Warren weren't sitting together and this is common on US planes. Were you perhaps on a Southwest Airlines flight with open seating? We pay the early bird $10 fee which more or less guarantees that you will board fairly early on and a better choice of seats. Other American airlines you get to choose your seat at the time of booking. Sorry about the delay though that is certainly not fun and adds to the stress.
Looking forward to New Orleans. Carry on please.
Sandy
I am enjoying your report. Those long international flights do wear you out.
I didn't quite understand your remark that you and Warren weren't sitting together and this is common on US planes. Were you perhaps on a Southwest Airlines flight with open seating? We pay the early bird $10 fee which more or less guarantees that you will board fairly early on and a better choice of seats. Other American airlines you get to choose your seat at the time of booking. Sorry about the delay though that is certainly not fun and adds to the stress.
Looking forward to New Orleans. Carry on please.
Sandy
Dec 9th, 2012, 06:39 PM
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We had the same seating issue on our AA flight from NOLA to Tampa. A big issue in our case since we're traveling with a 9yr old and his seat was 7 rows away from either of ours! We did some bargaining with other passengers and all ended up together. This swapping was going on all over the plane. No one who had booked together appeared to have been seated together.
I'm looking forward to reading your next couple of installments so I can compare notes ;-)
I'm looking forward to reading your next couple of installments so I can compare notes ;-)
Dec 9th, 2012, 07:54 PM
#6
We were on Delta, and not seated together. The airline blamed our NZ travel agent as she should have booked the seats when the initial booking was made. However there was a flight change and I think we just got put anywhere. We couldn't change it online when we did the online check-in as the booking had been made by someone else. It was very frustrating. This would never happen in NZ, if you are travelling together you automatically would be seated together.
Kwaussie I would have been livid in your situation.
Kwaussie I would have been livid in your situation.
Dec 9th, 2012, 11:38 PM
#7
Day 1 New Orleans.
There were only a few people in New Orleans airport when we arrived, some cleaning staff, and a woman trying to find cabs for all of us. Thankfully there were still a few waiting to take us latecomers to our destination. I think the cab driver must have wanted to go to bed, as it was the fastest ride we have ever had. Warren was watching the speedo and he was doing 80mph most of the way. Thankfully we arrived in one piece, and finally got to bed about 2.15am.
After a bit of a sleep in, we made our way down to breakfast. We were staying at the Quality Inn & Suites in O’Keefe St, on the edge of the business district, but only two minutes from Canal St and about five minutes from the French Quarter. It has a two and a half star rating on Trip Advisor and is ranked 3rd out of 149 hotels in New Orleans. We booked a queen room but at check-in upgraded to a king. However if you read all the reviews on Trip Advisor it looks like everyone gets an upgrade. We were very happy with the room, the free breakfast and free Wi-Fi. The breakfast was plentiful, eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles,, toast, cereal, yoghurt, juice etc. The hotel staff provides excellent service, there is also a laundry in the hotel which came in handy.
We didn’t really have any definite plans for today, just to have a look around the city, go down to the waterfront, and perhaps the French Quarter. We walked the length of Canal Street and ended up at the River Walk. You had to watch where you were walking as the footpaths (sidewalks) were uneven, and not in a great state of repair. Down on the riverfront we heard the steam Calliope being played on the Natchez paddle steamer. This was on our to do list, we decided to go for the package that included the lunch. We thoroughly enjoyed the two-hour cruise on the Mississippi and liked the commentary about the places we could see from the steamboat, and also the facts and figures about the river. It was our first introduction to New Orleans food, and I was not that impressed. I did like the fried fish but not the red beans and rice. The coleslaw was okay. Warren had the bread pudding as well, which was quite dry. We chose to have lunch when the jazz band started playing from the turnaround point. The paddle steamer goes back the same way so the commentary stops and the band starts playing. The band was great to listen too and Warren videoed several songs.
When we got off the boat we made our way to Jackson Square, and heard before we saw, music playing. It turned out to be a high school marching band, We couldn’t get over the number of sousaphones being played. They are not a common instrument in New Zealand schools. Actually there are no marching bands at all in schools here. It was a warm day and the players looked very hot in their uniforms. We took some video of their music also. We then walked round the market, lots of artists displaying their paintings, and ended up at the French Quarter, which was rather quiet at 3pm. Loved the houses, and the way the doors and windows open straight out onto the sidewalk. We walked down Bourbon St, but knew we had to go back there later on in the evening. We then got lost trying to find our way back to the hotel.
We had come to New Orleans for the music, and I had read that Frenchmen Street was the place to go now to hear jazz music rather than Bourbon St. There are a lot of clubs/restaurants that have jazz/blues bands playing from about 4pm onwards. As we had done so much walking earlier in the day, and my foot was rather sore, we took a cab. Cost about $ 10.00. We spent a bit of time just going along the street listening to the bands, and the buskers on the street, but ended up at Maison, which had a 7 piece Dixieland band playing. Maison became our favourite place and we ended having dinner and listening to music on all three nights. There was a different band each night, we normally left about 9pm, when a new band came in. We stayed for two sets the first night, Warren did a lot more videoing. The singer came around with the tip jar and stood at the tables waiting for the patrons to give them money. I told our daughter and son-in-law this, (they are jazz musicians based in New York.) Adrienne said she is not brave enough to stand by the tables, if they did they may get more tips. We wandered our way back to the French Quarter by following the crowd. There are a lot of people out and about going between Frenchmen Street and Bourbon Street. We couldn’t get over how there was only one place playing jazz music in Bourbon St. it was mostly rock music. Warren plays in the Nelson big band, so had to have his photo taken by the Bourbon St sign.
New Orleans Day 2.
This morning we planned on goring on a walking tour in the Garden District. I had read on Trip Advisor about the Free Tours by Foot tours and they had great reviews so thought we would give it a go. You would normally take the St Charles streetcar but as the track was being redone had to take the bus which was replacing the streetcar. We got off at Washington Ave and met our tour guide by the entrance to the Layfette No 2 cemetery. There were about ten on the tour from all over the US, and also a couple from Australia and us from New Zealand. We had just made our way into the cemetery when the rain came down in torrents. We took shelter under a verandah on the opposite side of the street for about 15 minutes but it wasn’t looking good. The tour guide kept looking at the satellite picture on his cell phone and would say it is going to blow over very soon. Hmm it didn’t. The tour was eventually called off. The guide said he normally keeps umbrellas in his car during the summer, but had taken them out only a week or so ago.
There was a little coffee shop just by the cemetery so we had some lunch there, and then took a cab back to the hotel. It took awhile getting a cab, as there were a lot of tourists trying to get back into town. The rain kept up until 4pm or so and was very heavy. We ended up buying some cheap umbrellas at the discount store. As our shoes had got rather wet we decided to stay put for most of the afternoon. We had also been keeping an eye on Hurricane Sandy as we were heading to NYC on Tuesday. The rain eased off though by the time we wanted to go to Frenchmen St at 5.30pm. We also planned on going to Preservation Hall, to the 9pm set. We had another great meal at Maison, and the band that was playing Sunday night was excellent.
We left about 8pm so we could queue up for Preservation Hall. There were about 50 people in front of us but the time went by very fast. It was fun chatting with the others in the queue. The Dixieland music that is played at Preservation Hall is fantastic. Warren said when he came out, that is the music I wanted to hear in New Orleans. The musicians were very skilled, and the aim is to preserve the traditional type of jazz music that used to be played in New Orleans. The room the band plays in is small; there are a few rows of wooden seats, and standing room at the back. If you pay $ 30.00 you get a guaranteed seat along the side of the hall, but the normal ticket price is $ 15.00. A set only lasts for about 45 minutes, but the wooden seats and the size of the hall doesn’t matter when you hear the music that is played. There was a trombone, trumpet, clarinet, piano, double bass and drums. All acoustic, including the singing. The trombone player was a large African American and he was a great player, jiggling around in time to the music. The levels were great, first song was In The Good Old Summer Time and last song was Margie (Warren plays both of those). We ended up buying a DVD and got a CD thrown in for free. The band on the DVD was not the same as we had seen, but was playing the same style.
New Orleans Day 3.
We made another attempt to do the tour of the Garden District in New Orleans. This time it stayed fine, and we completed the whole tour. It took about two hours but we only walked about a mile, so not very strenuous. We had the same tour guide as yesterday and he was very knowledgeable. He was telling us about what he had to do to be a registered guide. His regular job was teaching accounting!! Learning about the history of the Garden District was very interesting, and we were told how the Americans wanted to build big houses with large back yards whereas the French were happy with smaller houses, with inner courtyards. The French were also predominantly Roman Catholic and a different culture to the Americans. Being told how the dead were buried in the Layfette cemetery was a bit of an eye-opener also. The houses in the Garden District were very large a lot of them built in the Greek style with lots of columns. We took lots of photos including one of Sandra Bullock’s place. It’s great that a lot of places have been renovated after they fell into disrepair. We also walked past Commanders Palace and were told that if you want a great meal that won’t break the bank to go there for lunch rather than dinner!!!!
After the tour finished we walked up to the start of the St Charles streetcar, a few blocks up. We stayed on until the end and got off and had a walk around Carrolton, but there wasn’t a lot there. We decided to go back to the Riverfront and try and find Café Du Monde, so we could try the beignets. We had passed it the previous day so roughly knew where to find it. It was about 3pm so a lot of people there but we were served straight away, and we LOVED the beignets. We only ordered one plate and two half and half coffees originally, but soon put in anther order for more beignets. They were superb. Lots of icing sugar!!!!! (powdered sugar). We got lost walking home again and came across the Louis Armstrong Park. We decided to explore and loved the different statutes that were there, especially the one of Louis. We walked around there for awhile but then it started raining again. By the time we got back to the hotel it was starting to thunder.
Well you will probably never guess where we went for dinner tonight!!. We ended up at Maison again, another fantastic band, more videoing, and a great meal. The rain came down in buckets while we were there and had to take a cab back to the hotel. When we checked our e-mails we discovered there had been a change in our flight to Atlanta and we were going to miss the connecting flight to New York. After a frantic call to the airline we got it sorted out. We also had to pay extra if we wanted to be seated together!!
New Orleans Day 4.
As our plane was leaving at 12.30pm today we didn’t have a lot of time in the morning to do very much. However one of my Fodors friends had posted on Facebook that we needed to try a muffaletta. We just had enough time to go to Central Grocery on Decatur. By this time we had worked out the buses and street cars, and had bought a three day pass early on in our stay, which was very economical. We caught the bus on Canal St to Riverwalk, then took the street car, and got off close to Decatur. There was a queue of tourists lined up to buy muffalettas. We bought one and took it to the airport to eat while we were waiting to board. There were too many olives for me, I have very bland taste-buds, Warren liked it but couldn’t eat all of it by himself.
New York city here we come......
There were only a few people in New Orleans airport when we arrived, some cleaning staff, and a woman trying to find cabs for all of us. Thankfully there were still a few waiting to take us latecomers to our destination. I think the cab driver must have wanted to go to bed, as it was the fastest ride we have ever had. Warren was watching the speedo and he was doing 80mph most of the way. Thankfully we arrived in one piece, and finally got to bed about 2.15am.
After a bit of a sleep in, we made our way down to breakfast. We were staying at the Quality Inn & Suites in O’Keefe St, on the edge of the business district, but only two minutes from Canal St and about five minutes from the French Quarter. It has a two and a half star rating on Trip Advisor and is ranked 3rd out of 149 hotels in New Orleans. We booked a queen room but at check-in upgraded to a king. However if you read all the reviews on Trip Advisor it looks like everyone gets an upgrade. We were very happy with the room, the free breakfast and free Wi-Fi. The breakfast was plentiful, eggs, bacon, sausage, waffles,, toast, cereal, yoghurt, juice etc. The hotel staff provides excellent service, there is also a laundry in the hotel which came in handy.
We didn’t really have any definite plans for today, just to have a look around the city, go down to the waterfront, and perhaps the French Quarter. We walked the length of Canal Street and ended up at the River Walk. You had to watch where you were walking as the footpaths (sidewalks) were uneven, and not in a great state of repair. Down on the riverfront we heard the steam Calliope being played on the Natchez paddle steamer. This was on our to do list, we decided to go for the package that included the lunch. We thoroughly enjoyed the two-hour cruise on the Mississippi and liked the commentary about the places we could see from the steamboat, and also the facts and figures about the river. It was our first introduction to New Orleans food, and I was not that impressed. I did like the fried fish but not the red beans and rice. The coleslaw was okay. Warren had the bread pudding as well, which was quite dry. We chose to have lunch when the jazz band started playing from the turnaround point. The paddle steamer goes back the same way so the commentary stops and the band starts playing. The band was great to listen too and Warren videoed several songs.
When we got off the boat we made our way to Jackson Square, and heard before we saw, music playing. It turned out to be a high school marching band, We couldn’t get over the number of sousaphones being played. They are not a common instrument in New Zealand schools. Actually there are no marching bands at all in schools here. It was a warm day and the players looked very hot in their uniforms. We took some video of their music also. We then walked round the market, lots of artists displaying their paintings, and ended up at the French Quarter, which was rather quiet at 3pm. Loved the houses, and the way the doors and windows open straight out onto the sidewalk. We walked down Bourbon St, but knew we had to go back there later on in the evening. We then got lost trying to find our way back to the hotel.
We had come to New Orleans for the music, and I had read that Frenchmen Street was the place to go now to hear jazz music rather than Bourbon St. There are a lot of clubs/restaurants that have jazz/blues bands playing from about 4pm onwards. As we had done so much walking earlier in the day, and my foot was rather sore, we took a cab. Cost about $ 10.00. We spent a bit of time just going along the street listening to the bands, and the buskers on the street, but ended up at Maison, which had a 7 piece Dixieland band playing. Maison became our favourite place and we ended having dinner and listening to music on all three nights. There was a different band each night, we normally left about 9pm, when a new band came in. We stayed for two sets the first night, Warren did a lot more videoing. The singer came around with the tip jar and stood at the tables waiting for the patrons to give them money. I told our daughter and son-in-law this, (they are jazz musicians based in New York.) Adrienne said she is not brave enough to stand by the tables, if they did they may get more tips. We wandered our way back to the French Quarter by following the crowd. There are a lot of people out and about going between Frenchmen Street and Bourbon Street. We couldn’t get over how there was only one place playing jazz music in Bourbon St. it was mostly rock music. Warren plays in the Nelson big band, so had to have his photo taken by the Bourbon St sign.
New Orleans Day 2.
This morning we planned on goring on a walking tour in the Garden District. I had read on Trip Advisor about the Free Tours by Foot tours and they had great reviews so thought we would give it a go. You would normally take the St Charles streetcar but as the track was being redone had to take the bus which was replacing the streetcar. We got off at Washington Ave and met our tour guide by the entrance to the Layfette No 2 cemetery. There were about ten on the tour from all over the US, and also a couple from Australia and us from New Zealand. We had just made our way into the cemetery when the rain came down in torrents. We took shelter under a verandah on the opposite side of the street for about 15 minutes but it wasn’t looking good. The tour guide kept looking at the satellite picture on his cell phone and would say it is going to blow over very soon. Hmm it didn’t. The tour was eventually called off. The guide said he normally keeps umbrellas in his car during the summer, but had taken them out only a week or so ago.
There was a little coffee shop just by the cemetery so we had some lunch there, and then took a cab back to the hotel. It took awhile getting a cab, as there were a lot of tourists trying to get back into town. The rain kept up until 4pm or so and was very heavy. We ended up buying some cheap umbrellas at the discount store. As our shoes had got rather wet we decided to stay put for most of the afternoon. We had also been keeping an eye on Hurricane Sandy as we were heading to NYC on Tuesday. The rain eased off though by the time we wanted to go to Frenchmen St at 5.30pm. We also planned on going to Preservation Hall, to the 9pm set. We had another great meal at Maison, and the band that was playing Sunday night was excellent.
We left about 8pm so we could queue up for Preservation Hall. There were about 50 people in front of us but the time went by very fast. It was fun chatting with the others in the queue. The Dixieland music that is played at Preservation Hall is fantastic. Warren said when he came out, that is the music I wanted to hear in New Orleans. The musicians were very skilled, and the aim is to preserve the traditional type of jazz music that used to be played in New Orleans. The room the band plays in is small; there are a few rows of wooden seats, and standing room at the back. If you pay $ 30.00 you get a guaranteed seat along the side of the hall, but the normal ticket price is $ 15.00. A set only lasts for about 45 minutes, but the wooden seats and the size of the hall doesn’t matter when you hear the music that is played. There was a trombone, trumpet, clarinet, piano, double bass and drums. All acoustic, including the singing. The trombone player was a large African American and he was a great player, jiggling around in time to the music. The levels were great, first song was In The Good Old Summer Time and last song was Margie (Warren plays both of those). We ended up buying a DVD and got a CD thrown in for free. The band on the DVD was not the same as we had seen, but was playing the same style.
New Orleans Day 3.
We made another attempt to do the tour of the Garden District in New Orleans. This time it stayed fine, and we completed the whole tour. It took about two hours but we only walked about a mile, so not very strenuous. We had the same tour guide as yesterday and he was very knowledgeable. He was telling us about what he had to do to be a registered guide. His regular job was teaching accounting!! Learning about the history of the Garden District was very interesting, and we were told how the Americans wanted to build big houses with large back yards whereas the French were happy with smaller houses, with inner courtyards. The French were also predominantly Roman Catholic and a different culture to the Americans. Being told how the dead were buried in the Layfette cemetery was a bit of an eye-opener also. The houses in the Garden District were very large a lot of them built in the Greek style with lots of columns. We took lots of photos including one of Sandra Bullock’s place. It’s great that a lot of places have been renovated after they fell into disrepair. We also walked past Commanders Palace and were told that if you want a great meal that won’t break the bank to go there for lunch rather than dinner!!!!
After the tour finished we walked up to the start of the St Charles streetcar, a few blocks up. We stayed on until the end and got off and had a walk around Carrolton, but there wasn’t a lot there. We decided to go back to the Riverfront and try and find Café Du Monde, so we could try the beignets. We had passed it the previous day so roughly knew where to find it. It was about 3pm so a lot of people there but we were served straight away, and we LOVED the beignets. We only ordered one plate and two half and half coffees originally, but soon put in anther order for more beignets. They were superb. Lots of icing sugar!!!!! (powdered sugar). We got lost walking home again and came across the Louis Armstrong Park. We decided to explore and loved the different statutes that were there, especially the one of Louis. We walked around there for awhile but then it started raining again. By the time we got back to the hotel it was starting to thunder.
Well you will probably never guess where we went for dinner tonight!!. We ended up at Maison again, another fantastic band, more videoing, and a great meal. The rain came down in buckets while we were there and had to take a cab back to the hotel. When we checked our e-mails we discovered there had been a change in our flight to Atlanta and we were going to miss the connecting flight to New York. After a frantic call to the airline we got it sorted out. We also had to pay extra if we wanted to be seated together!!
New Orleans Day 4.
As our plane was leaving at 12.30pm today we didn’t have a lot of time in the morning to do very much. However one of my Fodors friends had posted on Facebook that we needed to try a muffaletta. We just had enough time to go to Central Grocery on Decatur. By this time we had worked out the buses and street cars, and had bought a three day pass early on in our stay, which was very economical. We caught the bus on Canal St to Riverwalk, then took the street car, and got off close to Decatur. There was a queue of tourists lined up to buy muffalettas. We bought one and took it to the airport to eat while we were waiting to board. There were too many olives for me, I have very bland taste-buds, Warren liked it but couldn’t eat all of it by himself.
New York city here we come......
Dec 10th, 2012, 03:34 AM
#8
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nelsonia:
Loved hearing about your time in New Orleans. Is your foot healed?
Glad you worked out the latest problem with your flights. When you return home you should inform your NZ travel agent of the seating problem on Delta.
Looking forward to your NYC portion. Have fun.
Sandy
Loved hearing about your time in New Orleans. Is your foot healed?
Glad you worked out the latest problem with your flights. When you return home you should inform your NZ travel agent of the seating problem on Delta.
Looking forward to your NYC portion. Have fun.
Sandy
Dec 10th, 2012, 09:23 AM
#10
Yes if you booked online you would be able to get seats together too. What seems to happen in the US is people are booking window and aisle, or aisle, aisle, which tends to leave a lot of middle seats vacant.
Dec 10th, 2012, 11:52 AM
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"....we ordered a refrigerator for three days at a cost of $5 per day and it had free Wi-fi. ::"
Now this is original!
Loving your report.. and please .. I am just joking! ( funny what an "out of context" can do )
Now this is original!
Loving your report.. and please .. I am just joking! ( funny what an "out of context" can do )
Dec 10th, 2012, 07:39 PM
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Lovely to read your report after we've just been there. I can 'see' all the places you visited. We had lunch at that coffee shop near the cemetery too!
I was worried rather than livid about the seating on our plane. Taine just isn't old enough to sit by himself. Heaven help the other poor people in his row! Like NZ, in Aus families are automatically placed together. I'm hoping we won't have the same problem on our next 3 internal flights.
How crispy is the bacon here? I have adopted Michael's suggestion of eating it like a biscuit!
I was worried rather than livid about the seating on our plane. Taine just isn't old enough to sit by himself. Heaven help the other poor people in his row! Like NZ, in Aus families are automatically placed together. I'm hoping we won't have the same problem on our next 3 internal flights.
How crispy is the bacon here? I have adopted Michael's suggestion of eating it like a biscuit!
Dec 10th, 2012, 09:28 PM
#17
New York Part 1
The reason for our trip. Our daughter Adrienne and son-in-law Josh have been living in the US since 2008, firstlyin Columbus Ohio, and then moved to Long Island City New York. We did see them 12 months ago though when they came home for a visit.
I had booked our flight from New Orleans to New York several months ago. It had a stop and a change of plane at Atlanta. We had no problems with the flight, and as I had paid an extra
$19.00 each so we could sit together we had extra legroom and got to board relatively early. We arrived at JFK about 7pm, Adrienne had given us instructions on how to get to the Air Train and she would meet us at Jamaica station. We had to pay for the Air Train tickets once we were at Jamaica, and then buy a couple of subway tickets. We spied Adrienne on the other side of the turnstile, and then followed her to get to the E subway train back to her house. She also took over one of the big bags, which helped a lot. I was in charge of the two carry-on bags. Thankfully there were elevators and escalators at Jamaica so didn’t have to carry the bags up and downstairs.
Josh was waiting with the van at the Court Square station and it was a quick five-minute drive to their house. We had a celebration bottle of wine and lots of nibbles, and then it was time to head out to a jazz club. We went to see Charmaine Fulton a lovely jazz pianist and singer; she was playing at Cleopatra’s Needle in uptown Manhattan. After a check on what subway to take we were off, glad that we didn’t have to find our own way this time. This gig was a jam session so anyone could get up and play or sing. Josh played a few songs on guitar, and Adrienne sung a couple. The video camera was out again. We had a very enjoyable time, had another couple of wines and some more nibbles. We finally got back to Adrienne’s place around midnight. We were very happy to fall into bed, We had taken over the bed, while A & J slept on the couch, which was a tad broken and not very comfortable. We did take pity on them though and booked a hotel for the next two nights.
Day 2
I had wanted to see Tenement museum so we decided to do this the next morning. It was a rather cold, a totally different temperature from New Orleans and San Francisco. We had our winter woollies on now. I couldn’t find my gloves so had to borrow Adrienne’s. We did the Sweatshop Workers tour, which was about the Levine family, who were dressmakers in the late 1800’s. It was hard to believe a family of two parents and three children lived in this tiny apartment where a dress making business was also in operation.
After the tour Adrienne wanted to take us to one of her favourite cafes but it started snowing half way there. We were very excited for the first 15 minutes or so but Warren didn’t really have a warn jacket, so we ended up going to K-Mart and buying a waterproof/windproof jacket for him and some more gloves for both of us so Adrienne could have hers back. The snow was really heavy when we got back to the Court Square station and it was difficult to walk back home as it had started to build up on the sidewalk. We were very cold and wet by the time we got back. Josh quickly put our bags in the van, and drove us to the Country Inn and Suites where we had booked for the next two nights. It was not very far away. We decided we would stay put for the evening, ordered in pizza, as we didn’t want to go out in the snowstorm. You can tell we are not used to snow. Nelson doesn’t get any snow in the winter only frosts. We couldn’t believe the size of the pizza and how cheap it was. It was about twice the size of what you would get in New Zealand. Warren gave the delivery person $ 20.00 so he got an $ 8 tip!!
Day 3
Warren had wanted some help from the Apple Shop so I had gone online earlier and booked a time for him to see a genius at the shop in Grand Central Station. We got a time at 10am so made our way to the subway station and met Adrienne there. We had to do a change of trains to get to Grand Central Station, but that wasn’t a problem as it was off-peak. I loved the beautiful ceiling at Grand Central, I took a lot of photos while Warren was talking to the “genius”. People watching was fun too We had a look around the shops and came across Magnolia Bakery. As it was Warren’s birthday, we had a cupcake each to celebrate. Very nice they were too. Adrienne and Josh had a gig this evening, so she went home to do some practice, and we carried on and did some window shopping, ending up at Rockefeller Centre where we watched the ice-skating for a bit and had some lunch. We then made our way back to the hotel and did some laundry. Our first experience at using a Laundromat.
This evening Adrienne and Josh were playing at the American Legion in Harlem. Adrienne had been running the jam session there on a Thursday night for two years but gave it up when they started doing cruise ship gigs. However when ever they are back in town they are warmly welcomed back. We were made very welcome too, and once the Commander realized it was Warren’s birthday the drinks began to flow!!!. The American Legion is similar to our RSA clubs (Returned Service Association.). The drinks are cheap at the RSA also. We had some wonderful soul food there. The music was great. It had been a couple of years since we had heard Adrienne and Josh play at a gig. I was starting to feel a bit dizzy on the way home, everything seemed to be on a lean. It could have been too much wine but it was actually vertigo!!!
Next stop Hyannis....
The reason for our trip. Our daughter Adrienne and son-in-law Josh have been living in the US since 2008, firstlyin Columbus Ohio, and then moved to Long Island City New York. We did see them 12 months ago though when they came home for a visit.
I had booked our flight from New Orleans to New York several months ago. It had a stop and a change of plane at Atlanta. We had no problems with the flight, and as I had paid an extra
$19.00 each so we could sit together we had extra legroom and got to board relatively early. We arrived at JFK about 7pm, Adrienne had given us instructions on how to get to the Air Train and she would meet us at Jamaica station. We had to pay for the Air Train tickets once we were at Jamaica, and then buy a couple of subway tickets. We spied Adrienne on the other side of the turnstile, and then followed her to get to the E subway train back to her house. She also took over one of the big bags, which helped a lot. I was in charge of the two carry-on bags. Thankfully there were elevators and escalators at Jamaica so didn’t have to carry the bags up and downstairs.
Josh was waiting with the van at the Court Square station and it was a quick five-minute drive to their house. We had a celebration bottle of wine and lots of nibbles, and then it was time to head out to a jazz club. We went to see Charmaine Fulton a lovely jazz pianist and singer; she was playing at Cleopatra’s Needle in uptown Manhattan. After a check on what subway to take we were off, glad that we didn’t have to find our own way this time. This gig was a jam session so anyone could get up and play or sing. Josh played a few songs on guitar, and Adrienne sung a couple. The video camera was out again. We had a very enjoyable time, had another couple of wines and some more nibbles. We finally got back to Adrienne’s place around midnight. We were very happy to fall into bed, We had taken over the bed, while A & J slept on the couch, which was a tad broken and not very comfortable. We did take pity on them though and booked a hotel for the next two nights.
Day 2
I had wanted to see Tenement museum so we decided to do this the next morning. It was a rather cold, a totally different temperature from New Orleans and San Francisco. We had our winter woollies on now. I couldn’t find my gloves so had to borrow Adrienne’s. We did the Sweatshop Workers tour, which was about the Levine family, who were dressmakers in the late 1800’s. It was hard to believe a family of two parents and three children lived in this tiny apartment where a dress making business was also in operation.
After the tour Adrienne wanted to take us to one of her favourite cafes but it started snowing half way there. We were very excited for the first 15 minutes or so but Warren didn’t really have a warn jacket, so we ended up going to K-Mart and buying a waterproof/windproof jacket for him and some more gloves for both of us so Adrienne could have hers back. The snow was really heavy when we got back to the Court Square station and it was difficult to walk back home as it had started to build up on the sidewalk. We were very cold and wet by the time we got back. Josh quickly put our bags in the van, and drove us to the Country Inn and Suites where we had booked for the next two nights. It was not very far away. We decided we would stay put for the evening, ordered in pizza, as we didn’t want to go out in the snowstorm. You can tell we are not used to snow. Nelson doesn’t get any snow in the winter only frosts. We couldn’t believe the size of the pizza and how cheap it was. It was about twice the size of what you would get in New Zealand. Warren gave the delivery person $ 20.00 so he got an $ 8 tip!!
Day 3
Warren had wanted some help from the Apple Shop so I had gone online earlier and booked a time for him to see a genius at the shop in Grand Central Station. We got a time at 10am so made our way to the subway station and met Adrienne there. We had to do a change of trains to get to Grand Central Station, but that wasn’t a problem as it was off-peak. I loved the beautiful ceiling at Grand Central, I took a lot of photos while Warren was talking to the “genius”. People watching was fun too We had a look around the shops and came across Magnolia Bakery. As it was Warren’s birthday, we had a cupcake each to celebrate. Very nice they were too. Adrienne and Josh had a gig this evening, so she went home to do some practice, and we carried on and did some window shopping, ending up at Rockefeller Centre where we watched the ice-skating for a bit and had some lunch. We then made our way back to the hotel and did some laundry. Our first experience at using a Laundromat.
This evening Adrienne and Josh were playing at the American Legion in Harlem. Adrienne had been running the jam session there on a Thursday night for two years but gave it up when they started doing cruise ship gigs. However when ever they are back in town they are warmly welcomed back. We were made very welcome too, and once the Commander realized it was Warren’s birthday the drinks began to flow!!!. The American Legion is similar to our RSA clubs (Returned Service Association.). The drinks are cheap at the RSA also. We had some wonderful soul food there. The music was great. It had been a couple of years since we had heard Adrienne and Josh play at a gig. I was starting to feel a bit dizzy on the way home, everything seemed to be on a lean. It could have been too much wine but it was actually vertigo!!!
Next stop Hyannis....
