NYC-QUEBEC

Last night we went for dinner at the pub across the road from our NY hotel.

As usual the pub was busy, the streets full of people... even on a monday night. Something i love about new york is that there was always something happening, the sound of the city is even a bit relaxing as you go to sleep at night.

We booked a cab for 7:30 in the morning so decided to head home for an early night.

Woke up this morning, quickly packed and got our selves to the airport. On the way there it started to snow and we thought our flight might be delayed, but luckily it wasn't as we were flying north, away from the storm.

A short flight (1 hour) and we arrived in Montreal. Stepping of the plane it was instantly obvious that we were in a different country. No crowds in the airport, no line up for customs, staff more relaxed and smiling, and... speaking french.

We got our bags and collected our hire car for our 3 hour drive to quebec.

So Neri ordered a jeep Liberty (we call it a cherokee in aus) and somehow we ended up with this huge SUV, a Dodge Durnago, which is practically a mini bus on steroids.

Needless to say we had no trouble fitting in our luggage, in fact we could have fit 5 passengers as well as our luggage.

Driving on the wrong side of the road is funny at first, until you make your first left hand turn and almost turn into oncoming traffic. Thats what i did, and if it wasn't for neri screaming beside me, i probably wouldn't have noticed until i came face to face with the first car.

Shortly after, i performed a spectacular lane change and almost crashed into another car, with the lady beeping and yelling at us for a good minute.

But after about 20 mins i got the hang of it.

Turns out that our last minute decision to pay for the gps was worth it.

We made a stop for coffee and couldn't get back onto the main road as the access roads were closed ) i presume for repairs or covered in snow... not sure) and as a result we went on a scenic 45 minute detour through farmland, which wasn't so bad except for the black ice and risk of a moose or something stepping out in front of us.

Finally we got back on the freeway and made it to Quebec city.

First impressions are that this is a beautiful little rustic city. Our hotel (i mean manor) is this old building, fitted out with chandeliers, extravagant carpets and furniture... feels like we are in Europe and the complete opposite of our trendy lower east side hotel in new york.

Haven't had much of a chance to check out the city, but we went for a stroll and had dinner at what we thought was an italian restaurant down the street.

We braved the -15 degree temps, had dinner, then braved the weather again as we walked back to our hotel.

As we were getting in the elevator to our room we noticed that there was a bar / restaurant in our own hotel. We both felt like idiots when we realised the very same place we walked around the block to have dinner at was actually attached to our hotel!

Now back in the room and i'm catching up on some work.

Big day tomorrow as we are going to see what this city has to offer.

(i've uploaded some pics from neris cam)

-Jase

last day in NYC

Our last day here and the weather was much warmer than the last few days... up to about 16 deg C. On Saturday the temps stayed below zero all day so it was a nice change not to have to layer up so much and actually take off our jackets while walking around the streets.

Last night we went to a little south american restaurant right next door to our hotel. It was tapas style food to share and we were both really looking forward to it. Unfortunately I copped a huge chunk of the strongest blue vein cheese I have ever experienced and that ruined the rest of the meal for me... Jase liked it though, he was fortunate to only get a small dose of the killer cheese and wasn't deterred.

So after a so-so dinner we hopped on the subway up to 5th ave to have a look around. The shops were mostly closed but they still looked absolutely amazing all done up with their Christmas decorations. We saw some of the ice skating show under the huge Christmas tree at the Rockefeller Centre, the tree is decorated with a huge Swarovski Crystal star on top, and 5 miles of coloured lights... So beautiful. 

We also caught some of a recording that MTV were doing of the Ting Tings, they looked very cold up on the stage and weren't really there for the crowd, only for the cameras.

After subway-ing back towards home so Jase could check his emails, we then decided to go back out to find somewhere local for a drink. We walked a couple of blocks and found this little club called the Slipper Room, we were told that a band were about to play, and then a dj was to follow, and the password was "patrick swayze". It sounded good so we payed the $5 and went in... A really cosy place with an eclectic mix of New Yorkers all waiting for the band to start. They were called "Bugs in the Dark" and sounded pretty good so we bought their EP for $5.

One of the bartenders took a liking to us, so when the bar (as they always seem to do) runs out of Canadian Club, he went into a mad panic. His search for a new bottle consisted of first standing on the bar to check what was on top... no CC there. Then he ran down this tiny staircase to the basement and was searching around for a while... and eventually he found it! As a result of his happiness in finding a new bottle, he poured us triple the normal amount, and finished it off with the tiniest splash of coke. Whoa. That last one was enough for both of us so we decided to call it a night. We had made some great friends there though... between our happy bartender, and some guy who we met waiting for the restroom, a lot of funny moments. (Jase can elaborate on that one...)

So, today we were both feeling a bit tired but still managed to get out and about by about 9. We first visited Bryant Park and watched the people ice skating (no funniest home video moments though), then we headed up to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building for a great view of the entire city and surrounds.

We walked from there up to Central Park, and checked out some of the touristy market stalls at the southern end. The wintery feel of the park was really peaceful, lots of squirrels running all over the place and lots of people walking dogs or hanging out. We walked all the way through the park to the Metropolitan Museum, which was closed today, so we went a little further up to the Guggenheim. We were both so tired by this stage... we'd had a late night and walked so much, but we had free tickets with our Citypass, so decided to check it out. The architecture of the museum is amazing, and we saw some more famous works from picasso, manet, kandinski, cezanne, van gogh, degas....  Very glad we went in but SO tired afterwards. Hopped back on the subway for the long ride home and here we are.... 

I had a quick nap which has refreshed me enough to go out to grab some dinner, but then it will definitely be early to bed tonight as we are getting picked up at 7.30 in the morning to go to the airport. 

We are on standby with Air Canada to Montreal but the flight had 25 seats available this morning so should be fine. We pick up our hire car from the airport in Montreal and will drive straight to Quebec City for the next leg of our trip. I'm sure it's going to be colder up there so back to layering up for us! 

Hope everyone is doing well and not missing us too much. 

xx N. 

Day 4 - a lazy one...

Seems we can't shake this jet lag.... i was up all night and slept about 2 hours.

Woke up at 6am and was really hungry. Headed down for breakfast.... which for me means toasted bagels with cream cheese and for neri means eating a few pastries.

After breakfast my body decided it was time to sleep (obviously it still thinks in sydney time) so back to our room for a nap. To my shock we woke up around midday and realised that we have missed half a day.

We quickly headed out and made the most of the day by walking up to broadway and doing some shopping... lots of good stores and a lot on sale, even with the poor conversion rates things are cheaper than home.

Had lunch at a cafe on broadway, i had a tuna sandwich and neri had a soup which was good.

More shopping and then back to the hotel where we are getting ready to go out for dinner to a spanish restaurant on our street and then maybe make our way to Maddison avenue for a walk... if we can stay awake.

More updates soon.

-Jase

ps. Ryan & Juliana we had breakfast yesterday at a nice brazillian cafe up the road. I had once a day.

Tomorrow we are probably going to check out the empire state building 

Pics from around NYC day 3

Another NYC night

Back in our hotel room again now, going to have an earlier night than last night so that we don't sleep in so much tomorrow!

Last night we wandered around for a while looking for somewhere to have dinner, but... being a friday night, everywhere that appealed to us was, of course, too busy. We ended up finding an irish pub called phebe's and had a few drinks and a good meal there. Seeing all the locals letting their hair down on the dancefloor was quite hilarious and we had fun just taking in the scenes.

After sleeping in this morning (and subsequently missing breakfast) we headed out about midday, bound for Battery Park and the Liberty Island cruise. We finally figured out how the subway works so getting around is becoming much easier! After seeing the famous statue and doing the loop of the harbour we walked up to the site of the twin towers to have a look and then made our way towards home. 

It's funny how different NYC is to the other places we have visited in the US, can't exactly put my finger on it but it has it's own kind of magic that I don't think you could find anywhere else in the world. 

Anyways, this was meant to be an early night so will finish up here, till next time.

xx N.

Day 2

Ok so after our miserable introduction to NY – wet head to toe, zero degrees, stranded in the middle of the city with all our luggage, which also got drenched – we were happy to see that it wasn't raining this morning.

Still horribly jet lagged and after about 3 hours of sleep, we got up around 9 and headed down for breakfast.

We didn't really have a plan for today so we decided to start walking from our hotel in the lower east side to Times Square.

The walk took a while, but there was plenty to see, including the sewer drains where the ninja turtles and possibly master splinter live, the grocery store from sesame street, the caged basketball courts from hanging with Mr Cooper, Madison square gardens etc etc.

The streets here are beautiful in winter (if you like city streets and/or winter) lined with stark trees and old buildings.

I wanted to use my iphone so i stopped into a store and bought a prepaid sim card. $80 dollars later i had one, however this turned out to be a waste of money as it did not allow for internet /  downloads meaning i have to use $80 of local calls on this trip. So there goes my plans of using the gps etc to get around town.

We kept walking and made it up to times square, which was pretty impressive but also exactly what i expected. Lots of bright lights, traffic, people, bars, restaurants. We checked out a few of the stores and had lunch in a "french" restaurant. We got crepes which were tasty but as with most american food overloaded with cheese and accompanied by some double deep fried chips.

After luch decided to head to the Museum of Modern Art, or MoMA. 

This place is huge, and is filled with famous artworks which were awesome to see.

There was also a Van Gogh exhibition with pretty much all of his famous paintings.

Highlights were seeing work by Mondrian, Monet, Matisse, Picasso, Lichtenstein and of course Andy Warhol. Paintings i never thought i would see in real life so i was happy.

After walking around the gallery for the rest of the day we headed out, checked out times square at night (which was even more impressive) and then got on the subway home.

Passed plenty of shops and restaurants on the way which i am keen to check out in the next few days. Very easy to spend money here!

About to head out for dinner now.

-J

We arrived!

Well we finally arrived in NYC... let's just say the 24 hour trip to get here was nothing compared to the 2 hour ordeal from the airport to our hotel in the pouring, icy cold rain! 

We were in Business class the whole way over, which was unreal as we both managed to get a good 5 or 6 hours sleep on the first leg of the trip, and then had another hour or two on the way from LA to NY. 

After collecting our bags we were still in a bit of a daze when before we knew it we had two tickets on the airport bus to the city. Ok, but will it take us to the hotel? Apparently it would drop us at Grand Central Terminal and then a shuttle would take us to the hotel. However, when said shuttle finally arrived (after the bus had dropped us off in the middle of the rainy street) he only went a few blocks and wouldn't go as far as our hotel. So we decided to hail a cab... which sounds like it should be easy, but turned out to be quite the opposite on a rainy Thursday night. After many rejections and the beginnings of frostbite on our toes we finally managed to get a cab and made it to our hotel. 

Our room is really nice, but small of course, and we can't wait to get some sleep and start checking everything out tomorrow.  

Be good,

love Neri.xx