Day 20 - Take me out to the Ball Game...
So where to begin given that today was such a huge day. This morning we strolled across to the American Museum of Natural History as that was the basis for the movie: The Night at the Museum. Unfortunately there was some construction work taking place and all the characters from the movie were not viewable however we did locate the dinosaurs which was pretty cool. It also had some great information on the history of the varying cultures as well as the evolution of humans which was quite interesting. It was good for the kids to spend some time at the museum taking in all the varying exhibits and learning some of the history.
Post the museum we then strolled into Central Park to check out the squirrels and other wild life. After locating a pond where you can hire remote control sail boats we then started to head towards fifth avenue. As it was a decent walk and time has been a premium on this trip, we decided to use someone else's energy and hired to taxi bikes to take us to the corner of 57th and 5th avenue. After a relaxing trip on the back of the bike we found ourselves outside the Plaza hotel (made famous for Australians by Crocodile Dundee). We decided to go in for a look and discovered the Plaza Hotel Food Court. This was certainly more up market than the standard Westfield food court as there was varying food stations set up with a counter and bar stools around the outside. In the middle of each area, a number of chef's were working away busily catering for all the customers. We were sat at a seafood cooking area so could see the chef's shucking oysters and cooking varying seafood from baby octopus to salmon. Zac was adventurous and ordered 4 oysters a la naturale. He ate them all however did struggle with the texture. Talia and I had sushi whilst Jacqui had lamb gyros. The food, location and atmosphere was all magnificent and we enjoyed an excellent lunch.
After lunch we then strolled down 5th avenue and checked out Trump Tower, Gucci, Bulgari, Diesel, Apple, Nike town and some other top end stores. Thankfully the wallet stayed in the pocket and the New York economy did not receive any great boost.
As time was getting away we decided to attempt to hail a taxi back to the hotel to get ready to go to the baseball. Whilst standing on the curb, a black Lincoln Town Car pulled over and asked if we were looking for a taxi, we were so we jumped in. This is where the fun began as he was asking for a rather high price to get back to the hotel however we also mentioned that we were off to the baseball and he (of course) offered to take us. Jacqui then moved straight into negotiation land and basically offered the dude 50% of what he was suggesting for the total price. The guy just looked at me with disbelief. When I explained that she was the boss and managed all the funds he knew he was in for a tough negotiation. Now Jacqui was not going to back down and the driver was starting to get a bit titchy. In the end, Jacqui negotiated for him to take us to the hotel, wait for 10 minutes for us to get changed and ready and then drive us to the baseball game all for $60. Now to put that in context to get from 5th avenue to our place is like going from Richmond to the city and to get to the baseball was like taking a taxi from Endeavour Hills to the MCG so it was en excellent result and we were dropped off at the front gate.
We also discovered that the driver was from Pakistan and was an avid cricket lover and had a very intimate knowledge of Australian cricket so I spent a lot of time discussing the pro's and cons of the Aussie cricket team. I also attempted to explain the game of AFL to him which I did not do a great job of so I gave him the AFL website and he was going to check it out whilst waiting for his next fare.
The Baseball was a great night out (even though the Mets - our new adopted team - lost 4 - 0 to the Phillies) as the atmosphere is happy and relaxed and everyone is there to have a good time. Jacqui also liked the fact that you can eat and drink all you want without having to leave your seat. We had fantastic seats just above first base on ground level and nearly had a chance to catch a foul ball. In the end the game became quite exciting as the Mets had loaded bases and only 1 down so a grand slam would have tied the game. This really had the crowd and the kids on their feet chanting and yelling however to strike outs ended the innings and the Mets lost.
We then jumped on the train and headed back to Times Square as we needed to swap trains. We decided to check out the action before heading home. This is where we came across 4 dudes doing some street dancing. Now these guys were performing hand stands, front flips, back flips and every kind of trick you could imagine. They really had the crowd going and entertained so we made a donation to their cause. Talia could not resist the chance to grab a photo with a couple of the guys.
The one thing that we have found is that at no time have we felt threatened or intimidated. All the people we have dealt with have actually been extremely pleasant and when they do find out that you are Australian they love you. Zac and I had one person who served us at Century 21 ask us about kangaroos and how much he loves them after watching a show on the Discovery channel. After we let him know that where we go riding we see kangaroos all the time he was ready to hop on a plane and head to Australia for a holiday. His closing remark of: "maybe I will see you there" was hilarious as if we were about the only people who lived there.
Tomorrow is our last day in the Big Apple so we are heading to a local diner for a genuine diner breakfast before dong some last minute sight seeing (and maybe some more shopping).
Post the museum we then strolled into Central Park to check out the squirrels and other wild life. After locating a pond where you can hire remote control sail boats we then started to head towards fifth avenue. As it was a decent walk and time has been a premium on this trip, we decided to use someone else's energy and hired to taxi bikes to take us to the corner of 57th and 5th avenue. After a relaxing trip on the back of the bike we found ourselves outside the Plaza hotel (made famous for Australians by Crocodile Dundee). We decided to go in for a look and discovered the Plaza Hotel Food Court. This was certainly more up market than the standard Westfield food court as there was varying food stations set up with a counter and bar stools around the outside. In the middle of each area, a number of chef's were working away busily catering for all the customers. We were sat at a seafood cooking area so could see the chef's shucking oysters and cooking varying seafood from baby octopus to salmon. Zac was adventurous and ordered 4 oysters a la naturale. He ate them all however did struggle with the texture. Talia and I had sushi whilst Jacqui had lamb gyros. The food, location and atmosphere was all magnificent and we enjoyed an excellent lunch.
After lunch we then strolled down 5th avenue and checked out Trump Tower, Gucci, Bulgari, Diesel, Apple, Nike town and some other top end stores. Thankfully the wallet stayed in the pocket and the New York economy did not receive any great boost.
As time was getting away we decided to attempt to hail a taxi back to the hotel to get ready to go to the baseball. Whilst standing on the curb, a black Lincoln Town Car pulled over and asked if we were looking for a taxi, we were so we jumped in. This is where the fun began as he was asking for a rather high price to get back to the hotel however we also mentioned that we were off to the baseball and he (of course) offered to take us. Jacqui then moved straight into negotiation land and basically offered the dude 50% of what he was suggesting for the total price. The guy just looked at me with disbelief. When I explained that she was the boss and managed all the funds he knew he was in for a tough negotiation. Now Jacqui was not going to back down and the driver was starting to get a bit titchy. In the end, Jacqui negotiated for him to take us to the hotel, wait for 10 minutes for us to get changed and ready and then drive us to the baseball game all for $60. Now to put that in context to get from 5th avenue to our place is like going from Richmond to the city and to get to the baseball was like taking a taxi from Endeavour Hills to the MCG so it was en excellent result and we were dropped off at the front gate.
We also discovered that the driver was from Pakistan and was an avid cricket lover and had a very intimate knowledge of Australian cricket so I spent a lot of time discussing the pro's and cons of the Aussie cricket team. I also attempted to explain the game of AFL to him which I did not do a great job of so I gave him the AFL website and he was going to check it out whilst waiting for his next fare.
The Baseball was a great night out (even though the Mets - our new adopted team - lost 4 - 0 to the Phillies) as the atmosphere is happy and relaxed and everyone is there to have a good time. Jacqui also liked the fact that you can eat and drink all you want without having to leave your seat. We had fantastic seats just above first base on ground level and nearly had a chance to catch a foul ball. In the end the game became quite exciting as the Mets had loaded bases and only 1 down so a grand slam would have tied the game. This really had the crowd and the kids on their feet chanting and yelling however to strike outs ended the innings and the Mets lost.
We then jumped on the train and headed back to Times Square as we needed to swap trains. We decided to check out the action before heading home. This is where we came across 4 dudes doing some street dancing. Now these guys were performing hand stands, front flips, back flips and every kind of trick you could imagine. They really had the crowd going and entertained so we made a donation to their cause. Talia could not resist the chance to grab a photo with a couple of the guys.
The one thing that we have found is that at no time have we felt threatened or intimidated. All the people we have dealt with have actually been extremely pleasant and when they do find out that you are Australian they love you. Zac and I had one person who served us at Century 21 ask us about kangaroos and how much he loves them after watching a show on the Discovery channel. After we let him know that where we go riding we see kangaroos all the time he was ready to hop on a plane and head to Australia for a holiday. His closing remark of: "maybe I will see you there" was hilarious as if we were about the only people who lived there.
Tomorrow is our last day in the Big Apple so we are heading to a local diner for a genuine diner breakfast before dong some last minute sight seeing (and maybe some more shopping).
