The Monday

Today I was looking forward to visiting the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA). I'd carefully planned to do this on the Monday, thinking it would be nice an quiet. Turns out it's heaving.

We don't stay long as we find the crowds too distracting. I went to the photography section. There were inspirational pictures by Bill Brandt and Richard Avedon. The picture below, taken from the design section looking down on the sculpture garden was taken just after seeing photos by them.

We then walked over to Bloomingdale's. Becky wanted to see why it was so well known and to look for a little gift for the boys. It's not that kind of shop. We take the subway down to our next choice of place to see, Chinatown. Walking through this district and taking in Little Italy on the way to the Lower East side and finally on to Greenwich village was probably the highlight of our trip. The place is full of larger than life characters and cool shops. We stop at the Tenement museum and Peanut Butter and Co. as well as watching the basketball in one of the public courts. The day finished well with happy hour at a recommended Tex Mex restaurant. Margaritas, beers, tequila's and tacos seated at the bar. Then home to bed in preparation for our early flight home the next day.

The Sunday

Today was the day of our helicopter trip. I was feeling surprisingly relaxed about this and in the morning tucked into corned beef hash topped by two eggs done over easy at the Manhattan Diner. Becky had pancakes, bacon and syrup. We then took a cab down to 5th Avenue to watch the Easter parade. It was a fantastic spring day and sun shone on the brightly coloured bonnets of the smiling exhibitionists. I joined in with the ordinary folk clamouring to get photos. Not a parade as such, more like peacocks strolling the park. Very New York.

Anyway, it was soon time to head down to the heliport on Pier 6. Starting to get a little nervous now. Popped into Grand Central Station on the way to see where the scene from Madagascar was set. Pretty impressive but I remember liking Milan station more. Could have been the ice cream.

Arrived at the heliport early. Wow, it was like the entrance to a beehive. Mouth slightly dry by now but the French guy who would be flying in the same helicopter seemed more nervous than me. This makes me feel better. We then check-in and then hang around for quite sometime. At last it's our time to head out the helicopter. I notice genuine fear creeping in now which has the effect of making my legs slightly wobbly. I think of Anna and her happy sky dive and confirm to myself that I will never be following in those footprints. We get to the helicopter, which seems a lot smaller than all the others. The pilot makes a sign indicating the size of my Johnson. No, sorry, that means he's nearly out of fuel. Time to head back to the building for another wait. The walk out the second time doesn't seem so bad. Thankfully I'm not selected to sit in the front seat and offer to let Becky sit by the window. And we are off. We are about 1000 foot up before I stop taking photos long enough to take in where I am. Arrrrrrh, we are 1000 foot up in a wobbly contraption from the days of Leonardo! It all seems so wrong. Anyway, I manager to prevent myself from panicking and gradually relax a bit. I still hope that the whole thing will be over soon and concentrate on taking snaps. By the time we have passed over Central Park and seen Ground Zero I'm starting to enjoy it a bit but still can't help filling my camera with blurry photos. We then head down to circle around the Statue of Liberty. Nice. From there it's back to the helipad and sweet, sweet solid ground.

We then walked down to a bar on the water front and had smoked salmon bagals washed down with a brace of well earned pints of local lager. It was then off to join a mass of tourists from all parts of the world walking to the middle of Brooklyn Bridge.

In the evening we attended a comedy club (UCB Asssscats 3000) which came highly recommended by my guide book. This involved joining the students standing in line for free tickets. I actually found it quite interesting in a anthropological sort of way. However, we decide to leave at half time.

Arrival Saturday 3rd April 2010

After dropping our bags at the hotel (On The Ave, Upper West Side) we went for a wander in Central Park. Our arrival coincided with the start of what I'm guessing was the first real spell of warm weather this year. The place was alive with cyclists, runners, footballers, cricketers, strollers and loungers. Becky was a bit disappointed with the park, it being a bit worn out by a winter of trampling. I took a snap of what turns out to be an American robin. We left the park in the South West corner and headed back to the hotel via Broadway. On the way I checked out the new Apple iPad in a store. This involved looking over the shoulders of the jostling crowd. Lots of interest but I didn't notice many heading out the door. The North end of Broadway turns out to be a bit scanky.

I had researched and booked a restaurant for our first evening meal which was conveniently located on the ground floor of the hotel. It was a funky Malaysian joint called the Fatty Crab. We had cocktails to start off. I had a "Camptown Twist", a chilli infused rum-based concoction which looked like a Mohito but with Coriander instead of mint - wow, one for the open minded. I liked it a lot until the spicy food arrived then I realised my mistake. A spicy drink with spicy food.... Becky had a "Gone Bamboo", which turned out be a little pink number in a schooner. Again, a bit weird but nice. We had fatty duck, wonton noodle soup, and chilli crab. The bill came to $130 dollars. Arrh, nipped by the unpriced crab.