Uptown Girl

Saturday 4 August 2012 – Uptown girl New York style

Day 113 and 47 to go

A Saturday in New York. I woke at 8am after our later night out and hung out in bed for a bit before getting up for a shower and at 9.15am we went downstairs for the usual breakfast. Once we returned it was time to head out on the streets again. Today we were going to complete the Uptown tour on the hop on and off bus.

We waited about 15min before the bus arrived and took us back into Times Square, named after ‘The New York Times’ paper after it moved to the area in the early 1900’s. Once here we had to get off the bus and wait to start the tour on a new bus. Unfortunately there was quite a line but when Paul made it known we weren’t particularly happy they made room for us and we were able to get on and continue our tour.

We saw the triangle covered building where the O and Cleo mags are edited. We then got a glimpse of Trump International Hotel where many Celebs stay along with our first glimpse of Central Park at the Columbus Circle. We passed the NY school of Ballet, housed in a massive building that also caters for other artistic pursuits and thanks to Glee; more students are fighting for a place to come and study.

Our next stop was the Lincoln Centre followed by a drive down West 72^nd street and passed the place where John Lennon was shot on December 8, 1980. This street then lead to Strawberry Fields in Central Park where there is a memorial for the Beatle.

We alighted at the next stop, the Natural History Museum. I was eager to have a look around this building. Unlike the London Museum you have to pay to go in though it is a suggested amount. They suggest $19 we paid $10 each. From the main hall where they have a brontosaurus skeleton we walked in to the African animal and people display. The taxidermy of the animals was very impressive.

From here we walked through the human evolution exhibit. They had displays of early man including bones and models it was quite amusing wandering through with Paul’s interesting commentary.

The next stop was the rocks from outer space. Some of the meteorites they had on display were pretty big; one was even the size of a small car. You wouldn’t wan that landing on your house.

We passed through some agricultural displays before making it into the underwater life. This display was great. They had life size models of fish including a Blue Whale as well as taxidermy of various water mammals. It was very impressive.

We finished up with the North American animal display. Again there were many animals in various positions that had been stuffed. Paul thought it would be great to get a job doing that. I am not so sure.

At 1pm we left the museum and made our way back to the bus stop. There were plenty of people wanting to get on the bus, luckily when it arrived plenty of people got off and we were able to find a seat to continue our journey.

We entered into the borough of Harlem and driven passed the Cathedral of St John the divine. This is supposedly the largest gothic cathedral in the world. I am a bit sceptical of the claim and will have to do some research on that one. We passed the Riverside church, well known in the black community and is often used for big name funerals, Luthor Vandross being one.

We continued on to the tomb of Grant and then passed the Apollo Theatre, where Michael Jackson won the talent quest as a 9 year old. Continuing through Harlem we emerged at the north east corner of Central Park and drove south on 5^th Avenue passing the Guggenheim Museum, a peculiar but very interesting looking white building.

We continued on passed the NY Zoo before getting off at the South East corner of the park at 2pm. We didn’t enter the park as we were hungry, however we had to make a detour into FOA Schwartz the famous toy store and one of the settings for the Tom Hanks movie ‘Big’. Here his character played a large floor piano and I was looking to do the same thing.

We made our way upstairs and passed all the amazing toys. Oh to be a kid. I joined the line of other 4 and 5 year olds waiting to jump on the piano. Again there was the obligatory green screen photo and then it was my turn to have a play on the keyboard. Jumping up and down and beating out my own tune. It was so much fun. Who says you need to be a kid to have fun. Paul thought I was nuts.

With that out of my system we made our way through the rest of the toy store. I picked up a teddy as a memento and then it was back into the heat and across the road for lunch at 3pm.

We decided we would walk back to the hotel, as it wasn’t far. When we got in we grabbed some ice from the machine then went to the room for a very brief rest. At 3.45pm we were back out the door and heading to Times Square and the TKTS office to buy tickets to a Broadway show for tonight. At this office you can buy discounted tickets for the next performance.

We arrived at 4pm and there was quite a line but it was moving quickly and we were entertained by people spruiking their shows. We were hoping to see Rock of Ages but when we made it to the front they had no seats together so we bought tickets to Mary Poppins instead. At the discounted price of $70 each I was hoping they would be fantastic tickets.

We then walked back towards the hotel, stopping briefly at a supermarket for a few drinks and then it was time to have a bit of a rest before thinking about heading out again. Paul had a nap while I did the blog bits, then at 7 it was time to get organised.

We were back on the ground at 7.20pm and making our way down 7^th Ave to Times Square. As we got closer the sidewalks became thick with tourists dawdling. It was quite incredible how many people there actually were. You basically had to pick a line and keep walking, dodging as you needed.

We made our way to the New Amsterdam Theatre arriving with 10min to spare. We were shown to our seat and had time to sit back and take in the majesty of the theatre. It was spectacularly decorated.

We enjoyed Act 1 of Mary Poppins. We were both impressed with the sets and the props they had. The Supercalifragilistic was a fabulous number. How they can remember the dance moves and keep in time was just incredible.

There was a 15min intermission before we returned to our seats for Act 2 that was just as impressive with tap dancing on the roof and Mary Poppins taking flight over the audience as she left. WOW!

At 10.30pm the show finished and we were back out in Times Square and amongst a mass of people. The place was alive with buskers and gawking tourists. It seems to be that everything livens up later in the evening.

We made our way through the crowds, not being in a hurry this time it was easier to navigate. It was still very muggy, though every now and then there was a cool breeze blowing down the street.

We finally made it back to the hotel at 11.15pm and we were ready to head to bed again.