Escape from New York

We are now on our winter vacation , have  left  the frozen Apple for the warmer climes of the South first stop New Orleans , we stayed in the French Quarter , lovely old brightly painted wooden buildings lots of pretty streets to wander round , a tourists delight , then there's the live music everywhere , the bustling CBD , the Garden district with it's Antebellum mansions , The suburb of Treme originally a Creole suburb where the wealthy plantation owners set up part time homes with their Afo American mistresses , having second families and educating these children in Europe, interesting , must read up on the story, we also saw some of the remains of the 9th Ward after Katrina , wow what a devastating Hurricane

New Orleans a great place , can only imaging how much fun it is during Mardi gras , who knows we may have to revisit in April.
 

First night in New Orleans there was a Luna Eclipse

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Luna Eclipse

Jazz club 'The spotted Cat'

Candle Light Lounge Bar in Treme , where the Treme Brass Band were playing, great venue

Uncle Lionel Batista - a legend in these parts.

Christmas with Cushla

lead singer of the 'Western Caravan'

First Snow

Madison Square

Flat Iron Building - 5th Avenue and 23rd street

Hot dog stand 5th Avenue

Central Park

Furs are the big thing in Brighton Beach

Our first guest from the home country , fortunately Cushla arrived  equipped with many layers of Merino, as the temperatures have plummeted, hovering happily a degree or two above zero and many degrees below.
How ever with lots of rugging up we traipsed the streets of NY showing her our favorite spots.
We had a great night at a raucus country bar , when the show was over we made our way home with a sky full of snow flurries, slipping and sliding along the pavements, feeezing but fun and really beautiful, We stopped off in Madison Square Park for some serious foot printing , took in the sights of the Flat iron building illuminated in the snowy street lights, magic.

Now there an idea

Brrrrrr and Mmmmm

 Sunday 4.30 pm Brooklyn Heights Promenade , 15 mins walk from home , its my new favorite spot to watch the sun set over the Hudson River and Manhattan . Far left , the Brooklyn  Bridge.

Do our shadows get this long in NZ ?

Kirsty at Lomzyuianka , even the non Polish speaking locals can't pronounce the name , one  old Italian lady we spoke to  thinks" They just got a whole lot of letters together and threw them up in the air."

Look at the colours

Sunday in Central Park

NZ Achillies Team NYC Marathon

This year there where 7 Achilles athletes , these competitors all have a range of physical disabilities, blind , deaf , spina bifida , leg amputee and  paraplegic .
Due to Kirsty's studies and through our friend Giarna who has been fund raising for them in NY for the past 6 years, we became a part of the gang that drank in the bar and traipsed with them through the city , taking in the sights , smells and sounds.
Almost from the start we became friends with Fleur and Nick Hansby from Blenhim .
Fleur  has been in a wheelchair for the past 4 years  after whacking into the back of a bus that had suddenly stopped in the middle of the road on her push bike, an accident that has left her a paralised from the chest down . Her whole life she has been a serious sports woman, now she travels fast and close to the ground on her custom made hand cranked bike. Nick her fantastic vet husband is there with her 100 % a keen and lean sportsman him self , he pours a mean whiskey.

We took up their invitation to sleep on the fold out sofa in their hotel suite at the Waldorf Astoria on the night of the race ,  by then Fleur and Nick had become part of one of Kirsty's school projects and along  with them had to get up  at 4 am on the morning of the race to get ready to get to the start .
Kirsty started the race , made it over the first bridge , then spent the rest of the day jumping on and off the trains that the route followed photographing the race along the way , I wandered down the road from home and cheered on the side lines , it was a fun day.
And topping the whole day off Fleur Came 4th in
her category !!!!!!!

Kirsty on the track 12 mile mark , arms in the air.

A sunny autumn day.

Bryant Park , see our sept page"We love Bryant Park" has been transformed in to an ice skating rink surrounded by a sea of blue astro turf and tiny Christmas gift kiosks no bigger than your average kids bedroom, rentals starting at $25 k for 2 months .

Some times you look up and there you are on the corner of 5th av and 42nd st looking up at the Chrysler Building distance.            

 

 

 

 

Later on you look down from the top of the Rockefeller Center and there is Central Park in all its autumnal glory, yes it does take your breath away.

Halloween Dog Parade - Happy Birthday Sarah and Aimee xx