An update from New York

It has been a busy couple of weeks and I got lazy with the blog so I'm afraid it's going to be quite a long one! I left off two Saturday's ago when we were getting ready for the block party with Ashling's cousins. We had a great time, Phil came with us too. There was lots of food and drink, a DJ and all of the children in the area were going up and down the road on their scooters and skateboards. The night ended with a small fireworks display. We spent that Sunday in Brooklyn with Ashling's dad and Phil. Phil stayed with us for the week in Rockaway as his plans to stay with a friend in the city fell through. Our first stop was Prospect Park where we walked around for a few hours. We then walked along the promenade in Brooklyn Heights, with great views overlooking the city across the water. We finished the day with more walking, this time over the Brooklyn bridge into downtown Manhattan to have a look around Wall Street and Seaport Village.

In the past two weeks I have been to two more baseball games. The first was with Phil to the Yankee Stadium to see them play against the Seattle Mariners. We stopped off at a hotel on the way because Phil had been told that they serve the best burgers in Manhattan. The burger place was hidden behind a huge curtain off of the main lobby of the hotel, you had to know it was there to find it. It was a tiny, darkly lit room with a small hatch where the burgers are made. The burgers were good, although quite small for American standards. When we arrived at the stadium is was pouring with rain and the game was delayed by an hour. Fortunately our cheap tickets were some of the only seats under cover so we could at least take a seat in the stadium while the rain passed. The game was really good, a bit slow in the middle, but then lots of runs came in. There were a few loud guys in front of us who would turn round for hi-5's every time the Yankee's did well and Phil got a video of a man doing an interesting dance to the YMCA. The Yankees won. The second game was not a major league team, it was the Brooklyn Cyclones (named after the rollercoaster) who play in Coney Island. The stadium was very small but had a great atmosphere with entertainers coming out after every innings for competitions and giveaways, I caught a t-shirt. The game went to a 12th innings and the Cyclones eventually lost.

Last Saturday was Independence day and we spent all afternoon on the beach with what seemed like every other resident in Rockaway. The weather has improved a lot since July came in, we have had hot sunny days most of the time so the beach has been busy most days. In the evening, Tom arranged for us to go and watch the Macy's firework display on the Hudson river in Manhattan. His brother in law is an inspector in the police force so we were driven in a police car through the crowds to our own private waterside view of the display. It was great as it meant we could sit down and wonder around while we waited without having to squeeze past the thousands of people who turned up to watch. The display itself was one of the best I have seen with some really impressive fireworks, some of them made 3D shapes in the sky. It was about half an hour long and apparently there were over 6million dollars spent on the fireworks.

We have been on two day trips this week out of New York, the first was to Connecticut. We were told that Mystic would be a good place to stop off, so we set on out way not really knowing what there would be to see. Ashling has become quite confident driving around in the States, so we borrowed her mum's car for the trip and it took us about 3 hours to get there. We found a great place called Mystic Seaport which had a working boat yard an old village set up with actors walking around in costume and lots of exhibitions about America's nautical history. There were a few whaling boats in the dock too which we were able to walk around. It was a really great day.

Our second road trip was to Philadelphia in Pennsylvania to the historic district of the city. My American history is quite sketchy but we discovered a lot by walking around the many museums and old buildings. Philadelphia was the first capital of the USA and is the place where the declaration was written and signed. The visitor centre played a short film that gave a great overview of the events leading up to America's Independence. Another stop was at the Mint, one of about 6 places in the States where the money is made. At the Philly branch, they were in the process of making a new 1 cent coin with 4 different images depicting that life of Franklin. They are also responsible for printing the state quarters, the ones that represent each of the 50 states. We also stopped off to look at the famous Liberty Bell, Benjamin Franklin's grave and the longest standing, continually inhabited street in America called Elfreth's Alley. Philadelphia is also famous for its Philly Cheese Steak sandwiches so I took the opportunity to have one in the place it was invented. It sounds exciting but it is really just thinly cut steak smothered in melted cheese in a roll, tastes great. We ended the day by running up and down the stairs outside the national art gallery, as made famous by the Rocky films.

On Thursday Ashling and I went on a tour around Greenwood cemetery in Brooklyn. Her mum's friend Marge is going to become a tour guide there so she took us on an unofficial tour. The cemetery is set in acres of parkland with lots of hills and forested areas. There are lots of famous people buried there such as the Tiffany family, the founder of the ASPCA and most importantly the inventor of the hot dog. Marge also showed us the hill where a major battle between the Americans and the British took place during the revolution, and on the top there is the statue of Liberty's sister, looking out towards Liberty Island. That evening we drove into the city to meet Tom after work, and he took us to a blues bar in Greenwhich. They were a great band, really good musicians, who sang a lot of songs about "my baby who left me" with five minute guitar solos.

Yesterday we were invited to a beach party happening two blocks away from us. The beach was packed with tables full of food and bbq's but it was a bit windy so sand was getting everywhere. We got in the water with some bodyboards and stayed in for ages, it was much warmer in the water away from the wind! The ocean was really choppy and the waves were crashing in all directions so it was a bit difficult to surf them but still good fun. Ashling's mum got back from London (she has been there for the past week) so we all went out for a meal at a bar where her friend Marge was singing. Before bed we took Lily (the dog) for a walk and found that the beach party had turned into a block party with a DJ and children running around everywhere, luckily we didn't stay long as a big storm came over with lots of rain and lightening.

Other than that, we have spent a lot of time on the beach, swimming and body boarding in the ocean, been on a few bike rides and eaten out lots! Today we went to a local amateur production of Oklahoma! It was a really well-done show, the main characters were all very strong singers and the cast had children as young as five up to seventy year old men. We really enjoyed it. This week we are planning to go to Washington for a couple of days and we also have been given tickets for a preview screening of Harry Potter this Tuesday.