30 May 2023: New York City 2

What a whirlwind of a day. We walked, and walked, and walked some more. NYC is all about walking. Oh, and a couple of subway trips in between. And an Uber ride home at the end of it all because you’re so exhausted.

We started out late again. We seem to be sleeping in later and later and getting up later and later. We’ll be back on Aussie time quicker than we thought (without leaving the US) at this rate. We grabbed a cup of cwarfee around the corner as we made our way to the Flatiron building. Such an amazing piece of architecture - completely surrounded by scaffolding. It’s like when your favourite ride at Disneyland is closed for the day. Maybe it just means you have to come back. So we wandered on.

We dropped in to Dominique Ansel’s Workshop, a bakery that a blogger recommended. Meh, it wasn’t all that. We went halves in a fancy ham and cheese croissant which wasn’t bad, and then some other thing, that had cheese. I just looked at their menu, it was a ‘crispy molten Comte Gougere’ (but you need to add some fancy accents to the ‘e’s). Comte, mozzarella and a dash of Worcestershire sauce it says. I don’t recommend it.

We left there and looked at lots of buildings and businesses as we went along our way. We stopped outside the Empire State Building, so iconic. And so very tall. We continued along 5th Avenue for a while and made it to the New York Public Library. This is a good place to visit. The iconic rereading room is closed for viewing, serious studiers only, but we got to peer through the doorway with a dozen other people. I should have worn a back pack and pretended to be a mature age student. We had a look around the inside of the building and the information lady told us to go and visit Winnie the Pooh on level 1 (everyone thinks we’re British). But hey, who’s going to knock back a visit with Pooh Bear. Sure enough, there was Winnie, Piglet, Tigger, Roo, and Eeyore. Seemingly the original stuffed animals that inspired the book.

In the same room were first edition Shakespeares, the first King James Bible, lots of other original religious texts, and then the US Constitution and the Declaration of Independence. Interesting to look at (all of them) but mostly hard to read. The first lot, because it was in ink in Ye Olde English, and the two American documents were very, very faded. But, always impressive when looking at the originals of any document. We dropped in to the library gift shop on the way out, specifically to purchase a mug with a Fran Lebowitz quote – it’s a long story, but it was a nod to a documentary about Fran and NYC.

Next stop was Grand Central Station. Another amazing building. Opened in 1913, it has the famous main concourse seen in so many movies and TV shows, with lots of tunnels and ‘passages’ leading from it to the various platforms or street exits. It’s a bloody big place. I saw a photo once of light streaming in through the massive windows in the main concourse, but now that there are so many skyscrapers around it, the sun doesn’t quite make it in anymore.

We saw the clock (with the world’s largest example of Tiffany glass - what is Tiffany glass I hear you say! I had to Google it. Made by Tiffany, it “possesses a superficial iridescence … that causes the surface to shimmer, but also causes a degree of opacity” thanks Wikipedia) and then went for a little wander. We were on the lookout for the whispering walls and the Oyster Bar. Two bits of Grand Central that are a must. We found the whispering walls, but people had their noses right up against the walls, I can pass on sharing that inch of marble. It would seem the walls were doing what they were meant to though as people were all laughing and nodding.

The oyster bar was right near the whispering wall and we headed in for lunch. They had a great seafood menu, mostly filled with…. oysters! We had chosen an appetiser but then the list of oysters was too long. Oysters from here and there, and you buy them individually. We asked the waiter for a suggestion and he brought us one oyster each, from four different areas - two from the north, and two from the south. We learnt that oysters from the north are creamier. We learnt that we like creamy oysters. The aforementioned appetiser was roasted bluepoint oysters with pineapple bourbon butter and crispy onions. It was all pretty good. It’s worth stopping in if you just happen to be in the area.

We headed home after that as we needed to get changed and ready for our triple mission around Times Square. We’re using the subway like locals now. You’d think we were locals really because I can say “cwarfee”. Our room was in the middle of a maid moment and so we headed to the Hotel’s bar for a drink. The waiter very excitedly told us the history of the room we were in. It was a part of the restaurant and seemingly it was where Janis and a few other musos sat writing quite often. And the Sid and Nancy room was directly above us. They’ve redone the floor though so that the room doesn’t really exist as such anymore.

Back into the subway and we made it to the Rockefeller Centre. Oh, just before that was the Radio City Music Hall. We could have gone to see Barry Manilow, but we didn’t. Next thing, we’re walking down hallways with flashing coloured lights on the way to the elevator that would take us to the ‘Top of the Rock’ observation deck. I did a bit of research on which observation deck to go to. There are two new ones, ‘The Edge’ and ‘Summit One Vanderbilt’. Both of these are new and shiny with glass floors and ledges off the building. Not for me. I’m good in a helicopter, but not on an observation deck that goes higher than choppers do. There’s also the deck on the Empire State Building. That would be great, but then you can’t see the Empire State Building. So, we went to the Rock.

This beautiful 1930s Art Deco building has its observation deck on the 70th (and 71st and 72nd) floor(s). The elevator ride up wasn’t much - we’re now used to the ones with glass fronts (because we’ve done that three times now this trip). They have a laser light holographic type show on the ceiling on the way up. I saw the Beatles flash up once so I’m not really sure what that’s all about. We popped out on the 70th and looked out some windows, winding around to the escalator. I was ok, nice view, and then I saw what the escalator led to. Here was the outdoor observation deck - with glass panels like a pool fence - and so all I saw when I could see over the escalator rise was almost every building in NYC in front of me. I didn’t see the glass panels in that moment.

There were glass panels. I didn’t go very close to the glass panels. We walked around a bit, with me being pretty close to the brick walls. Mark went over to take the city shot photos. I just looked. We went up to the next level - which didn’t have glass panels. It was just a wall that you could lean on, to look out and admire the view. I stood in the very middle and was convinced I was about to fall off. So I nonchalantly clung to a security barrier, right next to the security guard and asked a million questions about NY while Mark walked around and admired the view.

But really, what an iconic view. The Empire State was directly across from us, and Manhattan was laid out behind that. The Hudson over to the right, and Central Park behind us. And there are some high, high buildings.

We went for a bit of a walk after the quick elevator ride back to safe ground. The Rockerfeller Centre has a skating rink as part of it’s landscape. Normally it’s for iceskating, but this being spring and all, everyone was rollerblading. There were also some pretty fountains, but as I went to take a photo of them, a grubby guy sat down and started to pick all the coins out of it, so I didn’t take a photo.

It was only a five minute walk to where we were having dinner before our big Broadway show. The M. Social Hotel and their Beasts and Butterflies restaurant looks straight down Times Square, so it was the place to go and have a drink and a look. Again, NYC do the best cocktails ever, and we sat in an open rooftop bar looking down, sipping cocktails and watching the world rush by. We shared a little charcuterie and a cheesecake, and it’s a case of … you go to this place for the view and the cocktails and not necessarily the food. Don’t book a table to eat inside, just sit out on the open air bar and eat there.

Next, we walked around the corner to the August Wilson Theatre to see Lea Michele in Funny Girl. It’s bloody expensive to book theatre tickets for any Broadway shows, so unless it’s something you really, really want to see – go with the ticket lottery and see what you get (download an app called TixToday for some great specials as well).

The show itself was pretty ho-hum, we’ve seen much better – but like seeing Delta Goodrem in Cats, that one song was worth it all. I’m sure she was born to sing ‘Rain on my Parade’ and boy did she do it justice. Twice. She got a standing ovation twice which was well deserved. Before the show, we decided to grab a drink, but you can only purchase drinks in a ‘limited edition commemorative cup’. So we have two of those now. Oh, and if you go to the theatre and plan on hitting the ladies room during interval, race out. This one had a line around the entire foyer while all the ladies waited to get in. I made it back just in time, and spent most of the time in line chatting to a lovely lady from LA who tried to talk me into going to the La Brea tar pits while we were there. Seriously though, who has time for tar pits when you have five days at Disneyland booked!

After the show we walked back through Times Square, and yes, it’s all that and more. Best described as an assault on the senses, I don’t think there were any New Yorkers there, only tourists. Lights and digital screens everywhere almost did my brain in. And people were partying hard. So we walked through and out the other end to grab an Uber home. You have to do it, it’s iconic, but we didn’t feel we needed to do much more than walk through.

When we got home (yes, the Chelsea is now officially my home) we found that the maid had turned aircon down to almost freezing. After so many days walking, the marble floors were better than an ice pack for my poor tired feet.



Check out the photos here!

29 May 2023: New York City 1

We went to the local bagel place for breakfast - Zuckers. I got an everything bagel with salmon and cream cheese and red onions. Mark go a poppyseed with egg and cheese. Always choose the everything bagel - they need the flavour burst. Coffee was pretty good in comparison to the last few! This was going to work!

NYC has this great program for tourists - it’s called the ‘Big Apple Greeter’ and they match you up with a local who’ll spend a few hours with you showing you ‘their’ New York. You make a request via their website and put in the areas you want to visit and what you already have planned, and they try to work it out from there. I put in the Bronx and Queens because I figured they’d be areas we wouldn’t go to ourselves and that we’d like to experience. I also put ‘greeter’s choice’ as we’d left it a little late to book. Don’t do this. Choose your areas and stick to them. Don’t worry about Manhattan as it’s easy to navigate on your own. 

They found us a match pretty quickly - his name was Arnold and he sent us an email telling us when and where to meet him. We were meant to meet him at 10:00am and so we made our way to the subway he advised us of on 23rd street. We didn’t realise that there were more than one subway entrances on 23rd street though. We tried emailing and ringing and texting to no avail. I got a ‘no such number’ message when we called his number. We figured we were in the wrong subway station. Next thing, my phone rang, but no Arnold - just a pocket dial. A long one. When I hung up, it rang again - same pocket dial bit. I rang the number, it picked up but nothing… just background noise. Then, mine rang again and whoa, it was Arnold! He told us we were at the wrong station and that he said 23rd & 7th… I swear there was no 7th in the email (I checked, and there wasn’t). He was a bit miffed and sounded like he was very old. We raced off to find the right station, and Lo and behold, there was Arnold in his white cap with a red button just where he said he’d be (on the subway platform). Lovely guy and all, but I think he was about 100 years old. He’s been a greeter since he retired. He’s been a greeter for 36 years. 

Anyway, Arnold found, we jumped on a train. We were very grateful for the introduction to the subway. He also gave us a metro card to top up. Lots of things change in 36 years, and I’d suggest - don’t get a Metro card. They now have tap and go and if you use it 12 times, every other trip is free. We missed out on this due to topping up the card as Arnold suggested. Anyway…

We ended up at the Staten Island Ferry stop. Ever Vlogger said not to bother with the ferry as it was dirty, pushy and always too full. I’d agree with that. Don’t do it. We hustled on - the benefit of being with a very old man is that he just pushed his way to the front and so we just kind of awkwardly followed. He was pretty deaf, so if we lost him, he’d not hear us calling him. Anyway…

We shoved onto the ferry with everyone else and here was one of the benefits of Arnold - we ended up on the right side (the right hand side) towards the front, so we got a good view of the Statue of Liberty. With every man and his dog. The ferry got to Staten Island and everyone madly ran off the ferry. Arnold hustled us along too to get to the re-boarding section. This was why everyone was in such a hurry - if you miss the boat, it’s a half hour wait. So Arnold pushed his way to the front again, and we followed. This time, he got us to the very front of the boat. It was open, and freezing as the wind hurled straight in. The only view from here was straight onto Manhattan, which was nice, but not spectacular and I had Arnold in my ear telling me not to take photos yet and that he’d tell me when. Sigh. So I didn’t take photos until he told me when, where I had bout 10 seconds to line up the pic. Sigh. Anyway…

Off the ferry and into the financial district. Arnold knew the names of each building there. Some were interesting, others weren’t. Some of the buildings were really lovely though. We looked at quite a few buildings, all to do with shipping way back when. Then we went to the Native American Museum. It was in an old bank building - we know this because Arnold took us to see the old teller stations on the way out. This place would be fascinating to look around in. There was a lot of information amongst the displays, but Arnold raced us through and we weren’t able to stop and read much at all. He wanted us to see the clothing section. So we saw the clothing section. Really interesting though - I’d go back here if I came to NY again and would take my time going through it. We’ve seen plenty of museums with stolen artifacts, dinosaur bones and butterflies on pins - this one was more up our alley - where we could learn something special. Anyway…

On to an old park, Manhattan’s first park, that had it’s original fence (Bowling Green fence) from 1771. That’s definitely older than Arnold. We walked through the little park and came out behind the Wall Street bull. Arnold raced past, which was ok because we didn’t really want to line up for a photo anyway. But, it was a bronze bull, so I took a photo and you can clearly see the parts people rub the most. 

Then we saw the facade of a building that George Washington occupied for 6 months in 1790. Then we came to a church, I’m not sure which one and Arnold didn’t hear us when we asked a few times, but we walked past a fence where Alexander Hamilton’s headstone was on the other side. We couldn’t read it though. We walked past the Stock Exchange building and saw the little girl statue, but again, no time to stop and take a photo with the statue, just of the statue instead. Past another few buildings and then into one that had a large atrium (again, not sure what the building was about) and then out the other side to go and see the Federal Hall National Memorial (I know this because my photos are telling me that’s where we were). We saw old bank vaults and a stone that was the balcony that Washington stood on when he took the oath of presidency in 1789. 

Then we headed back to the little park to grab some lunch. Arnold wouldn’t let us buy him lunch, or even a drink, or bottle of water! Very generous of him but we felt like we’d like to give him at least something for his time. He asked us to make a donation to Big Apple Greeters instead. Seemed fair. There were food trucks everywhere (it was Memorial Day long weekend) and we went to a gyros (yiros) one and grabbed two skewers each. Yummy chicken and yummy lamb. We sat down and enjoyed them as we were starving!! We tried to make conversation with Arnold but he couldn’t hear us. Anyway…

Then we were off again - we saw the Oculus which according to Arnold, cost too much money to build. Really great architecture though. Then we were on our way to the 911 memorial. We had not planned to visit. It may sound weird, but we don’t visit places like that. I understand there is a respect thing happening, like at Arlington, or a history thing, like at Alcatraz, but we both find them all a little too ikky and morbid. We pay our respects, just not in the places like this. Anyway. We walked past the fire station that was across for the WTC and they had a lovely memorial plaque on the outside. Across the road was ground zero. The memorial that they have built is wonderful and extremely poignant. If you haven’t seen the design, you’ll find it here. I’m glad we went in the end. I cried. It was so sad. It’s a lovely way to ‘fill in the space’ and you get a real sense of what went missing. 

Arnold described the whole 911 event to us. Not from a personal perspective, or what it was like to be in NY during that time - but from a news report perspective. Anyway…

By this time it was 2:30pm and we had had enough. Interesting, but we also felt like the day was wasting away. We convinced Arnold that we were ready to call it quits. So then he took us back to the occulus to sit down for him to give us a lot of brochures. He said there was a place to sit in there, so he took us to the apple store and we sat at one of the Genius tables. We got a lot of brochures. Arnold told us which train to catch back to transfer at some other station to get a train to 23rd (& 7th) and pointed us in that direction. The only problem was that those trains weren’t running that day due to the Memorial Day holiday. So we got on a different train, got off where we were told to transfer, only to find that the train from there wasn’t running either. So we headed back onto the street to find that we were about two blocks from where we started. We gave up and called an Uber. 

We rested up for a bit as it had been a big day already and I had booked a cruise for that night. There are so many different cruises you can do to see the skyline from the water - and they are all expensive. I found this ‘North River Lobster Company’ and it was. $5 to board their boat and you just needed to buy a meal on board. A 2 hour sunset cruise out to the Statue of Liberty and back. Bargain! We jumped on board and ordered a cocktail straight up. The sun was out and it was fabulous sitting on the top deck in the sun. I felt very (wait for it)… New York! I should add, we walked to the pier via the Highline - an abandoned railway line turned into a park like pedestrian mall. It was a very pleasant stroll andI’d say the highline was a worthwhile thing to do. We also saw the Vessel at the end of the walk. Buggered if I’d be walking up all those stairs though. Admiration from the ground was enough - and so we headed for our boat. 

The boat took off and we ended up with a very cool old couple sitting on the table next to us. They turned out to be great fun to chat with. The couple on the other side of us were visiting from Barbados and were into the whole lobsters as soon as we left the dock. The old guy ordered the cocktail I had and said ‘easy on the ice’ to the waiter, and told me to always do the same. I took his advice. We ordered lobster rolls and a corncob. The rolls were good, nothing special but a good price and nice and fresh. The corncob was wonderful and I made an appropriate amount of mess. 

We sailed out to the Lady and got some excellent photos as the sun was setting. This was how we wanted to see the statue. We were right there, without people pushing and shoving. The skyline of Manhattan on the way out (in the sun) and the way back (in the dark) was mind blowing. It’s everything you see in the movies and we had a blast looking at it and taking a million photos. It got really, really cold up on the deck though so we went downstairs and inside to sit with the old couple again (who hightailed it into the warmth much earlier). We sat there chatting and they gave us a few recommendations for restaurants around the place. We exchanged numbers as the lady wanted to get me about unusual places. She texted names and addresses of the restaurants but not of anything else. we appreciated the recommendations though - but they were all a little out of the way. Turned out that they were Joan and Howard Oestreich and when they said they lived uptown, they may very well mean in one of those apartments overlooking Central Park.

After a completely long and exhausting first day in New York, we uber’ed it home to the Chelsea and jumped into the beautiful, big, plush, king size bed and slept like logs.

Check out the very large amount of photos here.

28 May 2023: Minneapolis to New York City

I’m currently sitting on an American Airlines flight on our way to NYC. Very exciting times. I’m also going to be spending my time, looking back over the past few days as I’ve been very slack with blogging, while Mark continues to watch the latest season of ‘The Mandalorian’.

So, it’s the day after the wedding. Woke up feeling fine but pretty hungry. After the fiasco of a breakfast yesterday, we decided to head to Jimmy’s the attached (but unaffiliated as we were informed) bar next to the hotel. Our hostess was Jodie and she was the best hostess we’ve had so far. She was funny and informative and taught me all about the different ways to order fried eggs in the US. She asked us if the bugs in Australia really were as big as the internet said they were. We kind of confirmed they weren’t quite as big, but close, and I told her that it was the drop bears that you needed to look out for. She obviously wasn’t in on that joke. 

We ended up with bacon, eggs, hashbrowns and fruit. And it was a great brekkie. Still can’t say much about the coffee though. I didn’t bother with tea either. There were grapes in the fruit salad, and they aren’t anything like our grapes. They tasted like they had orange mixed in with them and they were delicious. I asked Jodie what type of grapes they were and she said red grapes, even though they were green with a slight pink tinge. So nice.

Back to the hotel, pack the bags, all the regular stuff, but then we realised we needed a snooze. So snooze we did. As we were leaving we got a bonus goodbye with Shea as she was picked up her bridesmaids to take them to the airport. So that was nice.

Arriving in NYC was very exciting. We had a window seat but as luck would have it, we were on the wrong side of the plane to do the city flyover. La Guardia is big, but well signed so easy to get around. We waited for about 45 mins for our bags to arrive though - and then they put them on a different luggage carriage to what was advertised. Urgh.

Bags in hand, I used the Revel voucher that I had. $20 off the first ride was worth it! Revel are a new rideshare company that uses Teslas exclusively. So not only was it a good deal, but we were offsetting some of the carbon emissions we saw back in Toronto. Bonus: the tesla had a clear glass sunroof - so we got a good look at the city as we drove through. I should add, the airport is set up well to find taxis and rideshare. They have lanes for each company, and when you order the rideshare, it tells you which lane to go to. Plus, the staff at the airport were really helpful as well.

Our Revel driver was great. Brooklyn born and bred, he told us about bits and pieces as we went along. The first sight of the buildings was so exciting (as we came out of the tunnel). That’s a big skyline! The traffic wasn’t as bad as we’d expected and we made it to the hotel in no time. The Hotel Chelsea that is. Let me just say that again: the HOTEL CHELSEA. If you don’t know about this famous old place, find out about it here. I can’t believe we’re staying at the Hotel Chelsea.

Walking through the front door and into the plush lobby set the scene for what was to come. The girls on the desk were lovely, all in black vests and white shirts looking very professional. Even better though - they upgraded us! Thanks here to our fabulous friend and bestest travel agent Kylie who I’m pretty sure made a deal with the hotel and we got the benefits of it. The staircase alone was a sight to behold. All ornate cast iron, with marble steps. We made our way to the old fashioned lift and up to level 5 (room 5c - I want to record that for posterity). We opened the big, heavy door to the room and we were blown away. You need to watch the video in our album link to see what we saw.

A junior balcony suite is what we landed in. A narrow hallway with gorgeous parquet wood and stunning curtained cupboards led past the bathroom into the main area. The first thing I really saw were the curtains. They had little holes in them so that light came through, making it look like it was made of stars. There was a big heavy curtain on either side of those and when we opened it up, we were looking over 23rd street. The main area of the suite had a king size bed and the thickest old fashioned rug I’ve ever stood on. There were ornate carved bedside tables and then a small dining table for two, a 2.5 seater lounge, two single velvet chairs and a big old fireplace and marble topped mantelpiece with a lovely white orchid on it. It felt like a suite in an old hotel (which, I guess, it really was)! 

The bathroom was just as luxurious. Black and white marble everywhere, with brass fittings. The shower itself had two shower heads, one was a waterfall and the other was a handheld that pointed almost horizontally across the shower stall. I discovered this was fabulous for a sore back and I want one in our shower now! A huge bath, and fluffy hotel branded bathrobes topped it all off. The lights in the bathroom were also dim-able which made for a nice bath experience. 

We were totally beside ourselves and felt very posh indeed. 

We went downstairs to check out a bit of the hotel and find some dinner. There was a lobby bar, a private dining room, a function room and the attached restaurant, El Quijote. We decided that the tapas bar was for us. They had a crazy cocktail menu and I ended up with one  called Sherry Martinez which was gin, amontillado sherry, almond, and lobster oil. It was strange but also delicious. We ate potato tortilla, sardines & anchovies, jamon croquettes, and yummy chicken skewers - admittedly, all our favourite tapas dishes. 

We went for a little wander after dinner just to check out what was on our block - lots of lights, lots of little cafes and pizza places, lots of weed shops and lots of people out and about. Appropriate photos of the Hotel were taken from the outside, and then we went up to our (ahem) suite to settle in for the night.

NYC arrival pics (or really, a million photos of the Hotel Chelsea) can be found here. 

27 May 2023: Minneapolis (Shea’s Wedding)

We headed across the road to the Perkins Restaurant and Bakery to have some breakfast. We now remember the ordeal of trying to order brekkie in the US. Mark asked the young waitress (I think she was about 16) if they had a latte. Nope. He asked what type of coffee they had. Black or decaf. So he asked for black with some milk on the side. I asked if they had tea. Yep. So I asked for tea with milk. She asked me if I wanted sweetened or unsweetened. This should have been a red flag for me, but I didn’t really understand, so naturally said unsweetened. She came back with a warm black coffee, an iced tea, and two large glasses of milk. We both probably had really silly looks on our faces. I said that I had wanted hot tea, so she raced off to get that for me. The tea wasn’t great, it tasted like hot water from an old urn. So Mark ditched his warm coffee, drank my tea, and I drank the glass of milk. The food was pretty bad - with some hashbrowns that looked fabulous but were dripping with oil, so it wasn’t a great experience all round. 

We decided to wander up the road to the Walmart as we both needed deodorant, and I wanted Minties for the next flight (air pressure thing). Now this may seem like a rather mundane task, but it can be a great experience in a different country. For starters, how huge is Walmart! We found our way (eventually) to the toiletries section and we were faced with a wall full of different deodorants. Needless to say, our tried and true weren’t anywhere, so we had to make new choices. I tried to convince Mark that Old Spice was for him, but I wasn’t successful. Minties didn’t seem to exist, so I’ve ended up with some Werther’s caramels. 

Another snooze was needed. I swear, I still don’t know what time or day it is. Well planned timing saw us get ready for the wedding in a leisurely manner so that we were on the designated 3:15pm (leaves sharp, said Shea) shuttle bus. There were two other Aussie couples on board as well as an American couple. It was a nice trip, we were all chatting and laughing about AUS/US differences. We arrived at the Winery which was in a lovely setting. We all made our way inside to grab a drink.

It was a really lovely day as far as weather goes. There was no snow LOL. It was like a nice spring day in Brisbane. The setting was very pretty with the vines covering the small rises behind where the ceremony took place. We sat down, unsure if we were sitting on the ‘bride side’ or the ‘groom side’ or whether that even mattered anymore. 

First down the aisle was Ben, escorting his mum. Then he headed back out as Lisa and Brendon came down. We were sitting with Katie and Josh and I commented on Lisa’s shoes - we decided we’d roll her later in the evening, I’d take her shoes and Katie would take her dress. Seemed fair. I should say at this point that Lisa looked beautiful. Next, Ben came back followed by his groomsmen. A very dapper looking bunch. The lovely bridesmaids came next, in pink, needless to say. And then, the bit we all wait for at every wedding, came the bride. George escorted Shea and I promptly burst into tears. She looked absolutely every inch the lovely bride. Their vows were great - very personalised and obviously well planned. The ceremony was really delightful and they walked back down the aisle to “(this will be) an everlasting love” by Natalie Cole.

It’s hard to write about a wedding - so much of it is the mood. Ceremony over, we headed back in for drinks and nibbles. Shea and Ben were there to greet everyone as we came in, so it was good to be able to congratulate them right from the start. Everyone stood around chatting for a while, and then we went in to get ready for the reception. We were on a table with the other Aussies, Katie & Josh, one of the bridesmaids and her partner, as well as her parents. They were the other Aussies on the bus with us, but they didn’t really talk during dinner. We had fun and lots of laughs with Katie and Josh, which made for a good night. 

Ben & Shea sat at the wedding table by themselves - a bit different to Aussie weddings, but I thought it was a nice idea because they’d get a little alone time. The MC/photographer/DJ guy announced that there would be a competition to see which of the couple would be covered with whipped cream from a can later in the night. The deal was that each had a large plastic jar in front of them, whoever had the most money in their jar at the end of the night was the creamer, not the creamee. Needless to say, Shea roped in the donations and Ben wore the cream at the end of the night. 

Dinner was a salad first (again, an American thing) that had strawberries in it, and then beef, chicken, or shrimp. I had the beef, Mark had the shrimp. The bomboniere were Christmas crackers which turns out to be only an Aussie thing. Inside were cute keyrings with planes on them (a nod to the pilot groom) and little Aussie chocolates like Freddo’s and Cadbury Koalas. Nice! Dessert was a chocolate fountain - and there were animal crackers (so good). After dinner was the first dance (so sweet) and then out to the vineyards for some more drinks and a sit around in the fresh air. When the couple came back from a photoshoot, the dancing was on! By the end of the night, Mark and I had had a boogie to a “Don’t stop me now” and ‘Bust a move”. And right at the end, Apple Bottom Jeans so that the ladies could all hit the floor. 

Ready to leave after a fun, fun night, I pretended to sneak off with Lisa’s shoes. I was busted - but then, Lisa being Lisa, gave them to me! She said she had another pair at home - Lisa being Lisa, I believe her. So I feel like a spoilt ratbag.

It was a lovely wedding, and we both felt privileged to be there for it. Shea has always been special to both of us, so to see her so happy, on her most special day was fabulous. I love a good wedding!

For some photos and video, click here

26 May 2023: Toronto to Minneapolis

We raced off to Evviva for a yummy breakfast of pancakes and berries, with reasonably good coffee! We jumped into another mad Uber ride to the airport and as has been the case so far with Air Canada, got through the check in process quickly and easily. Once on board though - there was delay after delay. We ended up sitting on the tarmac for just over an hour. 

The flight itself was good - flying over the lakes was amazing. Small inland oceans really, they are so huge. Once we hit Minneapolis we grabbed an Uber to the hotel. This was the first lazy, unwelcoming Uber driver of the trip. The motel was nice, big comfy beds and pillows, and once we got settled in, we headed down to an attached bar 'Jimmy’s, which the reception lady went to great pains to point out how we could have things charged to our room but that they were not affiliated with them in any way. OK. We headed across the road as there was some diner that was not entirely unlike Sizzlers. We had … something. And saw a man in high heeled crocs. I have decided to take photos of all stylish crocs that I see now and send them to Jamie (because crocs horrify her).

There was a meet and greet with the bride and groom so that the guests could mingle a little before the big day. We were joined by Kevin and Will, two of Ben’s groomsmen and we had some really good discussions about the differences in our cultures and flora and fauna (everyone wants to know about Australian spiders) and about different places to visit in New York and Brisbane. This was also the first time we had met Ben. He’s a really nice guy. Perfect for Shea (not that we have any input!) and very personable. I think it’s going to be a fun wedding.

After maybe one set of wines too many (it was happy hour/s and 2 for 1) we went inside for some dinner. I had a blackened walleye (fish, I didn’t know that until I asked) and Mark had a steak. It was a nice meal!

I don’t really have much more to add here. It was a quiet day all in all, just getting organised and ready for the wedding. It was nice to meet people and catch up with others that we knew. Good conversations, good (ish) wine and a good meal. A good start all in all!

Check out the photos here!

25 May 2023 - Toronto (CN Tower & Toronto Islands)

We headed in to Evviva Cafe for some breakfast this morning. A smoked salmon eggs bene for me which is mediocre, but the pancakes looked amazing so we’ve decided we’ll have brekkie here tomorrow before heading off. 

CN tower: 

We joined a big queue to buy tickets and while we were waiting in line, we jumped online instead and ended up heading in much earlier than the people in front of us. There were the obligatory photos in front of the green screen that we eventually managed to convince the girl we weren’t interested in. Seriously, $45 for a rather badly photoshopped photo! I could do it at home if I really wanted to. If they charged less, we may have been interested. We saw lots of people knock back these ‘deals’ at each of the tourist places - look at the K-Mart model people! Offer things for less, sell much more. 

The elevator ride up was fun. 116 floors in 58 seconds (22kph). As with all of these things, it was a glass front lift so that you’d get the full effect. The viewing platform at the top was really well set up. Most sections were wall to floor glass, others had a little ledge (for the scaredy-cats). The views over Toronto were really good and gave us a much better picture of the city and what was around. We looked at the city and around to the other side to look out over the islands. One of the islands has an airport and the landing strip and planes look excellent from the observation deck. We sat down with a bottle of water to do the ‘take ten’ to soak it all in thing. Being still for a bit is a good thing. 

Toronto Islands:

Don’t waste your time or money on one of the sunset or city view river tours. Catch the ferry across to the Toronto Islands for a few dollars and get the same view. You’ll even get to sit on brightly coloured chairs in the sun while you wait for the ferry. We went across to Centre Island (yes, it really is called that) and had an excellent view of the city both over and back. Once we arrived on the island, we got two slices of pizza and headed down to the waterfront. There were bugs everywhere - not sure what they were, they didn’t bite, but they certainly swarmed. The pizza slices were pretty good, one pepperoni and the other a supreme, and it was nice to sit there just gazing out and taking some time to absorb it all. There were some locals there having a BBQ and it was really hard not to go over and ask if we could join in as it smelled so good!

We walked through the centre of the park on Centre Island to get to their pier on the other side. We passed lots of beautiful flowers including tulips and a very large fountain. Speaking of tulips, the guy on the Niagara tour said that every year the Netherlands give them tulips because they hid the Princess (maybe the Queen) during WWII and she gave birth there - hence the yearly tulip thank you. We made it to the pier and gazed over Lake Ontario - no dry land in sight. And it was cold. We hiked it back to the other side to make the ferry trip back. The view of Toronto is amazing, the city looks beautiful from the water. 

We hit up the Irish pub for dinner again. And cocktails again. And then staggered back to our AirBnB with the noisy bed. 

Check out our Tower and Island photos here.