December 13, New York City

After landing at JFK it didn't take long to get my bags found, and wander over to ground transportation to sort out my pre-booked transfers. The guy from Super Shuttle turned up 15 minutes later and we were boarded up and off we went.

The Super Shuttle Buses always seem to fly. I'm not sure if they have to abide by speed limits, and the journeys can sure be hair raising. Despite this, the guy who was driving took a whole heap of short cuts to avoid a whole lot of nasty gridlock. I can now say that I prefer landing at 2am as my trips to the hotel have always been very direct. It took us nearly 2 hours to get to the hotel, passing through a lot of Queens, heading from JFK up to LaGuardia, across 2 different bridges and past the most amazing cemetery I've ever seen. We were further delayed by a lady who had given the wrong address and then refused to get out until the driver found where she was actually supposed to be. I was lucky to be staying Uptown as this meant that I was the third drop off, and sat eagerly counting down the streets as we flew down Broadway.

Arriving at the Beacon Hotel, Mum and Dad were waiting out the front with arms open ... and porter at the ready. We headed up to the room, and all I wanted was a shower and some breakfast.

After satisfying these needs we planned our day. Firstly we took the Subway downtown to the WTC site. As we were walking up from the Subway to the WTC we came across a group of people with Cameras and actors milling around. I stopped to take some photos, perhaps a Law and Order Episode was filming?! But then all the bystanders were yelled at because apparently our reflections were spoiling the shot.

I haven't been to the World Trade Centre since the new memorial reflecting pools were opened. The area is absolutely gorgeous, and the symbolism of the pools is very evocative and beautiful. The noise of the water blocks out the honking traffic, and construction noise, and allows for internal reflection as well as physically reflecting the shadows of the surrounding buildings.

From there we headed across the road and into the discount shopping warehouse that is Century 21. In previous visits we've only ever made it as far as the gloves department (and that is something of a tradition for me!) This time I arrived in the cosmetics department, where I was able to purchase a couple of bottles of perfume, at half the price of duty free in Australia. 

After that it was off to the shoe department and I scored a gorgeous pair of Nine West Flats. Not to mention sighting a whole wall of Manholo Blanhniks!!!

With quite a few bags now in our possession (Dad and Mum also did quite well) it was back up town to locate the Microsoft Store at Columbus Circle. Dad was disappointed on two fronts; 1) it was a little 'pop up' store, not at all along the lines of the Apple Store on the other side of the park & 2) warranties won't work on stuff purchase in the US if you take it away. So no new Microsoft gadgets for him.

We walked across the park, peaking at the Christmas markets, and possibly sighting the car of the Director General of the UN and then headed down 5th Avenue. It was not a good time of day to be heading down that way, the sun was TERRIBLE, shining directly into our eyes. Thankfully we didn't have to walk too far to find Tiffany & Co to make a few Christmas (and maybe birthday) purchases.

Further down 5th Avenue we went to Build a Bear and had fun choosing some clothes for a special bear, and also purchasing a Koala for a special little girl. It was at this point that I declared (after having said I wanted to walk all day because my tail bone was aching from sitting on uncomfortable, unpadded  airline plane seats) that I was ready for a sit down, so we headed back to the hotel to drop off all our purchases. Stopping by a hotdog vendor for some lunch.

After a nice sit, we headed out again, this time to my booked tour at the Lower Eastside Tenement Museum. Built in 1863 the building houses a number of different 'time capsule' style restored apartments, as well as some apartments that have been left as they were found in 1998 when the building was purchased. Located at 96 Orchard Street, the building was in use from 1863 until 1940 when fire codes meant that the owner gave up trying to make it safe for tenants and simply boarded up the top of the building leaving the bottom floor apartments open as stores. 

At it's peak popularity, the 5 story building housed 4 apartments on each floor. The apartments consisted of a living room, bedroom and kitchen. Most housed families of 4-6, but records indicate that families of as many as 14 occupied a single apartment! While the provision of 3 rooms might seem big our tour group of 15 could just fit in the living room, with people sitting everywhere, the kitchen was difficult (mostly I stood out in the hall way) and the bedroom would have been lucky to get a double bed into it!!!

The tour I chose was called 'Exploring 97 Orchard Street' and is only run once a week. It goes through most of the building talking about the archaeology and history as well as looking at the restoration and preservation efforts. All in all it was 90 minutes of very interesting information about life in, essentially the slums of NYC at different points in time. 

The tour was FASCINATING, and well worth the $22 and having to book early (this tour always sells out!) meanwhile Mum and Dad did the newest tour (already having done my tour on a previous trip) about the shops that had existed in the building, and were the only ones on their tour. They also rated the guide very highly and found it very interesting.

Because you aren't allowed to take photos inside (please google the museum to see some of the amazing detail) this is one taken outside.

Somewhat tired (and a little lost) we were going to head downtown to Fraunces Tavern for dinner, but gave up trying to sort out trains and headed back up town to Freddie & Peppers for Pizza for dinner. The yummiest Pizza in all New York.