This weekend is a cake baking weekend for me, and I'll be making a White Christmas Cake. This type of cake was made every year by my Great Auntie Veron, the best baker in the family. Auntie Veron died this year and even thinking about baking the cake is filling me with tears as it is a symbol that she really has gone.
I might skip some of the salt from the recipe as I think I'll be mixing in some tears..
Friday, October 21, 2005
Friday, October 14, 2005
Honeymoon Part 3 - New York, New York!
Or if things had been different, New Amsterdam, New Amsterdam so good they named it twice!
Accommodation and Logistics
After the relaxed idyll of Hawaii, it was a complete shock to land in New York. We landed at 7:30 am in Newark airport and caught the bus to Grand Central Station. A couple of blocks walk later we were at our hotel, the City Club, next door to the more famous and historic Algonquin. The hotel was a good price on Expedia when we booked, and it's location is good, a very short walk to Times Square and the theatre district in one direction, the shops a short walk in the other. The rooms were small (but what can you expect for a hotel in a city stressed for real estate) but the rooms were very clean, with a really good bathroom tiled in chocolate marble. Even better, they let us check in early, so we could get out of our travelling clothes and into shorts and tshirts as the weather was very hot and humid.
On the first day we got 'all loops' passes for the Grey Line bus tour. This tour is split into 3 lines, downtown, uptown and Brooklyn. You hop and off as you see landmarks you'd like to visit and you get a narrative from the tour guide which depending on the interests of the guide could specialise in architecture, theatre, food. This was a great way to get to see a lot more of the city than you could on foot or from the subway, however, if you make the mistake of going during Fashion Week and the UN in session then the busride past these locations can take forever.
Food
New York was great for food! There was everything from a cafe selling only peanut butter sandwiches near the university, a traditional american style serving meatloaf, steaks etc. vietnamese and the best food that we had was at a french restaurant called Balthazar.
What was cool
Downtown Manhattan was building heaven for me as I love the optimism of Art Deco architecture. The Chrysler building looked fantastic glinting in the sunlight, the Empire State was great and there are so many other bits of art deco detailing on other buildings that I spent most of my time tripping over my toes.
Central Park was an oasis of calm within the bustle, and amazingly large. I would have loved to find the riding stables and take a trot around the park, but I didn't get chance.
Accidentally walking around Little Italy on the start of the festival of San Gennaro - there were street restaurants, amusements and more sausages in a bun than you could believe.
What I'd do different
Arrive later in the year! The weather was so hot and humid it was uncomfortable to be on the subway, and I felt uncomfortable about going into the trendy shops wearing rumpled shorts and tshirts.
Get a different guidebook! The Lonely Planet guide that we bought seemed to have been designed to confuse and annoy.
Saturday, October 01, 2005
Honeymoon Part 2
I'd better write this while I remember it!
The next stage on our honeymoon was Maui, 'the garden isle'.
Accomodation and Logistics
We stayed at the Whaler on Ka'anapali Beach, which is an apartment complex, a mixture of privately owned and rentals. The first room we stayed in was 619 - if you're ever there avoid any rooms ending in 19 as they back onto the lift shafts which led to a particularly sleepless night. One room move later and then we were blessed with a view of Black Rock, no elevator noise and a terrace that wasn't in the sun so we could actually sit out on an afternoon.
Maui has a very small public transport system, if you want to go anywhere, get a car! We were driving a Chevy Aveo, which was low on bells and whistles, but more than adequate to get us up to the top of Haleakala crater, despite what the Alamo rental guy said.
Snorkelling
Black Rock was a great snorkelling place. If you get there early (as in 7:30am) there are loads of fish swarming around. We also saw Manta Rays and turtles moving majestically through the water. We booked onto a tour to go to Molokini, and to be honest we were slightly disappointed. If you haven't done any snorkelling on your holiday already then you'll have a good time, however, I felt Molokini was crowded, where you spent half your time avoiding other people instead of seeing fish.
Horseriding
We rode into Haleakala crater with Pony Express this tour is carried out at walking pace as the downhill into the crater is very steep. The horses were well cared for and very sure footed. The main role of the rider was to stop their animal from eating the endangere species on the way down the hill. At the bottom of the hill we had a picnic lunch and a good stretch of the legs before setting off up out of the crater.
When were were there, we saw several downhill cycling tours setting off. Originally Mark had really wanted to book onto one of these, but seeing the way the pace was dictated by the slowest rider he was pleased he hadn't spent the money. This was definitely extreme sports packaged in a lawsuit friendly way.
Road to Hana
The Road to Hana is a famous road trip on the island - a long and windy road (single track in places) leads to the town Hana. If you're going to do this set off REALLY early (as in 8am at the latest), as otherwise you'll end up stuck in huge tailbacks and struggling to find parking bays. To be honest, the scenery is spectacular, but neither of us were sure it measured up to the hype about it on the island.
Food
We ate out less on this island as we had a kitchen and a Safeway supermarket nearby. There were no meals that really stood out, but these restaurants had great sunset views and more than acceptable food , Leilanis and Kimos. One evening we ate at a little 'hole in the wall' bar and burger place "Jonny's Burger Joint" near to our hotel, the burgers were good and freshly cooked and the bar well-stocked. This seemed to be a place for locals to go eat and grab a beer after a long day working in the service industry.
The next stage on our honeymoon was Maui, 'the garden isle'.
Accomodation and Logistics
We stayed at the Whaler on Ka'anapali Beach, which is an apartment complex, a mixture of privately owned and rentals. The first room we stayed in was 619 - if you're ever there avoid any rooms ending in 19 as they back onto the lift shafts which led to a particularly sleepless night. One room move later and then we were blessed with a view of Black Rock, no elevator noise and a terrace that wasn't in the sun so we could actually sit out on an afternoon.
Maui has a very small public transport system, if you want to go anywhere, get a car! We were driving a Chevy Aveo, which was low on bells and whistles, but more than adequate to get us up to the top of Haleakala crater, despite what the Alamo rental guy said.
Snorkelling
Black Rock was a great snorkelling place. If you get there early (as in 7:30am) there are loads of fish swarming around. We also saw Manta Rays and turtles moving majestically through the water. We booked onto a tour to go to Molokini, and to be honest we were slightly disappointed. If you haven't done any snorkelling on your holiday already then you'll have a good time, however, I felt Molokini was crowded, where you spent half your time avoiding other people instead of seeing fish.
Horseriding
We rode into Haleakala crater with Pony Express this tour is carried out at walking pace as the downhill into the crater is very steep. The horses were well cared for and very sure footed. The main role of the rider was to stop their animal from eating the endangere species on the way down the hill. At the bottom of the hill we had a picnic lunch and a good stretch of the legs before setting off up out of the crater.
When were were there, we saw several downhill cycling tours setting off. Originally Mark had really wanted to book onto one of these, but seeing the way the pace was dictated by the slowest rider he was pleased he hadn't spent the money. This was definitely extreme sports packaged in a lawsuit friendly way.
Road to Hana
The Road to Hana is a famous road trip on the island - a long and windy road (single track in places) leads to the town Hana. If you're going to do this set off REALLY early (as in 8am at the latest), as otherwise you'll end up stuck in huge tailbacks and struggling to find parking bays. To be honest, the scenery is spectacular, but neither of us were sure it measured up to the hype about it on the island.
Food
We ate out less on this island as we had a kitchen and a Safeway supermarket nearby. There were no meals that really stood out, but these restaurants had great sunset views and more than acceptable food , Leilanis and Kimos. One evening we ate at a little 'hole in the wall' bar and burger place "Jonny's Burger Joint" near to our hotel, the burgers were good and freshly cooked and the bar well-stocked. This seemed to be a place for locals to go eat and grab a beer after a long day working in the service industry.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)