Homeward bound

I'm sitting in LAX waiting to get on the plane home. I am well ready to go. What a humungeous Adventure it's been. We have done so much stuff it's hard to take in. The blog will be a good tool for reflection when we get home and settled. Hope you enjoyed following our travels. See you next trip. You won't have to wait long.

Regards

Mike from iPhone

Last sun

Getting the last bit of sun before heading for the cold

Palm springs tramway

We went up the tramway yesterday. Tops out at 8500ft. If you zoom on the last photo you might see a huge wind farm and downtown palm springs(500ft).

Big bum

I've put on a bit of weight this trip so Lisa bought me a new bike seat more suited to the size of my arse. She is so thoughtful my wife.

We miss Calvin

Soo much that we have started taking pictures of dogs named Calvin

Lisa's next bike?

She's warming to the cruiser concept

Images of Palm Springs

Love the joint!

Coney Island

With Sal and Jodi and Gianna

Tesoriero family in New York

Lisa has a second cousin who has lived in America for 40 odd years. She had met him once before when he visited Australia. We had a phone number for him but there had been no contact for around 25 years. He is Elio's brother who you might remember we stayed with when we visited the family island of Panarea off Sicily in 2009. Anyway we called the
Number a couple of times in the weeks before we went to NY and got a machine. We had no idea if it was the correct number for him but Lisa left messages. We heard nothing until 2 days before we left NY. Lisa had a lovely talk with him and he invited us to Brooklyn to his home the next day. We caught the subway over and had lunch with him and his family. Wife Ronni, sons John and Salvatore and Sals wife Jodi and johns wife to be Molly. Not to forget the new addition to the family, Sal and Jodi's daughter Gianna. We had a great afternoon with them and they have that deep love of any family that we experienced on Panarea. On our way home Sal and Jodi took us to the famous coney island boardwalk for a look around. After that we jumped on the subway at Coney Island to go back to Manhattan. But that's another story.

Lisa NYC style

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A day on the NYC subway

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Blog stats

Not sure who is reading the blog but it's had over 1500 hits in the last month. Whoever you are, thanks for dropping by.

Regards

Mike from iPhone

American food groups

The best way to avoid the temptation of eating American food is to see someone else eating it. All 3 food groups represented here. Soda, fries and burger.

Crumbs Cupcakes NY.

1 cupcake = 650 calories and you pay $4 for the privilege.

Chillin

Mikey and Lisa chillin in Bryant park NY. 50 metres away a fully armed swat team are doing some secret squirrel op. Know body here seems to give a hoot

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Gipsy woman

Just got muscled out of the line for the dryers by a 4 ft tall gipsy lady. I'm not game to take her on. She might steal my tears.

Where did I go wrong?

I'm sitting at a laundry on the corner of 46 & 10th doing our washing while Lisa is shopping on 5th avenue. Did I go wrong somewhere?

Starbucks- coffee shop or social networking hub?

At least we buy a coffee. Lots don't.

Notice something? Look close

The water tanks on top of all the buildings are timber. They are all made by the same company. They have been making them for a hundred years or more. The NY water pressure will only push up 6 stories so the buildings need to pump up to the tanks to get water pressure through the building. I'm sure you probably didn't need to know that but the tanks make for a very unique skyline don't you think?

Oh no am I turning into a New Yorker?

I think something is happening to me. I have noticed a change in me. So have others. This morning I walked the 10 blocks to our favorite coffee spot without once being offered a brochure from a tour hawker. They can pick the tourists from the locals. But not me today. I walked with attitude. I pushed and cut in where appropriate. I J walked on cross streets in front of a cop. I even pushed a bike cabbie out of the way when he was blocking a busy crosswalk. I just said crosswalk? What the? Gotta get out of here.

Regards

Mike from iPhone

Homeless , why?

Last night Lisa and I bought a pizza and walked into central park to eat it. The light was fading as it was about 9 pm and being in the park at night is a no no because your gonna get your arse mugged. So we are sitting on a bench eating and I'm constantly looking around for signs of trouble. When we had eaten we still had a couple of pieces left in the box. I had noticed a homeless guy lying down in the bushes a little way off so I said to Lisa I wanted to offer it to him. I walked down to him and at first he wouldn't look at me when I spoke to him. Then I half yelled " hey mate, do you want some pizza" he finally turned and looked at me and said that would be nice thank you. He said he was a portrait artist and asks could he do mine as a thank you for the pizza. I politely declined. He said " your an Aussie aren't you" and then started talking to me about show biz Aussies. He also said he was a Musician. I could have talked to him for hours. I wanted to ask him what he was doing in such desperate circumstances but of course it's none of my Business. We said our goodbyes and Lisa and I got out of the park as it was now quite dark. I know this sounds silly but I've been sad ever since I talked with him. I have so much and he has so little.
We have seen so many desperate and homeless people on our trip. Many more than my last visit thanks to the GFC. Not once have I seen anyone talk to, acknowledge or attempt to help them in any way. In America the prevailing attitude seems to be that everyone has the right to succeed. But if you flounder it's your own fault. Americans treat there homeless like they can't see them. Sometimes I give them a buck or two. But you can't help all of them. It's strange but when you are cycle touring, you look a bit like a homeless person and you are sometimes mistaken for one as many of them push bikes with all their worldly treasures hanging on the bike( just like a cycle tourist). It doesn't feel nice when you say hello to a cyclist you pass on a bike path but they look through you like you don't exist.
Sometimes in a temperate place like Santa Cruz there are so many homeless hassling you when you walk down the street that it spoils your experience of that beautiful place. Did you hear what I just said? who the hell am I to complain about someone so desperate to eat that they beg you for 1 cent? It stirs up so many conflicting emotions in me. How can one person have nothing and another person have so much yet they both live in the same 1st world country.
In Australia most of us seem to understand that a little bit of socialism is a good thing. If essential services like health care are controlled by the government then we can all have access to those services. In America many people associate any form of collective or government control as a form of communism. And that's evil. Every man for himself, that's the American way.
Anyway back to my homeless friend in the park. He was laying in the dirt not 100 metres from " The Oak Room" which is a $1000 a plate restaurant on Central Park Ave. He was lying less than 500 metres from Trump Towers. Donald if your reading my blog i want you to know - That's fucked up!

Regards

Mike from iPhone

Pizza in central park

According to some locals this is the best pizza in NYC. All I know is, more than 2 slices and your heart will stop.

8th street, organised chaos

A 30 second snapshot of the daily mayhem on 8th street NY

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How dodgy is your walk to work

Check out this food vendor walking his cart to work in the traffic lane. No compo cover for him I bet

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Go the mets!

Lisa and I just spent the day at the baseball. We caught the underground out to queens. We got great seats just behind home plate and the game turned out a cliffhanger. The mets won. As you can see we got in the team clobber to help support then. Great day out.

New York puzzle

Ok so if your a regular follower of this blog you will have guessed by now that I am not that enamored with New York. It's been 5 days now and we are finally starting to get the place worked out a bit. Case in point we finally found a good breakfast joint thismorning for the first time. We did it by scoping out the locals. That's the trick. You see there are 8 million people living in the 5 burrows(suburbs) of New York. At any one time there are 1.4 million tourists in the city at the same time. You have to find the little spots where the tourists don't find. It's not easy.
My hatred of NY is a little harsh but to put it in perspective you need to understand where I'm coming from:
1. I don't cope with crowds
2. I don't like being a conventional tourist.
3. I arrived here straight after spending 3 weeks in relative isolation riding my bike in a remote area.
4. We arrived labour day weekend which is when Americans start there summer. So everyone is a bit excited.
5. We also arrived for the first heat wave.

There is no getting away from the fact that NY is a smelly dirty overcrowded and overrated city. However the people who live here develope coping mechanisms that I grudgingly acknowledge.
Having said all that this place is not for me. I hope never to return. We are still trying to make the most of our time here. Today we are off to see the Mets play the pirates at city field. We are just about to take the subway to queens. I have just taken my first Valium for the day. I am sure Lisa will take care of the rest

Regards

Mike from iPhone

Lots of fire trucks, no fires

But they seem to have fun showing off anyway


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View from the top

Rockefeller Tower observation deck

Broadway show

Last night we took in a broadway show called " rock of ages". It was bloody fantastic. By far the most entertaining stage show I have ever seen. As you probably know I don't like them( like
Most things)

Regards

Mike from iPhone

Touring town

Yesterday Lisa and I spent the day on one of those horrible topless tourist
Buses doing a lap if town. Unfortunately they are the best way to scope out a joint and work out what is where. We did the south end of town. Today we might do the north. I think I have enough Valium left. Highlights of the day were seeing the statue of liberty and going up the Rockefeller centre to the observation deck. It is a beautiful city with so many beautiful buildings. The crysler building is magnificent.

Regards

Mike from iPhone