New York I

 So let's start with a pretty well known icon of New York to kick off this post. We flew into Newark Airport in New Jersey then got a taxi-bus thing into our apartment in the West Village, just off Christopher Street.  During the eight days we were in NYC we caught up with our friends Bill and Andrew from Newcastle as well as our friend Micke from Kansas City, Missouri, and his boyf, Bryce.  We did so much! Saw so much! We took the Staten Island Ferry (which is free) which passes by the Statue of Liberty and gives

 such a stunning view back towards the city on the return trip. That's Freedom Tower, the tallest sky-scraper on the left. Right near there of course is the National September 11 Memorial and Museum which we also visited. Much of the Museum is in the space of the footings of one of the World Trade Centre towers. I think they had done a very good job with both the memorial and museum.
We took open top double deckers around the city and tried to experience as much of the city as we could. Not once though did we need to catch a cab - we found the subway took us everywhere we went.

 This was our apartment building in West Village which we found through airbnb. It was perfectly located, very quirky as you can see a few pics below, and it was fantastic to stay in a residential neighbourhood as opposed to in the centre of the city. Our daily routine saw us leave the apartment around 9am and spend all day looking at things and head back by around 5.30/6.00pm.  Then we'd have a quick shower, get changed and head out, usually to a show on Broadway. This meant walking the 15 minutes to Christopher St subway and catching the red line into Broadway which was about 20 minutes.

 West Village, Greenwich Village and Chelsea are fabulous neighbourhoods with lots of small art galleries, cafes, restaurants and apartment buildings. This one was covered in this fabulous ivy.

 I have to now admit that I was taken with the beauty of the Empire State Building.  I had never considered it in any way, architecturally, only that it was once the tallest skyscraper in the world. But it is such a beautiful art deco building and looks so impressive inside and out. We climbed to the viewing platform and had the most amazing 360 degree views of the city.

 Freedom Tower is also very impressive, as is the Chrysler Building which was Steve's favourite.

 When i look back on the trip, some of the fondest memories were fairly simple things or little discoveries that we made. So after we had spent some time admiring Grand Central Station we spotted this cafe adjacent to the station and decided to have lunch there. At first we were a bit put off because they just had a brunch menu and no lunch menu, but our meals were fabulous. Nothing fancy, I had a bagel with cream cheese, smoked salmon and capers while Steve had a chicken cob salad.  But so nice. I had a couple of glasses of sparkling rose which also helped make the meal even more delicious.

 Such a fabulous place.

 Other great memories were spending time walking on the High Line, an abandoned elevated railway line that has now been transformed into open space with benches and gardens and spaces for people to mingle and people watch and cafes and places for local artisans and crafts to sell their work; another fantastic memory was getting a hair cut and shave (with a cut throat razor) at a barber's on Christopher Street....

 One of the great things about staying in an airbnb place is that you stay in someone's place and not a hotel room. So we stayed at some wonderful, quirky places that were so interesting.  This is our bedroom in our NY apartment, which was owned by this wonderful Argentinian photographer named Diego.  The place was filled with his photos and art that had been created by his friend.

 Times Square was overwhelming at times.  So many people. Really - so many people.  It was chaos and I think we arrived in a slightly stressed disposition to each of the shows we saw because we would never know exactly where the theatre was and always arrive later than we had anticipated. But so much energy, so exciting.

 About 15 minutes from where we were staying was the Stonewall Inn, which is the symbolic heartland of gay liberation.  It was here that patrons (including a goodly number of drag queens) resisted the regular police raid on the premises and a series of riots ensued over the following days, marking a turning point in gay liberation politics. We had a drink here on our first night in the city with Bill and Andrew.

And here we all are: Bill, me, Steve, Andrew, Bryce and Mike, all enjoying ourselves.  What a fabulous time we had and created so many wonderful memories.

New York II

 Our friends from Newcastle, Bill and Andrew, aka, Mr and Mrs White Trash, had introduced us on our first night in New York to the pleasures of the Boots and Saddle Bar, which was a few minutes stroll up Christopher Street from where we were staying. Miss Holly Day performed there on Monday nights and she was fabulousssssss.

 Our good friend, Micke, who is in between Steve and me, joined us in New York, with his partner, Bryce.  Mike and Bryce live in Kansas City, Missouri, and Mike has stayed with us at Larnook a couple of times. Here we are enjoying the fabulous High Line.

 I celebrated my birthday in NYC. This was my birthday lunch - check out the size of those frozen Margueritas!

 Later that night, after we'd seen The Book of Mormon, we headed back to our fave night spot, Don't Tell Mamma, where one of the wait staff who perform there, sang me (and two others) Happy Birthday, operatic style.

 We scaled the dizzying heights of the Empire State Building earlier in the afternoon.  A most auspicious way to celebrate a birthday.

 While we were in New York another friend, who I had never met, Andy, was going to be there as well, with his partner, Nigel.  Andy is Irish but lives in Sheffield. We had a fabulous night eating the best meal we had in NYC at the Don't Tell Mamma restaurant before adjourning to the piano bar for more drinks. Andy and I had met online about 15 years ago.  I'm a little drunk and Andy looks a little uncomfortable, don't you think?

 Steve, Nigel (who is a vet) and me at Don't Tell Mamma.

 We met this lovely couple who were sitting next to me but alas I have forgotten their names. They bought us drinks and joined in with us laughing and skylarking as we do.

 Waiting for the show to start.

My bro, Brett, had told us we really needed to see Les Mis while we were in New York, if only to see the latest Jean Valjean, the rather handsome and very talented, Ramin Karimloo. So we did. After the show, we did what we never do, and that was wait at stage door for the cast to come out.  I decided to see if I could get my program signed by Ramin for Brett, which he kindly did. But then I thought, as he worked his way down the line of fans, that I would wait for him at the very end and ask him if he would pose for a selfie for me as well. I was as nervous as all get out...

Shows We saw in New York

Good show queens that we are, we made sure that many of our nights were spent worshipping at the numerous temples of colour and movement in Broadway. Our first show was Pippin - which proved to be one of our favourites, even though I only knew a couple of songs and really knew zip about the musical. It's a re-jigged version that has only opened in the last couple of years and is now set in a travelling circus. We liked it so much we saw the touring version in San Francisco (Lucille Ball's daughter was playing Pippin's grandmother; the actor who played the very first Pippin when the show  opened in the 1970s was playing Pippin's father; and the actor who originated the 'new' Pippin was playing Pippin, so it was a no-brainer. Loved it the first time. Loved it the second time.

 Kinky Boots is based on the movie of the same name and features a score written by Cindi Lauper. There were some fabulous moments in the musical and the score is fabulous - but I can't remember a single song.  Some absolutely fabulous singing, dancing and costuming. The night we were there the producer and his boyfriend were sitting with about 20 of their friends a couple of rows away from us. I know this because the friendly woman from Los Angeles who was sitting next to me with her husband was curious as to why this guy seemed to know so many people and why so many seemed to be near-worshipping him. So she did what any sassy LA woman would do and went right up and asked him at interval.  And then came back very excitedly to tell me.  He actually invited her and the husband to the after-show party but she didn't think it was right of her to intrude.  'Let us go instead', we both yelled at her...well inwardly anyway.

 This was my favourite musical and we saw it on my birthday.  It is hilarious, completely without any due regard to political correctness - and in parts pretty confronting.  There are topics and themes that are featured in this musical which you would never expect in a million bibles to be featured. And it's full of fresh faced earnest and friendly young men, so why wouldn't you fall in love with it. Among my many favourite memories is the 'Spooky Mormon Hell Dream' sequence and song. Say no more....

 This was Steve's favourite and my second fave. A typically lavish Disney production that is just spectacular. The costume budget alone would have been more than the budget of a small nation - and it even had a magical flying carpet.  Now I know musicals aren't everyone's theatrical cup of tea but imagine if you were a little kid seeing the magic of this piece of live theatre - and just being complete let and utterly entranced by it.

 We saw this on a whim. This was the only show where we bought 'half-tix' for. We saw a matinee on a Saturday and we both agreed that the production appeared pretty tired.  Perhaps also I was comparing it unfavourably to the movie - I love the movie - and clearly the movie was more visually spectacular than the stage show is.

 Our final show was Les Mis, which has also had a remake.  I enjoyed it as I always enjoy this musical and the new led backdrops that feature some of the illustrations taken from Victor Hugo's novel were marvellous. Steve felt the actor playing Jean Valjean, the amazing Ramin Karimloo, was too young for the part, but I didn't think so.  But then again maybe I was biased because we actually waited at stage door for the cast to come out and I managed a selfie with Raman.

 And after most of the shows we headed around the block to this fabulous piano bar called Don't Tell Mama. Our friends, Jase and also Damien, had both told us we had to go there and we were very glad we did. The staff who work there as waiters are all musical theatre performers, or other theatrical types, and so they perform little shows of about 20 minutes each throughout the night.

 A guy plays the piano the whole night and sometimes there will be performers from other shows who will come in and do a number or two.  We would charge ourselves with delicious cocktails and enjoy the night of fun and singing.

Disney World, Orlando

 After a somewhat stressful departure from New York we flew down to Orlando and caught the Magical Disney Express (coach) from the airport to the Corronado Resort, Disney World, which was to be our home for the next four nights.  The weather of course was hot and sunny and the resort was excellent. This is a view from outside our unit looking across the lake (with its wild, though smallish alligators) towards the other buildings, all low and surrounding the lake.

 No sooner had we checked in than we donned our 'I'm a 1st Timer' badges and set off for the first of the four Disney Worlds we would be exploring, Disney's Hollywood Studios. We spent about three hours until closing time and that seemed to be enough time for that park.  The next day was off to the Magic Kingdom which is essentially an adapted Disney Land.  Here's Steve in front of the Magic Castle, which  he thought 'would be bigger'. Oh no, a Disney Disapointment - surely there is no such thing.

 We actually spent a full 12 hours at the Magic Kingdom, venturing into the various 'Lands' that make it up - Frontier Land, Adventure Land etc, and having fun on all (well most) of the rides and experiences on offer.  This was the jungle river boat ride which was lots of fun and full of animatronic animals such as

 bull elephants peeking out of the shrubbery

 Of course we had to go on things like the cup and saucers ride and It's A Small World...

 and we made sure we got a good position for the afternoon parade up Main Street so we could see Mickey and Minnie of course

 Big Thunder Mountain Railroad was a lot of fun and where I developed my enthusiasm for big dipper kinds of rides

 And at the very end of the night, 10.00pm was the magical fireworks display. Then it was time to wait for the bus - did you know that Disney World has the biggest bus fleet in the States apart from New Jersey - and head home for the night.

 The next day saw us immersed in the future at Epcot Park...it's Disney's original plan for the Orlando site but it seems to me to be two parks in one - there is the World of the Future aspect and then you go through into a separate area which then becomes like a World Expo with various countries being represented around a giant lake.

 So this was Morroco, and there was Germany, China, Norway, Mexico, USA, Italy etc where you could stroll around, look at shows and films and of course buy things. Lots of things. Again, we stayed until closing - at which there was a very impressive light and sound and fireworks show.

 This is the reception lobby at our resort. And below, one of the free living alligators in the lake at the resort.

One of the most interesting things at Epcot was a giant greenhouse in which all sorts of plants were being grown hydroponically and aqua culturally. We took a behind the scenes tour of the facility which was really interesting and gave us lots of ideas. And that's what it's all about, at least in part, isn't it. Travel I mean.

Animal Kingdom, Disney World, Orlando

 Animal Kingdom was the park I enjoyed the most and I was pretty impressed by the quality of the animal exhibits and the animals themselves. The park is a mix of animal exhibits, themed rides including roller coasters, Disney Shows and Disneyfied replicas of African villages. One of the experiences is to take a safari vehicle into a very large series of paddocks supposedly simulating African savannah. It was fun, the guide was very good and well it was not a bad experience.

 The simulations went so far as tyre imprints into the 'track'

 There were a range of animals inhabiting the 'savanna' including elephant, giraffe, lion, cheetah, various antelope etc.  This is a wart hog.

 Once disembarked from the safari vehicle, you wandered into the gorilla exhibits.  These were far and away the best I have ever seen...there was a series of very large paddocks which were landscaped and planted up to resemble the rainforest habitats of the lowland gorillas. One compound was for a group of adolescent males who would normally band together until old enough to challenge a big silverback, while the other paddock was for a family group of a big silverback and a number of females. One of the females had given birth a few days prior to our visit.

 As you walk around the park you go through replicas of African villages, marketplaces etc, full of places to eat and buy souvenirs of course. There's also a number of shows such as the Lion King show which was based on the musical, but an abridged version of half an hour - but truly spectacular and we actually saw it twice :-)  There was also a Finding Nemo musical which we enjoyed and this

 bird show which was quite interesting and informative.

 We decided to go on safari again in the late afternoon - who would know you were in Orlando, Florida?

We screamed like girls on a number of rides including Dinosaur, Primeval Whirl and Expedition Everest - you can see Everest peaking up behind us. They were all lots of fun and who would know I would enjoy roller coaster rides so much!  Greater self-awareness through travel, I hear you muttering. It poured wit rain for the best part of an hour around lunchtime but luckily we were under reasonable cover. I wouldn't mind coming back here to do some research.