Pics from Cape May County Park and Zoo

Last days and return!

The last two days spent in NY were very hectic!

We went to the Late Show (not Tonight Show as previously stated) on Monday. Boy - that was some experience. They have app. 300 guests to every show - and record two on monday, ours was the first one. The staff are really serious about making people clap and laugh - we'd say: cut down on the caffeine, assistants! Oh well, it was so cool to be let into the studio where the show is recorded. We sat on the third row SO close to the stage. It really looks like in tv, except you can see much better how the entirior is built. We were ABSOLUTELY NOT allowed to take pictures, and we hadn't prepped a spy cam - so no pics ;(  Really sorry - it did look cool, and we counted 20 different people off the stage (excluding the band), and it semed to us like they do this a lot. Wait... they do :o) The guests were Bill Murray and a yet pretty unknown black actress. We hoped for the likes of Cameron Diaz or George Clooney - but I guess you don't get lucky twice.

We went eating in the evening. An excellent Italian restaurant in Chelsea where we got a superb barolo-wine for a measely $55. We ended up paying 750 DKK for two starters (yummy bruscretta), risotto and fresh lasagne from their specials, espresso and a shared chocolate cake with icecream. Fantastic.

The next - and last whole day - day was Empire State building-day and Central Park once again + last minute shopping. Now.. Tomorrow we'll post our general observations about the USA (especially NY), but Empire State building.. Sheesh.. Talk about ripping people off! Luckily we had bought vouchers for the tour, but they still made us go through 4 different checkpoints, one of which only tried to sell us some stupid map and audio guide. Truly - this thing must be big business to keep so many people on staff. Buy extra Sky Ride! Buy extra ticket to get to 90th floor (instead of the 86th we went to)! Buy Map! Buy Audio Guide! Buy food! And oh - let us exit you through our tourist shop before we let you out on the street to hungry ticket-sellers. The view was awesome, really! Ditte - who isn't afraid of heights - got some cool snapshots up there. 

We took a walk in Central Park afterwards and loved it. Perhaps the only place in NY where you don't bump into people all the time, and maybe the only place in NY where you can find something close to beauty.

Wednesday was going-home day (oh, and the day Ditte got her brand new HD camera and Morten got a new pair of headphones). 

The shuttle arrived a bit after 1400hrs, to take us to Newark. What a ride! A coleric Indian chauffeur gave us the last injection of pure NY-temper. An experience in itself! Everything went soooo smooth in the airport. They were actually pretty nice at security, and the plane was on time and everything. At this point - we were ready to go home. Big city life clearly is tough on a couple of plain country folk hehe...  We came home today at app 0900hrs Danish time, and got 3 hours of sleep. We hope to be tired enough sometime later to sleep and beat jetlag. Danish Xmas beer, healthy Danish home-cookin' and Kent's new album should do the trick.

What a trip. What an experience.

PS! Once again thanks for the comments and congratulations that have poured in on the blog and sms. It means a lot!!! Thanks!!!

Overload and luck

We went shopping on friday! Trying to avoid the parade... NY baseball
champs and all.
The hell of Macy's was the first place. A bit of a tourist trap, with somewhat of a random service. Taken into account how much people rave about that place we were kind of disappointed. Got some socks. Mascara. Pants. Boooring. We also went by the Rockefeller Center - stylish place.
For the evening we had decided on a romantic dinner. Mike, the congierge, recommended us to go to the Water Club - a fine place by the waterfront. We got a table just by the window. Perfect. They then started us up on some pretty strong drinks.
[...]
What happened then is kinda hazy, but we do have some funny video of the cab ride back :o)

The next day... Well... Let's say we didnt go ANYWHERE.

Today we took the free boat ride to Staten Island back and forth, and saw the statue of liberty. Beautiful weather - hot too.
After this we were blown away by Times Square!! Ditte went to LOFT which by far had the kindest service yet. Which may have caused Ditte to spend a whole lotta cash. Late lunch at Carnegie's - famous for their pastrami sandwiches. Huge! Never seen that much meat in one sandwich. And we only had the small one, not the bigger ones. Really. This was insane. But very very delicious.
Tomorrow we are going to see the Late Show, with David Letterman. Yup! We were lucky enough to meet a woman who were writing people up for admission close to Times Square.
See ya on tv suckers!

TGIF!

Yesterday was our first, whole day in NY. As we wrote we were out walking. Half of Manhattan actually - which is something! Heck - we even went by china town, all thanks to Ditte and her map. This town is huge. The day ended with drinks at TGI Fridays just across the street, where we met Mike - the friendly half drunk family guy from Queens who, like the rest of the bar, was rooting for NY Yankees in the ongoing baseball match.

The hotel is okay. A bit small but it doesnt get more central than this. Empire state is just a block down the street.
Today we were all set for museums. Guggenheim, Moma (museum of modern art) and what have you. HOWEVER. Thursday is close day for Guggenheim, so no luck there though we found it first try via the metro. We then decided on moma, and went straight through central park. Past the place where Lennon was shot (by the US-constitutionally rightfully armed madman Chapman).
After a meaningless detour to natural museum of history... or whatever... we hit moma. GREAT PLACE! 5 floors tall with some fantastic art - Monet, Warhol... Superficially mentioned... Those weren't even the best. We spent the better part of 3 hours there and went to the St. Thomas Church where a mass had just started. Imagine this: a big quiet place in the middle of the most crowded noisy street we have ever seen :) We both had goose bumps from the singing by the way - it was beautiful.
Making our way back we stopped by and got food and wine. Pretty tired. Big city vacation is really tough on you. But NYC rules.

NY!

Yesterday we arrived in NY, after having returned the rental car.
Today we have walked half of Manhattan! Sooo tired... More to come.

Woops...just forgot....

....to follow up on the boating trip down in Cape May. The one where we were supposed to see humpbackwhales, dolphines galore and what have you. We saw nothing! Which sort of put Morten a bit more on the spot considering his proposal, as he'd desided to propose right after we'd seen the whales. ;o) Oh well....the proposal was still wonderful and perfect and took me (Ditte) completely by surprice! :)

On the boat we did however run into Jim and Rose - a retired couple from Louisiana. They showed us some of the southern hospitality and invited us to sit and chat with them (since there was no whales or dolphines to whatch). Lovely people...
....who had no idea that they were sitting across a man who was about to propose! Hehe.... :D

Goin Amish

After returning from Cape May (were the marriage plans were sealed, signed, delivered) we've once again been enjoying the great hospitality of Henrik, and stayed at his place. Yesterday we were visiting with Eric and Brenda (Henriks brother and his wife), who live in a beautiful house surrounded by trees. Even the poor weather couldn't stop them from serving us bbq'ed burgers and hotdogs. Good stuff!!! So funny to see how the family lives over here. Eric works with Cisco, which is also very well-known back in Denmark, and Brenda has recently become a teacher. We also met their lovely lively kids - Jacob, Randy and Abby (who told us scary stories!), and their cute dog Otis. After this we went by Ruth who is staying at a care-center nearby Joergens house. She recognized Morten - and we were there when she got her dinner.

We then went to a half-Danish half-American couple (Bente and Eddie), with whom we could talk Danish! Their three daughters and one of the daughter's boyfriend were there. Fantastic to meet them - and there even was a connection to Aalborg as Eddie had stayed there for three years (Eddie is American, Bente is Danish by the way).

 

So... Today is monday, and our final day on part one of the trip. We're going to Lancaster to see the Amish and locate some Outlet stores. We will find a motel or something to stay the night. The car is due back tomorrow, where it's time to go to NY.

 

Thanks to all the family in the US for receiving us with open arms, and being happy on our behalf that we're getting married. We both agree that we will definately return - and maybe see the family we didn't get a chance to see this time around. Special thanks to Henrik - you've been the best, and have done so much to make us feel right at home.

 

See you soon.