A high and dry, wild and wet, majestic history medley – RTW 2018

[RooFlyer]

Pfft. Never mind the jars of cookies. Show us the fine dining.

 

[JohnM]

MIA at 0700h, hauling out, and one of the neighbours MIA-JFK.

 

[JohnM]

Spending the afternoon strolling around NYC. It’s been a few years since I have been downtown.

Just taking a breather in Bryant Park to juice my phone and use the free WiFi.

A few classics.

 

[JohnM]

Wandering down 5th Ave and security barriers are up around Trump Tower (next door is Tiffany & Co), a couple of quiet protestors opposite selling badges (I didn’t think it polite to photograph the badges close-up), police armed with automatic weapons outside, and security screening by the Secret Service (oxymoronically that was emblazoned on their ballistic vests...) to enter the building.

Waterfall cascades five floors down the wall, and there is a Trump merchandise store. Only in LOTFAP!

 

[JohnM]

A few more classics.

Rockefeller Center.



Library - not open, so I could not get a pic of the spectacular interior,



The Chrysler building is my favourite. Grand Central Station in the foreground.



Inside GCS.




St. Patricks Cathedral.

 

[JohnM]

Bryant Park, behind the NY Library as to be one of my favourite places in Manhattan. Just a beautiful little park with a real community feel, right in the centre of Gotham.

Despite the cloud and gloomy appearance, and some earlier light rain, it was actually a very nice day in NYC. Warm and no wind.



The Bryant Park Hotel looks the goods, too.

 

[JohnM]

Almost every time I’ve been to NYC, I’ve eaten at the Bryant Park Grill. Not fine dining, but definitely very good dining - and quite reasonably priced. Apart from the good food, the killer aspect is the gorgeous setting - especialy on the terrace in summer.



Tonight was no exception. I have a fairly early flight JFK-LAX tomorrow, and I needed to get back to my hotel near JFK (c. 1h) so I decided to eat fairly early. Just wonderful as the Sunday afternoon crowds melted away and the sun softly set.



The back of the library and the candles on the tables lit. It really is a divine setting that I would highly recommend to people visiting NYC in the summer, particularly.



Now to the scraps.

After all the walking and only a coffee and a slice of banana cake around midday, after my omelette on the bird MIA-JFK, I was feeling quite hungry (and, ahem, thirsty...).

Went for the appetiser of calamari with salad and the main of cod with vegetables. The serves are quite large, in true LOTFAP style, but they weren’t heavy and are well-made and well-presented.





Gaahh! A file upload error that I can’t back out of. I’ll see if this posts and then start afresh.

 

[RooFlyer]

Looks like you took the identical route to me a few months ago, right down to Bryant Park - although I got into the Library and not the BP restaurant

 

[JohnM]

OK, trying again with the food.





For wine, I went for the only Albarino on their list. Good, but not exceptional.





Now, as I have said before, I am not usally a dessert eater. However, I do make the occasional exception. Tonight was one of those times.

The triple berry, and the tropical fruits sorbets sounded good. It also included chocolate sorbet, which doesn’t seem like sorbet material to me. So I held on that and doubled on the triple berry.

Hmmm, the Albarino has been demolished and, in any event, it was not a sorbet wine. Well, the only real option, surely, is Champagne . A (nicely-filled) glass of Perrier-Jouet hit the spot with the exceptional sorbets!



A very pleasant day out in NYC .

 

[JohnM]

A few night shots on the way to the station (out of order for some reason- why does that happen randomly, I wonder?).

 

[JohnM]

Looks like you took the identical route to me a few months ago, right down to Bryant Park - although I got into the Library and not the BP restaurant

Pffft! - you ought to get a life, fella!

 

[RooFlyer]

Oh, I'm pretty happy with my priorities. The library was free and I can experience the restaurant here.

 

[JohnM]

AA Flagship Lounge JFK 0600h.

 

[Daver6]

That lounge actually looks appealing when it isn't totally over flowing!

 

[JohnM]

That lounge actually looks appealing when it isn't totally over flowing!

Looks like you’ll have to get out of bed earlier next time.

 

[Daver6]

Looks like you’ll have to get out of bed earlier next time.

My bed is still more appealing than an empty lounge

 

[JohnM]

JFK-LAX.

Lining up.





The prosecco was particularly good. That’s as far as I went as I have a long layover in LAX (in the QF F Lounge now, slurping a Perrier-Jouet), followed by 16h on the QR bird to DOH. Even the most irresponsible need to pace themselves sometimes .





Chemtrails from on high...



LAX F lounge. Aahhh - bliss; blunt picnic cutlery and tipping plates. No wonder I’m so proud to call Australia home....

 

[JohnM]

I’m currently in 1K aboard a QR B777-200LR in the rather nice Q Suite. Odd-numbered rows face backward.

WiFi is free for one hour or $US10 unlimited - a bargain on a 15h flight, IMO. I’ve had no trouble with email, web browsing, reading the newspaper etc., and the speed has been quite good, but AFF just would not load.

Now, fairly late in the flight, I decided to try a VPN. Bingo! Why that would be necessary, I have no idea.

Let me see how uploading photos goes

It’s pretty slow with these phone photos, which I think come in at about 2Mb each. Each one is taking about 10 minutes to upload. It would work well if I was using a laptop and could reduce their size more easily.

 

[juddles]

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I’m currently in 1K aboard a QR B777-200LR in the rather nice Q Suite. Odd-numbered rows face backward.

WiFi is free for one hour or $US10 unlimited - a bargain on a 15h flight, IMO. I’ve had no trouble with email, web browsing, reading the newspaper etc., and the speed has been quite good, but AFF just would not load.

Now, fairly late in the flight, I decided to try a VPN. Bingo! Why that would be necessary, I have no idea.

Let me see how uploading photos goes

It’s pretty slow with these phone photos, which I think come in at about 2Mb each. Each one is taking about 10 minutes to upload. It would work well if I was using a laptop and could reduce their size more easily.

Christ! Now we have TR's being made from the air in real time!! Well done!!

 

[JohnM]

Christ! Now we have TR's being made from the air in real time!! Well done!!

All part of the service, mate .