Sulkyblue's Blog

My summer holidays this year have been rather undramatic compared to the almost overwhelming excitement of the Olympics last year. Most of my activity has been puttering back and forth to Cambridge to visit the doubled-in-number Whitfield clan, and while Cambridge and the surrounding villages are lovely, and there have been plenty of cream teas involved, my trips haven't exactly been holiday-esque. So I was particularly delighted when my brother declared that we had to go somewhere, and then completely blew me away by organising the whole thing himself! We weren't up for anything particularly adventurous (or expensive) so we settled on a two day visit to York.



One of the best things about that destination was the extremely easy travel arrangements. A tube journey to King's Cross then a couple of hours non-stop to York. We treated ourselves to first class (Grand Central Railways) which was worth it for the peace and quiet, although was somewhat lacking in pampering (tea/coffee/juice, a couple of packets of biscuits and a free copy of The Times on the way back). A lovely way to travel, so much less stressful than flying or driving.



We had a lovely 36 hours or so in York, a wonderful mixture of seeing the sights and just chilling out in different and pleasant surroundings. It's a very compact city, nothing is really more than 15 minutes walk away, and most of the routes take you through the lovely little narrow streets (I feel I should have an address on Little Shambles). We stayed at the "Hampton by Hilton" which was nice enough - not particularly luxurious but friendly, bright, clean and functional.

A few highlights:
The National Railway Museum which is right next to the station in an old depot. It's free to get in (although you're encouraged to buy a £6 guide or make a £3 donation) and is truly impressive. There are dozens of trains on display, all beautifully maintained and polished. I'm not much of a train geek, but this is the kind of place that can easily convert you. If I were being critical, I'd have liked slightly more structure to the exhibits so you could see the chronology, and also a more modern exhibit on how steam trains worked (there was a very cool full scale cutaway, but the information boards were badly done). I heartily recommend it, even the "warehouse" where they just have all their additional stuff on shelves, was oddly compelling.



York Minster - The building is literally stunning, it's wildly out of proportion with the rest of the city, and looms into view at street junctions, dominating every view. Unfortunately a few bits are covered in scaffolding and the whole of the east window is out being restored, but on the plus side there were some fascinating exhibitions on the astonishing care and attention the restorations are being done with. I was particularly amused to see the Blue Peter Bosses in the south transept, I remember entering that competition!



The Jorvic Centre - I'm often not a big fan of museums, I get bored easily and tend to spend more time thinking up better ways to deliver the information. The Jorvic Centre however has an excellent reputation and it's reasonably well deserved. Taking us round the panoramas and recreations in little cars like the rides at Disney was a really good way of not just forcing us to pay attention, but structuring the information as a story. The second section was well staffed with experts so you could listen to them enthusiastically and knowledgeably talk about the science of the archeology and the history of the Vikings. The whole thing was quite a lot shorter than I expected, but really well put together.

York's Chocolate Story - a relatively new addition to the city and a bit hidden, but it was a real highlight for me. You're taken on a guided tour which starts off with a history of some of the famous names in chocolate that were based around York (Terry, Rowntree, Tuke and Craven) with a brilliant use of video, then you learn how chocolate is made, play with some yourself and get a live demonstration from an expert chocolatier. Everyone involved was really interesting and charismatic and there were plenty of samples available.

The last day of our holiday and I’d finally managed to sleep through the night and wake up at a sensible time. Typical. We packed up pretty fast, rather sad to be leaving our beautiful room. We left our luggage with the concierge and headed out to knock off a few final todos. Annoyingly a short walk around the block revealed a proper diner, cheaper and more cheerful than the one next to the hotel we’d been going to. Fortified with French toast and bacon we headed to ... the shops!

On our way to Bloomingdales we happened to pass The Container Shop – a whole shop full of storage solutions – desk tidies, tupperwares, innovative cable tidies... heaven! I could have spent a fortune if it didn’t all have to fit in my already bulging luggage. Next up – Bloomingdales. Given the panic that Macys had induced, I wasn’t optimistic, but we navigated straight to the gift section and with the aid of a 15% off voucher we overcame the panic to stock up with gifts. We did get rather lost when we ventured into the clothing section, having to spend an embarrassing amount of time walking around the basement before finding the way out. I don't understand these big department stores, it all seems very stressful. We drifted slowly up and down 5th Avenue and Lexington. It was pretty chaotic, heaving with shoppers grabbing Thanksgiving gifts and embracing a few early sales.

We didn't shop very long, overcome by crowds and fatigue. Our final major stop was the Museum of Modern Art where we spent a shamefully short half hour, a non-negligible amount of which was spent at bag check. The only I really wanted to see there were Van Gogh’s Starry Night and Olive Garden which were somewhat breathtaking up close where you can see the amazing textures of the paint. We looked at a few of the other paintings and photographs, but for the most part nothing really stood out and we ran away. to the gift shop. We spent almost as long there as we did in the museum proper and I could easily have bankrupted myself, overwhelmed my baggage allowance and probably irritated my housemates with any number of weird and wonderful objects for the already crowded house.

We had a quick, cramped and relatively expensive lunch at TGI Friday’s and headed back to the hotel. I simultaneously really didn't want to leave, but didn't have the energy to try and cram anything else in. Five days I think is about perfect for a visit, if we'd had an extra couple of days I don't think we'd have seen a great deal more, we'd just have been able to space it out more so maybe we didn't just want to collapse by 6pm each day. I'm far from done with the city though. I may have done a good tour of Manhattan, but there are four boroughs I never even set foot in and more than a few things in Manhattan that we didn't get to, or I'd happily revisit. It's a city where it's very easy to be a tourist, they actually seem to like having tourists around and enjoy showing their city off and you quickly get the hang of the maps, travel and rules of the city. Everything is pretty familiar feeling, either because I've spent so much time there via television and movies, or just because it's like an exaggerated London. I was happy to be going home having utterly exhausted myself, but am also looking forward to going back sometime.

Having covered south yesterday, today was about north. Well, sort of ‘north of the middle’ anyway.

First stop (after breakfast of course) was the Chrysler building, which of all the things on the New York skyline has always been my favourite. Unfortunately like most skyscrapers, close up doesn’t work very well, it just looms overhead, hiding all the beautiful details from prying eyes. We popped into Grand Central Station to gawp at the scale of it, impressive, but at the same time, rather dingy and slightly disappointing.

Back out in the absolutely heaving streets, not really surprising given it was 10am on a Monday morning around one of the largest transport hubs in the world. After probably annoying any number of locals just trying to get to work, we ducked into St Patrick’s Cathedral. Once you’re inside you could be in almost anywhere, it’s like every other cathedral in the world - with the same stone, the same stories in the stained glass windows and artwork and the same architecture soaring above the heads of the whispering tourists and silent worshippers. It’s only the outside when you look at where its set that it is clearly revealed as New York’s Cathedral – tucked in between shops and skyscrapers on all sides.

After a respectful bit of gawping, we walked a couple of blocks over, returning to what New York is all about. The Rockerfeller Center has shops, television studios, an ice rink and a tourist ‘experience’. We stood watching the zamboni and the ice skaters swoop round the sunken ice rink (not at the same time) , perused the NBC shop and were a bit disappointed that the famous Rockerfeller Christmas tree would be hidden under scaffolding for another couple of days.

After a bit of a faff and unsatisfying exploration of the dark underground shopping centre , we finally got on a lift to the Top of the Rock. It’s not as high as the Empire State Building, but the viewing platforms are spread out over three floors and you can actually stand on the roof, which really does feel like you’re at the top of the world. Unlike from the Empire State you can also see Central Park in all its glory and of course the one thing that it’s impossible to see from the Empire State – the Empire State itself. It was a little foggy unfortunately, but that may have helped create the peacefulness, a sort of fuzzy barrier between you and the rest of the world. I could have stayed there all day.

Unfortunately that wasn’t an option (not least because we were hungry) so we went back to ground level and had a bit of a wander in search of lunch. On our travels we passed the Villard Apartments, a luxury block of apartments around a surprisingly spacious courtyard... which was set up with a film crew for Gossip Girl! How New York is that – a film crew for a tacky show about bitchy socialites? I resisted the temptation to loiter (well James wouldn’t let me actually) and we headed back up 5th Avenue, which was again absolutely heaving. Unfortunately, despite my desperate want for a little blue box, everything in Tiffany’s was far too expensive James departed to meet a local friend for the afternoon and I was left to my own devices. So I went to a toy shop. FAO Schwatz is the toy shop from Big, with the giant floor piano. Unfortunately I just missed a demonstration and it was heaving with kids. I was good and didn’t go into the Apple Store, despite the massive temptation.

The temple to technology is located right next to the south eastern corner of Central Park, where all the horse carriages start from, so my introduction to the park was a load of beautiful but extremely smelly horses. With an afternoon to myself I’d decided to take my camera to a zoo, unfortunately it was too late and too far to go to the Bronx Zoo, so I settled for its smaller sibling - Central Park Zoo. It’s a kind of boutique zoo, only a few dozen different animals, but it’s very well presented and quite charming. The tropical zone was unfortunately so hot I couldn’t stay long despite the beautiful birds flying free with no fear of the humans they’d happily pose with. I adore zoos, I love the camaraderie you quickly enter into with other visitors, pointing out camouflaged animals and all just walking round grinning like small children.



The zoo didn’t take very long and I had plenty of time to amble around the south end of the park, stopping frequently to appreciate nature and watch others enjoy the park. I was expecting something like Hyde park, but a lot of it feels a lot more natural, particularly when you can scramble to the top of one of the many rock outcroppings and just stare at the different coloured leaves. But then your next stop is spent watching tiny 6 year old ice-hockey players and teenage prima-donna figure skaters on the giant Woolman Ice Rink; or the enthusiastic but rubbish Little Leaguers playing baseball. It really is an amazing space – loads of things to do, but also plenty of peaceful spots where you can feel like you’re all alone in the center of the huge city. The skyscrapers seem to loom at the edges of it, peering in, but excluded from the area where there’s no work, no shops, just fun and peace.



Sun set, the temperature dropped and the park suddenly felt a lot more sinister. I walked along 59th Street which feels in many ways as if you're at the top of New York and if only you could get a little higher above the traffic, you could see all the way south to... well the ocean. After a brief stop back at the hotel to collect James we headed out again to Macy's. It was as far from Central Park as you can imagine and to be honest, we were utterly overwhelmed by it. I’m not a good shopper at the best of times, much preferring to stick to tried and tested shops than explore new ones. Macys was completely unfamiliar territory, we got lost over and over in the maze of departments, not really understanding how we were supposed to find anything or compare anything. We fled pretty quickly, but outside was even more chaotic as they closed 34th Street for a practice of the thanksgiving parade. We were going to wait and watch, but my energy levels gave out and I couldn’t face standing in the crowds of parents out supporting their cheerleading kids. After a proper dinner in a (somewhat overpriced imho) pizza restaurant we headed home and collapsed.

It's taken me well over a month, but I've finally finished going through my photos of New York, and writing up my diary. It's a slow start, with only a short few hours of Friday evening actually spent in the city, and I failed to take any photos at all, but things will get a bit more interesting in the next post...


The holiday really starts I guess once you’re actually in the place you’re going, or at least within sight of it, so all the tedium and bureaucracy of planes and airports shouldn’t really taint the holiday proper. I often find there’s a moment at some point where your brain goes “holy crap, I’m on holiday” and I then spend the next half hour grinning like a bit of an idiot. For my holiday in New York, this first hit me before I even reached the city, sitting on a coach from JFK airport to Grand Central Station. As we slowly trudged through rush hour traffic, the sun was setting and bits of New York suddenly started appearing. First the outlines of the World’s Fair sight in Flushing Meadows, the giant concrete constructions and steal globe easily visible from the freeway beautifully silhouetted against the sunset. Then finally, perfectly timed with sunset, the instantly recognisable silhouette of New York appears, skyscrapers, the Empire State Building and the Brooklyn Bridge.

By the time we emerged from the tunnel that carries the Long Island Expressway into Manhattan, it was completely dark. We walked down the half dozen blocks to our hotel, down Park Avenue, pausing occasionally for me to grin like an idiot (“I’m dragging a suitcase down Park Avenue!”) and sneak peaks of the Empire State as it appeared in all its multicoloured glory.

The final worry was that the hotel would be grim, but The Affinia Dumont which was booked because it was cheap and a convenient location, turned out to be a lovely place to stay. The staff were friendly and efficient and the room easily the largest and most luxurious I’ve ever stayed in, with a full kitchen and expensively furnished desk area! The only downside was a lack of free internet, wifi or otherwise.

We just about avoided the temptation of immediate sleep (it being only 5.30pm local time) and went in search of food. First stop – Starbucks for a hit of caffeine and free wifi. We continued to walk down 34th Street until I persuaded James to embrace the Americana and partake of a Wendy’s for dinner. OK, it was mostly driven by a lack of energy for anything more experimental, but it was located at the foot of the Empire State Building, and was a step more adventurous than the next door McDonalds. By the time we trudged home it was 8pm and pretty cold. We collapsed in front of the television for a bit before falling asleep before 9.30pm.

It's holiday season for me it seems! I've just got back from a long weekend in Weston visiting my dad and grandmother and inspecting the pier. It's just kind of not there, which is odd. But they're doing their best to keep up the fine tourist tradition by extracting money from you at every opportunity at the food stalls, toy stalls and donation buckets to cover "uninsured costs" whatever they may be. I spent the majority of the weekend camped out watching the Olympics and doing very little else. It was lovely.

Next up - planning the trip to Washington in (eep!) less than three weeks!

Some places I've been:

Florida - Kennedy Space Center (nifty annotated picture)
Disney World! - Epcot Center, Magic Kingdom.
Seaworld (including a boat splashing)

Paris - Notre Dame, the Louvre, The Eifel Tower, Arc de Triomphe, Sacre Coeur and Montmartre Cemetary

Cardiff and Caerphilly Castles

Thailand - Grand Palace, Bangkok, Chiang Mai (note the funky square) and Ayutthaya

Greece - The Acropolis

I've just spent three days in Weston and for the most part it was pretty dull. I guessed the weekend would take a downwards turn when I encountered Manuel from Fawlty Towers behind the pasta counter at Membury service station and it transpired they'd run out of everything except "Feesh" by 7.30 (lord only knows what was actually in the one remaining sauce container, fish didn't get mentioned anywhere on the menu). Having driven 140 miles successfully I then had my customary traumas parking on the street at the house, I blame it on the steep camber of the road. Conversation followed, food was avoided, tv was watched and I sank into bed.

Waking up at Weston is never a problem thanks to the alarm call of seagulls, actually getting out of bed is a little more tricky thanks to the deep and squishy nature of the mattresses. I made the mistake of skipping breakfast and curled up on a sofa to finish my book (Frankenstein - not nearly as gothic or horrific as expected, but not bad). By the time 'lunch' turned up at 3 I was more than a little peckish. James and I gulped lunch down and made a quick getaway to Town and the cinema. American Dreamz turned out to be in extremely bad taste and completely hilarious and the popcorn was absolutely superb! The intention to do some shopping after the film was thwarted by the fact that the entire Town Centre was empty by the time we emerged at 6.30. Seriously, there were tumbleweed and wild animals roaming!

We started off Saturday with a walk along the front into Town to correct the previous day's mistake and start the day with a hefty fried breakfast courtesy of the Dragon Inn Weatherspoons. I avoided spending a non-fortune on vast amounts of food at the superb farmer's market and wandered back along the front with hot chocolate obtained from the only coffee shop in town - a Costa tucked inside Ottacker's bookshop. Upon returning home I partook of the new shower cubicle installed in my gran's room. It cost rather a lot of money and is the most glorious thing I have ever experienced! There's water everywhere! At constant temperature! With amazing, muscle relaxing pressure! It was truly glorious. When I eventually dragged myself away from it and described its brilliance to James he declared that he'd never seen me so happy, slightly sad but oh so true!

Lunch was eventually served at 4pm (it was a superb piece of roast pork though) and the rest of the day passed in front of the tv, including a tense moment awaiting Gran's response to George Michael on Parkinson and a discussion about the fact that only souless heathens don't think the Dead Parrot Sketch is hilarious. I've also watched more news in the last 3 days then I have the whole rest of the year put together. I even watched Question Time!

We made a swift getaway by 10 this morning and having partaken of an awful cup of tea at Leigh Delamare and got thoroughly rained on I made it home *just* in time for the start of the world's most boring grand prix. I think I have now finally cleared the nagging headache that I've had for 3 days thanks to the incredible lack of oxygen my gran's house features.

Is there anything better than returning home to discover a stack of jiffy bags waiting for you from the kind people at Play?

On the downside I switched on my pc to discover a grand total of 5 emails which didn't go straight to trash - 2 copies of the same mail, a newsletter from above mentioned nice people at play, another from ebay and an automated news mail. Ah well.

I had a lovely few days away doing mostly nothing much. I spent Saturday out wondering around the village (small, suburban and unexciting), the pet shop (chinchillas!), Harmondsworth Moor and Windsor Great Park. I spent about 5 hours at the park including a wonderful walk round Virginia Water, sitting reading a book beside a waterfall and getting lost in the Valley Gardens. It would have been nicer if more of the flowers had been out but the weather was absolutely glorious (definately t-shirt weather), the birds were singing, the ducks were quacking and I felt more relaxed than I have in ages. A few more maps wouldn't go amiss, my navigation was based on memories of looking in the Surrey A-Z which I left in the car.

The rest of the weekend was spent lazing around my dad's flat and watching dvds. Not much different to what I do in Fulham, but just being in a different location made it seem special. Also being without the internet was very refreshing and watching dvds on the most comfortable sofa ever while looking out the window at the clouds and planes going past was hugely relaxing. Shame I've screwed my sleep patterns completely by waking up for qualifying and the race in Australia, but both were great fun so I'll get over my newly adopted pattern of 4 hours asleep, 2 hours awake, 4 hours asleep.

I'm back now though so I should actually get on with life.