NYC Day 3, 4 - Brooklyn Bethel, Rain and more adventures

We made it to Brooklyn Bethel on Thursday morning. It was on the same subway line, so it was super-easy (I'm even starting to type like an American.) Can I just make a comment about how easy the subway is to use. Initially, we were a little reluctant to use it, but it gets you anywhere and it's really easy. And, the longest we have has to wait for a train - maybe three minutes. It's awesome.

So, here we are...

But, one step back - about five doors from where we are staying is an awesome bakery called Levitan...

That gave us a good start to the day. Of course, both of the things we chose had chocolate in them.

Now, back to Bethel. The tour was really nice. Lots of displays. 

There was one about the international bethel family. Here is a close-up.

Recognize anyone???

Our international tour group. There was us, a few from the UK (in fact, from the Gujarati cong in UK), a family from Yonkers and a sis from Queens. Susan was our tour guide. And, I think that is the first time in my life I have been the tallest in any given group.

In 2009, we went to the International Convention in Korea. We met up with John and Kim from Guam Branch. Now, they are at Brooklyn Bethel and we caught up with them for lunch.

As you might have seen on jw.org, a new historical display has opened at Brooklyn Bethel. It's a self guided tour. Here is the link (you may have to paste into the browser address);

http://www.jw.org/en/news/by-region/americas/united-states/history-exhibit-tour-through-time/ 

It's really interesting. Here are a few tidbits;

Remember this? It was a book bag on wheels - a forerunner of the airport roller bags.

All of the slides for the Photodrama of Creation.

One of the slides.

Some of the uniforms worn by our brothers in Nazi camps.

Just see yourself, just see me too......

At the end of tour, we had some pics with the brothers on reception.

And, then we walked to the subway. If you have been there, it's about a ten minute walk. But it was RAINING!!!!!! We hadn't anticipated any bad weather on our trip, but this is pretty good for the first wet weather day. We headed home because we were smashed tired. And, also, to rest before our night on Broadway. 

By home, I mean to our home neighborhood of the upper west side. We had spied out this cool place that we wanted to eat at so we had an early dinner. It was an authentic Italian place called Piccolo Cafe. It was beautiful LOVED the fit out.

From Australia, we booked tickets to Spider-Man - Turn Off the Dark.

I booked everything online and was always edgy that the tickets wouldn't be there when I went to pick them up. But, as you can see in my hot little hands below, they were there. There are special zones in the theatre called 'Launching Zones' - they are usually more expensive because there is aerial flying in the show, these are areas that they actually fly to from the stage. When I was looking for tickets, I googled 'Spiderman turn off the dark discount code' and found a code that I could enter when purchasing and got them at least 40% off. It was cool.

No photos were allowed. But, I managed to sneak this one of the stage before the show.

The show was spectacular. It is Spider-Man, so, if you are after deep story lines - it probably isn't the show for you. The staging was just amazing. The way that the stage opened up and closed (literally). Was amazing. 

The next day, we were .... how do you say...... we were exhausted!!!! I knew that we had a few big days ahead, so we slept in ...... till 9. There was still 2 vouchers in the booklet that we hadnt used, so we wanted to use them. We decided to go to the Museam of Natural History.

This is the Museum that is shown on 'A Night at the Museum.'

Imagine these coming to life like on the movie. Hahahahha

We were hungry, so we decided to go somewhere that Natalie recommended.

It was so cool. Its a cool place in SoHo called LaEsquina. Its Mexican.  I enjoyed a weird drink. 

It was a beer based cocktail. And, it had chilli in it. It was refreshing and chilli-hot at the same time. The girl on the table next door said 'Its the nicest drink Ive ever tasted.' I wouldnt go that far.

Kylie had a boring Margerita.

Then, we walked to the high line. In case you dont know what the High LIne is, here is an excerpt from Wikipedia.

The High Line is a 1-mile (1.6 km)^[1] New York City linear park built on a 1.45-mile (2.33 km)^[2] section of the former elevated New York Central Railroad spur called theWest Side Line, which runs along the lower west side of Manhattan; it has been redesigned and planted as an aerial greenway. 

Here is a map of it;

It was beautiful!

This is the Standard Hotel. Can we stay here next time Kylie? Just under here, there was a girl selling ice-cream sandwiches.

Of course, I had one.

Can someone please hand me a coffee??????

From the high linem we looked down to the busy roads below. This was an interesting site. Soace is obviously at a premium in this town. This car stacker is four cars high. Crazy!!!

This was an interesting phenomena!!! It was ampitheatre style seating.....looking at traffic below????

It was such a beautiful walk!!!!!! At this juncture (IE. after walking about an hour on the high line), Kylie turns to me and asks "How much longer until we reach the high line?" I nearly wet my pants. Um, what were you expecting Kylie? She was expecting a zip line or a cable car. I still love you honey!!!!!

On the way home, we saw not one, not two, but three literature stands. So awesome!!!!

Dinner that night was a cool thai place that we found on the Upper West Side.

I have to admit, I am getting sick of posing for photos. 

And, then we left New York.

This photo was taken at about 5:30 in the morning on the subway.

And, onwards to DC. We headed there by train.

Thanks for reading, commenting and reminding me to update.