“The Flying Kiwi’s” - Epistle #2

Kia Ora te whānau,

On the ‘FREE’ ferry to Staton Island - how we got to see the Green Lady ‘Statue of Liberty'

WOW!  What an AMAZING day Mum and I have had here in the BIG ĀPORO… :D Aue te pai!
So, of course it started with me finding the dental clinic that I had emailed yesterday in order to get my tooth looked at - I had been in touch with our insurance people and it was all go!  So, I head off as mum continues to sweetly sleep away her jet lag in our REALLY comfortable bed.  I found myself at MADISON SQUARE garden.. Hello ‘Jackie Chan’ in Rush Hour quote ‘I’ve always wanted to go to Madison Square garden’.. Now, don’t get me wrong, I may have been in the wrong area of the garden… but I didn’t see a garden, let alone a flower anywhere.. LoL!

Found the dentist relatively pain free - figuratively speaking of course, because I was literally in pain.. yes indeed!  I thought that I would have to wait at least an hour, so I got comfortable on their seats.. NEKK MINIT - Una Matthews, the doctor will see you now.. YES!! What’s interesting though was the dental assistant who sounds LATINA with a very strong accent asks me where I’m from and I said ‘New Zealand’ SNAP - right away she be like ‘But you speak English very well’.. WHAT THE?? LoL - Hello Lord of the Rings - The Hobbit ring a bell… LORDE?? All in English.. LoL!! I seriously thought New Zealand had passed ‘grass hut’ phase… Not in NY people.. Not in NY… LoL!!!  To make matters worse I couldn’t understand her English.. Lol!

The Green Lady herself - WOW!  Statue of Liberty...

So, thankfully it was the wisdom tooth growing through and not an ulcer - although, at ulcer would be a quick fix type of hōha… the wisdom tooth is still under my gums, so he gave me some antibiotics and pain killer and I was on my way (PS - neither of them are really working that well - could be a blessing in disguise coz I can’t eat much - LOL)…

After my SOLO adventure, I came back and picked mum up and she was ready and rearing to go!  When she came down she we were both hungry and Mum said that she was getting homesick and so… where did we go for a feed??? Ki hea atu?  McDONALDs… LoL.. Manaia wanted me to get a SUPERSIZED McDonalds while we’re here - I tried to get one, I don’t think she understood me - so, I just got a large in her honor - LUCKY - coz it was GROSS.. the cheese was just plasticy yuck… So, didn’t even finish what I had…

Mum wanted to check her camera coz it wasn’t working before and so we went to a camera electronics store across the road from our hotel, snap bang.. the camera is working again.  So, we also bought some postcards from the same store 10 for $1.. they also had stamps that we bought and mum had sat down comfortably getting ready to write some postcards when… one of the store guys goes ‘What are you doing tonight?’ - I reply ‘Oh, mum and I are going to a show’.. he goes ‘Oh maybe later you can come here and we can go for a coffee together?’… BLINK BLINK - HUH?  The guy I reckon had to have been in his late-40’s early 50’s… AS IF MATE… he gave me his number and I said oh thanks… I say to mum ‘Me haere tāua!’.. she kind of starts moving slowly I go again ‘Me haere tāua inaeanei!’.. without another word she gets up and we leave - I told her what happened.. LoL!! We laughed the whole way to the subway station...

Mum getting her camera ‘fixed’ right before it got AWKWARD! LoL..

Our first ‘solo’ train trip to Staten Island ferry

And off we go to the Staten Island ferry because it’s free and we can see Lady Liberty from the ferry alright too.  Man, it was cool and mum was a real soldier walking around everywhere - it was a cool 25minute ride one-way and then we returned on the ferry after walking around the Staten Island terminal (apparently the Island itself isn’t too interesting - LoL!)

The Staten Island Ferry

Mum and I with Lady Liberty in the background...

We both couldn’t believe that we were THAT close to the Statue of Liberty and even riding on the Hudson River - that we DON’T have a view of from our ROOM.. LoL!  It was surreal being so close and even looking back to the NYC skyline - man it was really cool!  Just soaking it all in! We were both LOVING it and it was awesome being there with MAMA - we were both just enjoying the whole ride… what an awesome start!

My picture of Mum with the Lady herself...

Mums crack up picture of me with Lady Liberty.. FUNNY!

STATEN ISLAND - we came, we saw, we left on the next ferry out.. LoL!

Once we got back on the ferry we didn’t bother going outside coz it was chilly and we’d seen it all before - so we just sat inside and ate our lunch.. LoL!  ICE CREAM… LoL… Crazy MĀORI’s...

Eating an Ice Cream on the Return Ferry - COOL!  It was our lunch.. haha!

When we arrived on the other side - we saw that the World Trade Center memorial wasn’t too far, so we did a LITTLE bit of shopping and hopped on a bus to the WTC memorial - it was so sad!  Just like being a an URUPA.. so sad…!!!

A memorial for the firefighters on 9/11 with this informed ‘mangumangu’ man giving free information of what happened that we didn’t know - like that there was actually 7 buildings that fell on by the end of that day... 

At one of the TWO memorial waterfalls…. with the names of the lost inscribed around the edges... 

At the OTHER of the TWO memorial waterfalls… some saying ‘x’ and unborn child.. SAD!!

Mum reading the information pamphlet.. Aroha.. 

Mum with one of the memorials… with her new $5 sunglasses..

People can leave roses next to the names - this was the only one we saw today - I wonder if it’s his whānau, how terribly sad!

It was such a sad and humbling experience - I said to mum ‘I never thought that I’d get here’ - needless to say she thought the exact same thing.  So, it was lovely to be able to spend some time there and after we had sang a song - Te Aroha we left for TIME SQUARE… Need to say that New Yorkers - though they have a bad rap of being un-friendly we have met a LOT of friendly people who have helped us on our way.. So, we got to TIMES SQUARE - WOW!!!  MISSION - Get cheap tickets for a SHOW - we weren’t too fussed on which show - just something we want to watch and something that is cheap!! LoL..

Mum on 42nd Street - on our way to Times Square.. making her statement about being Māori in her Māori koti..

 So, people kept telling us to go to the ‘red stairs’… like we knew where they were - we were 2 lost Māori in NYC.. LoL.. in any case we did find the TKTS store.. which had NO LINES at this time of the day.. it was 7.30pm by the time we arrived to the ticket booths.. there was a list of shows on sale and we saw ‘PHANTOM OF THE OPERA’ - 2 really good tickets and seats for $150.. BARGAIN - 50% off full price tickets.. it was pretty awesome.. well, the songs I was counting on to be AWESOME were awesome… sometimes I fell asleep.. LoL.. Mum fell asleep sometimes too, but was wide awake for the 2nd half of the show.. it was pretty cool!  Couldn’t believe that I got to watch the PHANTOM on BROADWAY.. so awesome - we had people sitting on both sides of us before half time, after half time neither of them came back.. WHO DOES THAT?? Pays for a ticket, goes to half of it and then leaves??? Blimin rich people.. hahaha!!  So, after the show it was about 10.40pm and we walked back to the red stairs that face the SQUARE - just realized that once again I’m confused coz I didn’t actually see a square.. Hmm.. Anyway, mum and I just sat there and stared at all the lights, people, noise, LIFE.. it was AMAZING again..

WE’RE HERE - TIMES SQUARE - YAYAH!! 

Look how happy Mum looks!! COOL… :) Sitting on the red stairs... 

Our poor, tired feet!  Mums had socks on to start with.. she got rid of them… LoL!

 Mum was such a soldier today - we walked everywhere and her legs seemed to be treating her well.. my tooth was another story - and we REALLY ENJOYED our day today - getting to the main places we wanted to get to… Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, Times Square, Show on Broadway - DONE & DUSTED...

We found WOODY and BUZZ - had to ‘tip’ them for a photo.. LoL!

We found WOODY and BUZZ, I knew the kids would LOVE to see them and a photo of them - they had a clear sign on them ‘TIPS’ I was ok with giving them $1 each for their time - well, no one was walking pass so, I asked a walking Statue of Liberty to take the photo and she did.. then BUZZ the CLOWN - tries to get me to give the Statue a TIP… AS IF!! LoL.. If I didn’t give a man who helped me with my luggage a tip - I ain’t giving a photo taker a tip.. HAHA!!!  Well, it was such a lovely night so mum and I decided to walk back to the New Yorker Hotel.. it was about a 25minute walk.. We found a vendor and decided to get dinner from him coz it means we wouldn’t have to pay… you guessed it - a TIP.. hahahaha!  So, we ordered our kai then I told mum to cross the road to our hotel and wait in the foyer - NEKK MINIT - the Egyptian says ‘If you ever need anything while you’re here, somewhere to stay next time you come.. give me a call’… HUH??? Twice in ONE day… HAHAHA.. I better move to America.. haha!!

The VENDOR we bought dinner from AND the Egyptian that gave me his phone number.. LoL...

I said ‘that’s nice, thank you’ he gave me his number and then I left - what a crack up!!!!!  I don’t know where it is right now… Well, gotta LOVE NYC… <3 <3

Me with the Empire State Building behind me… COOL!!

Ok whānau, it’s 3.21am and I am very tired - we’ve been walking around all day and we’re exhausted.. but, this is awesome sharing these experiences with you all… We were going to go shopping in the morning before we check out - probably won’t.. will likely sleep till about 10am and make our way to our new whare… IN QUEENS - JIM who helped us make our way here said our new place tomorrow isn’t in a very ‘desirable’ place… Well, just as long as un-deserving people don’t ask us for a tip we’ll get on fine… LoL!

Arohanui whānau, friends and bored readers...Mumma and DortyXoxoxoxoxoxo