Kennedy Space Center

Our next adventure took us to Orlando, Florida where were got to visit with friends who used to live in London AND we were able to visit the Kennedy Space Center. This was particularly interesting to Nathan as he used (and still does) want to be an astronaut when he grows up!!

We got to see Atlantis on the launch pad before it was launched on June 8th and one of the Saturn V rockets (the model of rocket that were used to fly to the moon). It is hard to describe just how big this rocket was - it's hard to imagine that it lifted off the earth!! You can also see the vehicle that was used to travel around on the moon.

Niagara Falls

We went for a weekend trip to Niagara Falls on the New York / Canadian Border. The Falls themselves are stunning!!! We took the ever so popular 'Maid of the Mist' boat that takes fairly close the Falls. When you are on the boat, it feels like the Falls are much closer than the picture above indicates. Fortunately, we were decked out in our gear!!

San Fransisco cont'd

There is also a fun and unique side to San Fran. First there are the twins who are always dressed identically and still walk about town. Apparently, they have been on a few advertisements. They seem to enjoy the attention but needless to say, they are really sweet and friendly.

The next interesting aspect to San Fran is that there is a pier that has been completely taken over by sea lions!!! They are so funny to watch!! Some are sleeping, some are fighting over which ones get to be 'king of the raft' and some are just barking for the sake of it!! We watched them for over an hour!!

The last thing is that there is a classic American dinner called Mel's dinner and we found this especially amusing as our friend Mel had just been to stay with us.

San Fransisco

Our next adventure took us to San Fransisco. Nathan was sent there for a work conference called Java 1 (the city was swamped with techies!!).






The architecture and streets were amazing!! It's such a great city to explore.









I found myself always wondering what around the corner or at the top of the next hill! You can see Alcatrez in the distance.






And of course, it was really fun (and sometimes convenient) to take the trolleys around town. Ding! Ding!

A visit from Melence

One weekend, Mel & Larry visited us for a fun and food filled weekend!! We took them out to New York most favourite restaurant and out for a Southern BBQ (which is surprisingly common!).

This pic is looking up from the lobby of the Guggenheim Museum.


There was also a very cool exhibition in the main lobby that was made out of plastic magnifying lenses. It was fascinating to see the light reflected and images distorted.






And of course, what trip to New York is complete without going up the Empire State Building! Here is Jasmin, Larry and Mel at the top.




As well, we were excited to finally spot the Flatiron Building!! I have seen it on some many pictures but I couldn't work out where it was!!

Visit from Melence cont'd

This is the view from Jasmin's swish apartment in Brooklyn Heights.

Here we are walking across the the Brooklyn Bridge. . .






with fantastic views of Manhattan!!






We finished the day off with Frozen Hot Chocolate at Serendipity 3 (a quirky restaurant in the Upper East Side).

Little Britain

We are coming up to our 3rd month here in New York and things are slowly but> surely coming together. Nathan is enjoying his job - I think he likes being able to hob nob with higher ups. :) He has a couple of trips coming up - one to Minnapolis this week (not so exciting) and another San Fransico in the middle of May (very exciting!). I'm planning on joining him for a few days as neither of us have been there before. Yay! As for me, I am still searching for a job. I've had a few interviews and a couple of possibilities but nothing set in stone yet. In the meantime, I've been temping. I always think it's interesting way to see different offices and
corporate cultures.

Our big news as of late is that we finally have a landline number! Before
moving in, apartment was refurbished and during this time, the phone line
was cut (doh!). So it has been proved to be quite complicated to obtain a landline. In the end, we have decided to get a landline number through the internet via Skype. The number is +1 646 233 3083. This will work if you call on a normal phone but if you download Skype (www.skype.com) and buy a microphone, you can call for free! Our login (or rather Nathan's log in) is n8dawgrr.

I read something funny in the Metro (yes, they have a Metro here but it's not as good - too many adversts!) a few weeks ago made me giggle. As you know, there are parts of town dedicated to other nationalities, such as Chinatown and Little Italy. And since there are so many Brits who are> either living or visiting NYC, the city is considering developing a tribute
to the UK called . . . LITTLE BRITAIN!!! Can you imagine?? Virgin has already picked up on this and created a few adverts in response (see attached). All I can say is that I think that it would definitely boost tourism because all the Brits would want to visit Little Britain just for a
laugh!! :)






Some other little tidbits about our life in NYC are:

• Everyone thinks that Nathan is Austrailian because they can't place (and often can't understand) his accent.

• We are loving the fact that all the little corner shops and wine merchant will deliver for free!! No more sore shoulders from carrying the shopping!!
• Whoof! We can't get over just how many dogs are in the city! I saw a women pushing a dog in pram (stroller) the other day!!
• We made our first trip to the beach today. We went to Long Beach on Long Island. It takes about an hour and has a really cool boardwalk.

Well, it's fairly late on Sunday night so I should be heading to bed.

Greetings from NYC

Hello there!!

How is everyone?? I hope that this email find everyone well. :)

Well, our update is that we have moved into a flat on the Upper East Side of Manhattan. We opted for a 1 bedroom in Manhattan rather than a 2 bedroom in Brooklyn but we have a comfy sofa bed in the lounge that is ready for guests!! :) We've been busy unpacking and sorting through things and I've already made 2 trips to Ikea!! One is investigate and one to buy a few things - we left our bed frame in London so that was priority. Both times, it wasn't very busy - so different from London!! And not all of the furniture is self-service. You have to wait for them to get the big bulky stuff - I think it's because of the litigation society. Also, there delivery service wasn't very good so I ended up hiring a van and driving into Manhattan!!! I actually found driving in Manhattan easier than the motorways of New Jersey because at least I could work out what direction I needed to go!! :) I've attached a picture of the flat that I took from my camera phone.

We've been to a couple of church services but still haven't decided on one. We visited the church where the pastor who used to be at my friend Emma's church in Sydney (www.christchurchnyc.com) and Redeemer (www.redeemer.com).

Some little observations about our life here are . . .

• Nathan finds it amusing that Americans like to crumble up crackers in our soup.

• I visited the Virgin Megastore in Times Square and was surprised to see that they sold PG Tips and Heinz Baked Beans in the area where you queue up to pay.

• Nathan seems to be enjoying the New York office - except they put everyone in cubicles!!! I went for an interview yesterday and the office was all in cubicles as well!! This will take some getting used to!

• We met some of Nathan's colleagues for drinks after worked and shocked when one guy ordered a couple of pizzas and had them delivered inside the bar!! No one batted an eye and some of the staff even helped themselves to a slice!!

We would love to hear from you and what's going in your lives.

Lots of love

Leslie and Nathan