Hello everyone,
Last night we unwrapped our Christmas presents and due to being all hyped up for Christmas I didn't get to sleep until 1! But we had fun wearing our Christmas jumpers, skyping our families and celebrating together.
We got up at 5.45am today and got the train, crossing the Manhattan bridge and seeing the Brooklyn Bridge along the way. We got to the Empire State Building for its opening at 8am. Despite being tired, it was well worth it! We walked straight in and straight to the elevator, passing hundreds of metres of queueing space which no doubt would have to be occupied later in the day!
When we got to the top, my breath was taken away. It was sunny and beautiful and you could see all of our surroundings so clearly. We stayed up here for about an hour and soaked in all the views - East out towards Brooklyn and Queens, North towards Central Park and the Bronx, west towards New Jersey and south towards the Statue of Liberty. It was really windy on the west side, my hands got cold very quickly!! But I still stayed out on the open air observation deck for ages. I took some beautiful photos (see below) and then took some mental ones too. The one of me with a red duck is a duck that all the Year 7s are given on orientation day. They have to take a photo of them with their duck for next year doing something interesting over the holidays. So my photo is up the Empire State Building because the teachers do it too! The views were absolutely stunning, I am so lucky to be here!
Afterwards we stumbled across a cafe on the ground floor of the building. Here we enjoyed a buffet breakfast including eggs, bacon, pancakes, cereal, fruit and more. It was delicious and just what we needed to avoid the overpriced food at the basketball!
We then walked to the basketball stadium; Madison Square Garden. I was soooooo excited! In the USA, there are six or so NBA games on on Christmas Day. Back in August or September I thankfully looked online and realised the tickets for this game were already on sale. We paid $280 Aussie each for tickets fairly high up, but when I checked the other day the only ones left were in excess of $1000!!
The stadium was really cool. We were in section 227 and had a full view of the court and its goings on. The New York Knicks were playing the Boston Celtics (the local derby, all the games around the country today were derbies). We wondered why the Knicks were named that and jokingly suggested they're named after knickerbockers - turns out they are!! They are named after the style of pants the Dutch explorers that founded New Amsterdam wore. We had a bit of a giggle at that!
The game was great. I quickly learned the names of a few players (some of whom I already knew) - Derrick Rose, Carmelo Anthony, Krystaps Porzingis (a giant Latvian guy!) and for Boston Isaiah Thomas. The skills were amazing, but to be honest they missed way more shots than I thought! So quick and agile though. I wish I could play like that!
The game stayed fairly close throughout, just about goal for goal. But at the end of the third quarter Boston pulled ahead, and then got out to an 11 point lead in the fourth quarter. With a few minutes left, New York equalised and the crowd got really excited. Even Alisha and Jess - who didn't really know the rules and learned them as Shannon and I explained - got right into it, cheering them on. But they fell short and lost by five points. Their rebounding and defence wasn't very good, but at least they had provided us with a close finish!!
The game itself was really good but there were soooo many timeouts. Both teams could call them, but occasionally the officials called a timeout too. The thing here is that they can't stand to have even 30 seconds left without something happening. At every break we were entertained - special Christmas videos, cheerleaders, shirts launched into the crowd, a competition, a marriage proposal and a guy playing a 'Simon Sez' game with young kids. It was all very in your face and cringy to be honest, but part of the culture so we got into it!
After the game, we walked to the Rockefeller area. Just as crowded as yesterday, if not more!! We met up with my friend Bek who I used to work with who is travelling solo here and had a lovely dinner at a heated rooftop restaurant. We chilled out for a while here and then all walked to 'Top of the Rock', the observation deck at the top of the Rockefeller centre. The Rockefeller Centre was built between 1930 and 1939 and employed 75,000 people for its construction during the Depression. It's the building you see the photo of with the men sitting freely on a beam eating lunch. Amazingly, only 3 people died during its construction!!
The queueing system here was so hot and claustrophobic, there were people everywhere!! We got sick and tired of people pushing past and pushing in. Pa you would be proud - I told someone off for doing so, the teacher voice came back on!!
The view was great but I think I preferred the Empire State view, however the city's twinkling lights were beautiful.
Tired, we headed back to our apartment for the day. We've had three massive days in a row, I'm hoping I can get a proper night of sleep tonight for the first time since I arrived.
What an amazing Christmas Day. Although it wasn't white, it was sunny and beautiful and full of amazing experiences. I hope you all enjoyed your day yesterday too!
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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