Sleepy Hollow - a Mansion, a Blaze and a Headless Horseman

We pack up to depart our Hell's Kitchen apartment this morning - it's been a great location but it's a bit airless and dusty, makes us sneeze, and it is right amongst the noise and tourist throng. Off to pick up our car - Brett is going to drive us, which solves the problem of what to do with the suitcases and is much more convenient than the bus or train.

Inspecting the car for dings pre driving away...

We pick up Raff at his hotel and head out for...

Such a cute little town!

With decorations on all the traffic lights...

And gorgeous little shops, homes and a music hall...

While we're debating where to have lunch, a local passing by - walking her dog, that's why we assume she's local - recommends the Silver Tea room for great tea-smoked egg sandwiches. So we pop in there and all order a petit luncheon which has a sandwich, a scone and two little desserts and a cup of tea - the tea menu alone is pages long! 

The it's off to our first activity of the day - a tour of Lyndhurst Manor, a gothic mansion. The grounds and the building are magnificent and it's great to be out in the open, wide spaces!

Lots of Halloween displays...

And then we're inside for the tour, can't take photos on the first floor as there are Halloween decorations - not sure what difference that makes. Interesting tour with the history of the house and it's owners through the late 1880s. Different owners added different sections and the last one willed it to the people, national trust type of thing. We could take photos upstairs - the ornate portrait room (our guide asked what word came to mind in this room. I said "ornate" and he had no idea what I said - I didn't think my accent was that bad. Amazing window too.

Opposite this window was an amazing bedroom suite...

And a couple of other fancy rooms.

It was a magnificent house. The marble on the walls was actually painted on wood - it cost more to do it like this than it would have been to use actual marble - showed wealth, they could afford to do it. The guy who owned it last was a Gould - I will have to follow up our family tree to see if nana's family is related.

After the tour, we went for a walk around the back part, passed the oldest bowling alley in the northern hemisphere, they are refurbishing it. And passed the scarecrow field - spot the Aussies tourists - there are three...

We then drop Raff off at his hotel and continue on to our B&B - in a converted firehouse over a babbling brook. The place is amazing but the lady who runs it is just a bit crazy - she said that she didn't want to talk politics and then spent half an hour telling us why Hillary is no good and a liar and Trump will make the country great again and so on and so on until we glazed over and just stood there speechless. It was quite ridiculous and not good! But the place is great...

Bit of a rest before we head out to pick up Raff and drive to our second Halloween activity - the Great Jack O Lantern Blaze. We're a bit early so we stop for a pizza before walking across - this event sells out and sells hundreds of tickets. We got ours early and when you book, they say 'if you're doing this event, leave this much time to get to the second event', which we did. You enter through the gift shop - Brett's pumpkin obsession continues - can't even remember what this product was - they had pumpkin popcorn, pumpkin jam, pumpkin everything.

Ah, this was pumpkin pasta - yummy...

Into the Blaze itself - there are thousands of pumpkins in amazing arrangements - trains, dinosaurs, snakes, all sorts. My pictures aren't overly clear but they're okay.

And information on the Blaze itself.

And the Van Cortland Manor.

Just amazing! And unique.

Next, onto the Headless Horseman Haunted maze. Bit of a drive and then they have event parking, there's so many people but it's very well organised. Up and into the queue to get into the maze. They have a bit of entertainment on a stage for the queue, which actually moves pretty well. 

As we're waiting in line, Raff notices someone in the fast lane moving to be just ahead of us - it's a guy called Aaron Tveit, who was apparently in the Les Mis movie and has done a lot of theatre, so that was cool - I didn't really know who he was! 

 

You walk down a path lit with lanterns and then into the maze itself. This involves lots of different structures - a barn, a boat, a cornfield, all dark with things hanging down and people waiting to jump out and scare you. Apparently I giggled the whole way through. It was fun but scary at the same time. The first one we went through, I held onto Brett the whole way through. 

At one point a guy jumped out at me and I accidentally stood on his foot. I did apologise a couple of times and he said, in normal voice, "that's fine, don't worry". 

We were right behind Aaron Tveit's group and the guy who was in the back of that group seemed to be more scared than I was and if we stayed close enough to them, they got the scare just before us so we knew what to expect! 

It was all very hilarious and not somewhere you can take pictures. This was the best I got...

Few spooky tombstones...

Got Shaun and Brett with one of the ghouls...

And then we headed back, great night!

Hell's Kitchen - a Choir and another Double.

This morning, being Sunday, I wanted to go to gospel church. I found the Times Square Church with an amazing choir and so set off for there for the 10:00 service. I have discovered that i don't get accosted by the ticket sellers and tour bus spruikers if I am by myself, walking with head tilted down, looking bored and walking with purpose - not one! It's great.

Got a banana for breakfast from one of the sidewalk carts and then found the church. It looks like a theatre - very large and ornate. They have ushers inside welcoming and directing people. They ask if you are here for the whole two hours - apparently lots of people just want to have a sticky beak and don't stay, disrupting the service if they are in the body of the church - they put them all upstairs. You actually get ushered to a seat - I got a good spot, close and in the centre, coz I'm a single seat.

Very nice foyer...

It's packed, lots of African Americans. They have a large screen at the top of the stage with slides saying "the service will start soon, please take your seat." And "turn off your cell phone." The curtain opens and there is a huge choir, band on the left and the ministers on the left. The screen projects the lyrics so you can sing along, (which I don't...) and I think I'm sitting in front of the only black lady who can't sing!

They sing for a good half hour and it's fantastic - lots of clapping hands and hallelujahs, amazing atmosphere. There is one guy who is recording it on his phone and is quickly tapped on the shoulder and told to stop - and not by an usher but by a parishioner. Another guy doesn't even stand up, just sits there checking his messages.

After the singing, there's a welcome by one of the pastors and then the choir sing two more songs - each headed by a different black lady - amazing! Then the usual greeting of people around you.

Then the sermon, good minister, talking about having open heart and being true, he mentioned what the world is coming to with corrupt people running for office on a bed of lies... Very interesting angle. Lots of amens and hallelujahs again. 

Then people are invited up for a blessing and the choir sing a couple more songs and that's it. I snuck in a photo, didn't want to be as obvious as some others around me. Bit fuzzy but I didn't have time to focus!

 It was a great experience - full gospel choir church. As I was leaving, I thanked one of the attendants and he asked if I was from Boston!! Not even close.

Forgot to mention last night, we were walking to the pub for dinner and passed a fire station. The doors were open and some people were taking photos of the trucks. A fire chief (by the look) was doing stuff and two pretty young things asked if they could take a photo with him and the truck. He looked pretty okay with that!

Then I have time to get a coffee and a muffin and a bit more of a scout for the Obama bobble head before heading to today's matinee - Holiday Inn, with Raff. Shaun and Brett are not doing this one - Brett, because he's more of a play man and Ye olde feel-good dance shows are not his thing and Shaun - well, for the same reasons but also the fact that he would just get mad coz it's a light and fluffy, let's-put-on-a-show show...! It's a good thing he didn't come coz the curtain opened and three guys came out in tails singing Stepping Out With My Baby - Raff and I were in heaven!

The show was from the old movie, and full of dance and Irving Berlin songs and just great. They did an amazing number where they were skipping rope and tapping as they skipped - fantastic.

The theatre was the old Studio 54 nightclub and the foyer here is amazing! 

There is a display about the movie Holiday Inn which incorporated some songs Irving had already written and some new songs specific for holidays.

This one for White Christmas is interesting and sad.

After the show, we went to Starbucks (shudder) for a coffee and sandwich before heading to our next theatre - tonight's show is School of Rock. Massive theatre and a great show here too - the lead guy was brilliant and the kids were amazingly talented. Great show for families, great show all round. And even good music - considering it was an Andrew Lloyd Webber!

We had a quick bite at the nice Chinese we went to the other night before heading back home for our last night at Hell's Kitchen.

And I had success in the hunt for........

Obama bobble head!!!!!

Hell's Kitchen - Quiet Day and Double Show

Lazy morning today. The boys headed out, I pottered about before heading out and around to the Drama Shop - great shop with lots of plays, scores, song books and books about theatre. They have CDs and DVDs, lots of leaflets advertising agents and vocal coaches. One guy asked at the counter for a recommendation for monologues, to which the shop keeper suggested some authors and let the guy choose his own - he didn't want the responsibility of picking the one!

Snuck in a couple of surreptitious photos...

 

Found a little cafe for an omelette and an ordinary coffee then headed around to Mood Fabrics from Project Runway - quite a few tourists there, and I became one by snapping...

 

The window

So many fabrics!

And trims.

And of course, Swatch, the dog...

Couple of typical New York scenes...

You wouldn't want to have your burning down or need an ambulance coz they just sit there, not moving for ages...

I'm on the hunt for an Obama bobble head - thinking it should be pretty easy - but no, apparently they stopped making them months ago and so now, they're all gone! The hour I have  left before heading to the theatre is spent scouting around, asking at all the souvenir shops. At one place, the guy said, "we don't have Obama but we do have Trump." To which I replied "oh, no!" Lots of people around me, I just hoped none of them were Trump supporters!

Our first show today is Aladdin. We're at a matinee so there are lots of kids! Very large, lovely theatre.

Enjoyed it, loved the Genie and the three friends, but it wasn't as lavish and spectacular as we were expecting. Still very good, just not as good as we anticipated. 

We also had every cliched annoying audience member around us - the loud-talking child, the person kicking the back of the seats, the loud lolls bag eater, and loud eater, and worst of all - the seats in front of us were empty for the start and we were hoping no one would sit in them, or if they did, it's a matinee, they might be kids. When they did arrive, the person in front of me was a six foot black guy with high curly hair. Poor Brett got the six foot six guy with a high-top hair style!

The city is massively busy after the show - it's Saturday night in Times Square!! Unfortunately we have to go right into Times Square to the cheap ticket box, to get tonight's tickets. So we race in, as much as you can, and then find a nice bar to sit and have dinner and a drink. Raff joins us for a drink between his two shows. Obviously, this photo was taken before he joined us...

We then popped back to home to escape the craziness for an hour and then out again - tonight's show is Something Rotten and it's fantastic!

This show is absolutely hilarious!!! So very funny, fantastic performances, great sets, costumes, extremely funny show with so many jokes about musical theatre. Just loved it!

Because this has been a quiet day, here's a tour of our home...

The street...

We are just down from here, next to the carpark with elevated car spots.

321 is our place, on the right is the wheel from the canon outside the military shop.

Hallway where the rubbish is dropped and people leave their prams and stuff.

We're on the fourth floor and the door opens to this...

My room is on the left. Tiny!

The boys are on the right.

Then the bathroom, next to my room.

Then the living area/kitchen at the end.

And that's about it!