May 28, 2004 [Friday]......MarieBelle New York
After work I stopped off in SoHo on Broome Street at another chocolate store called MarieBelle New York. I have found at least 5 great chocolate stores here so far, but this was probably the most expensive by far.
In the back section of the store is the Cacao Bar & Tea Room where I tried one of the Coconut fantasy Iced Chocolate drinks. It was superb. And if you want some chocolate, $21 will get you a small box of 9 small pieces.

The Library of Columbia University [nyc] 

May 25, 2004 [Tuesday]......The Thrills
I've seen a good run of great bands at Irving Plaza in the last month, tonight it was the Irish group, The Thrills. In addition to a great show, they also stayed to sign CDs after the show which I made sure to get one.
Irving Plaza is down around 17th Street near Union Square, so when the weather is nice it makes for a good walk down there from our apartment. Even around midnight when I head home there is a bunch of people still hanging out at Union Square, the only thing closed is the dog run.

Will Smith's new movie "Last First Kiss" setting up filming on West 24th Street [nyc] 

May 22, 2004 [Saturday]......Upper West Side
Started the day by walking down 24th Street toward Madison Square Park. 24th Street was blocked for parking as Will Smith's next movie, "Last First Kiss" was shooting scenes in the area over the weekend. When we were there all the lighting was being setup and lots of other equipment unloaded from trucks. There were another group of trailers for the actors, several with names on the front, but 3 others with no names. Only one had a guard out the front of it, so I guessed that had Will Smith inside.

In the afternoon we went up to Riverside Park at 109th Street. Today was the Riverside Park Skate Jam so we watched that for a little while. Since we were in the area, we walked over to Columbia University which goes all the way to around 120th Street. The campus area looks very nice and there were several students moving out as they had just graduated.

After a walk down Broadway past Tom's Restaurant which is used as the outside shot for Seinfeld where they always go, we went back to 34th Street to see Kill Bill Vol.2.
While walking home from there, we past another movie set, this time it was for a movie called "Synergy" with Topher Grace and Scarlet Johansen.

May 21, 2004 [Friday]......Zero 7
I went back to Irving Plaza again to see a band from the UK called Zero 7. They are a unique sounding group who blend electronica with folky acoustic styles and have a total of 4 different guest lead vocalists.

May 17, 2004 [Monday]......Kansas City
Last night I flew to Kansas City on a work assignment. It was only booked 2 days in advance so unfortunately I had to fly first class on the way there as the flight was full. Kansas City is in Missouri, which is the other side of the river from Kansas state, which also has a Kansas City, so it can be quite confusing.
I was only there for the day so I didn't see any sights, and still not sure if there was any to begin with.

South Street Seaport waterfront [nyc] 

May 15, 2004 [Saturday]......Real-life Survivors
I was walking toward Madison Avenue to get a haircut this morning when I walked past the entrance to the flea market 2 blocks from our apartment. I saw 2 familiar looking people so I stepped in the entrance for a closer look, and sure enough it was Shii-Ann and Rupert from Survivor. I talked to Shii-Ann for a couple of minutes and she also introduced me to Rupert who she was taking on a tour of the neighborhood (she lives in Chelsea also) with his wife. This was only 2 days after Rupert had won the $1 million on Survivor so he must have still been on a high from that.

In the afternoon, we went to the I-20 gallery in Chelsea to see the latest photography exhibition by Spencer Tunick. The latest show is called "Public Works 2001-2004" and included a piece he did in Melbourne on the banks of the Yarra.
We had previously met Spencer at the Tribeca Film Festival last year, at the premiere of the documentary for Naked World.

Later it was down to South Street Seaport. The Seaport has a number of ships docked on the waterfront, with a vibrant dining area set on the cobblestone streets and plenty of shops. Anh was keen to see the store Neighborhoodies, where they make custom hoodie tops with any name on the front you wish. This is supposed to be an alternative to the plain versions of "Brooklyn" or "New York City" that are everywhere already.
We went back to one of the restaurants along the Fulton Street Mall and ordered up some lobster.

May 12, 2004 [Wednesday]......Ice Hockey at Chelsea Piers
Tonight was the first week of 12 of Ice Hockey lessons I am taking down at Chelsea Piers. Each week is purely concentrated on developing skills as there is no scrimage like when I played at Lasker Rink back in winter.

Apartment building used as the setting in FRIENDS, in West Village [nyc] 

May 8, 2004 [Saturday]......Hitting the Piers / Pac-man in New York
Met up with Marty this morning over at Chelsea Piers driving range. This is set on one of the piers next to where I play hockey and has 3 levels where you are hitting out onto the Hudson River.

In the afternoon, Anh & I went walking around Greenwich Village. We didn't realise it at the time, but we were stuck in the middle of a giant city-size version of Pac-man. We walked through Washington Square Park and down to Bleeker Street, stopping in at various stores such as the record stores that still carry a lot of old vinyl records. From there we walked down Bedford Street until arriving at the corner of Bedford and Grove Street. On that corner there is an apartment building which is shown on every single episode of Friends as the building where Monica & Joey have their apartments.

Time for lunch, we stopped in at an Italian place on West Houston street, complete with a 70 year old playing guitar in his sleep, where he seemed like he hadn't moved in 40 years. We made one more stop for the day, over at Vosges Haut Chocolat on Spring Street in SoHo. There we picked up a tub of the exotic Naga icecream which is a blend of curry-coconut-mango.

Later that night I read how one of the colleges had done an experiment in the Village that afternoon by setting up a real world version of Pac-man using the streets around Washington Square Park as the grid for the game, and students dressed as pac-man or ghosts being controlled by others on cell phones enacting the game in real-time in the streets of New York City.

May 6, 2004 [Thursday]......Tesla in Concert
Went to Irving Plaza again tonight to see Tesla, a rock band from the late 80s, early 90s that are back together again. They played a number of songs off the Acoustic Jam cd, one of my favourites, and the venue was packed.

May 5, 2004 [Wednesday]......Nelly Furtado
Tonight I went to see the singer Nelly Furtado play at Town Hall. Nelly's best known hit is "I'm Like A Bird" which she played along with songs from her new Folklore album. Town Hall is quite similar in layout to Beacon Theatre on the Upper West Side, in having a multi-level balcony style architecture.

May 4, 2004 [Tuesday]......Out at Shea Stadium
After work I caught the subway out to Queens and to Shea Stadium to see the Mets play the San Francisco Giants. It is very tight to get to a ball game during the week, so by the time I was at Shea, it was midway through the 3rd inning already. The Mets won 6-2 and there were some nice home runs hit during the night, the only disappointment was that Barry Bonds did not play for SF as he was out injured.

Bleeker Street has a fence with Sept 11 memorial tiles people have made [nyc] 

Washington Square Park monument reopened after restoration work for the last year, May 2004 [nyc] 

May 2, 2004 [Sunday]......Washington Square Park
The Washington Square Park monument has been undergoing restorations for the last year and was just completed in the last month or so. This is the big arch at the north end of the park, set in Greenwich Village. Apparently you used to be able to see the World Trade Center by standing on 5th Avenue and looking under the arch all the way downtown.
I took a walk around the park, saw the restored arch which I had previously only seen behind scaffolding.
As usual there were a variety of performers out in the park, people sitting reading and others walking their dogs.

Next, I walked over to Bleeker Street, had some lunch and took some more photos.

Cherry Blossom Festival, Brooklyn Botanic Gardens [nyc] 

May 1, 2004 [Saturday]......Cherry Blossom Festival
Each year the blooming of the cherry trees is celebrated in grand fashion at the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. The BBG has one of the largest collections of cherry blossoms outside of Japan, and they bloom this time of year for 1-2 weeks.
We walked throughout the gardens, the Cherry Walk and Cherry Esplanade and then circled around the Japanese Hill-and-Pond Garden.
From there, it was time for a late lunch break before passing through the Bonsai hall, and then seeing some traditional Japanese Woodblock printing and doll making. I missed this last year as it was raining but was glad to see it this time especially as it was a great day outside.

April 30, 2004 [Friday]......Yankees are back on
Baseball season has started again and there is more hype than ever for the Yankees as they signed plenty of big names in the off-season, notably Alex Rodriguez (A-Rod) who is one of the big names in the game. More reasons for everyone outside of NYC to hate the Yankees.
Tonight I went to my first game this season out at Yankee Stadium, against the Kansas City Royals, who the Yankees ended up beating in a good game.

April 25, 2004 [Sunday]......NBA Playoff Game
Today was game 4 of the opening round of the NBA playoffs between the NY Knicks and the NJ Nets. It was at MSG and a sought after event as it was 2 local teams plus the first appearance by the Knicks in the playoffs in the last couple of years. Knicks went down in this one 100-94, I'm glad I bought game 4 tickets and not game 5, as the Knicks lost the series 4-0 and are out of the playoffs.

Central Park "The Lake" on a fine spring day, 2004 [nyc] 

April 24, 2004 [Saturday]......Queen Mary 2 Docks in NYC
It is a glorious day outside and we are off to see the brand new cruise ship, the Queen Mary 2 which is in NYC after its maiden voyage. It is at the pier near West 49th Street on the Hudson River. Security is tight so it was very hard to get a good look but it was clear to see how enormous it is. Down next to the Intrepid, we could also see the Concord which is to be on display by summer this year.

Enjoying the day, we walked over to Madison Avenue and all the way up to 79th Street to have lunch at Serafina. This is a trendy spot reknown for its thin crust pizza, served with some attitude. The "Rich Girls" from the MTV show of the same name live near here and proclaim this the best pizza, it was good but maybe not the best.

Next, a walk over to Central Park and around to the Conservatory Water pond where many people are using the remote controlled sailboats you can hire there. We walked south from there through Central Park, detouring at the Skate Circle area where the artist "assume vivid astro focus" had a huge floorscape display.

Manhattan photo overlooking Central Park taken on the flight out of LaGuardia, 2004 [nyc] 

Ceiling sculpture inside the Bellagio, Las Vegas 

April 20, 2004 [Tuesday]......Leaving Las Vegas
This morning we walked back to the Venetian to have another look, following by a trek out to the Hard Rock Hotel. It didn't look far on the map, but Anh soon found it was a long walk so I could see the huge guitar on the front of the hotel. The movie Con Air made it look like this was part of the Strip but it is actually quite a distance away.

Lastly we walked back through the Forum Shops section adjoining Caesars Palace to browse the high-end stores in the unique mall type area where the sky is painted on the ceiling and even changes to dusk later in the day.

By midday it was back to the hotel, grab the suitcase and get to the airport. We actually didn't gamble in Vegas the whole time, there is plenty else to see and do. Not that there isn't every opportunity; there are pokies in the airport literally metres from the departure gate for a last minute fix.

Grand Canyon seen from window of 8-seater plane, 2004 [nyc] 

April 19, 2004 [Monday]......Vegas From The Air
Woke early to travel out to our scenic flight over the Grand Canyon today. We were flying in an 8 seater with a young looking pilot. He flew ok, but it was a worry when he was actually playing the "Top Gun" soundtrack during the flight, especially on the landing.
It was a windy day, so in a tiny plane it can get very bumpy, at least one passenger was air-sick. The flight went over the Hoover Dam and then the Grand Canyon, all up lasting 90 minutes or so. This was a great way to see the Grand Canyon, but a calmer day would have been nicer.

Afternoon was spent walking around to some of the other hotels such as Bellagio, Paris, NY NY, Excalibur and the Luxor, with the last 2 connected by a monorail.

In the evening we saw a cabaret show before getting on the bus to go look at Freemont Street, the old-school part of Vegas.

Is this the tiger that ate Roy? 

April 18, 2004 [Saturday]......Vegas On The Street
First up this morning was our spa treatment at the Venetian Hotel. The Venetian recreates the feel of Venice, complete with gondolas in a canal through the hotel and cobbled sidewalks. After an hour of the spa treatment, we walked across the road to the Mirage hotel. This is where Siegfried & Roy have their white tigers, which we saw in their enclosure. Our purpose here was just the buffet lunch, which there was a long wait for, but we made up for it by eating plenty once inside.
Next we headed south down the Strip past Treasure Island hotel and then got the bus to the Fashion Show Mall.

Early evening it was time to get up to the MGM Grand for the VH1 Divas concert which featured singers such as Jessica Simpson, Cyndi Lauper, Eve, Gladys Knight, Deborah Harry, Ashanti, Joss Stone and Patti LaBelle.
After the show we stopped to look at the lion enclosure which is inside the casino and you can stand right beneath the lions lying on a glass ceiling.

Outside again, we walked through the New York New York and Monte Carlo hotels before ending up at Spago for dinner where I had their famous pizza and also a green tea cola.

April 17, 2004 [Saturday]......Leaving for Vegas
This morning we got in a cab headed to La Guardia airport for a flight out to Las Vegas. Preparing for a long flight, we had a Starbucks before boarding. After a short wait on the runway, we were almost ready to turn onto the main strip for take-off. Anh decided that was a good time to get up from her seat in the last row and go to the bathroom. Not only did it scare the crap out of the flight attendant but got her a warning as FCC regulations make it illegal to be out of your seat when the plane is on the runway. It almost made our flight even get delayed while they check why there are crazies running around the plane.

We detoured via Houston before arriving in Las Vegas mid afternoon. We checked into Caesars Palace before walking up to the MGM Grand hotel where we had an invite to the Tabu ultra lounge as part of the VH1 winners package. We never made it there as the walk up The Strip took too long and we were due back at Caesars to meet Anh's friend, Tien, who was in town for the week for a convention.

Back in Caesars Palace we met Tien outside the entrance to the Celine Dion show that Anh wanted to see. 2 hours later we went for dinner and then dessert at The Cheesecake Factory.