Georgia on a Fast Train

Pieces written by Georgia Leaker during her time at COSMOS Magazine

georgiaonafasttrain — Wed, 07 Dec 2011 03:06:23 +0000

Here are links to all the articles I had published online during my time at COSMOS Magazine, October/November 2011.

Apologies for messy link-posting, I had made up neat links for all of them but they refuse to show up on the post! Will edit when I work out what I’ve done wrong!

News Stories

Monday, 7 November 2011:
http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/4939/why-obese-people-regain-weight-after-dieting

Thursday, 10 November 2011: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/4950/hagfish-revealed-be-slime-weilding-predators

Wednesday, 16 November 2011: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/4983/even-fish-reap-health-benefits-massage

Thursday, 24 November 2011: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/5017/spiders-use-chemical-weapon-deter-predators

Friday, 2 December 2011: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/news/5044/koala-chlamydia-vaccine-trials-look-positive

Profiles

Thursday, 10 November 2011: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/profile/4952/controlling-cravings

Tuesday, 15 November 2011: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/profile/4975/reading-earth

Monday, 21 November 2011: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/profile/4999/the-lizard-man

Thursday, 1 December 2011: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/profile/5039/filming-ocean-blue

Intern Blog Entries

Thursday, 3 November 2011: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/blog/4927/span-class%E2%80%9Dcap%E2%80%9D-blog-first-span

Thursday, 10 November 2011: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/blog/4955/brain-food-and-dinofish

Wednesday, 16 November 2011: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/blog/4979/fanatical-about-fish

Wednesday, 23 November 2011: http://www.cosmosmagazine.com/blog/5005/end-era-or-well-a-month

Last plane outta Sydney’s almost gone…

georgiaonafasttrain — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 10:57:44 +0000

It’s my final night in Sydney and while I haven’t been very good at blogging here (Manly has awfully slow internet) – I have been blogging at cosmosmagazine.com through my internship.

I’ve learned a lot since week one, and I think the most important thing I’ve learned is that I can do anything.

I kinda already knew this, but successfully completing a month at a science magazine and publishing several successful stories proved that if I could write about science (my most worstest subject at school), I could write about anything!

Luckily, I didn’t have to learn much in the way of chemistry or physics, because I think I may have struggled there… But I did get a chance to indulge my love of weird animals and the crazy shit they get up to by writing endless articles (including one 1000+ word feature) on animal behaviour. I think it’s safe to say I m a right old expert at animals now and could pretty much become David Attenborough’s successor tomorrow…

I also conquered my fear of Macs (following a string of virus-infected Apple computers in my high school years) and almost (key word: almost) mastered Sydney public transport! I got myself places I didn’t even think were on the public transport radar!

I did a bit of learning at a travel magazine during this past week… Although, oddly enough, it made me miss writing about science… Whoda thunk it? I used to run for the hills the moment science was mentioned!

I did a little shopping – I bought like one top and a dress – but somehow my suitcase seems MUCH heavier than when I left Perth and I am going to struggle with it tomorrow morning. I wonderwhat scientists say about the mass of suitcases based on how they are packd? Either way, I suck at packing and not everything wants to fit as nicely as it did when I left Perth.

Speaking of my West Coast home, I missed Perth, mostly because Sydney rained almost every day I was here, whereas Perth has been wonderfully warm and sunny.

I’m going to leave it here for now, I have to be up in a few hours and I am le tired from a HUGE weekend! But you can check out my work at the Cosmos Magazine website and look out for me in the Feb/March issue of the magazine!

p.s. I also made heaps of awesome friends!

first day of work in sydney!

georgiaonafasttrain — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 10:59:16 +0000

So I learned may things today at my brand new internship in Sydney.

Let me recount the five top things I’ve learned over the past 12 hours:

1. I am not all that good at public transport. I caught the correct bus (hooray!) but in the WRONG DIRECTION! And it wasn’t until I was headed quite far North that I realised I wanted to be going south. I was an entire hour late for work this morning. They were pretty cool about it though, considering I’m from Perth and all.

2. Letting your brain “relax” for five months makes it a very lazy brain. VERY LAZY brain! I haven’t done anything that particularly requires any brain work for a long time. By the end of the day I was emotionally and inteligently exhausted… and trust me, I did very little. Yeah, that’s right. Work your brain people! Every day!

3. And keeping with the theme of 2, did you know I know NOTHING about science? I thought I knew a little bit. I was aware that I failed year 10 science, but I REALLY AM SCIENCE-INEPT! By the end of the day I was sure I knew less than I did at the beginning of the day… Oops!

4. I have a cold. I wasn’t aware I was sick until I was at work, feeling like I was going to hurl and pass out at the same time. That sucks.

5. Kim Kardashian is going to Melbourne Cup, Megan Gale is not… Useless, but hey it made the Telegraph so clearly SOMEONE thought it important!

So yes, considering my life recently has literally been spent at home, in my underwear, imitating my cat’s movements, this was a pretty thrilling day! I was EXHAUSTED by the end and ready for a nap (which I did take on the ferry home) and a good dinner (which I was lucky enough to have Kelly cook for me). I’m off to bed soon… I’m already pratically an old lady, and I’ve been in the workforce only a day!

Happy Halloween!
Good night!

COSMO/U by Kotex Internship Entry

georgiaonafasttrain — Fri, 23 Sep 2011 05:14:49 +0000

For five years I’ve worked in retail, on my feet, at the beck and call of customers. By the end of the day, my feet were sore and at Christmas I would end up begging a family member to relieve the pain in my little toes. It wasn’t until recently that I discovered because of the flimsy ballet flats that I was wearing I had done a fair amount of damage to my feet. A podiatrist recommended I wear shoes with better support, but the ones he showed me were heinous (think nurses shoes, then think worse) and I was not about to let my feet commit such a scandalous crime against fashion! I’ve since done my research, and with a few new (cute) additions to my wardrobe, my feet no longer cry out in pain during the nine hour shifts. Check out these foot-friendly shoes that don’t skimp on style!

downtown new orleans

georgiaonafasttrain — Tue, 06 Sep 2011 09:16:42 +0000

8th Jan 2011
So Chloe & Georgia landed in NOLA (New Orleans, Louisiana) rather early. While Chloe collected the bags, I sprinted around trying to find a toilet (“The RESTROOM is over there.” – Lady who was clearly offended by my use of the word “toilet”).
We then boarded a shuttle bus to the French Quarter, where our hotel awaited us. (Yes, hotel, as we were meeting up with our friend Emma and between the three of us it was the same price as staying in a hostel.)
After dropping off our bags and sending a text message through to Emma, Chloe and I were told there was decent Italian place around the corner. So we headed that way – finding hilarious horse-shaped street posts along the way (yes amusing photos were taken)
Lunch was good – we had delicious spinach & artichoke dip as well as an amazing pizza, and to top it all off: the tablecloth was paper and crayons were supplied! HOORAY!
From there we did a bit of a tour – using my travel guide map as a base – to discover all of the best the French Quarter had to offer! It’s really beautiful, and much of the architecture was French-themed, as the name suggested. We realised that this area hadn’t been badly affected by Katrina, as it was all still in tact. What struck me most about the Quarter was the colours: everyone had fun coloured houses! Nothing boring! Pinks, blues, yellows, greens – soft, but still vibrant enough that it was unusual, not normal neighbourhood colours!
We then hit the edge of the Mississippi River, where there were some little museums to visit (we were saving the big ones for when Em arrived!). One of the museums had paper and instructions to make origami ducks… Both Chloe and I discovered we SUCKED at paper-folding!
We visited the markets later on, they were a bit dead – but we figured that was because the weather wasn’t very nice so there wasn’t much reason for people to be out!
That night we struggled to find a place that would serve us dinner, as Chloe was not 21 and all the restaurants had bars so they wouldn’t let us in! How rude! So we ended up eating kebabs in our hotel room.

9th Jan 2011:
Emma’s flight was delayed coming in to NOLA, so Chloe and I headed for the two major museums close by. One focused on the history of New Orleans and Lousiana – from ancient times through to modern history, while the other had become a Hurricane Katrina museum (it had previously been a Mardi Gras museum! So sad we didn’t get to see the Mardi Gras one, as good as the Katrina one was, it would have been nice to see both!). Emma arrived while we were at the first museum, so we went around it again before venturing over to the second!
The weather was MISERABLE that day, and it poured with bitterly cold rain. So we decided to warm ourselves up with some beingets – deep fried dough with a mountain of icing sugar piled ontop. DELICIOUS!
We wandered along the river front, which was a bit miserable looking, but I wonder if that was cos there wasn’t a single scrap of sky that wasn’t forlorn grey… I’m sure the river is much nicer in summer!
We went to see where the ferries left from, and got caught waiting for the world’s longest (and emptiest) little train in the world! I reckon it took about 15mins (with a stop) for it to pass by us before we could get back into the French Quarter!
While we waited for the train, we discovered cool reflecting art and mucked around taking photographs of ourselves in it.
Lunch was $4 mexican food – so delicious! Cheesy quesadillas with roasted veggies and warm burritos kept us from starving.
Dinner was… somewhere? Obviously it wasn’t memorable!

10th Jan 2011
We started the morning by heading for the Mardi Gras museum – which is the LONGEST walk from the FQ and we should’ve just sucked it up and paid for a taxi!!! But the museum itself was worth it! There were endless floats to look at, all carved from styrofoam, in every shape, size, animal, human and colour of the rainbow! They even had Mardi Gras cake for us to try (it tasted much like a finger bun from the local bakeries here) and Mardi Gras costumes for us to try on! (Yes there are hilarious (“embarassing” – Emma) photos from this part of our tour!
We then ventured across the Mississippi on the ferry, only to turn right back around again cos there isn’t much on the other side of the river as it’s still all being rebuilt from Katrina.
Chloe INSISTED on visiting a Wal-Mart, and this was her last chance to do so – so we trekked and trekked until we came across one in a really shifty neighbourhood. Worth it? Yeah, she was THRILLED! It IS a pretty magical place though – it has EVERYTHING you could ever want or imagine wanting all under one gigantic roof!
We finally got out of the shifty neighbourhood (it was difficult, NOLA isn’t known for its public transport!) and found our way into a shopping centre, where we did a wee spot of retail therapy (also they had heating and it was still bitterly windy outside.)
For dinner that night we stopped into what claimed to be an authentic gumbo restaurant just outside of the tourist enclave. Chloe didn’t like hers – but Emma and I both enjoyed our warm southern stews, mine with beans and hers with seafood. We also all treated ourselves to ‘hurricanes’ – an INCREDIBLY potent drink that is the same colour as agrum but with long island iced tea affects! Delicious!
We didn’t go out after our dinner as it rained and rained and that’s gross.

11th Jan 2011
We started this morning (yet another cold one) with a trip to the old nunnery about 4 blocks from our hotel. The man who ran the nunnery museum was a bit of a nutter – and couldn’t see properly (so insisted on standing VERY close to you) – but thoroughly amusing.
The nunnery was totally worth visiting – the gardens were beautiful and the architecture was simple in the way many religious buildings are, but with hints of detail in the most unexpected places. The little church inside had a really southern feel about it – similar to that of the churches in Santa Fe – but with lots of old-world European decal (is decal even a word?). A little over the top in the religious figurines, but pretty nonetheless.
We then took a tram ride going north (past the cemetaries that many tourists like to visit, but that didn’t seem very appealing in 2 degree weather) to the art gallery of New Orleans.
The Art Museum was really random. I’ve been in art galleries all over western Europe and north America (not to mention Australia) and have never seen anything like the art gallery in NOLA! The art didn’t have much of an overriding theme to it and it wasn’t well organised. Much of the art was RANDOM as (like one Renaissance painting of a man in a chair with another man’s head peaking out from a hole in the ground below that chair!) and some… well I wouldn’t call it art! The top floor of the museum was dedicated to the kinds of trinkets you find at your grandma’s house – painted porcelain dancing ladies and animals, weird coloured glass shapes and those tacky glass animals you can buy at old lady shops. Art? Well… that’s questionable!
There was also one room that was playing Alice in Wonderland (the Disney version) with random dubbing over the top that made little sense – I think it was trying to be modern, but it didn’t make any sense and to me it looked like someone had taken Alice in Wonderland and then just decided to change the words! I didn’t like it, and I have a pretty broad appreciation for art… This was one weird ass art gallery!
Luckily, the sculpture garden outside didn’t disappoint and we spent a fair amount of time exploring the gardens before opting to return to central FQ.
On our way back, we met people from Taos (two hours north of ABQ, where Maja and I bonded over some weird chocolates) who were surprised to find I knew where, let alone had been to, their little town!
Freezing, we stopped into Maccas, where Chloe decided she wanted a Happy Meal. We all got one, and they came with hilarious little animals (I still have my unicorn toy that I specifically requested) that we took amusing photos of. The Maccas in NOLA also have signs on the walls that say things like “No loitering in McDonalds for more than 20mins” and other things like that… God, do they really have problems with people never wanting to leave? Well, I guess it’s Maccas and it’s a pretty sweet place to be!
That night, after dropping Chloe back at the hotel, Emma and I set out to see some jazz. We stepped in just intime to catch a really awesome band playing some sweet tunes. The only unfortunate thing was that the singer had no microphone/amplification so was difficult to hear.
From there, we wandered across the road to the Cat’s Meow – a karaoke bar that served GIANT hurricanes (I don’t know how Emma got through two, I was nearly passed out after one!) and was full of drunken antics and bad singing! I dragged Emma up on stage for two songs – an awesome rendition of Single Ladies, including dance moves and then a hilarious take on Down Under – after which the host asked what my downunder was like (to which I drunkenly replied: “HOT!”).
Sufficiently drunk and having publically humiliated ourselves enough, we wandered across the road for kebabs and some photo taking that I don’t quite remember… Kebabs so good drunk.
We then wandered back to our hotel, ready for some slumber after an awesome day.

12th Jan 2011
I woke up about 8am to still find Chloe lying in bed next to me… WTF! She was supposed to leave hours ago!
After pulling out dad’s emergancy credit card, we managed to book her a flight to LA that meant we had to get her down to reception asap!
Following that drama, Emma and I headed downstairs for waffles (did I mention we had waffles every morning for breakfast?) before taking advantage of the small amount of sunshine NOLA was offering us. We went to the markets again, saw some public art and ate burgers at a little pub before heading over to the New Orleans Cooking School for some lessons in down home southern cooking!
Our hilarious Southern Belle host taught us how to make chowder, gumbo and pralines (“praaaaaaaaahh-leeeeeeeeeens”), while we munched on treats. The lesson was right up both our alley’s and we left with special spicey mix ideal for gumbos to take home. Yum!
I have no recollection (or photos) of dinner so I assume it was lame.

13th Jan 2011.
Emma left at like 5am, while I was still sound asleep.
My flight wasn’t until 1pm and I wasn’t being collected by the shuttle until 11:30, so I had lots of time to kill! I walked around, mostly aimlessly, and took photographs of pretty houses. I also bought my mother an awesome “Cooking with Jazz” poster for the kitchen. Then I went to the airport and killed serious time (as the shuttle driver didn’t have to pick anyone else up) eating Subway and being bored as nothing was open.
Sadly, our trip was over, but I still had another month and a half in Albuquerque to look forward to! Going “home” to my friends back in the ABQ was so exciting and I was looking forward to being back somewhere familiar.

Midnight Plane to Georgia…

georgiaonafasttrain — Tue, 02 Aug 2011 04:15:15 +0000

5th January 2011: ATLANTA!
Chloe and I arrive SUPERBLY late into Atlanta (so early it’s the next day!) and catch a cab out to our hostel. We get to bed ridiculously late, tired from our airplane flight. The room is freezing cold and we can’t work out why. We both freeze.
Next morning we are moved into a different, much warmer room.
We then head out to see Atlanta! We catch the MARTA (train) to downtown and head off to find the Magical World of Coca-Cola AND the biggest Aquarium in North America: Georgia Aquarium.
EVERYTHING has my name on it! It’s all very exciting!
The aquarium is spectacular, the floor-to-wall glass that we can watch all the different aquatic animals through. We spent quite a while in there, especially watching the otters and the beluga whales!
Afterwards, we headed for the Coca-Cola factory tour, which was convienently located RIGHT NEXT DOOR! Insane! The building is essentially a giant coke bottle, you know, just in the middle of Atlanta.
We went on a semi-guided tour, before exploring the centre on our own. The coke factory tour is essentially a LOOK AT HOW GREAT WE ARE show off kinda place, but it’s also pretty fun and hey it’s coke, it’s an icon.
In the final room, before you exit, there are over SIXTY different flavours of soft drink to taste. HOORAY! We had mouthfuls of each, and let me tell you, I was dry heaving at the taste of some of them. We both felt sufficiently sick at the end of it all, but didn’t forget to take our complimentary coke with us on our way out! Chloe loved that, she’s a bit of a soft-drink-aholic.
Afterwards, despite the drizzly weather, Chloe and I spent some time exploring downtown Atlanta, checking out all the shit with my name on it and buying souvenirs with my name on it.
We headed back to the hostel and asked where we should go for some good down-home Southern style cooking for dinner. We were told that there was a magical little place across the road called Mary Mac’s.
Indeed, it was magic! Chloe had the fried chicken with mac & cheese (ok they were magical BESIDES the foul mac & cheese), coleslaw and mash potato.
I had tomato pie, gross mac & cheese and coleslaw. Tomato pie is this magical Southern food that I’d never heard of before. DELISH!
The waiter also brought out lots of little tastings for us, as we were new to the South and that’s how they roll down there. Hence why it is called “Southern hospitality”.

6th January 2011
On our second day in Atlanta, we headed out for the capitol. This was a chance for us to learn ALL about Georgia’s history. Did you know Jimmy Carter was from Georgia? It was also an excuse for me to take HEAPS of photos of my name. It was even on the elevators! BEST!
From there we took the train out into the sticks, where the Martin Luther King Jr. home and museum were located. It was a fantastic tour and I highly recommended it, but it’s in a pretty dodgy end of town so don’t go strolling through there on your own! The curators of the museum had put alot of thought and effort into the displays, and we got a guided tour plus a cool movie that taught us about African American rights.
Dinner was at this cool little Cuban cafe. Chloe loves jerk chicken!

7th Jan 2011
Up a little later than we needed to be, Chloe and I RACED down to the bus station to catch a bus out to Athens, Georgia where the UNIVERSITY OF GEORGIA is located.
The university is HUGE and took us several hours to tour across. I was in heaven. Here was a SHRINE to me, full of stuff about me. I knew that if I was American, this would have been where I went to university! It was PERFECT! It was huge and full of American school spirit and the most awesome football stadium and A WHOLE STORE FULL OF AWESOME GEAR WITH MY NAME EMBLAZONED ACROSS THE FRONT! Not to mention the fact that EVERYONE around the uni and it’s town were sporting gear with my name on it! HOORAY EVERYONE LOVED ME HERE!
After our tour across campus (which was a nice work out), we headed into the merch store to select my new wardrobe. I now have a Georgia hoodie, Georgia tshirts and a pair of Georgia shorts. HELLA YEAH I am all about me!
We caught the bus back to Atlanta and had dinner once more at Mary Mac’s, where Chloe decided she HAD to have their cookbook as she knew she’d miss the Southern food when she got back to Perth. Early night, as we had a stupidly early flight out!

Boston for 48 hours!

georgiaonafasttrain — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 14:31:08 +0000

2nd Jan 2011:
Chloe and Georgia arrive quite late at night, after a four hour bus trip north of NYC. We were tired and hungry, so after checking in we headed out for a quick slice of pizza before bed.

3rd Jan 2011:
BOSTON WAS SO COLD! Much colder than NYC could’ve even tried to be. The wind was bitter, but we were meeting Brittney so we had to head out!
We met her at the park in the heart of Boston. I was so thrilled to be reunited with my best American friend and Chloe was excited to meet “Georgia’s American friend”. We braved the cold for a historical tour of Boston, which chronicled the story of America and how Boston fits into that. Many presidents lived and are buried in Boston, and there is so much history in such a small area! It was really worthwhile!
We then headed into Quincey Market for some delicious lunch to warm ourselves up before venturing into more history.
Afterwards, we wandered the city a little more before heading across the river where Harvard and MIT are. We wandered through the university setting, off to the science museum at MIT. That was cool and there was some Lady Gaga photos, which always make me happy. They had all these fun interactive things that the students had made (like robots) and the only holographic exhibit in America or something like that.
After that closed for the evening, we went to the Prudential Tower and headed up the top for a tour. Part of it was closed for a private Harvard event, but it was nice to get a birdseye view of the city at night and generally be inside, away from the bitter chill.
We didn’t end up back in bed until quite late that night, unwilling to leave Brittney to head back to Maine.

4th Jan 2011:
Chloe and I headed for the Boston art museum, which was fantastic. They had an exibit on fashion photography, where we spent much of our time, as well as some cool modern Chinese art that hinted at ancient art forms while still remaining modern. We then went back to the park where we had been the previous day and visited the little ducks. We also saw a man walk across the frozen lake, which was surely a sight to be seen, especially by two girls who had never seen more than an inch of snow before in their lives! We weren’t tempted to try it ourselves, as we were still getting the hang of walking in the snow!
We left Boston late that afternoon, headed for Atlanta!

Georgia goes gaga for GAGA!

georgiaonafasttrain — Tue, 12 Jul 2011 13:57:38 +0000

The GREATEST MOMENT OF MY LIFE HAPPENED THIS WEEK! I was lucky enough to be chosen to meet Lady Gaga in a radio competition here in Australia.

I happened to be in Adelaide visiting my grandparents and cousins when I got the call – and had to pack up and fly out for 24 hours with my cousin, Katie, accompaying me to the best 30 mins of my life.

I had also met Maggie Beer (my foodie idol) a few days earlier, making this past week possibly the most magic of my life!

On Sunday afternoon, after a quick visit to the Opera House and Harbour Bridge, we dolled ourselves up especially for Gaga and headed to meet her. We had to wait about an hour, due to he being held up by press, and we nearly got kicked out by hotel security twice (they thought we were fans from outside – well we were fans obviously, but we were with her record label!)

We finally got to head up to meet her. I was a blubbering, nervous wreck. And Gaga, I apologise for this. I have always fantasised about what I would ask you – I have a million questions – but the moment the radio called me and told me I’d won, I lost the plot. All I could think about was that I GOT TO MEET YOU – the woman who inspires me to remember that I am just fine the way I am when I sometimes feel like letting people take advantage of me and try to change me (which does happen, despite the fact that I am generally very sure of myself). I couldn’t remember any of the things I wanted to ask you!

I also don’t think I made much sense of the gift I gave you. They are pearls sourced from Western Australia, where I live, and they are uniquely Australian. Mum works for the company (Kailis), so we picked them out together as we wanted you to have something special from Australia that you wouldn’t find elsewhere. I hope I didn’t sound like I was trying to sell the company to you – I just wanted you to like them. And you seemed thrilled, and you were so genuine and YOU WERE EXACTLY HOW I HOPED YOU’D BE! So friendly!

Not that I expect you to read my little blog… But oh how I adore you, Gaga! Thank you for singing ‘Hair’ to us (it’s probably my favourite song on the album, along with Highway Unicorn, so i was thrilled!) and thank you for being so chatty and warm and you have no idea how excited we all were before and afterwards. There was lots of squealing downstairs, afterwards.

Best. Day. Ever!

The last days in NYC, post NYE, 2011

georgiaonafasttrain — Thu, 02 Jun 2011 03:42:52 +0000

1st January 2011:
We all woke up late after a late night on New Years Eve and were slow that morning getting ready. Chloe headed for Central Park on her own, dad decided to wander around the Meatpacking District and mum and I headed for the Guggenhiem Museum on the Upper East Side. It truly is a spectacular building, both inside and out. Franky L (Frank Lloyd Wright) did a wonderful job, the outside looks like a pipe-cleaner you’ve twisted around your finger, standing proud in it’s gleaming whiteness amongst millionaire’s penthouses. The inside is a sight to be seen – and unfortunately I didn’t get any photos inside due to camera restrictions. It’s like standing inside a stretched slinky and as you wind your way up the slinky art work is to your right and to your left you can look over the ledges to admire that giant slinky in all it’s glory.
The only down side to the Guggenhiem is that the elevator was broken and the mysterious art gallery at the basement could only be accessed by the 4th floor. We didn’t realise this and headed the ENTIRE WAY BACK DOWN around the slinky only to be told we had to go right back up again if we wanted to see that gallery.
It’s a bit dangerous, if you ask me, only having elevator access to the basement… what if there is a fire? Earthquake? The possibilities for being trapped down there are endless!
Unfortunately, the hidden gallery wasn’t entirely worth all the walking effort, as it only have 3 paintings in there and they were good but not great. Luckily the rest of the Guggenhiem collection more than made up for the hidden gallery of not much.
On our way back we spotted the window displays of a department store we hadn’t yet visited (the name eludes me). This was the one we should’ve sought out! The theme was food and there were endless caricatures of all our favourite foodies (from Thomas Keller to Nigella Lawson and everyone in between) surrounded by Christmas feasts and festivities! Many photos were taken.
We spent our last night together in NYC at a small restaurant in the Meatpacking district that dad had found. We had amazing dinners, but the dessert was the highlight: petit pot au chocolat was intensely rich and chocolatey and it was a good idea to share, although I must admit I was a little sad when I reached the bottom of the little cup of delicious.
We headed home to pack, knowing that if we wanted to do anything tomorrow we had to get up and get out early before our transportation out at 2pm.

2nd Jan 2011:
Our last day in NYC!
We mostly spent this day wandering and exploring anything we hadn’t yet explored (except Queens, which I am definitely heading back to see). It wasn’t much time, although we did get to see the Meatpacking district during the day (its very trendy) and we made time for ONE last stop at Chelsea Market (our favourite!) before heading back to 18th Ave to collect our bags.
Mum and dad dropped me and Chloe (with the help of a taxi) in Chinatown for our bus before heading to the airport.
We walked up to the counter to get our Chinatown Bus tickets to Boston and were presented with little scraps of paper with stamps and scribbles on them. Apparently this would get us on the next bus to Boston! So why, then, did all the other passengers have nice, printed, professional looking tickets? Who knew? They worked though!
After standing on the side of the road in the rain (yes, the buses just pull up and yo jump on) we boarded successfully (Chinatown Bus: superior to SHITTY GREYHOUND) and headed off into the dark (it was about 4pm).
The bus made a “dinner stop” at Arbies – where Chloe and I picked up some curly fries – before pulling up in Boston at about 9pm. (We slept most of the ride.)
Chloe and I took the train to our hostel and collapsed on our beds. WE WERE GOING TO SEE BRITTNEY THE NEXT DAY! HOORAY!

NYC post Boxing Day Blizzard 2

georgiaonafasttrain — Mon, 30 May 2011 14:51:22 +0000

30th December 2010:
Up early, we left Chloe unwell at home to board the Statton Island Ferry to catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty for free.
IT WAS SO CROWDED! Let me say, honestly, it was probably worth it to pay a tour guided boat to see the lovely green lady rather than try and compete with the hoards of other stingey tourists on the ferry!
It was also freezing cold, but it was winter in NYC after all, and it was our choice at the end of the day…
From there we headed back to the centre of Manhatten to catch the elevator up to the top floor of the Rockefellar building for a spectacular view of the city skyline. It truly was magical up there, the city looks SO pretty from above, especially as the sun was setting (early remember, because it was winter).
We took the obligatory tourist photos with the Empire State behind us and then headed back down.
Chloe was absent for all of this, and again stayed in that night. Mum and Dad hit up some jazz bar for a drink or two and I headed back to BROADWAY!
This time I was off to see La Cage Aux Folles! I was alone, but I didn’t mind, I was SO excited about seeing this particular musical about love, folly and drag queens in the south of France!
Kelsey Grammar was FABULOUS as the drag queen club manager, and I wet myself laughing. It was SO camp! I especially loved it when Kelsey’s assistant told him he loved him to which he responded “if you loved me, you’d vacuum!” OH! And the queens! They just danced and bitched and danced and bitched! LOVED IT!

31st December 2010:
Hello New Years Eve!
This was the day we went to Brooklyn.
We wandered the streets a little, exploring all that this borough had to offer, before heading for the Brooklyn Museum of Art.
It had some pretty cool paintings in it. There was also a series of dinner plate ceramics, depiting various important historical women in an abstract way through flowers… It’s hard to explain excaatly what I mean without photos/gestures, but I can tell you they were very striking.
I think our favourite painting was the one of a family with all the men and boys dressed in black coats and white pants. Dad stood infront of this painting and announced “what kind of losers wear black coats and white pants?”
We replied: “You do!” as he hadn’t noticed he was wearing the EXACT same outfit the people in the photo did! Yeah that’s funny!
From there we WALKED (yes that’s right WALKED) back through Brooklyn, across the Manhatten Bridge, all the way to Chinatown. According to the taxi driver we hailed down in China Town, no one had ever walked that far across NYC before! We didn’t even REALISE we’d walked as far as we had!
We went back to the apartment to chill a bit before heading out to a funky little bar in the Meatpacking District for cocktails and dinner on NYE! We brought in the New Year there.