New York Day 2, Live with Kelly and Ryan, NY Metropolitan Museum

New York Day 2, Live with Kelly and Ryan, NY Metropolitan Museum, Thursday,  April 18, WTRD 33 of 36

We slept well until we woke up around 4:30.  Not bad for the first night back. After our first back to normal breakfast of yogurt, granola, and fruit, we hailed a taxi for the ABC studio building where the Live with Kelly and Ryan is produced.  While we waited in the priority queue for seating, we met two ladies from Mystic, Connecticut.  One of them was a real fan, the other was a friend of the fan.  We enjoyed our conversation with them and in the end of the second show, the friend won a $500.00 gift certificate.  We were excited for her.

It is interesting to see the behind the set and scenes of a live show between commercial breaks.  The New York new car show is debuting this week, and there were three cars positioned on the set creating challenging logistics for the production crew.  Both Kelly and Ryan are small people.  Kelly is very tiny, almost twiggy like.  Watching their interactions with guests, audience, and production staff during the breaks was amusing.  There seemed to be a little discord going on between staff members during the first show and Kelly made it clear that she didn't want to hear them arguing. 

The staff is right there between breaks to fix up her makeup, comb her hair, hand her a jacket.  If Ryan drops something which he did, someone picks it up and places it on a low table so that it can easily be retrieved.  We were surprised how scripted  comments and quest questions were, each written out a cue card and held up for Kelly and Ryan to read and say.  We watched two shows.  Thursday was live.  Friday's show was live to us but taped for the following day, Good Friday.  Not sure if this was done because of a holiday weekend or simply because this always done for a Friday.  

In between shows the hosts change clothes and come out again.  The first show featured guests James Brolin, and the second show David Muir.  Russ really enjoyed the cars, all of which were SUVs, the 4 wheel drives of station wagons.  We had a good time and were out on the street in the real world by 11:30.

We walked through central park and enjoyed the spring feel of the day, and spent the rest of the day in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, seeing only a fraction of the exhibits.  It is a very impressive place and we really enjoyed the American Art and the Egyptian artifacts.

On our walk  back to our studio apartment along the river and then up the avenues, we stopped at Toscana's Italian restaurant for an excellent dinner of lasagna and veal scallopini.  Russ and I as newlyweds (50 years ago) ate in an Italian Restaurant called Mama Leone's.  There was an older couple next to us who heard us discussing whether we could afford to buy some wine.  They gifted us a bottle.  So sweet.  Still brings tears to my eyes.  Unfortunately, Mama Leone's closed in 1994 with the hope of reopening in a new location, but it never did.  Our dinner at Toscanas was excellent.  Fifty years later we were still discussing whether we could afford to buy a bottle of wine.  Haha!  

We walked about 10 miles today, and return back to our studio late in the evening.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel R's in NYC

Travel Day 2, New York Day 1, April 17, WTRD 32 of 36

Travel Day 2, New York Day 1,  April 17, WTRD 32 of 36

We arrive pre-dawn in Paris, where we clear through passport control and have to go through security all over again. Why we must do this again when we get off a plane that has been secured, immigration control which is secure, and an isolated passageway to the transfer gate I wonder.  We are tired of all the air flight checks.  Our bags fortunately were checked all the way through to JFK.  I wonder if they run the bags through another security check when they transfer them rom one airplane to another.

We will be following the westward sun on this flight and will be arriving in New York at 10:00 am in the morning on this day.  Still a bit groggy from our red eye flight sleeping pills, Russ and I are asleep before the plane takes off.  We waken for brunch somewhere along the way, and have time to watch a movie before we land.  We gleefully go through global entry without any hassle and collect our bags, and leave.  We catch a taxi to our AirBnB on 31st street which is mid center to all the places we want to go.

We self-check into a small studio apartment, spend a few minutes unpacking and getting our devices charging, before taking off for a long walk.  After sitting for almost 24 hours, we need to move around.  We walk about 9 miles up to central park, and back along the river.  It is spring time in New York.  The air is fresh, tulips and spring flowers are blooming.  

The trees in the city are just stating to leaf out.  

It's a beautiful day.  We are trying to stay awake as long as we can so that we sleep through the night.  We are going to Live with Kelly and Ryan first thing in the morning.  We need to be there by 6:30 in the morning.

After our walk in that direction in the afternoon, we have decided to catch a Taxi about 6:00 am so that we get there in time.  We grab salads at the Subway down the street, and are in bed asleep by 9:00.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel Rs back in America

Travel Day 1, Departure from South Africa, Homeward bound toward California, via Paris and New York, April 16, WTRD 31 of 36

Travel Day 1, Departure from South Africa, Homeward bound toward California, via Paris and New York,  April 16, WTRD 31 of 36

We arrange for a late check out and spend a leisurely morning in our room, packing and catching up with emails.  Our repacked bags with our dried clothing and the gear we received from Margi, weigh about the same as they did when we left with our moisture soaked clothes from Madagascar.

Russ and I have planned some time to do some pre-flight shopping at the airport before the plane departs late in the afternoon.  We are excited to be going home.  It's been a great trip, but we are ready to set foot on American soil.  We take some sleeping pills, watch a movie, and sleep high above the African continent as we fly to Paris where we will change planes and continue on to New York City.

All is Well with the Worrall Travel R's Heading Home.

Goodbye Madagascar, Tour of Antananarivo, Return to Johannesburg, South Africa, April 15

Madagascar Day 12, Departure from Antananarivo, Return to Johannesburg, South Africa,  April 15, WTRD 30 of 36

After breakfast, we wait for Hari to arrive and enjoy watching the citizens going about their business up and down the hotel street to and from the market located in the valley behind our hotel.

Hari collected us, along with boxed lunches from the hotel.  He had asked us the night before what types of souvenirs we were interested in.  We tell him that Russ would like a Madagascar flag pin for his hat, and National Soccer Team shirt.  I just wanted an ornament for our travel tree.  

When we get in the car, Hari presents a soccer shirt to Russ.  It is a small, but it is a gift.  Hari said he had to go into a dangerous part of town to buy it.  It was not a place he wanted to take us.  We also learn that there are no pins of Madagascar.  It is apparently against the law to have a pin as only government officials may wear them.  One man told Russ, if he wanted a pin he would have to take it off a policeman.  Aahh, no thanks.

Hari takes us on a car tour of the city. The photo above was in the hill district above Antananarivo.  Our eyes took in all that we could of the former French Capital and the decaying infrastructure of a poor country.

We drove through the city and upward where the citizens both former and present lived a much more comfortable life than the people in the flats

We stopped at the old train station for some photos and unexpected shopping. 

Hari said the shops inside were expensive, but we were wanting to go inside anyway, because it was quiet and cool.  We found several items that we thought were reasonably priced.  I think Hari thought the prices were reasonable as well, and he too appreciated the calm, wide open spaces to make purchases, totally unlike the local markets where he refrained from taking us.  I am not sure he had even been in the building before.  We think he will be returning here with other clients in the future.

Our trip to the airport wove through farm fields and outer village areas.  

When Hari had dropped us off at the airport 12 days ago, we had to eat our boxed breakfast outside the airport checkin.  We were rushed and it was an unpleasant experience.  We ask Hari to stop under a shade tree on the way to the airport to eat our lunch in the car.  He graciously complied.  We ate our lunch, and when we arrived at the airport, we were fed and ready to check in.  We thanked Hari for his thoughtfulness and help and said our goodbyes to him and to Madagascar.

Capital Air Port

Our plane took off on time and we arrived in Johannesburg, South Africa, returning to the Garden Court Hotel where we stayed the night before we left for Madagascar. The air was fresh and cool.  What a wonderful welcome.    Margi our Friendship Force Host in Cape Town had shipped about 15 lbs of our extra gear and clothes that we did not want to take on Safari or to Madagascar due to luggage restrictions.  The box was at the hotel when we arrived and we were relieved to be reunited with our stuff.

When we left Madagascar our luggage felt heavy.  In fact it was.  Our clothes had absorbed so much moisture from the humidity we must have been carrying 10 lbs of water.  When we got to the room, we opened our luggage, turned up the air conditioner, and hung our clothes everywhere to dry out before we packed them in the morning for our trip to New York.

We ate dinner at Rosie O'Grady's and went to bed.

All is Well With the Worrall Travel Rs back in South Africa