New York New York
USA | Tuesday, 24 June 2008 | Views [479] | Comments [1]
17th May 2008: - After a very restless night we head to the American airlines counter as early as possible so we can get read of our big bags & then go through security again to the departure lounge, where we wait with a lot of other people for a delayed flight to New York. We finally leave Miami an hour late at 9.00 & what with waiting for our bags at JFK & then the hideous transfer to our hostel we do not end up getting there until about 14.00. Time Square West Hostel is a find, ok it is not the cheapest but the rooms are clean and spacious, the bathroom although shared has all what you would wish for. Saying that the first thing that I do is go & freshen up in the warm shower. I feel so refreshed afterwards & we decide to waste no time & go out to reintroduce ourselves to New York City. I had forgotten how much I really like this place, just the atmosphere is electric & nearly all the people are friendly, just have to ignore the others! We end up walking around Times Square looking in various shops & for some reason we find the Sony shop, yes you have guessed it, Drew is interested in purchasing a new camera, although we come away empty handed today!
Like last time we end up going to the cinema for our first night spent in New York. We go and watch The Lion and the witch and the wardrobe - Prince Caspian, it is very entertaining & I am not just talking about the film. The audience in the cinema are applauding, shouting & cheering at the characters on the screen, I myself know how involved the American audience can be when they watch a film, but I think Drew was taken by surprise about how vocal they were being, hilar!
18th May 2008: - Had a really good night sleep in our Ikea bed, the mattress is so comfy, the only thing that I could complain about is the noise that is so constant in New York. But then it would not be New York City then, so we put in our ear plugs & then carried on sleeping. Seeing it was Sunday morning we joined rather a crowd for breakfast in the Galaxy Dinner (soon to be a favourite of ours). I was stuffed by the time we got out of there, even to the point that I had eaten too much (but it was good). As soon as we stepped out of the Dinner though we were hit by a barrel of smells as on 9th Ave they were holding a food & drink festival. Everything looked so good, just wished that I had enough room in me belly.
Anyway the aim for today was to find something a little bit more presentable to wear whilst we are here & back home. This is where we head to Old Navy, not a very expensive store & the jeans for me fir a treat. After a new wardrobe we then walk down 5th Ave to try & find the Sony store again, now this is where Drew treats himself to a New Sony camera. We go back & see the guy we spoke to yesterday & he is a really descent sales guy & gives us a good discount on what is for us already a bargain with the exchange rate. So now Drew has his new toy, which means I can shop to my hearts content, ha-ha!
We end up going back to the hostel in the pouring rain & get ready for our reunion with Kate & Doug. We wait in the House of Brews just down the road from their hotel; it is an ok place & has many drinks to choose from. However instead of meeting Kate & Doug at the pub we decide to go to the hotel & meet up with them. It was a great moment when we meet up with Kate & Doug in their hotel foyer; we quickly decide to go out for dinner at a lovely Italian restaurant. So much to talk about but everyone is so tired that we do not stay out too late tonight.
19th May 2008: - This morning we meet Kate & Doug at the Galaxy Dinner, again I have far too much to eat, will I ever learn! Seeing as it is a lovely day we decide to start off with a walk to the iconic Empire State Building. Here it takes us the best part of the morning to queue & then get up to the viewing platform, but it is always worth it. Today there are only a few clouds in the sky & we can see in all directions the City of New York laid out in front of us. It is so good to go up here to get your bearings, to find out where monuments, parks, museums etc are in relation to each other. Kate & Doug purchased a map that shows you where everything is below you; it is well worth the money & a great souvenir.
After our hectic morning or queuing we then head to Macy’s (via a coffee shop) here Kate & I left the lads so that we could have a proper look around the summer sales & there are so many bargains to be had. There are also so many floors to wonder, we missed the shoe section until Drew & Doug pointed us in the right direction.
After shopping experience we then walked up 5th Avenue & did a little window shopping. Finished the day off with an ok meal in the House of Brews & I think we then went on to a bar afterwards, here we had a couple of their specials, Cosmos, which were very nice in deed.
20th May 2008: - Well today we had breakfast on the move & headed down to Ground Zero, where since we were last here they have made a lot of progress. We walk around the area for a while trying to find the viewing platform, eventually finding it & spending a few minutes just looking on.
Today is the day of our food tour, this was booked for us by Kate & Doug & it was such a fantastic idea. Our guide was absolutely brilliant & made us laugh so many times. I can not remember her name now but at one point she was going to chase a very rude lady down the street for nearly poking Kate in the eye with her umbrella. Anyway the food tour includes 9 samples of food from different restaurants, takeouts & stores & the food was amazing. It felt right doing a tour like this, seeing as I have gone on about food nearly this whole blog, what can I say I am passionate!
Our guide even gives us a little break in between by walking around the older parts of Greenwich village, showing us the friends building & she even shows us where production being filmed, Uma Therman was standing less than 50 metres away from us.
After feeling rather full & satisfied with our food intake we then head back to Times Square where we purchase tickets to go & see a musical called Cry Baby. In the rain still, we head to Garret’s where we buy some very nice popcorn for tonight’s show, it is gorgeous & in the shop you can have as many samples as you want, within reason.
The show Cry Baby is fantastic & is a true musical, something to laugh at & to bounce around to the music.
21st May 2008: - Today we have an early morning start we meet Kate & Doug at there hotel & then head for the subway that will take us down towards the Statue of liberty & Ellis Island. Today the sky is nice & blue & we stand in the queue for tickets soaking up the early morning sun. We manage to get ourselves onto the first ferry across to Liberty Island, it is so quite once we get off at the Island, Drew & I spend time walking around the grounds whilst Kate & Doug go inside the Statue. It is such a clear day and the views across the Hudson River glisten in the light.
This week in New York City is called fleet week, it is where different Navy’s from around the world come into New York so that they can celebrate Memorial day, which is coming up this weekend. So this is why that when we are on the boat crossing from Statue of Liberty to Ellis Island we start seeing the naval ships coming into dock. There is a fire ship at the mouth of the Hudson that starts to spray water in the very patriotic colours of red, white & blue. It is really interesting to see & we just wished we had time to go & see all the different ships that were docked along the Hudson River.
Ellis Island was again very interesting; however this time it was somewhat crowded than what it was when we visited at Christmas time. This is one place that I would recommend people to go to when they visit New York. This time I even found a quote from an immigrant that I missed on our last visit. It goes something like this “When I arrived in New York City I found out 3 things that 1) The streets were not paved with gold 2) that the streets were not paved at all & 3) I was the person who had to pave the Streets”
After our boat trips it was time to have a spot of lunch. Then we headed up to the financial district where the bull of Wall Street stood. Trying to take pictures of the bull is a nightmare, so many people trying to get the pic with the beast.
Our tour of New York then took us to Grand Central Station, where we took pictures of the spectacular architecture. This was shortly followed by a rewarding & relaxing cold alcoholic beverage.
Our day ended with a brilliant trip to a Yankees baseball game, thank-you once again for Kate & Doug for treating us to this. We both really enjoyed the game but atmosphere was also very relaxed. I loved the way that vendors just walked around trying to sell you food or drink. And yes I did pay attention to the game, the Yankees won. Oh we were also given our very own Yankees cap each, good job I did not buy the one in the gift shop.
22nd May 2008: - Started off be walking down to Central park this morning, this is the one place that I really wanted to go, so that I could see Strawberry Fields, the memorial to John Lennon & a monument to world peace. We took some photos of the Imagine mosaic again with quite a few people queuing for the same opportunity. We walk back through the park in the rain; yes it is raining again & ends up at the top of 5th Ave. For me this is where FAO Schwartz is situated & it is a chance for me to play on the big piano again, oh how I loved that film BIG with Tom Hanks in it.
Then we went into the extremely expensive Tiffany’s, hilar it is soooo expensive & I could tell you even before we walked in that we were not buying a souvenir from there.
After this Drew & I split from Kate & Doug as we wanted to go down to South Street Seaport a place that we loved when we came to New York last time & a place that we still do. We end up having lunch at a little Italian restaurant situated on the modern cobble streets. Our waiter is extremely friendly & we stay & talk for a long time before heading back to our hotel room to have a siesta. So that we are wide awake for our last night here in New York.
One of the reasons also for going to South Street Seaport was to get a couple of tickets to see a play called Country Girl starring Morgan Freeman as the lead role. We both thought that the plat was excellent & we also got to see Morgan Freeman close up at stage door, just before he got into his car. Well actually I got a hug from Morgan, but the flash on the camera did not have enough time to charge up so we did not get a picture of the said hug.
After our show we met Kate & Doug for what will be our last night of drinks in New York City. Started off in I think Georges & then moved on to the House of Brews for further drinks & a bite to eat. It was a fantastic evening, just the way we would have wished it to end.
23rd May 2008: - We pack our bags this morning & then head out to the Galaxy Dinner to have one last slap up breakfast, it is fantastic. Guess what, the sun has started to shine today & the streets have an all together brighter feel to them, it is such a pitty we will be going home today.
After breaky we head to Old Navy again, so that I can purchase another pair of jeans, as they are so much cheaper than back home, that is my excuse & I am sticking to it!
We have one last walk down 5th Ave & then Drew & I go back to the hostel to un-pack our bags, so that we can walk with our backpacks for one last time to Kate & Doug’s hotel where we will be getting our airport transfer from. We say goodbye to Kate & Doug at the airport as they are in a different terminal than us. It was such a fantastic time meeting up with you guys in the Big Apple; we really enjoyed ourselves, a perfect way to finish our adventure.
We are now on our own sitting at the airport, exactly the same as when first started this trip way back in September last year. It gives us time to reflect & to look forward to the future, whatever that maybe!
