Our first impressions of New York were interesting to say the least. After braving it and catching public transport from the airport, the bus dropped us into Harlem, smack bang in the middle of some sort of Portuguese protest. There were people everywhere, yelling and waving flags and there were police absolutely everywhere. We then had to catch the subway, with absolutely no idea what we were doing. Thanks to a NYU student who told us to just follow him, we managed to find our hotel, safely. It was all pretty daunting.
We are staying at The Pod Hotel on East 51st Street and the area is really nice. There are lots of nice restaurants around us and the once dreaded subway station is two blocks away which is fantastic. We now love the subway as it is quick, very easy to use and can get you anywhere.
On Monday we did a private tour with a guy called Luke Miller who owns Real New York Tours. It was absolutely fantastic and he is a great guy who was very happy to help us out. He has even said that if we get stuck somewhere or need anything to give him a call while we are here. He gave us a really good overview of Manhattan, visiting Central Park, SoHo, Greenwich, Little Italy, Chinatown, the Financial District, the South Street Sea Port and the world Trade Centre site. We also tried food at his favourite hot dog, pizza and italian pastry stores. We thoroughly enjoyed the tour and have fallen in love with New York. Luke informed us when we were returning to the hotel that we had walked over 11 miles (18 km) during the tour!
Later that day, we decided to visit another area of Central Park. The whole park is stunning and soooo green. We were very happily wandering around in the middle of the park when the thunder clouds came over and we were it by a storm. We got absolutely drowned trying to run back to the subway(see the photos). We hid under a little shelter for a while, but it didn't ease. That night we visited Times Square which was very busy and very touristy compared to the areas we had visited on the tour and went to the Top of the Rock, which is an observation deck at the top of the Rockefeller centre. The views were stunning.
Today we were up early, again, and went to the Statue of Liberty. We were able to go up as far as the pedestal, but since 9/11 people have not been allowed past here. From 4 July this year, it will re-open again and visitors can climb to the crown. She is one massive lady and we really enjoyed the visit. After this and a quick visit to Ellis Island, we went to a viewing area were you can see what is taking place on the WTC site. We then walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and wandered around Brooklyn Heights which is a beautiful area of Brooklyn.
This afternoon we are having a bit of a rest, doing some washing and catching up on emails etc. We have another 4ish start tomorrow morning as we are catching a flight to Buffalo and then hiring a car to go to Niagara Falls. It will be a big day but we are really looking forward to it.
Take care everyone,
Ange & Turls xx
