New York City was great fun. In between the early morning mimosas, crashing supermodel parties, stalking squirrels and cute nigerian waiters. The weather was absolutely freezing cold, surprisingly the weather was colder on a sunny day when the were no clouds in the sky.
Anyway, I checked out all the touristy things like empire state bldg. Time Sq. and the rockerfeller centre...all very nice. Also went ice skating in central park at the wollman rink, that was really nice as we went in the afternoon as the sun was setting and was all pretty.
I walked across the Brooklyn bridge a couple of times aswell. That was really nice to be able to see the Manhattan skyline, both during the day and at night. Brooklyn itself was really nice, we stopped off at a middle eastern restaurant on Atlantic Ave and had a feast, then we waddled on down to a bar that was just next to the bridge to watch the highly publicised superbowl between NY Giants and the New England Patriots...Giants won!!!!!! So we watched about half of the game and got bored. The street that the pub was on was really nice, full of bars and restaurants and leafy trees...well they will be leafy when spring comes. After that we walked back across the bridge at night, that was really beautiful.
The hostel I stayed in was good...for the price I paid. Clean sheets and towels every morning, hot water and it was warm, free internet access, and it was 1.5 blocks from the subway station which was REALLY convenient. We had a few incidents with vermin breaking into our room and some of the girls screaming about it, but I was on the top bunk and went back to sleep haha. One of the security guards was really funny, the first time he saw me he asked where I was from and I said Australia and everytime I saw him after that he would say "Hey Australia, what you doing today?" haha...It was old by the end of my time there, but funny all the same I suppose.
People in NY, maybe just America in general, have really funny mannerisms and quirks. For example when someone apologises to an American their reply is usually "Uhuh"...in fact they use Uhuh A LOT!!! They just have a different way of doing things, Australia is very different in their aproach to many things.
Eating NY was good because every area of the city has a different cuisine. I loved heading downtown to chinatown and checking out the retaurants they had, lots of warm soups and dumplings...all my favourite food! Chinatown was also great to just wander around, the streets really smell like Asia, and its dirty and grimy, and people spit everywhere. You walk one street away and its like you've stepped into a different country altogether. There are fish markets with fresh seafood displayed on a big benches filled with ice and the daily catch...weird seafood too, stuff i've never seen before. There are a lot of cute little bakeries with custard buns and the like, and there are HEAPS of street vendors selling designer knockoffs anything from purses and perfume to jewellery...anything you want they've got it, and they love a good bargain. I haven't had to bargain for something since I was in Asia last.
I decided while I was in New York I should visit the world trade centre site to really understand the enormity of it and all that jazz, but when I got their I found out that, to my amazement, they had pimped that place out too and were charging people to go on a guided walk which was the only way to see the site because it was all fenced off. I refused to pay $10 to see a hole in the ground, it just cheapened to whole experience, so I left. I went across the street to century 21, which is a massive discount designer shop, and spent hours looking around at heaps of shit. When I came out of the shop there were cops everywhere and MASSES of people, I mean THOUSANDS, so many that the streets were all blocked off. I had no idea what was going on until I realised everyone around me had giants shirts and caps on...apparently I had walked out into the middle of the NY Giants street parade. So I spent an hour or more trying to make my way trough the hoardes of people and trying to find a subway station. It was total chaos on the streets, and even the subway timetables had been amended to deal with all the extra people who were downtown and this made it particularly hard to get anywhere.
I was introduced to this supermarket in NY called wholefoods, as most would know I am a total food lover, so when I went into this department store size supermarket I was so overcome with joy that I couldnt decided where to go. The place is totally amazing. I've never seen a supermarket with such variety, and not only that it has a food bar where you can get anything from fresh sushi, salad, soup, sandwiches, pasta and then go sit down in their dining area and eat it. They also had a cheese and chocolate bar...MMM! Oh and they sell alcohol! I loved that place!!!
