Oakwood at The Madison New York City

... s high-rise architecture close-up. The scale from ground-level is dizzying. How do they build these things?! If ever there were a striking representation of the American "yes we can" attitude, it is in the soaring glass & steel of Manhattan.

I headed on down 5th Avenue, stopping by the glass-cubed Apple store, St. Patrick's' Cathedral (a grand vaulted interior & its quiet ambiance the antithesis of the endless streams of traffic & their ever-honking horns outside ...

... and this is my siste—“

“Kaliet, pleased to meet you!” Kaliet said as she stuck out her hand enthusiastically.

“Yeah, that’s Kaliet. My little sister.” Vanity cut her eyes at Kaliet, but Kaliet was so interested in the new adventure they were on she didn’t notice. She was actually thinking about new ways to lose weight. Maybe Gisele had some ideas.

... the europeans and asians at the hostel.

There's a lot of annoying homeless arseholes begging for money, and people just standing there giving out leaflets. . .

I'm really getting used to the City now, and how the Metro works, it is exactly how it is in the movies, however I am yet to discover a steaming grate! I suppose they're rare in the summer though?

It looks like some other British people have arrived at the Hostel, how exciting.

... have any time left out of four days to shop. During our stay we went to a fabulous exhibition on The Titanic, visited a "Dirty Dancing" style resort around a lake and swan with the frogs, plus visits to a diner, nail bar and Fynn had a cool haircut at a traditional barbers. A big thanks to the Paul and Georgina for being so generous in allowing us to stay and a lovely gentle start to the trip.

Off now to Hartford, Ct.

... off after everyone pretty much knocking a 5 year old girl over in the process. I lost the race and found out that the reason everyone runs to get to the train is because it fills up really fast, so I had to sit in the very last car which was about a 5 minute walk away from the terminal. I sat down next to a homeless guy who was about 75 years old and he wouldn't stop talking my ear off, which would have been fine except he couldn't hear very well so the conversation was ...

... is much smaller than I thought and apparently since 9/11 you canīt go to the top anymore. Also go views of Jersey, Brooklyn, Statten Island, Ellis Island and the Bronx.....it really is New York sightseeing all wrapped up in one little 3 hour cruise! Central Park is an oasis in the middle of the sity and has all types of playing fields and courts in there....quite the haven and a drop of sanity in the madness. We walked down Wall Street the day the DOW dropped ...

... highlight was helping my friend Cheryl get darshan. She was doing seva at the Omega Institute and could only come to the afternoon program which was about over when she arrived. She could not get a token but could only get a blue time card. Which meant that after all the token people went and there was still availablity they would call the time card holders. In her case it seemed hopeless because the afternoon ...

... We walked and walked and walked, just taking it all in and trying to convince ourselves we were here. I noticed generally New Yorkers seem quite polite, though often they are pushy and loud but that's normal American for you. The people in hospitality are quite rightly very polite but that's because they rely on tips. Damn those tips I am still trying to work them out. Quite awkward! I think the cold and travel was getting to me at one point but we ducked into a ...

An annoying alarm woke us up at 3:15am reminding us we wanted to start our next adventure as tourists in the Big Apple.  We made it to the nearby Ronkonkoma train station and walked right on for the 4:58am departure.  (We even had time to stop at Dunkin Donuts for some nourishment!)  Then it was a long ride into the city to the Jamaica station where we switched to the 6:20am subway J train to Broad Street.   We emerged an hour later out of the underground ...

So... Where was I last time?... Lunch at the UN building... I met my cousin there for lunch, which was very exciting as I got a visitors pass, went to their cafeteria for lunch and then visited one of the offices. I'm sure it is a building like any other but I still thought it was quite cool to visit the inside with someone who works there (Paola, if you are reading this, thanks again! ;-)) Spent ...