New York

• Lukeanna's Profile
• About this blog
• Entry from New York

Trip Start Jun 01, 2008 Trip End Aug 20, 2008 Next
Entry

  New York, United States
Thursday, June 5, 2008

Hi everyone, we have just arrived in Washington after four amazing days in NYC. Our flight from heathrow was fine and managed to get some tips from a Puerto Rican guy on the plane who knew Manhattan well. So we turned up at our hostel which was pumping out some ghetto tunes (of course we fitted right in!) and were greeted at reception by some guy who was equally as street wise. Mixed first impressions but it turned out to be a brilliant place, good location, safe and loads of restaurants for us to choose from (we were one block from broadway and the subway).  

We were up at 5.15am due to the jet lag, so decided to get up and start sight seeing bright and early. We walked all the way from 94th Street to 34th street (took 2 hours! and is unwalkable according to a New Yorker we just met in washington!!) Our first stop was the empire state, it was really sunny and clear so we had a great view. After 2 hours ofwalking, we arrived at what we thought was the Empire State Building. I was pretty dissapointed with the height and Anna (who has been to the Empire State before) was sure we were at the right place. It wasn't! A helpful New Yorker pointed us in the right direction and found it rather amusing that we mistook a random block of offices for one of the most globally recognised features of the Manhattan skyline! To be fair, we have no excuses, the building didn't even have a spike on top!

Ok, so I made an error with the whole empire state fiasco, but when we eventually located the right building, the views were stunning. After that we visted the flat iron building, chrysler building and grand central station (which doesn't compare to any english station - it had chanderliers!!) Then we stoped off for a drink in a bar where Luke had his first taste of american beer! Feeling re-charged, we headed to central park where we hired a rowing boat and went out on the lake. It was great and perfect weather for it. We even saw a bride and groom out on boats (although I think they were models doing a photo shoot rather than actually getting married).

So after a few near collisions on the lake, we headed back to the Hostel via Strawberry fields (a tribute to John Lennon). Feeling a bit peckish we decided to sample the local cuisine...sushi of course!! It was amazing and we got to watch them make out food. We were so tired from all that walking so just chilled out and hit the sack. 

The next day we were up early again, but didn't fancy that long walk so we took the subway instead (very confusing! why don't they cover Metro maps when you study for a degree!!!??). We figured it out in the end and made our way to ground zero. It was hard to imagine what it was like before 9/11 and the large area of open land amongst the skyscappers is very surreal. There was a tribute to the fire fighters who lost their lives, it was very moving.

Wall street was our next stop, impressive buildings and lots of stars and stripes (and a tiffany and co randomly!) Then it was time for us to head to the statue of liberty. Luckily we had booked tickets to go inside the statue which was pretty cool as we got to get up close and saw the inside structure (the shell is only as thick as two pennies!) After spending some time with lady liberty, we walking up the street to pier 17 and stopped for a drink on the waterfront. Too tired to scale the brookly bridge, we got the subway to times square for dinner. By the time we had finished eating it was getting dark and the lights were out of this world! Picaldilly circus eat your heart out!  

Our final full day in next york started in greenwich village (hippie area) and we took a walk down to soho, did a bit of shopping :-) and then went to china town. For lunch we went to little italy and had a new york pizza which was SO GOOD. As we didnt get to the brooklyn bridge the day before we decided to go today and walk across it to try and wave to Matt (my brother) through the telectroscope (google it - one end is in New york and one in london). So we arrived at the telectroscope and we were greeted by Matt as hoped. Then the WEIRDEST thing happened. Two of Luke's housemates from Uni (Olly and James) were staring back at us!!!! We couldn't quite believe it and it took ages for us to realise it was them as we were too busy waving at Matt. What are the chances of that happening?? For the next few hours were just kept talking about how weird it was.... 

What a way to end the first leg of out trip. AMAZING.   

Print this entry Share

Next Entry