New York, New York!
Trip Start
Aug 15, 2005
1
3
31
Trip End
Dec 21, 2005
New York City,
New York,
United States
Sunday, August 21, 2005
Well...what can I say. After only 7 hours in New York we still haven't been able to take in what we have seen so far! After finally managing to book the Comfort Inn last minute on the Internet, Dan and I made it to bed on Sunday night with the alarm set for 2.30 am...that is in bed for 1 am and then up 1 and a half hours later as Mark was due to collect us at 3 am to drive us to Heathrow. As expected my head had only just hit the pillow and already it was time to get up. My head was so heavy as the emotional hours prior to going to sleep had left me with should I say a small headache!
After some teary goodbyes for Dan we got in the car to depart for Heathrow. I tried to sleep and dosed for the 2 1/2 hours it took to get to Heathrow and Dan was also drifting in and out of sleep. The music in the car helped to calm me as I was feeling really sick, I wasn't sure if it was nerves or the pure fact I found it all too much being tired! We arrived at Heathrow and luckily our BA flight 0017 to New York was on schedule. We checked in our rucksacks and went for a coffee at Cafe Nero with Mark and Kate. Mum called me at 7 am and I started to feel a little easier after speaking to her. Dan and I said our goodbyes to Mark and Kate and headed into the departure lounge where we were given a ten pound voucher each to spend in Pret A Manger as Gate Gourmet were still on strike. We managed to make it on board just ontime row 43 by the window! We departed a few minutes after schedule.
A typical New York street
The flight went well and we slept for a few hours between eating and watching films.We landed at 11.30 am NY time, 5 hours behind UK time. The view from the plane was fantastic and we were excited for what was in store.
After moving through arrivals we were greeted by an aiport worker offering us free food parcels which we both took advantage of. We handed in our forms we had filled in to Customs, had our fingerprints and photos taken and then collected our bags from the Carasol. We caught the airtrain to the Jamaica stop and then got a subway ticket swapping trains half way right up to 7th Avenue where our hotel was located on 71st Street. The subway was an experience in itself and if anyone has seen the film Ghost you will know what I mean! It was so hot and you could hardly breathe!
We came out on 72nd street opposite Central Park West and walked a street to our hotel, checked into the top floor and chilled out for 1/2 an hour. We headed out to find our bearings. Now this is really bizarre, the NYC water filling emergency pumps really exist! We walked over the pavement and this huge gust of hot air comes rushing out of the ground below and you can see the subway trains passing underneath the grids! That was it, I was like a kid in a candy shop, Dan has to put up with this now for the entire trip! We walked for 20 mins down the West of Central Park and right down to Times Square and Broadway, and it is just as imagined and more! The roads were filled with the Yellow taxis and traffic lights for miles, absolutely huge skyscrapers and we hadn't even scratched the surface..as it was 6 pm and our bodies were telling us it was 11 pm, we got a Pizza and sneaked it back to our room, had a shower and got ready for bed.
A view from the Empire State Building
We are really looking forward to seeing much more of this fantastic City tomorrow. Oh one thing, we called into a little street stall selling newspapers and the guy working in there knew very well of Stoke-on-Trent...it is a small world!Tuesday 16 August 2005
We woke at 6.30 am this morning after falling asleep last night at what I can recall 8ish as we were both so tired from the journey. We went downstairs to the Copper Kettle for our complimentary continental breakfast. We sat and had coffee and toast and went out for a walk at 9 am. We walked through Central Park towards Columbus Circle and I couldn't take in how many joggers there were all wearing ipods! Runners with dogs and babies, people roller blading just how you would expect it to be! It wasn't until later we would realise the actual scale of Central Park and New York City. We walked for miles down Madison Avenue, past the Rockefeller Centre all the way down to Grand Central Station, this was amazing too. We walked through the station and came out on the opposite side to see the Chysler Building in all its glory, the skyscrapers were just breathtaking and Dan was taking plenty of pictures. We continued to walk up towards the Empire State Building passing SONY and IBM (very large buildings!). The Empire State Building was not as expected and we were even unsure at first if that was it! We paid $14 each and queued for about an hour to get the lift up to the 86th floor observatory. The view was absolutely amazing, it wasn't the clearest day but it was certainly breathtaking and showed us just how large NYC actually is, Central Park looked so big from way up where we were standing.
Brooklyn Bridge
You could see the whole of Downtown too it was great. Now whilst walking for hours, we came across the Billabong shop and Quiksilver, we were in our element! Dan treated himself to some Billabong shorts ready for Fiji and I got a great bargain pair of Reef flipflops that are very comfy which I'm sure will remain on my feet for the entire trip! We went into Macy's which was HUGE and had a bite to eat, had a brief walk round and left before spending any more money and went to chill out for a bit by Central Park. We were sat listening to the ipod when this strange guy walks over to us dressed as a king, a guy and his partner were sat on the bench in front of us and he dropped his little suitcase with 'life' stickers on it and his cross and what I can only describe as a voodoo doll and was walking around saying that he didn't know how he had arrived on the planet and his only explanation was aliens! He said life was life frickin alligator shit! We quickly got up when he turned round and walked off through Central Park to get away from the wierdo! We sat in the Park watching baseball practice for an hour or so and went back to the hotel to chill out as we were both tired from all the walking, we are definitely taking the subway tomorrow!Wednesday 17 2005
Today we got up and went for breakfast and headed out about 9.30 am and get the $7 unlimited fun ride pass for the subway which allowed us to go anywhere all day.
We got the C line all the way down to Downtown. We walked past the Courts of America an along to Ground Zero.
Brooklyn Bridge Again
It was really quite moving. There was this huge gap in the skyline and the sheer size of it all is pretty hard to describe. There is a new entrance that has been built to the World Trade Centre Station and the entire area has a large metal fence showing pictures and the timeline of events that day along with a list of names of the 3,000 people that died. The surrounding buildings that were damaged were under construction. We walked through the World Financial Centre through to Rector Park where we could see the Statue of Liberty. We carried on walking, found a nice little American 'simply scrumptious' and went in for a rest and a bite to eat. We walked more and walked along Wall Street in the Financial District to the New York Stock Exchange. It was very busy and there were lots of litte 'food grab stalls' everywhere. We ended up walking past this little pub called the Bleekman, Irish run pub and Dan loved it, the stools along the bar and the old fashioned tills! so we sat for hours drinking Corona and Budweiser until the free buffet kicked in! Paul the barman bought us a drink also and we got chatting to 2 other Irish lads who showed us the way to the nearest subway back to the hotel as I was a little worse for wear, you think it would be easy, one train right to the top....we ended up in Brooklyn! We couldn't stop laughing and ended up getting on and off about 4 trains to get back to 72nd street!!!! I woke at 10.15 pm with creased clothes on, Dan asleep also so we got ready for bed and went to bed!Thursday 18 August 2005
Woke up early again this morning after falling asllep so early last night.
Dan by a Fedex Van!
After breakfast we walked to the end of 72nd street where the red line would take us all the way down to South Ferry stop where we planned to cross on the ferry to Liberty Island. We got there no problem this time and queued up and got the Circle Line ferry tickets to Liberty Island which would also stop at Ellis Island. We hopped off and walked around Lady Liberty getting in a few snap shots while we were there. We had an amazing view of Manhattan from here, it was breathtaking and something I personally never thought I would see for myself. We had lunch on Liberty Island and got back on the ferry, stayed on at Ellis Island went back to New York. We got the subway from the Bowling Green up to Canal Street and got off to check out Chinatown and Little Italy, it was a real letdown and we thought it was really dirty and grotty compared to other areas we had seen. We got back on the subway and back up to 72nd street. After a short break we went to sit in Central Park in the sunshine, it was packed with people sunbathing, playing ball games and simply soaking up the August sunshine 85 degree heat. It's strange how there is this large area of grassland and then all you can see across from us is skyscrapers. We sat there until the sun went down and walked over to the Lincoln Centre and caught the next showing of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory.Friday 19 August 2005
Today seemed like a long day. We walked down to Columbus Circle and it was warm but overcast. We nipped into the shopping parade and had a look through some travel books as it was teaming down outside.
Dan by Brooklyn Bridge
We stayed for a hot chocolate and large cookie and ran over the road to catch the subway to get some access to the Internet and the Public Library was the best bet. We walked a few streets and nipped into the New York Yankees official club shop where we purchased a baseball! Matt, Si and Mark were online chatting to Dan on MSN and after catching up on emails we walked up to 45th street on Fifth Avenue and they got us on the webcam!...picture to follow! We saw a shop called 'Smilers'...very appropriate! so went in for a help yourself buffet and much needed drink. We walked back to the hotel through the park and chilled out.Saturday 20 August 2005
Breakfast was quite busy this morning, it must be because it's the weekend, we decided to spend today in the Park, well...it is HUGE! we walked for about 3 hours solid and only went half way up! We kept stopping to take it all in, there were little turtles in the ponds, they kept popping their little heads up! We had worked up a real hunger, so started walking back South past the Wollman Rink where people ice skate at Christmas, down to Columbus Circle, nipped in for some lunch and took it back to the park, did some sunbathing and played aerobie!! Nice day all round and it was nice to save our legs for a day! We walked into Times Square later at night and it looked beautiful, it was also very hot and busy! We have lots to sort tomorrow as it's our last day.
Sunday 21 August 2005
Well, our last day in New York and to be honest we are both looking forward to some fresh air! Our legs are tired from all the walking we have done this week and I'm glad we are not staying here any longer than a week, we haven't managed to put the pictures up but they will follow in due course! We have booked a nice little Hostel in Vancouver for 4 days and then we are going to decide what places to visit when we get there and where to go in Canada. We leave in a yellow taxi for the airport at 5 am for another long hour flight of 6 hours, but at least we get food! We are going to spend the rest of the day in the park as it's 90 degrees today and too hot to walk around.
Miss you Lots
Vicks and Dan XXX
