New York New York
Trip Start
Sep 18, 2006
1
54
55
Trip End
Ongoing
New York,
New York,
United States
Monday, June 11, 2007
I saw so much in a short space, and the city is massive so I did lots of walking!! Inevitably I went up the Empire State building, where the view was phenomenal. Downtown one way, housing the financial districts and to the north Central Park, and eastwards Brooklyn Bridge to name just a few landmarks. You could see for miles, and even across the state line to nearby New Jersey and Connecticut. I also visited Madison Square Gardens, unfortunately there wasn't an event taking place, but it was nice to see. I did however make it to the Yankee's stadium and was fortunate enough to get tickets to see a baseball game. They call it sports entertainment, that's because it goes on all day!! A wonderful occasion though, not quite as good as a fast paced 90 minutes, but its better than Forest.
Empire State building
Our game saw the Yankees win 9-3 which is a fairly high scoring game.There was just too much to mention, but amongst my favourite activities were: walked the Brooklyn Bridge, got lost in Macys, climbed the Rockefeller Tower, took a leak in Trump Tower, spent a fortune in H&M (who by the way have extra small sizes unlike UK, you'd think it'd be the other way around!), read a book in Central Park, paid my respects at Ground Zero, took the ferry around the Statue of Liberty, stared in amazement at the wasted electricity in Times Square, hustled on Wall Street. Especially good was the Museum of Modern Art which is free on a Friday afternoon, some very interesting pieces on exhibition...I felt very cultural as I breezed through the galleries.
That was the daytimes, during one evening I stumbled across a new product launch at Cartier on 5th Avenue. There were lots of paparazzi there so I hung around to find out what the fuss was about. Well worth it, I saw Grace from Will & Grace, Faith Hill, Usher, Rachel Weisz, Eva Mendes, and Rhianna, to name the most famous. Myself and Will had many good nights out, sampling the best food and drink NY had to offer, but the best two were when we attended a comedy club, the first show was a trio doing improv. It was very random which made it quite funny, but the second was simply hilarious, a series of stand-up acts. I think the people on the door set us up, placing us (obviously non-NYers) front row, but they were easy on us, only making a few jokes about the English. Our other great night was one when Wills flatmates and intern friends came out as well. We went for a Thai meal at a restaurant seen on Sex & the City and then out to a brilliantly named bar 'Wicked Willys'...here we had a great time, and it was good to meet Wills chums, some very nice people.
So it came to June 11th, my final flight back to the UK...well it almost never came. Was that a sign - don't leave?! Our flight was on the runway for 3 hours without movement. Normally im stuck next to an old couple, but as luck would have it, I shared the back seats with a 24 year old Danish girl. Perfect for flagging the stewardess down and requesting yet another free medicinal bottle of wine...well I was seeing the old folks in a few hours!
Comments
Defending New York
I would just like to make a statement defending this fair city that I have spent the last 9 months in and dispel the slanderous comments made by Will.
For someone who has swam with sharks, fought a Vietnamese lion with his bare hands (apparently) and survived BABIS, I was surprised to hear about his fear of Queens, which is a lovely place.
For anyone looking to visit this great city in the near future, do not let these mindless ramblings put you off.