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Published: August 16th 2007
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My flight out of LA was at 11:45 at night, so I spent my final day hanging around the hostel trying not to get noticed as I'd checked out that morning. Didn't sleep on the plane again, and landed in New York to find my bag in a box with all my stuff covered in suncream (it had previously ripped quite badly, but I sewed it back together in Hawaii and thought it would be ok!). I managed to sort it out and got straight on the subway and headed for my hostel. I was staying at Jazz On the Park, which is on the Upper West Side and right next to central park. It was quite a nice place, there was a subway station really close and it was away from the noise of the centre of Manhattan. As it was a sunday I decided just to have a look around central park which was good, watched a few softball games and new yorkers attempts at fishing in the lakes.
On Monday I got back on the subway and headed into Times Square. I spent ages just walking around there and seeing all the famous places; the Empire State
Building, Chrysler Building, Broadway and Times Square itself. Did that for most of the day and on the way home I stopped off at Strawberry Fields in central park and the Dakota, the hotel where John Lennon was shot.
Next day I went back to Times Square, but this time I actually went up the Empire State Building. Although it was a bit of a smoggy day, the view was still great and I got the audio commentary so I could tell what I was looking at. Looking at the city from a height, it's amazing how much they've managed to cram into the space. After that I had a look around Grand Central Station and some more of central park (it is massive!).
On Wednesday I had planned to meet up with Josh (a guy I met on the south island of New Zealand who's from Brooklyn) but he couldn't make it so I headed down to the financial district. Had a look around there and saw ground zero of the World Trade Centres. There wasn't much to see though, I was expecting some sort of memorial but couldn't see one. It was basically a big worksite,
as I think they're constructing a new big tower there called Freedom Tower. I then went down to Battery Park and caught the ferry over to the Statue of Liberty. The statue was ok, not really as impressive as I'd expected it to be, so I didn't stay too long on that island. Had a good look around Ellis Island though, where immigrants originally applied for american citizenship (it's on the film Hitch if anyone's seen it).
On Thursday I managed to meet up with Josh and he showed me around the Village, one of the trendier areas of Manhattan. We spotted Don King and some heavyweight boxers who are probably quite famous (I don't follow boxing) in Madison Square Gardens and then he went back to Brooklyn and I tried to see as much more of central park as I could. Also walked past Ben (the evil man) from Lost in the street, though I think I freaked him out a bit!
On Friday I heard that entry to the Museum of modern art was free, so I walked down there to have a look. I got into a queue which was massive, but then found out
that was just the bag queue. I walked outside and found that the real one stretched two blocks, so gave up on that idea! That evening I met up with Charlie, Mary and Ted for a meal which was really nice. Afterwards Mary tried to buy me a new bag but I had to decline (it had turned into a challenge to get it home in one piece!). Headed back to the hostel and managed to get a bit of sleep before my early start. Got up at 5 the next morning for my flight and landed at Heathrow to find Mum, Dad & Nick waiting for me! Really liked New York, there is so much to see there and the atmosphere was a lot safer and friendlier than I had expected. Will almost definately go back there sometime, hopefully when I'm in a slightly better financial situation!
So that brought my travels to an end! It's a bit strange being home now, I think I'd got used to my surroundings changing every five minutes. I'd love to do more travelling, though I doubt I'll do anything on the same scale as this adventure. Now it's back to a
View From the Empire State Building
You can see how smoggy it was! Central Park is in the background. job to pay off what was supposed to be my "emergency" credit card (took a hammering from Hawaii onwards!) and then up to Newcastle for uni in September.
Thank you to anyone who managed to follow my blog the whole way through, I'm pretty sure there were only about three, but thanks anyway!
Until next time,
Adios
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