NEW YORK, NEW YORK!

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We arrived at JFK on Wednesday pm where we were very kindly picked up by Sel's cousin's wife Sarah! It was so nice to arrive somewhere and not have to think about lugging our bags to a hostel! And best of all to be taken to a nice house with a nice bed! Its surprising what you take for granted about living in a house!! We stayed at Tommy and Sarah's house for 3 nights, which is in Sleepy Hollow in Westchester, not far at all from the city.

It was so easy to get the train in to Grand Central, which is what we did on Thurs and Fri. We had a look round the Rockefeller, walked up to Central Park, took the subway to South Ferry where we took the staten island ferry - mainly coz its free! - so we could get a good view of the city and statue of liberty. We also visited ground zero - which had changed a fair bit since we'd seen it, but is still a huge building site, and on the way there we couldn't resist stopping to touch the big bronze bull's balls! Although we didn't find it quite as hilarious as two Japanese girls already there when we arrived! ... Obviously we did a bit of shopping! - its difficult not to in New York! We had a look round Soho and various other shopping streets... On Friday evening we went to the museum of modern art (moma) because it was free after 4 - everyone else in NY had the same idea! But it was great to see stuff by Monet, Picasso, Andy Warhol etc. A fairly hectic few days in the city!

On the Saturday Tommy and Sarah dropped us off at Sel's aunty Jo's house in Stanfordville, upstate NY. The following week we spent chilling out, being spoilt with nice meals and drinks, visiting nearby villages including Woodstock (populated mostly by people that are still there since the 60s and still wearing the same clothes!) we showered and shampood the dog - Linus, and went horseriding! It was great for me (V) to see where Sel has spent a lot of time over the last few years and to finally meet Jo who I felt like I already knew!

On the 20th Jo very kindly drove V to JFK for her flight back to Manchester... Sel is going to stay at Jo's for a few more weeks - until US immigration kick her out! And Toby is visiting for a couple of weeks!

So I guess that's kind of the end of our trip! (well technically not until Sel gets back to the UK, but upstate NY is kind of her second home!) We can't believe how fast its gone but also how long ago it seems since we packed up our rucksacks and started our journey at Manchester airport! We'd like to thank all our friends and family, conveniently positioned around the world, who's accommodation and kindness we've exploited along the way! It would've been so much more difficult without you!

We hope you've all enjoyed reading our blogs - sorry the last one has been a long time coming - we've been pretty busy! You'll find that we've now added photos to the previous few blogs for the states and our last NZ one - so please take a look!

As you might have been able to tell we've had such an amazing time, and we hope we've given you a taster of what we've been up to!

Until the next trip.... ;-)

Sel and V ... and of course our part time travel buddy Toby!
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