The Big Apple

New York. The big apple. Well what isn't big in this place? Big buildings, big portions of food and a great big park in the middle.

Stayed in downtown Manhattan in Gary's gorgeous apartment (complete with pool table and roof terrace) right in the middle of the financial district, just a block away from the world trade centre site. (Thanks again Gary!)

Arrived in NYC and immediately met up with Linda, Phil and Freddie at Grand Central station and headed straight into SoHo for food and drinks.

Spent most of the next day strolling about town in the blazing heat and took the staten island ferry out in order to catch a glimpse of the statue of liberty. Other landmarks such as the empire state building, Chrysler building and the UN were also notable on our strolls about town.

Personal favourites were the stroll across Brooklyn bridge and the unparalleled views of the sunset over the Manhattan skyline from Brooklyn heights. Also loved central park where we spent a hot lazy afternoon boating in the lake followed by a jog around the Jackie Onassis reservoir (felt very much like Charlotte in SATC!).

Of course, no visit to NYC would be complete without a shopping trip. Unfortunately this included the hellish experience of the Abercrombie store on 5th Avenue, something we will not be repeating in a hurry.

So far this packpacking (sorry flashpacking) malarkey doesn’t seem so hard. We’ve drunk champagne every day and eaten very well (loving brunch at Bloomingdales and the wonderful sushi on our last night). Wonder how long we can keep this behaviour up for?

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