A Short Stay In The Big Apple!

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29.10. 08

We landed at JFK International Airport at about 3pm local and made our way slowly though immigration. After clearing customs we left the airport and made our way to the transport that was waiting for us. The journey to the hotel took what seemed like an eternity, caught in New York rush hour traffic to the Grand Central Fitzpatrick in downtown Manhattan.

We arrived into at the hotel at around about 5pm and checked into our rooms; we arranged to meet up in the bar at 7pm for a few drinks before heading out to do some serious sightseeing. Me and my friend Debbie started out grand sightseeing tour by walking up to Times Square, from the hotel we walked 2 blocks uptown then 5 blocks west to Times Square. We were greeted with a light show to match no other ive seen, every building lit up like a Christmas tree, advertising all kinds of products with adverts bigger and better then the last. We walked about taken back by the hussle and bustle, people milling around doing exactly the same thing. I noticed a little tourist tat shot, went inside quickly to pick up my shot glass; as my little sister collects them. We passed a Toys 'R' Us and we noticed there was a huge Ferris Wheel inside; we wondered in and joined the queue for the Ferris Wheel where we were just slightly the oldest people in the queue. The carriages all had characters on them that we remembered from our childhood one way or another; Me and Debbie wanted to get into the M&M one or failing that the Mr. Potato Head carriage but we had to make do with a My Little Pony one, we weren’t overly impressed! We went round a couple of times and well, that was that! We wondered around the store and found a Statue of Liberty and an Empire State Building (complete with King Kong) made out of Lego which was pretty cool.

We left Toys 'R' Us and found a bar and had a couple of drinks and then we wondered down 5th Avenue doing nothing but talking and was watching people go to where ever it was that they were going. We made our way back to the hotel after consuming a lovely hot dog from a hot dog stand along the route. We walked though Grand Central Station to get back to the hotel and took a picture of the ceiling, of all the different constellations that are decorating the ceiling. We went back to our rooms and just crashed out

30.10.09

The next day, we got up early and went to the Comfort Diner, it must have been around about 7am, we were done in an hour and Debbie had to get her coat before starting our final days sightseeing; this was going to be a massive day! We caught the Metro from Grand Central all the way down to Bowling Green and Battery Park. The plan was to get to the ferry for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island fairly early to avoid the queues but that didn’t work, when we got to the ferry stop there were massive queues. We decide to miss out on the Statue of Liberty and started to walk, we walked up Broadway to Wall Street, heart of everything financial in New York. We stopped for a few pictures, Debbie had her picture taken of the NYC stock exchange; I took a picture of it. I had my picture taken with George Washington, arguably the most important president of the USA. The next planned stop was the World Trade Centre site Ground Zero, to me and Debbie being cabin crew, quite an eerie place and one of reflection. We walked north on Water and then West on Fulton to get to Ground Zero. We just stood there and looked and just thought about the men and women who lost there lives in 7/11, it was a very eerie time and a few minutes seemed like a long time.

We walked North on Broadway about 9 or 10 blocks up on to Canal Street and Chinatown. We wondered past various copy shots selling fake sunglasses, bag and watches to name a few things. Me and Debbie wondered down a few of the side streets; getting lost in a maze of streets. We went into a few of the copy shops and got hassled by the shopkeepers to buy a Rolex; “you want Rolex, we give you good price $50, good price!” It was a weird feeling, being in the middle of New York and being surrounded with shops with fake walls, little dark rooms. After wondering round Chinatown for a bit we took The Bowery onto 4th Avenue. At the end of The Bowery we found a great little Chinese, I ordered a small bowl of Chop Suey and some rice, I kind of forgot that small portions in the US are large and large well could feed a small third world country … We wondered up 4th Avenue but being absolutely starving I tried to eat some of my rice with really unfortunate results half on it ended up on the floor. As a result of this we decided we would wait until we got to Union Square, we sat down in Union Square Park and we had our Chinese, it was yummy but afterwards I didn’t want to get back up, felt so bloated it was unbelievable! It was freezing so I had to get up just to get warm again, walking round the square we stopped to listen to some buskers playing; they were actually really good. I could have stayed and listened pretty much all day but Debbie wanted to get going, she dragged me off and we walked though a little farmers market selling all kind of stuff; painting and prints to legs of meat

We continued up Broadway to 5th Avenue and Madison Square Park; we walked though the park, making friends with the local squirrels. We were starting to get tired and my feet will really started to hurt but Debbie was adamant that we were going to walk up to Central Park, which was the plan this morning. After leaving Madison Square Park we walked 8 blocks north to the Empire State Building; I had brought some queue jump tickets before I left the UK and I was very glad that I did; the queues were epic … We jumped all the queues all the way to the top, just waltzing to the front. It wasn’t long till we were at the front. We stepped out to simply amazing views of New York on each side (though I couldn’t now tell you what was on the skyline now!). The Empire State Building is the 3rd biggest skyscraper in the Americas, after the Trump international Hotel and Tower and Chicago’s Sears Tower. We took loads of photos and spent some considerable time at the top, the winds were so strong it was hard to stand upright! We made our way down to the bottom and out back down at street level.

Our next stop would be our last, Central Park itself. However it was a considerable distance. We walked up 5th Avenue, fighting our way though all the crowds of shoppers. After a lot of walking we got to the entrance, it was late October and as a result most of the trees looked bare with their leaves on the floor or being blown around by the wind. We just followed the winding paths with no particular route planned, just relaxing, getting away from the hussle and bustle of the busy roads just simply a stone throw away, a chance to be at one with nature. I couldn’t tell you how long we walked for but it wasn’t long before we passed the “Dalto” Dog sculpture, the Lake, the Obelisk and the Jackie Onassis Reservoir. We were knackered and it was time to get back to the hotel, we wondered out back onto the street and realised that we were actually on 5th Avenue and East 96th Street, as a result we flagged down a passing taxi and it drove as back the 50 odd blocks down to our hotel.

I went into my room and collapsed on the bed, taking off my shoes, my feet were bleeding after all the walking!!! I fell asleep for a couple of hours and packed for my trip back to the airport …..

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Photos

Times Square
Me!

George Washington on Wall Street
And Me! :D

Me And Debbie
Walking Down 5th Avenue

As Close As We Got To It
The Statue Of Liberty Made Out Of Lego in Toys 'R' Us