Day 17: New York New York!

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We had an amazing sleep last night after recently not actually having the luxury of sleeping in beds! We didnt have orders to be up early this morning so slept till about 8.30, got up, changed and spewed all contents of our packs all over the room and gathered up a mountain of washing to be done. We wandered into the kitchen, got taught how to make coffee with their coffee maker and then got made pancakes with candy and bananas! Very spoilt! We then got in the car and headed to the train station to go to New York for the day! It was freeeezing! We looked at the weather forecast and it said it was currently 1deg and getting to 5!!So cold! So we were completely rugged up as if in Scotland still with gloves and neck warmer and hoody and jackets!! We had to wait about 20 mins but I found a new red bull to get excited about. Red Bull Zero! Zero everything in it except poison and artificialness probably! We got on a train full of loud Americans surprise surprise with one of the loudest ones in our party of 3!! 😊

We had big catch ups with Susan on the way to New York and then headed off in search of Ground Zero to look at the 9/11 Memorial. She potentially has even worse direction sense to me (actually way worse) which really says something! She thought we were going uptown and we were actually going downtown as Ben mutters to me 'Im sure we are going the wrong way' but we went along with it. Thankfully we asked someone to be sure and sure enough it was the wrong way but no harm done. We found our train and made our wait to the memorial. They have done such a good job of it. It has all happened ion the last 2 years since El and I were here cos it was all still rubble then. They have made two stunning pools (North and South) represnting where the 2 towers were and have a waterfall type feature all around each pool, with the names of everybody who dies in each tower engraved all around the outside of each pool. It was very moving. They also had the Survivor Tree in the courtyard which was the only tree that survived the 9/11 attacks in the area. It then got moved as it re-grew and then survived the recent hurricane, after which they moved it back to the memorial sight and it now stands quite tall.They are building a museum also which we werent able to go inside yet.

After the memorial we went on a search as surprise surprise I was hungry! We wanted to avoid all chain food but find something Americanny! So stumbled across a Panini place. There were NOT paninis, just rolls, but claimed they were. Even so they were massive as is everything here and really tasty! After filling up we decided to head to 42^nd street as we had booked tickets to Madame Tussauds. So we deciphered the subway map and made our way there. It took us to Times Square which was cool cos last time we were here I had gotten my camera stolen so didnt have pics! So we took a few happy snaps of the main square and the Empire state building also further down. Thankfully Madame Tussauds was just as we got out of the station so no room for getting lost. Susan had been before but didnt mind coming in again with us! It was really really well done. They had 5 levels of wax statues and a 4d movie about different superheroes where they sprayed water on us and we got punched in the back etc. Was pretty cool. Some of the wax statues were only average and didnt look that real but some were incredible! The way the eyes were done makes them look so real. It was really funny cos the statues are just scattered around diff rooms and there are also people everywhere and half the time you dont know whos real and whos not. This one time we were standing behind someone taking a pic waiting for them to walk infront of them, and they were taking ages, so after a while we sort of stepped infront of them and realised it was a wax photographer!!

After the museum we had a bit of a shop down the main street as Ben's sunnies had gotten a big scratch on them in Egypt in the day pack and my dress was stolen so I am looking for a new one. Ben managed to find some Oakleys for a reasonable price of $180+ tax and they are really cool glasses. I unfortunately didnt find a dress for the moment but I am sure I will. Its tough when my one that got stolen was so cool! Cos now my standards are high! We wandered around a while and then got totally lost finding Penn station to get back to NJ. We walked around in a massive loop to find ourselves back in Times Square but hey all part of the adventure! Susan is just like me but emphasised!! Its pretty funny! Thank goodness we had Ben with us to keep us on the straight and narrow and help with directions! We got asked if we wanted to be part of the audience at the Cmedy club tonight at 9pm but it was a bit late and after susan initially being super excited about the idea of it she then realised neither of us would probably understand any of the jokes or now any of the comedians! So we found the train and headed back to NJ. We both couldnt believe how much it cost for a 1 hour train - $30 return – guess it isnt too bad thinking about it now though.

David and Susan own a Turkey processing farm where they package and smoke all sorts of turkey so they have decided this week we will have a diff form of turkey every night to prove to Ben and I how versatile and amazing turkey is! We were sold. David id an amazing cook and made us turkey vindaloo for dinner but the non spicy version luckily! And it was so so good! Ium excited about tomorrows dinner already! So, we had a big but fun day in New York today and have another busy day planned tomorrow with the Amish! 😊

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Comments

[Alan]

You're are looking GREAT!!
Have just read about your latest blog all about your visit to NY!! LOVED IT!!! How on earth do you find the time to post these excellent blogs with all the super photos?? We have just returned from our little "Oldies OE" (yesterday) & Dawn managed to send a couple of emails, & I took hundreds of pics on my iPhone but that's about it!! I see from the advert on your emails that I can click on a link & start my own blog - so watch this space???!!! We had very poor (& VERY EXPENSIVE) internet access on the boat so I haven't looked at all your blogs yet. However I have marked the ones I have missed with a STAR so we will go back to the beginning & bring ourselves up to speed asap - probably today. You are looking sooooo good - & happy - WONDERFUL TO SEE!!! Love you heaps - Al.