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Just arrived
Just arrived in New York and on the Subway Morning All!
Sorry we've not got round to writing anything up here yet but we've been busy DOING STUFF!
Our New York hostess and tour guide, the lovely Vicky, helped us to achieve so much in a few days. Fortunately we gained 5 hours on the way over, so we could cram even more in!
Upon arrival we were whisked on the subway (which looks
exactly like the films!) to Vicky's apartment on the 25th floor of a block in Downtown Manhatten overlooking Ground Zero. What an incredible place to live! Then it was straight into travel-mode with a steak dinner washed down with champagne in the 5-star Ritz Carlton hotel, followed by cocktails on the roof terrace watching the sunset over the Hudson River and the Statue of Liberty. Fortunately Vicky works at the hotel and this was all on the house!! What an incredible way to start the trip!
A massive sleep cleared the jet-lag and we were up and out shite and briny the next morning. We walked up to Time Square and caught an open-top bus around the City. After a quick beer stop near the Brooklyn bridge we concluded our tour
Ground Zero
The view from Vicky's bedroom window. and went up the Rockerfeller Center (sic) to feast our eyes on the breathtaking views from 66 floors up. Obviously all of this is thirsty work and we needed a beer in the Fat Black Pussy Cat bar (adult shows downstairs weekdays from 6pm) to recover. We then took the ferry to Statton Island, right past the Statue of Liberty. Vicky told us she had put on the impromptu firework display for us, but whether this is true or not it was fantastic. Unfortunately our cameras were unable to capture this due to the fact we were stood on a rocking boat, but take our word for it. We tried to hit some clubs after this but without photo ID the bouncer wouldn't believe Imogen is over 21. We patted his dog and moved on to a bar for a few beers before home and agressive sleeping.
The unrelenting tourist onslaught continued the next morning with a walk up to 77th Street - when we're home we'll point out how far this is on a map, but when we told a couple of locals they wouldn't believe us (it's about 4 or 5 miles). A picnic in Central Park
Typical NY construction workers
Ain't she pretty? What a guy... seemed appropriate and then we walked round to the 'Imagine' memorial (Vicky thought it was appropriate as Imogen was there!). We took the subway down to Wall Street to see rush-hour and checked out some local watering holes before preparing a second attempt at the abandoned clubbing from the night before. We had a chance meeting with one of Vicky's acquaintances in her local bar and ended up hitting a trendy night-spot called The Park for beer and shots. Then we wandered round in a classic 'not really sure where to go next' way before seeing the most hilariously dressed man-lady-transition door person in knee-high socks with a weird face-mask. So we stopped there too. Last stop was a bar called Ulysses (you know the tune!) where New York lived up to it's nickname of being 'the City that never sleeps' by outlasting Paul who fell asleep at the bar at some ungodly hour. On the way home at 5am we stopped off for a hotdog and Vicky got the offer of more than just mustard from the sweaty Egyptian vendor.
As you can imagine, we were all a little worse for wear when Paul woke up on Friday
NY fireman
Imogen attracts the attention of the NY fire brigade. They've got massive hoses, apparently!? morning at 09:30am. Trouble is, our flight to San Francisco was at 11:15am and you need to check in 1 hour prior to take-off. It takes at least an hour in either a taxi or by train to get to JFK from Vicky's so you can see why panic set in! (our original plan was to leave at 08:00am!)
We were both up, dressed and out in 6 mins which has to be a record. And believe it or not, despite not arriving at the terminal until 10:30, we still made the flight. The lady at the boarding gate did not believe us when we told her what time we had left downtown Manhatten. Let's just say some great team work, very helpful airport staff, wit and cunning were all involved I shouldn't put these bags through for you but.... Needless to say, we're not planning to do that again.
Well done for making it to the end of this epic. Next up is San Francisco, California. Expect to hear about Alcatraz, bridges and adult DVD stores in our next blog in a couple of days. Love to you all!
PS. Paul's phone isn't liking the local Networks
NY skyline
Speared through the hand by the Empire State building at the moment, so there are no txt messages sending/receiving. I'll let you know when it's working again.
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Fi
non-member comment
Back at ya!
Wow, wow and wow! Looks amazing guys - well done for nearly missing the first flight! Next time you get near a fire engine can you faint please sweety - would like a full body shot of the man in his uniform :-) Have a great time in San Fran!! Fi xx