Advertisement
Published: November 14th 2007
Edit Blog Post
New York
New York, my final destination on my world tour, and the city that never sleeps.........
Arrived on the Saturday morning at about 6am, rang about 6 hostels and found out they were all full for that evening. I was then getting quoted about 100 quid for night in hotel, which was way above what I was budgeting! In the end I Sat in a Hostel reception from 10am until 2pm just to get a bed (was gonna go looking for one of the soup kitchens if I had no luck)!
Stayed in Hostel in Manhattan, 1 minute from Central park and 1 minute from subway. Though not downtown, Manhattan location was still good with good subway connections.
There are quite a few must see sites in New York, and as I had 6 days here, I still had plenty of time to see them and do a bit of shopping before my flight back to England on the 18th Oct.
I first headed to
Times Square, which just like Piccadilly Circus in London is not on as grand a scale as you think it would be, still looked impressive and I knew that with
all the Neon I'd have to head back for a view at night later . The former site of the
World Trade Centre or Ground Zero was the next place I visited, the viewing platform that I had been told about seemed to have gone, and it was just a large building site with Cranes and building above ground level had yet to start. Also went to the fire station next to the site, where so many fireman tragically lost there life's on 9/11.
Next day went to walk around the financial district of
Wall street, taking in sites such as
New York Stock Exchange, Federal Hall National Memorial where George Washington was sworn in as 1st President from a balcony on this site (his statue stands just outside). Then in the afternoon got purposely lost walking around the streets watching the yellow cabs go by and the steam rise up from the grates in the ground.
I was up early the day after to see what you could argue is the most famous landmark ofNew York,
The Statue of Liberty, to see this you get a ferry out to Liberty Island, it is a very impressive sight
as you head there on the ferry. The Statue was a gift from the French to the American people in 1886, and was designed by a Frenchman called Gustave Eiffel, think he also designed something in Paris, but can't quite remember what. After getting off to walk around the small Island, jumped back on to head to
Ellis Island which was first stop for more than 12 million prospective Immigrants from 1892 until 1954 for people looking for the land of opportunity. 1 in 4 Americans ancestors can be traced back to the registration office on this building.
I was lucky with the weather while in New York (sunny), and had a pleasant walk around
Central Park. Saw the Dakota building where John Lennon was stabbed to death by "one of his greatest admirers", and
Strawberry fields in Central Park which was dedicated by his wife Yoko. There seems to be a strange fixation with the Beatles in New York, with a lot of the street sellers selling there pics next to pictures of New York as if the band was American.....
Took a stroll along the
Brooklyn Bridge to see the impressive views of the Skyline. When
it was built in 183 it was the first bridge to use Steel cables. Also went to
Grand Central Station clothed in Beaux Art skin, and again setting for numerous films.
Went up The
Empire state building to its viewing decks which look down on the rest of New York, Did the tried and tested trick of heading up just before dusk (been up a lot of famous viewing towers on my travels) so as to see the views in both the light and dark, were pretty spectacular, and I now see why King Kong came up his for a romantic date. Went to Times Square again to see it's neon lights when they should be seen in the night, and they did look cool, with people darting around all over the place , this was a busy area.
After all that had done enough sight seeing and spent the last couple of days relaxing and shopping for some bargains. There were still other famous parts of New York that I hadn't seen, like Queens, The Bronx and Harlem that had all been in countless movies, still they can all wait for my next visit........
THE
View from Empire State Building - New York
View of Downtown Manhatten from top of Empire State Building END OF MY WORLD TOUR 😞
P.S. As I will be going to Australia for 6 months from 18th November 07 expect more blogs I'm afraid!!
Advertisement
Tot: 0.212s; Tpl: 0.013s; cc: 17; qc: 64; dbt: 0.0773s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb