Happy 4th July!!!!

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Happy 4th July!!

Today we are celebrating Independence Day for America and have decided to have a nice lie in until 9:30am. It would have been longer but Kim couldn’t sleep and therefore had to keep kicking the top bunk bed with James on it! (For someone that likes her sleep she is incredibly energetic).
We chilled out in the hostel for a few hours before going for a nice walk around Central Park. As it was a public holiday there were lots of people lazing around or playing sports and having BBQ’s. We found a romantic spot under a tree…Kim got her first mosquito bite but according to James no mosquitoes live in America…how uneducated!!! We watched a game of baseball. Even though it was only amateur stuff, they were taking it deadly serious and saying random things like “Huh, good hussle” or “One, two, three… Go Panther’s!!!!” There must have been a lot of testosterone flying around. Ha.
After watching the end of the game we continued our romantic stroll through the park until we found a Subway station or toilet (we were both busting!)

We were trying to head in the direction of the East Riverside as it had been recommend to James to watch the famous 4th July Fireworks provided by Macy’s. We got the subway to as far as we could go, but as there was no subway station near the river it meant we had to walk about 20 blocks (40 mins walk). We didn’t mind the walk as it allowed us to take in the atmosphere that was building.
However, it was starting to dawn on us that we were leaving the nice touristy areas of NY city and were wondering into the run down neighbour hoods. .Don’t get us wrong, it wasn’t like the ghetto as in ‘Boy’s in the Hood’ but was a little less ‘affluent’ to what we were use to…..coming from Hull you thought we would have fitted in fine!

When we arrived at the East River side park, there were loads of people having BBQ’s, playing games and the sound of gangster rap pumping out from makeshift ghetto blasters (Ipod docked into speakers). We are not over exaggerating when we say that 3 out of 4 people were dressed like they either belonged to the Bloods or the Cribs gangs. No joke! Everyone man, woman and child had tattoo’s on a third of their body and most men were either wearing very long shorts or incredible short trousers…..you could only see their ankles. Here is an example of the people we were chilling with……..
James insisted on fitting in with the locals however what didn’t occur to him was that being white and skinny (ish) and not black there wasn’t a chance but in true efforts he put his baseball cap on back to front and started flashing his ‘tat’s’ but Kim was afraid that he might offend someone so ordered him to sit down and wait patiently for the firework display.

By now it was only 7pm and the fireworks weren’t due to start until 9:30pm so after two and a half hours of waiting we were starting to get hungry. All we had was a packet of crisps that were bone dry and a bottle of water that we didn’t dare drink incase we needed to go to the loo (Kim has this big thing about pee’ing in public loos). The constant smell of glazed BBQ ribs and succulent chicken from the nearby BBQ’s were doing our head’s in, plus we were starting to get a headache from either dehydration or from all the ‘home boy’ music that was ruining our hearing……Bring back Trance! That what we say!

9:30pm arrives and bang on queue the heavens opened! It seemed that everyone else came prepared bringing their ponchos and umbrellas with them. Obviously we didn’t plan that far ahead and not one of them offered to share a corner of an umbrella with us even though they could see we were shivering and instead nearer poked our eyes out several times. We put on a brave face, embraced the rain and pretended we were at V festival all over again.
The fireworks were fantastic and have to be the best we have seen in a long while (Kim says that the ones in Thailand will beat that, but James is sceptical). We took loads of photos and videos but have only included a few because we didn’t want to bore you all. As you can see they are pretty impressive.

Once they finished it was a mad scramble to get out of the park and back to the main street. We were quite lucky because Kim suggested leaving 5 mins before the end, which meant that we were not caught in the melee to escape….Wet and tired from the 40 min hike back to the subway stop we bored a tube back to Uptown. Because it was so busy the underground was so so hot and to get on to a tube was crazy. To avoid Kim having a panic attack because we were getting pushed all over the place, we waited for the next train to come. This was a little quieter but not much, however after being on the tube for a short while it broke down for 20 mins and we were all so tightly packed in that James could see that the guy opposite him had had pasta for tea as it was stuck all in his beard. Ha, nice.

We finally got home, wet and hungry but had had a great time watching the fireworks and seeing how the locals spend their time on Independence Day. It’s a real pity that the UK doesn’t have a day when the whole nation comes together to celebrate the country’s great history….maybe we will suggest it to Gordon when we are next in London.

5th July, 2008

Our last day in the NYC

This morning we went for breakfast…again at our favourite diner…again for omelettes and toast...we are growing increasingly concerned about the size of our chins but oh well…we’re travelling and we’re in America!!!

Kim had her heart dead set on seeing the memorial for John Lennon called “Strawberry Fields” in Central Park and wasn’t going to let a light shower destroy her little adventure. So we put on our Kag in a Bag and put bin liners over our rucksacks and set off on a mini adventure. A long walk in to Central Park, a Ben & Jerry ice-cream bar (Half Baked) and a tropical monsoon later we finally found the memorial site. James was very grumpy at this moment as our clothes that we were flying in were soaked and his feet were gripping onto his flipflops to stop him from falling on his arse…in true James style!!! Strawberry fields covers five fields across Central Park. In the centre lying on the ground lay “Imagine” decorated in flowers as you can see from the picture below. This memorial was open by Yoko Ono after John Lennon was assassinated. Now Kim’s family is big on The Beatles and one of Kim’s favourite songs by John Lennon is “Jealous Guy”. In a true cheesy style…now for those of you who know Kim she doesn’t do cheesy however she wanted to listen to this song on her Ipod at this site. So there we are stood in the pouring rain…ear phone in each ear listening to John Lennon at his memorial site...Kim came over a little overwhelmed James was just embarrassed!!! James was surprised at Kims sheer determination to walk in the rain considering her history at V last year.

Now for those of you who don’t know Kim’s sister Sally was proposed to by Simon at Cherry Hill in Central Park so this was the next place we visited…it is a beautiful lake and setting you guys James thought of doing the same for the camera…but we didn’t want to take that moment from you.

We proceeded back to the hostel to catch the subway to the A train to JFK airport…our journey back to the airport wasn’t as bad as on the way to the city…we only got on 2 wrong trains!!! However Kim was greatful to be out of the city and out of those busy tubes.

Conclusion on New York.

We have both had a fantastic time in New York and it has been the perfect start to our round the world trip. We found the city and its people to be very charming, clean and helpful and would defiantly recommend it to other people.
Obviously we only really got to see the ‘tourist attractions’ (since we are tourists) but we suspect that there are a lot more hidden gems to explore.
We expected New York to be mega expensive but compared with the UK it was surprisingly cheap. Numerous people from our hostel have commented on how expensive England (well London) has become and has really put them off the place.
One moan that we do have about New York, well its people, is the fact that tipping is always expected and if you refuse they become aggressive. But I guess we can expect that where ever we go! Money makes the world go around!

We have done so much in the time we have had and have taken some great photos (it has even inspired James to look into becoming a professional photographer…another one of James career ideas), but are both lucking forward to relaxing a little. Kim has really enjoyed her time in New York, at this point in time she doesn’t think she will ever get used to sharing her bedroom with strangers and has promised herself that she will not take her home comforts for granted anymore. Kim will definitely be returning to New York purely on a shopping basis in the future for many more Couture accessories and Jessica Simpson shoes!! James hasn’t heard the last of this!!!

Some interesting facts that we have found out about New York since being here are:

• New York was first own by the Danish and was called New Amsterdam, before the Brits invaded and renamed it ‘New York’ after the Duke of York.
• Tuition fees at New York university are $50,000 per year.
• The most expensive apartment in New York is currently on the market at $70,000,000.
• You need to earn over $200,000 to be able to afford to live on Manhattan Island.


Next stop is San Francisco and we are currently writing this blog on the plane. From looking at the onscreen map we are currently flying over Colorado and have just had some mild turbulence which has prompted Kim to turn a nice shade of white and James’s hand is going pinker by the second as Kim digs her nails in deeper.

Don’t worry Wendy I have my flight socks on! They aren’t very flattering but make me feel nice a cool……and as you say, they might also save my life!?! :O)

From somewhere over the USA………Over and out.

Kim and James. X

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Comments

[Jay Allen]

Unsubcribe.
How do I unsubscribe from this tat. Only joking, lol. Good to see your enjoying yourselves. Your chins are growing as you pointed out though, chill out on the waffles and syrup breakfasts man! Jay x