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top of the rock
cloudy day in nyc!well, as the end of my trip loomed ahead i had one last stop before home...new york!! although gutted to be heading for home i cant complain about my final and exciting stop and i was especially excited to see my 8 gorgeous friends who were meeting me out there!! however, i first had to deal with an 11 hour flight BACK IN TIME from fiji to america..... we boarded the flight at 10pm fiji time on thursday and landed in LA at 1pm on the same day....i then had a 2hour mad dash through the airport before boarding my connecting flight to new york which was another 5 hours. to say i was exhausted was a slight understatement and i was shaking with exhaustion by the time i reached the hotel. it was fab to be met by katie and jen even though it was 2am by the time i got there. strangly enough though i couldnt sleep....this was not booding well for my jet lag issues (something which i have not suffered with at all during my trip).
after a (short) sleep me and the 6 girls already that were there got up and ready (i put a pair
of jeans on for the first time in 3 months, i felt so closed in!!) for the day ahead. after only seeing new york from the flight when it looked just like the natonal grid of lights i was very excited to see the sights. we walked out of the hotel, 2min (past the museum of sex - classy) turned the corner and there in front of me was the empire state building!! awesome! had a bagel for breakfast in a fab deli on the corner and then walked up 5th avenue to the rockerfella centre. katie had pre-booked tickets for us to go up 86 floors to the top of the rockerfella for amazing views over the city. unfortunatly the weather wasnt great so the pictures were cloudy but it was still brilliant, central park looked great, this huge green space in the middle of all those high rise buildings and the empire state building looked impressive.
we then had a mooch further up 5th avenue and ventured in to tiffanys to look at the sparkly diamonds and fao swartz the massive toy shop. we were also very very american and had a rest in starbucks and later had
dinner in tgi fridays! it was then back up to the top of the rockerfella for night time views over the city which was pretty cool but i was cold and tired by this point and looking forwad to a quick baileys in a sports/irish bar before heading back to the room for bed and a good sleep. my body clock had other ideas however and all of a sudden i was unable to sleep and still wide awake at 4am!! not impressed at all and i was even less impressed by the hairy french guy in the bunk bed above me who was snoring like a beast. if i didnt know better i swear i would have called the rspca to tell them that a bear was im my hotel room.
needless to say that on sat morning i woke after approx 2 hours sleep i was feeling so jet lagged i thought i was going to throw up. i ended up back in bed after breakfast!! not very 'sex and the city' i know. but anyone who knows me knows that i have normally no issues with sleep and when at work i have no probs turning myself
having a few drinks
irish bar...where else?! around after night shifts so im sure you will ubnderstand my distress!! anyway, on to more exciting news which was the arrival of jemma and liz that afternoon!! i was beside myself and bursting to see them! after a quick trip to grand central station where i was so expecting to see the characters out of 'madagascar' , the next few hours were spent catching up with them before heading back to the hotel to get changed to go out that evening.
we all met in a nice restaurant for dinner and then headed to the irish bar next door. on a trip to the bathroom i ended up talking to some randon and very drunk irish girls (i think since becoming a backpacker i have a sign on me some where that says 'i will talk to strangers') who gave me a tip of a good lively bar to go to. so 5 of us who were up for it went to check out the 'galaway hooker'. quite why all the bars in new york appear to be irish is something i never got to the bottom of. anyway, this bar was quite lively and as soon as a
particular song came on, we did what we do best and started dancing....one comment from a random american was 'we havnt seen dancing like that outside of the bronx'! but we did get others up dancing and apeard to be a bit of a novelty in there..cant possibly think why....
after a few more vodkas and a brilliant night in there we stumbled back tothe hotel and funnily enough i didnt have any trouble sleeping that night, maybe it was the vodka or maybe the fact that to avoid hairy french guy i had pulled my mattress in to the girls room.....
the next day was easter sunday and a lovely sunny (but still artic temperatures) day. part of 5th avenue was shut for the easter bonnet parade which was interesting, but these were no ordinary bonnets, nope these were american style 'everything has to be massive' bonnets and im not sure how these people were wearing them on there heads. there was a woman with the empire state bilding on her head, a woman who you couldnt see due to 8 foot of flowers perched on her head and the lady who was dressed like a wedding cake...amongst
other crazy people. fun though!! and us girls joined in by donning a pair of bunny ears which seemed to draw attnetion to us!! there was one girl who has put us on her travel blog and another woman who thought we were brilliant (which of course we are) and had us pose with her husband!! very random morning finished off with watching some very good street dancers.
i then took off to meet jemma and liz in central park, which really is a very nice place with a lovely atmosphere and so strange because as it has been in so many films it looked so familiar to me yet i hadnt been there before. if i ever go back to new york i will do the horse and carraige ride.
bloomingdales was shut so as our attempt at shopping failed we caught the subway to ground zero. its a bit eery as you can imagine and i didnt take any phots out of respect for the people who died there and i feel i have seen enough photos of that horrific day to last me a lifetime.
in the evening we all met up again in times square, which
big easter bonnet
how did she keep that on her head?! is a very crazy place!!!
we arrived in the evening and it is awesome, just like in all the films, big bright lights bonkers traffic and hundreds of people (i presumed this was normal...i later found out it was not quite!). we had a cocktail in the hard rock cafe and then had dinner in a really nice restaurant called ruby tuesdays. after some yummy food we asked for the bill and the waiter said 'are you girls going straight back to your hotel now', we said probably and then he said well its probably best that you do because it is GANG INITIATION NIGHT!!! and yes it was confirmed as we headed to exit the restaurant and all i could see out of the window was swarms of quite scary looking teenagers....luckily there was a very nice and very big doorman who managed to hail us some cabs and smuggle us into them. there was then a slightly hairy moment when the cab driver stopped in the middle of the road, convinced his boot wasnt shut properly so got out of the car, left the door open and the engine running while the car was then crowded by angry
bunny ears
easter fun! looking gang members....i was for a minute convinced that some guy was going to steal the car with us girls siting the back!! i did presume though that they would be more likely to shoot each other though rather than us we did make it back to the hotel safely though.
the next morning was sex and the city tour!! woo woo!! we boarded the bus and the guide who was also an actress was so funny and it was a really good day! it was a great way to see different parts of new york including the west village and east side. we stoppped at various places where the programme was filmed and also the film locations including the pleasure chest, 'scout bar' for a cosmopolitan, bhudda khan restaurant, and the magnolia bakery where we had the best cupcakes ever, the were scrumptious!
after a really fun few hours on the tour me jemma and liz decided to go shopping. we went to the abercrombie and fitch store whichis just brilliant! fit men with no tops on wandering around smilling at you and sayinghello and funky music and lighting. honestly, if there was a bar in there it would
be a good night out!! from there we stopped at louis vitton to look at posh expensive bags and tiffanys to see the sparkly jewellery. then bloomingdales before back to jemma and liz's hotel to get ready for jemmas birthday meal.
liz had booked for us to have a meal at the very nice hudson hotel restaurant (apparantly they film the gossip girls there), and then we had a gorgeous cocktail (yes another one!) in the funky bar, it was a very nice civilised evening and in fact the whole new york part of my trip was a far cry from my previous backpacker experience's!!
i was sneaking a night in the luxery of jemma and liz's hotel room and the bed was definatly big enough for 3 of us and it was lovely to sleep in luxary!
the next morning i had pancakes for breakfast (it had to be done, i was in nyc!!!) and then we headed on the tube to the statue of liberty. it is definatly smaller than i was expecting but still really exciting to see as it is so iconic. we caught the ferry over to liberty island and walked around the outside of
the statue which is now as close as you can get to the statue. and the views across the waterback over to the city were amazing but everything in new york looks so familiar yet i have never been there before.
we then caught the ferry back over to the city, passing ellis island where the immigrants museum is. from there we headed up to times square to queue for tickets to see a broadway show. after standing in the rain, freezing cold and slightly bored we managed to bag ourselves discounted tickets to see 'chicago' that night. we then went for lunch to warm up and got the biggest burger i have ever seen in my life!! we also visited the m&m shop for a chocolate fix.
in the evening we headed to broadway to see the show. i have seen chicago before, in the west end and on tour and yes i know i it word for word but that didnt stop me being soooo excited as soon as the music started and i had to physically cover my mouth with my hand to stop mself singing along! it was awesome! i had heard that broadway shows felt
nice meal in times square
befoe we knew about the crazy gangs outside... more intimate and it really did feel like i was so close to the stage i could have quite easily jumped up and joined in the dancing! amazing and i was on such a high afterwards! a few of us then headed over the road to a bar to chill out with a drink before heading back to the hotel for my last nigh there.
the next morning i got myself up bright and early bought a few tshirt souviniors and was at macys for opening time at 10am. macys is like a giant debenhams, it spans 2 blocks and is 8 floors high!! its amazing!! shopping heaven....if you have the money! i didnt. but it was still fun to have a look around, esoecially as the store was holding its annual flower show and the displays of flowers were incredible and the store smelt wonderful. i met up with jemma and liz and we went to a few more stores including victoria secrets for some posh underwear. i then headed to barnes and nobles book store and then on to the new york libaray which is a stunning building and of course location of a very important scene in
the sex and the city film!
then it was on to ice skating with the girls atrockerfella centre. this was so much fun!! me and jen were whizzing around the ice and striking poses for katie and suzanne (and anyone else who cared to look!) who were sat watching from a cafe in the centre. i was pleased i managed to fit this in as i had been looking forwad to it since before i arrived in nyc.
it was then goodbye to jen,su,katie,kate and sam as i walked back down 5th avenue to the hotel to collect my backpack and meet jemma and liz. i did have a feeling of being physically dragged back home kicking and screaming and cant say i was particulally pleased to be on the flight, in fact i was actually looking at the departures board and wondering if anyone would notice if i boarded the flight that went to sydney 5 min before mine that was going to heathrow.... i spent the filght concentrating hard on all the nice things i would be going home to and trying really really hard not to cry.
i arived home though and it was wonderful to see
all my lovely family and friends who i had missed while i was away. this trip has been the most amazing experience of my life and i feel so lucky to have been able to do it. when i think of all the awesome places i have been to, the incredible things i have done and all the gorgeous people i have met along the way i feel so privilaged and happy. i have memories that make me smile, giggle and laugh out loud. i know that i have not finished traveling and seeing the world and i cant wait for my next trip whenever and wherever that will be. xx
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