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Published: October 1st 2010
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Its an early departure from Gatlinburg for our journey to New York City. After a short wait in the rocking chairs at Knoxville airport we're on our way to New York. As we fly North Keith spots lines of hills in the haze looking like lines of waves coming in to a beach - he's obviously been too long away from the sea.
Its very exciting flying into New York as the famous skyline appears. We check into our hostel in Manhattan and race out to check out the city. We didn't expect it to be so hot - 36 deg C today. We look like true tourists gazing up at the skyscrapers and people out on the streets hailing yellow cabs. The subway seems like the best way to get around so we attempt to get our heads around it by going on a mission to organise the next few nights accommodation. We get our subway map and passes for a week (subway and buses), then attempt to find our way around. It seems reasonably logical until we see the signs at some stations telling us about trains not running and changes to routes. For the novice the whole
No uptown trains, what?
The guarantee of an interesting trip on the subway system then becomes a nightmare to negotiate. Later we hear that we've turned up on track maintenance day - Sunday. A perfect subway training day!
We duck into Central Park and on our way home have a superb find - the Wholefoods Market. A supermarket selling healthy whole foods, supporting fair trade, organics and sustainability, with freshly baked bread and a fantastic salad bar. Its not just salads, you can load up a container with a whole range of food from curries to bean sprouts to breakfast foods including fresh fruit, then pay for the mix by wieght. This is heaven after our last week of fried foods and huge portions of meat. And the containers made from sustainable bidegradable materials and there's a really good recycling/reusing station as you exit.
There are far more places here to grab a reasonably healthy snack and on the streets we certainly notice the difference in the diet and lifestyle of the people here, compared to the streets of Gatlinburg. They're a much healthier looking lot in New York, obviously getting more exercise and eating more healthy food. That said, its important to sample a few hotdogs when you're in the
Yummy healthy food!
The Wholefoods Market States!
We catch up with some friends, Sam and Maria, who take us out for a very nice dinner in the historic Meatpacking district of Manhattan and a walk on the 'Highline'. It used to be an elevated railroad, now redesigned as a walkway park, with great views over the water and of the city at night. There are lots of others out strolling in the beautiful evening as well. We see the end of a free summertime concert on the Hudson Pier, which is beautiful with the lights of the city all around us and the full moon. We also catch up with friends Phoebe and Charles and their super cute new baby. Phoebe takes us walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, a busy place with bikes and walkers and cars rushing by underneath, and of course superb views across the city and water. They take us out for another yummy dinner in Brooklyn, so we get a bit of a taste of life in the suburbs. Its so good to see all these friends from the other side of the world who we don't see for so many years!
The streets of New York seem very safe,
even at night and Phoebe confirms that Manhattan and the subway there are great at night, with plenty of people around and a low crime rate. The city has a really nice feel to it, the people are helpful and friendly and once we've got the subway sorted it's super easy to get around. We do the mandatory free Staten Island ferry trip to check out the Statue of Liberty on another beautiful hot day. The city is in the middle of a heat wave here, with a record number of days recently over 100 deg F (37 deg C). It's hot on the streets, but just sweltering underground in the subway, then there's super cold air conditioning in the carriages, so it's a delicate balance to be comfortable!
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