Day 81: Princeton University and New York City Day 1

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We were leaving Susan's today to go and stay in a hostel in New York City for 2 nights, but because we were coming back it meant we could leave our large backpacks at her place and just take a small one into the city, which was great. On the way to the train station we drove to Princeton University to have a look around. It was a really impressive University with amazing grounds. We also drove to the house where Einstein used to live to have a look at that. Susan dropped us at the train station and we caught a train to Penn Station and set off for an afternoon of exploring the city.
We had bought a city pass, which gave us entry into 6 of the main attractions in New York. First we walked to the Rockerfeller Centre and went up to the Top of the Rock observation deck which isn't as high as the Empire State Building but still has an amazing view. The area out the front of the Rockfeller Centre is the place where they have the ice skating rink in winter, which you see on a lot of movies, but in the summer it's a cafe area. After the observation deck we walked to the Museum of Natural History, which was about 35 blocks. The blocks aren't big but they were big enough! We arrived about an hour before it was due to shut so didn't have much time to explore so we looked mainly at the dinosaur bones which were really cool. There was also a Maori marae in the Oceania section so that was exciting to see something that reminded us of home!
It was another really hot and humid day, made worse because we were carrying our backpacks, so by the time we reached the hostel we were more than ready for a shower. We waited for our friend Michael to arrive from Hawaii so we could go out for dinner, and once he got there we went to Planet Hollywood, and then spent some time wandering around Times Square. Its so bright in the City at night you feel like it is the middle of the day when you are walking around. We decided on what our plan was for the next day and that we would have to leave at 8am to fit it in, so we headed back to the hostel to get some sleep. The air conditioning at the hostel was practically non exsistent so we spent the whole night boiling and didn't get much sleep!

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Photos

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Top of the rock - Rockefeller centre
(all pics from here for the next few days courtesy of Michael!!)

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The view from Top of the Rock

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Planet hollywood

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Hanging out in Times Square

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Times square at night

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M&M shop in Tmes Square