3 days in NYC

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I got up early on our first day and went for a jog along broadway near our hotel. It was so peaceful and I was surprised to see so many recognisable things from media - yellow school buses, stairs leading to the subway, familiar store names. I really enjoyed this hour. It was quieter than I imagined, New York is known as the place that never sleeps but there were only handfuls of people around, buying breaky from street carts, walking their dogs etc.

Our first day in the Big Apple kicked off with a walk along broadway from our hotel. We found a $1 pizza slice store and thought it was like nirvana! Amazing taste for a buck! Then we took a subway ride to the Staten Island Ferry. We found the metro card and system fairly easy to work out which surprised us - I had read horror stories!

There was quite a wait at the terminal but found the ferry to be large and got our own spot. The statue of liberty was so close, much closer than I anticipated. When we disembarked we decided to go for a wander, up to the right of the terminal and along the road. A small corner store shop assistant/owner told us there were some gardens to explore if we kept walking that direction. After about 20 minutes of walking, 3 cop cars speeding past with sirens and a few intimidating groups of young men hanging around the footpaths, we found a busstop and decided our exploration of Staten Island was over.

We took a bus ride into lower Manhattan and subway across to Brooklyn. We were pretty tired so basically looked around for 20 minutes before walking back over the bridge. There was a really cool guy on the street hollaring "water time, water time, water time" and it stuck with me ever since.

Over the next few days we visited Times Square, Empire State Building, found the Dean and Deluca for a coffee (thanks to our Felicity addiction when we were younger), Central Park and the girls saw Ghost on Broadway while the guys went to a Yankees game. My sister and I loved Ghost! Amazing seats, visuals and chemistry. We also went to a comedy night which we bought from a Times Square hawker. It was pretty average comedy, would suggest the money is better spent elsewhere.

There's so much to do in NYC - this was definitely a highlights tour and would go back to get a better feel for the place but I'm not sure I fell in love with New York, New York. Maybe absence will make the heart grow fonder.

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