New York, New York

---

Friday 22nd December

Laura - Today we flew from Las Vegas to New York. It wasn't very exciting or eventful. The highlight involved playing a general knowledge quiz.

It was raining when we arrived in New York and my first impressions weren't great as we got into the disgusting subway system that makes the London underground look like business class travel! I did get more excited when we got into a yellow cab and I saw lots of "New York" appartment blocks complete with fire escapes. Our B&B is also very nice, so that's another bonus!

Paul - We're staying a couple of nights in the East Village, if anyone is interested.


Saturday 23rd December

Laura - We got a tube uptown and spent a few hours looking around the area near Central Park and Times Square. Times Square is everything I imagined - bright lights, hustle and bustle, and thousands of tourists. It's pretty exciting to be in NYC because it seems like such a familiar place, straight out of the movies and TV.

It has a great vibe and it was fun to just walk around in the midst of all the craziness. We're saving the sights until my sister, Katie and her boyfriend Mark arrive on Christmas day, but enjoyed walking around and singing along to the Christmas songs playing in the shops. We spotted the Christmas tree at the Rockafellar centre and it is very pretty, but we couldn't get anywhere near the ice rink due to the hordes of tourists!


Sunday 24th December

Laura - Today is Mr Broughton's 23rd Birthday. Happy Birthday Paul!!!

I cooked the birthday boy a cholesterol packed breakfast before we headed down to South Street Seaport on the subway. There was a barber shop choir singing Christmas songs in a 'human christmas tree' formation near the harbour so we enjoyed watching them before going to take a few photos of Brooklyn bridge.

We decided to stroll down to Battery Park to see if we could catch a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty and were lucky to arrive just as the sun was setting. It lit up the backgorund of Ms Liberty with a perfect orange/red sky and it looked pretty amazing. Paul took a million photos before I dragged him off in my desperate need to find a 'restroom'!

In the evening we went to the typically American 'Planet Hollywood' and ate a disgustingly large burger. Paul was in his element because he got to eat below 'Slimer' from Ghostbusters and the DJ dedicated a song to him in honour of his birthday. We got tipsy on bright blue cocktails before staggering home to watch Aliens on TV.

Paul - It was a great birthday. I don't think too many times I'll be able to say that I spent my birthday in New York City.

Monday 25th December - Tuesday 2nd January

Laura - These dates are definitely one of the biggest highlights of our trip!

Paul - We were going to write an introduction praising Katie and Mark, but decided we didn't want to inflate Mark's ego too much! He did, afterall, bring me a Luton Town santa's hat.

Laura - Okay so Katie and Mark joined us on Christmas day and after a highly emotional reunion at the airport we arrived at our lovely flat to celebrate Christmas and get very drunk.

Paul - Christmas dinner was a brilliant pizza from the takeaway a block away. Christmas drink was seriously strange wine and lots of beer. Brilliant! Just like to say to everyone who sent us presents. Thanks very much!

Laura - The next day we walked to the financial district to see Ground Zero and had a few beers in a bar that was featured in The Godfather movies and The Sapranos. Later on we ate an enormous dinner at an Italian restaurant in the Upper West side. More alcohol was probably consumed back at the flat.

We caught the ferry across to Ellis Island, with the sun shining. The ferry took us right past the Statue of Liberty, which was much bigger than I expected and very impressive. It was a really nice day with perfect blue skies, just right for a ferry trip really! We spent a while looking around the Immigration museum on Ellis Island and had a disgusting lunch in the museum cafeteria. Katie complained about it being a "waste of calories", and she was probably right. The museum itself was very interesting but we were tired by the end of it and refreshed ourselves back in Manhattan with a few beers in a typically American sports bar.

That night we went to see the Knicks play and it was brilliant! We ate hotdogs, drank beer, pointed foam fingers and chanted "De-fence" when prompted. It was all very OTT but we really enjoyed it, although Katie did get rather tired as the game went into a 7th quarter. Thanks for the tickets Mark!

The next couple of days we split up as 'the girls' went shopping and the boys.... Well, I don't think they really did much except buy lots of M&Ms, drink beer, and get chucked out of a promotional public restroom (?!). We all went to a fantastic play on Broadway called 'The Vertical Hour' starring Jullianne Moore and Bill Nighy. We also drank a lot of alcohol. Me and Katie particularly liked shopping in Greenwich Village and Soho. The shops there are brilliant and the buildings are just like those in 'Sex and the City'.

After deciding against the queues at the Rockefellar centre (they were over 3 hours long!) we went ice skating in Central park instead. It was a really good decison because we got up first thing in the morning when the crowds weren't too busy and the location was beautiful. It was great fun, and although it was Mark's first time he was skating around with Katie like Torville and Dean by the end of it. Well not quite... but he was a real "trooper"!!

Paul - I'd just like to make it perfectly clear that the reason there wasn't a queue for Central Park for the girls was because Mark and I went and queued there AN HOUR before opening. They strolled up 10 minutes before it opened and hopped straight to the front of the line. Women!

Laura - One evening we ate in a fantastic restaurant, where the food was excellent and the lovely waitress looked like Anne Hathaway. She recommended a French jazz bar to us and we checked it out on another night, meeting a crazy old guy who swore he used to play with Sinatra! The cocktails there were lethal and I got very drunk very quickly. The night we met 'Anne Hathaway' we also took a trip up the Empire State Building. Me and Katie tried re-enacting romantic love films from films like 'Sleepless in Seattle' but we couldn't get the boys to join in and propose... Spoil sports! The views were absolutely spectacular. The Chrysler building and Brooklyn bridge looked fantastic and the streets were very pretty lit up with all the Christmas decorations.

On New Years Eve Katie and Mark went to look around 'MOMA' while me and Paul lay hungover in bed watching a marathon of 'Ugly Betty' on TV. Later on we met up with the more sophisticated duo and took in the sights of Grand Central Station and the Chrysler building. We also walked to Bryant Park and took far too much pleasure in watching people falling over on the ice rink there. We battled our way through Times Square on the way back to the flat and were shocked by the masses of people already gathering (it was only 4.30pm). The worse was to come!

We were even more shocked to find that our street had been closed off by the NYPD and in order to get in we had to queue with hundreds of people going through security checks!! It was NOT funny. Fortunately after standing around for ages with local noisy residents ("we just want to get HOME!!!"), and arguing with far too many officers, we were eventually let through the barrier and were escorted by the NYPD to our door!! Somehow I even managed to persuade the officer to let us bring though our bags of alcohol that we'd just purchased at a liquor store (much to the annoyance of a local guy who'd been told to leave his $100 bottle of champagne at the barrier).

The rest of New Years eve was spent dancing in our flat and drinking far too much in an Irish bar over the road. At midnight we were allowed over the barriers onto the street to watch the countdown from Times Square and sang enthusiastically when they started playing "New York, New York".

On New Years Day we had a lazy lie in before going for coffee and muffins in a lovely cafe down the road. We had planned on going for a walk around Central park but the rain put a stop to that plan. In the evening we had lovely tapas and sangria in Greenwich Village and got addicted to a 'spot the difference' game on a quiz machine in a creepy bar.

The 2nd January was the sad day that Katie and Mark left New York, leaving us feeling lost and miserable at JFK airport crying "I want to go home now too". Before the misery though we enjoyed a long morning stroll around Central Park and had fantastic bagels in a famous deli called 'Carnegie' on 7th Avenue.

Paul - I don't think Laura's really described how ridiculous the bagels in 'Carnegie' were. Mark's sandwich was literally a meal for 4. Literally! I'd never seen anything like it.

It was a great way to cap off a fantastic week. I don't think we could have asked for a better way to end our trip.

Bon Voyage Katie and Mark and thanks for a fantastic Christmas and New Year!!!

---