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Published: July 22nd 2008
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Central Park
watching some baseball in central Park. After leaving LA, New York was my final stop on my Round the World journey.........and while I've been travelling for the past ten and a half months I've landed on my feet on several occasions including, staying with Mick, Susan and the kids in Melbourne, staying with my mum's friend Pam in Sydney when I fractured my heel and then in LA when I stayed with girls I had met in Mexico........well my luck wasn't to change when staying in NYC.........I travelled with an Irish lad Alan during my time on the east coast of Australia and he has stayed in NYC for the past nine years and said I could stay with him when in the city.....he stays just outside of the Bronx in an area called Woodlawn.......but really it should be called.....'Little Ireland'.....cause there are about 8 Irish pubs, an Irish immigration centre, Seans Irish deli and an Irish lawyers.......everywhere you look it is green and white or a tri-colour......nice area mind!!
My first day in NYC was spent wandering through Central Park and watching some baseball before walking down Broadway then back up on 7th Avenue. Central park is alot larger than I expected and it
Manhattan
where Broadway crosses over 7th Ave. also has roads running through it. Broadway and 7th Ave. were really busy with loads of neon signs flashing and glowing which looks quite spectacular at night. Al works in an Irish bar on 7th Ave. near Madison Square Gardens which was always handy to go for cheap food and drinks when required!!!
The next day I jumped on a city tour bus that stops at all the highlights......so I spent some time in NYC traffic before going up the Empire State Building, where you are able to see all of Manhattan and parts of Queens, Brooklyn, The Bronx and across the Hudson River to Jersey.......looking down on Manhattan it shows you how densely packed the city is built........you can see Central Park and The Financial District where the Twin Towers once stood.
I then went to Ground Zero for a look at the site which is now left from the September 11th attacks....after here I headed to Battery Park which is located on the southern tip of Manhattan....from here you can see across to the Statue of Liberty and also to Ellis Island which is where all the immigrants from many years ago first landed in America.
Empire State Building
the view from the street below. At night I went on a tour of the city and across the Brooklyn Bridge, we went around Brooklyn until heading back to Manhattan using The Manhattan Bridge......it was good to see the city at night all lit up.
On Saturday I went back into the city and headed to Battery Park area again and jumped on the Staten Island Ferry and went to the Island.....the only reason I went on the ferry was due to the good views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.......I then went to St. Paul's Chapel which is near Ground Zero and served as a place of rest and refuge for recovery workers at the World Trade Centre site.
For eight months, hundreds of volunteers worked 12 hour shifts around the clock, serving meals, making beds, counseling and praying with fire fighters, construction workers, police and others. Now there are loads of messages of support and detailed information on the attacks and tributes etc. quite depressing actually and after that I was going to go to the 9/11 visitor centre but the chapel was enough so I gave it a miss.
At night I went and met up with Craig McLean
Empire State Building
at the top of the observation deck with the finacial district behind. from Falkirk a guy that I went to school and played football with who now lives in Jersey City which is just across the Hudson River from Manhattan. We decided to meet up at St. Christopher Subway Station.......as I walked along the street to meet Craig it quickly came to my attention that everyone was bent.......so there I was joining in with all the mincers in the gay parade........it was quite funny actually!! So we headed over to his apartment over the water and had dinner and a few beers before heading out to a couple of pubs........it was good to catch up after not seeing each other for a few years!!
Before I came to NYC I wanted to go and watch the New York Yankee's play at baseball.....and luckily enough they were playing at home on the Sunday.........I went along to the stadium which is in the Bronx with no ticket and as I got out the subway station there was a guy selling tickets so I asked how much and he said...'40bucks'.....for a ticket that cost about 20bucks.....as I thought about it another two guys came across......so there was me standing with three big black
Empire State Building
looking north to Central Park and further on is Harlem. Bronx guys standing in an arc around me talking away and shouting prices at me........we all struggled to understand each other and I just kind of edged by them thankfully!! So I went to the ticket office and got a ticket there......at least I knew it was going to be genuine!! the game itself is rather boring but it was a good experience.......and there were five lads from Glasgow with the Celtic tops on trying to introduce football songs to the game........and the more pints they had the dafter the songs were getting but it was funny and the Americans were loving it. After the game I headed out for dinner with Al before going home and watching Braveheart!!
On Monday it was my shopping day so I went to an outlet village called Woodbury Common for a few hours before heading into Manhattan and doing more on 5th Ave. before I headed home to pack the backpack for the final time!!
NYC is a really cool place........and I never even seen everything there is to see.....but am sure I'll be back again sometime in the future.
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Leanne
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Steve & Barrys
lovin it,