New York Baby Yeah!!!

After a 7 hour flight which seemed to fly by (excuse the pun!), we arrived in the Big Apple 2pm US time, very excited, a little anxious and a tad merry (thank you BA for providing the free alcohol and for giving me an extra dinner :-) !) We collected our bags and headed straight for the subway to downtown!

We arrived at the hostel and waited at the empty reception for about 20 mins before a spanish guy came up to us and asked if we were here for the hostel, we told him we were and he responded by telling us we were in the wrong building and that the hostel was next door... d'oh! So close yet so far! We dumped our bags at the right hostel and headed out to explore.

Wanting to get things rolling we went to check out Times Square. We got our bearings and went on our way. After an hour of walking appreciating the sights (yellow taxis, beautiful buildings and hotdog vendors), things started to get a little more sparse which was not what we were expecting. After re consulting our good friend Mr Map we realised we had a slight situational issue... we should have taken the left and not the right, we were in Harlem! We had wanted to go there, just not at that precise time. We had a great time walking around & now feeling the jet lag we decided to head back to the hostel.

Next day we bought some lunch (a good old Subway!) and went and had lunch in a place we have both always wanted to visit... Central Park! It is a huge, beautiful park (843 acres!) that has 150 years of history, and certainly lives up to expectations, it's right in the centre of the City. It is a completely man made park built in the center of the city and is surrounded by the high rise landscape.

We also saw the famous streets Madison Avenue & Fifth Avenue. We went & took a quick visit to the Museum of Sex & had a good giggle while doing so!

Next stop was Grand Central Station which was awesome, a very impressive building to say the least which is almost 100 years old now.

Final stop of the night (2nd attempt!) was Times Square which was crazy, so many lights, advertising, camera flashes and hustlers. Despite what a lot of people have said we both felt it was much bigger than we anticipated.

We went to the famous red steps & took some photos. Not sure if it was in the British News but 2 days later a CD scam artist hustler was shot dead in Times Square. Plain clothes police approached the vendor, he ran off and open fired letting off 3 rounds, he was then shot dead by the police. Gun crime is a big problem in the States and this hit home the reality of it.

On the third day we thought it was about time we tried some New York pizza, and damn, why hadn't we tried it sooner! Naturally we had just eaten a baguette before ordering our 2 extra large slices!

We then went to visit the Ground Zero & the World Trade Center pre-memorial exhibit, it was a sad experience but a significant experience that will stay with us. They are in the process of developing a memorial with two reflection pools in the foundations where the towers once stood, which is planned to be finished for the 10th year anniversary and looks to be a very moving and respectful memorial for all those who lost their lives.

We took a walk through Wall Street & the New York Stock Exchange. Walking through those streets was like a scene out of Batman, very impressive buildings.

In the evening we took a ferry over to Staten Island to see the Statue of Liberty and the New York City skyline which was incredible.

We both enjoyed the views so much we arranged to see them again the following day in the daylight.

Brooklyn Bridge, the world's first steel suspension bridge, was next on our itinerary and we had a lovely walk across the bridge to Brooklyn Heights & Dumbo.The bridge gave us great views of the City.

After a short subway ride back to downtown we went to visit the Empire State Building, one of New York's most famous buildings that was built in just 410 days. We travelled up 102 floors to see the views over the whole city, the views were amazing, even if the wind did seem as thought it might blow us away! Nic did appreciate the views from inside for half the time because she was a little scared, or 'a little cold' depending on who you believe!
(note from Nic - I was freeeeeezing!)

It had been a long day, we headed to our hostel but not before stopping in to get some more of that New York pizza!

What better way to start our Thursday than with some Dunkin Donuts! We went back to Central Park, went on the ferry again, visited Madison Square Gardens, Macy's and the Rockerfeller Center.

We couldn't believe how friendly, and also trustworthy the locals were to us. We were buying some chocolate from one of the many side stalls when I asked the vendor where the nearest pay phone was, a man in the queue overheard the conversation and asked who I needed to call. I was a little concerned about this New Yorkers entrance to the conversation as he was about 7ft tall and quite militant in appearence, I proceeded to explain I needed to call the Opticians down the road when he pulled out his phone and handed it to me and said I could use his phone. Experiences like this were not uncommon, when trying to find a bank near to our bus terminal we asked a lady for directions, she instantly pulled out her iphone and then called the local bank to get the full address for us. People seemed to really go the extra mile to help us out and very nice it was indeed.

New York was loved by both us, we felt like we had just the right amount of time to experience the city. The rest of the US cities have got a lot to live up to, roll on our next stop.... we're off to say hello to Mr Obama! Hopefully our jetlag will have worn off & we'll get it right first time!

written by

SupandNic on December 16, 2009 from New York, United States

from the travel blog: Sup and Nic's World Tour!

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New York Looks fantastic....I would love to go there. Your blog is really great you should get your own TV show " Real travels on a shoe string "

Loved your commentary....references to yummy food, Ground Zero looked amazing and the skyline from the bridge.. ...breath taking...I wanna go !!!!

written by karen Bolton on January 16, 2010

Soooo lovely reading your blog and laughing at all your photos. I knew you guys would have the best time. Keep it coming, Mark and I want to read more!!

Love to you both - and glad to see that the Bailey tradition of culinary holidays is being carried on. Keep eating round that world! ;-)

Hugs and kisses,
Anna xxxxx (I'm at a librarian conference in Boston, so def NOT having as much fun as you - but good to know we're on the same continent!!)

written by Anna on January 17, 2010

Great blog, thanks for taking us on your journey!

written by Matt on February 23, 2011

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