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New York, New York 25/9-1/10/07

Hi Folks

We caught the train to New York City.  It was supposed to be a 10 hour trip, with a 2 hour stop at Niagara Falls for customs and immigration.  We were an hour late and arrived at 10.45pm at Pennsylvania Station,  at the same time as Madison Square Garden finished its show and all the people poured out onto the streets.  Madison Square Garden is next door to Pen Station.  Caught a taxi and had a hair raising ride to David's flat.David lives on Roosevelt Island and his flat overlooks the East River - a top spot.  That night after we arrived, Pete and I sat on the balcony with a beer and a glass of wine and watched the lights of Manhatten and the Long Island Bridge, just across the river.

We stayed 3 nights with David and spent our first morning looking for accomodation for our 2nd 3 nights.  Phoned about 8 places before booking a hostel in the Upper West Side, not far from Central Park, to check in on 28th.  That done, we took the  subway into 42nd Street Station and walked around Times Square, Broadway,  Bryant Park and Grand Central Station.  Took lots of photos.  Crowds of people everywhere and Times Square and Broadway full of brilliant coloured signs and lights.  We had a late lunch in Times Square and arrived back at Davids flat after dark.  We didnt bother with dinner and watch a movie with David at the flat.

Next morning caught the subway again into Manhatten and walked to Ground Zero - a huge area.  The site is now under constrution as they have started on the new building that will replace Twin Towers. We walked right around the building site,  but there is not much to see there now.  All the photos have been taken down.  I have heard people who have visited the site say that it was eerie and sad, but we didnt feel that at all.  I guess construction of the new building has changed things.  We then walked down Liberty Street to Pier 17 and took a 1 hour cruise on the harbour,  seeing Manhatten from the water,  Ellis Island and The Statue of Liberty.  Made our way back to Times Square and joined the queue to buy half price tickets for a Broadway show.  It was a huge queue, but it moved very fast and we purchased tickets for Monty Pythons, Spamalot for that night.  Caught the subway back to Davids, freshened up and went back into the city, where we had a drink at a restaurant opposite the theatre (very expensive).  Spamalot was great - typical Monty Python - lots of laughs.  When we got back to Roosevelt Island after the show, we went to a diner that had a bar for a drink.  We got talking to some local people and had a good night.

Into Manhatten again and walked to Madison Sqare Garden and the Empire State Building for a look.  We went up to the viewing platform of the Empire State Building for great views of the city. We left Davids about 4.00pm and took the subway north to 96th Street and then walked to our hostel, trundelling our suitcases again.  We only had time to check in and havde a quick shower before riding the subway again into Manhatten where we met our friends, Josh and Dianna, who we first met in Patagonia.  First we went for a drink in an Irish Pub and then they took us to East Village, a  very vibrant area with lots of restaurants and old buildings, to a great Italian restaurant.  We had a great meal here and talked about our travels, as they had been travelling for 6 months when we met them.  It was lovely to see them again.

Next day we caught the subway again into Manhatten (there is so much to see!!!!!), and visited Radio City Music Hall,  The Rockafeller Centre and St Patricks Cathedral before catching the subway to Little Italy for cake and coffee.  That night we went to a bar near our hostel for a drink and then to McDonalds for a snack.  That night at the hostel,  all hell broke loose!!!  At about 1.30am someone got stuck in the lift and there was a huge commotion while they got them out.  A few hours later, a South American family who apparently live at the hostel had a huge fight and there was yelling, screaming and crying for ages on our floor.  No staff from the hotel came to see what the commotion was,  even though security were supposedly on duty.

On our last day in New York we walked to Central Park which was just a few blocks from our street.  It is a huge place and used by lots of people. We visited Strawberry Fields (John Lennon's memorial) and The Dakota Building where he lived, just outside the park.  Also saw North Meadow, The Reservoir, Sheep Meadow and The Wollman Skating Rink, before walking to Park Avenue for a look.  As it was our last day, we caught the subway to Soho for a look around and decided to have a late lunch in Little Italy, which is close to Soho.  Our Italian meal was great, if expensive, and we sat on the footpath and did some people watching.  There is always something happening in this city.  That night we skipped dinner and stayed in.

We booked our hostel (The Continental),  with some misgivings, as some of the reviews on the internet were not good, but we couldnt find anything else without paying lots.  The hostel was clean and OK, but was very noisy. Some of the permanent guests had a key to one of the bathrooms on our floor, and were locking it up for their own private use.  We told management about this, but nothing was done before we left.  This meant that there was only 1 toilet for 8 rooms - not enough by a long shot.  They had security guards in the stair well, but they were only young guys and were asleep most of the time.  However, maybe thats what you get in New York when you pay US$80 a night!!!!

Had to check out at 11.00am, so we finalised our packing and went to a great Diner we had found near our hostel for breakfast,  and caught a shuttle to the airport.

New York was everything we expected and looked exactly like you see it on the tele and in movies. It was very easy to move around on the subway which was full of interesting characters and it was very safe.  We kept recognising buildings and places all over the place.  Its a very vibrant city and a melting pot of mixed races,  but everyone was friendly and we had no problems walking around day or night.  We loved it.

Next stop is SCOUSELAND.

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