Homeward Bound

Thursday, our last day. We are pretty gutted really, as we have had a FANTASTIC time out here. New York is a hell of a place. The people are so friendly and the whole place has an amazing energy and buzz. Contrary to popular belief, Manhattan is now a safe place. I would not and did not have any trouble wandering around at night after dark in places that we were not familiar with. The police presence here is very impressive. Literally wherever you look there is either a police car, a couple of cops on the beat or a mounted police man.

Having said all of this, nowhere have I seen a starker contrast between the people who have, and the people who do not. The classic New York "Bum" unfortunately does still exist and there are all too many people sleeping on park benches and eating out of bins. On the other side of the street, millionaires are being helped out of their chauffeur driven limo and ushered into their 5 star hotel. In a city with 8.5 million residents its not surprising that you can be shoulder to shoulder with people from ALL walks of life in the space of one city block.

We managed to arrange a car back to JFK and when we arrived we were pleasantly surprised to be give a free upgrade on our flights! :) We left JFK at 18:00 and arrived in Gatwick at 05:00. Apparently the trick is to now stay up until a reasonable bed-time tonight. That could be rather tricky :(

Wednesday

We took the tube up to Midtown and walked down Madison Avenue to find a place for lunch. We had a chicken Fajita "Pressata" in a place called Europe cafe. Definitely worth trying if you get the chance.

After lunch we walked about the West Village / Greenwich Village which is very different to the central parts of Manhattan, very much the residential part of the city, and quite picturesque. We stopped in at an old wooden floored bar called the "White Horse" on Bank Street for a drink, and then wandered down the hudson river back to the hotel.



In the evening we discovered the south harbor on the lower east side where we stopped at a really nice seafood restaurant for dinner. After dinner we took a 30 minute night cruise out to the statue of liberty and back again. the views of the statue at night are amazing. Not to mention the classic Manhattan night skyline and Brooklyn Bridge.

Views n' Booze

We took a walk along the rivers edge down town last night and got some fantastic views of the sunset over New Jersey. We also saw Fire Flies, which were cool!




After our walk we headed up to the club for some free beers, of course after a few free ones the club shut so we went downstairs to the hotel bar. After drinking free beer upstairs, paying $18 for 2 beers, and then another $16 for a Makers Mark stung the wallet somewhat! We got chatting to a local guy about the baseball on the TV and decided we wanted more "local banter" so headed off to a local bar in seek of more conversation at more reasonable prices. We stumbled into a local Irish Pub called "The Dubliner" after a while we got chatting to the bar maid and her boyfriend - Loren and Chuck. Great people who were only too pleased to give us tips on where to go and what to see. We were also joined by another guy called Anthony. We all had a great time chatting and swigging, so today Anne and I have been rather green :(

After a long lie in today, we took a half-hearted walk about the park (we had our portraits done!) before heading back uptown. We had dinner in an Italian, which was rubbish, and then wandered into Central Park again in search of some sunsets... To our suprise (well, kind of) we soon learned that the NY Philharmonic Orchestra was playing. The park was heaving, people jammed in shoulder to shoulder on the "Great Lawn" and surrounding areas. We tried to find a place to sit and listen, but in the end we opted to escape to the west side and jump on the subway back to the hotel.

Monday Night

Had a good walk about town and hit Central Park again. We had a few slices of real American Pizza!

Too tired to blog a lot now, however, here are some more photos of our trip so far to keep you entertained!

Sunny Sunday

What a scorcher it has been today! 28 to be precise...

Today we traveled over to Staten Island using the free 24 hour ferry. The views of the Statue of Liberty from the boat are amazing. The crossing takes 25 minutes, and is a really nice way to see the harbor and Manhattan skyline.



During the wander back to the hotel through Battery Park we stumbled upon a street show, which was brilliant.



We then headed back up to Central Park via the subway and on to the Boat House to grab a bite to eat. The Boat House is surrounded by some really great outdoor musicians, and waiting in the queue to hire a row boat was almost a treat!



We love central park, there is so much going on, and so many different types of people. We saw, Live Jazz, Acrobats, A Roller Disco, Volleyball, Photo Shoots, Horses and Karts, people sunbathing in "Sheep Meadow" and a man playing his walking stick... Anne has decided its her favorite place!



After the park we walked down to the Rockerfeller center to take in some city views. I was actually a bit disappointed by the views marred with greasy hand-prints on 2 inch plate glass... Far too busy too. Bloody tourists...

Later we came back to the "Top of the Rock" to get the same views at night and it was even busier, I got a few snaps but nothing to write home about. Ironically, I took the photo below from the hotel room just before we left...



We walked back to have dinner and hail a cab and saw Times Square at night.... CRAZY place, its like daylight with all those bulbs! My Dad would go MAD!!!!

Just to let you know...

All the NY photos on this blog are straight out of the camera.... I'll be fixing them and posting ALL our photos to Flickr in the coming weeks if you are interested...

Saturday - Walkabout

After a FREE breakfast in the "Club" we had a chat with one of the doormen (New Yorkers are so friendly and helpful) & decided that we would try to walk up towards Central park from the hotel. We walked up Broadway, past Wall St and on towards City Hall Park. The streets are very clean and tidy, until you hit Chinatown that is... Through little Italy, Soho and up to Madison Square and then found our way on to 5th Avenue.



We walked past the Empire State Building and then stopped in at the NY Public Library. I wanted to see some of the places that Ghostbusters Was filmed, but to be honest the Library did not ring any bells, although I did recognise the 2 Lions, named "Patience" and "Fortitude". We then headed over to Grand Central Terminal which is like taking a step back in time.



When we came to Times Square; we didn't know what had hit us! I have never seen so many people crammed into one place in all my life. After some deliberation we chose a place to eat and grabbed some lunch. (Anne wants me to tell you that I had a footlong hotdog and she had deep fried macaroni cheese).



After lunch we walked up to the entrance to Central Park and jumped onto a "Pedi-Cab" or "Rickshaw", this was a great way to see the highlights of the park, and the massively varying activities and cultures within.



After seeing the park, we tended to our blisters and hobbled back to the beginning of Downtown and hailed a cab back to the hotel.

On the way back we spotted my own personal shop, and an advert for a rather delicious sounding snack. . .

Morning - Sat

Morning, afternoon, evening, whatever it is :)

We slept very well last night in our HUGE bed (seriously, I have never seen anything like it!). However we were up VEEERY early this morning... The view out of the window was AMAZING though...




We now need to hatch a plan for today!

The Ritz

OK, so when we arrived at the Ritz in Battery Park they hadn't actually heard of us... Thanks BA! But the attitude of the reception staff was incredible. It's true what they say about the service in America, it really is something else. It took them all of 8 minutes to get us sorted, and in that time we were given drinks and nibbles in the bar, on the house. Its a hard life!

So, the room: We have a 12th floor room looking out over battery Park, the Hudson, Statue of Liberty and Ellis island..... Its Amazing! When they say 5 star, they really mean it! We also have access to the "Club", which apparently means we get to drink, eat and relax as much as we like..... FOR FREE!!!! HA!



A short walk round the park and a listen to the "Battery Park Drum Jamming Session on the Hudson" (people turn up, sit on the grass and bang bongos) and we are pretty pooped... Its 19:30 local time, but our bodies don't really believe it!


Above, the Battery Park Drum Session, and the Ritz in the background

Forgot to mention, we saw "Dr Fox" in Gatwick airport this morning... He was giving away thousands of pounds to holiday makers who were willing to get up and sing on stage... We missed out on a few hundred quid there as I had an "Anne" in tow which means we were late... As usual! Better make up for it in "The Club" :)

Downtown

So we finally touched-down at about 2pm NYC time. After waiting in line for about 40 minutes at passport control I got my first glance at a New York Yellow Cab! However, we had already decided that we did not want to get a cab to the hotel, as that could run to about $75. So we spotted a Bus that apparently went to Manhattan and jumped on, being assured by the practically non-english speaking driver that her would tell us later how to get to our hotel.... During the journey we managed to establish that we would probably be dropped at Grand Central - Midtown. From there we scrambled for our bags and jumped down the nearest subway to do battle with Manhattan's public transport system. First we needed to work out what train to get on, and then how to actually buy a ticket :) We managed to jump onto a train and jumped off again on Wall St - Downtown. We then strolled down Broadway to Battery Park and with a little help from the NYPD we found our hotel.

On the Way

Hi! I'm typing this about 3 hours into the flight, but I'm not sure when I will be able to post it. Perhaps not until we get to the hotel.

The extra leg room seats are GREAT. We did have a rather smelly old lady sitting with us, but she seems to have gone now, which is nice... The cabin crew overheard us telling her it was our Honeymoon, and gave us some Champagne! :)

The plane we are using is a Boeing 777, and it's very comfortable. This particular flight has "personal entertainment", which is basically a touch screen TV screen on an arm, where you can find and watch or listen to a whole host of movies, TV and CDs. Very nice. No Internet though... Quite why we don't have wireless net access on our planes yet I don't know.



So, at least another three hours to go... I guess I'll watch another movie...

*****************

Now less that one hour to go! We have been fed, again... The service on this BA flight has been impeccable. If I ever come over again, it will be BA I fly with for sure. Started to watch "Watchmen" but it looks pretty crud.... Ah well....

I'll try and post this from JFK, before we start our "make it up as we go along" commute to the hotel.... taxis are boring, public transport puts hairs on ya chest :)

New York here we come!

On the plane now waiting to take off..... Surrounded by loads of American people already!
Managed to get extra leg room, so thats sweet! No window though :(