NYC

Central Park
see all photos »

Wednesday 2^nd September

We got to NY early evening only to discover that where we were staying is literally across the road from Ground Zero.  We knew we were close, but certainly not that close.  We managed to get a good view of the site and took loads of photos.  They are building a big memorial on the site, but only the foundations are laid at the moment.

Central Park
see all photos »

We went to a French restaurant for dinner and chuckled at the irony of two Kiwis, formerly living in London but now homeless, sitting in a French Restaurant, drinking a glass of Chilean wine in New York City.  One of the best things we found out so far is that the New Yorker’s have much less of an appetite for deep fried food than the Washingtonians!  Trying to find fresh fruits / veges in Washington was near on impossible – we’ve never craved fresh food so much!  Fortunately, there is an abundance in NY.  Obviously a little more health conscious here.

Egyptian monument - central park
see all photos »

Thursday 3^rd September

We hopped on the Metro and surprisingly decided that the London Underground is actually 10 times nicer!  Now that is definitely saying something.  We then found out we’d hopped on an express train that took us about 70 blocks further than intended.  It was a beautiful day, so we decided to walk.  The train stopped in Harlem, which we were quite happy to leave behind when we entered the top of Central Park.  We got an up close and personal view of the park, as it took us over 2 hrs to walk from one end to the other.  Very pretty, but the beer at the other end was the best beer ever!  Especially as it was around 26-28 degrees.

Central Park
see all photos »

We wandered down 5^th Avenue and perused the shops then wandered until we found Times Square.  That area is pretty amazing.  As with most things in the US, it’s huge!  Definitely the bright lights, big city feel here.  Yet more walking (ok … this is about hour 6/7 now) we wandered past the Rockefeller Center then made our way home.  Needless to say, we were pretty tired and stayed in with a take away pizza.

Downtown Monument
see all photos »

Friday 4^th September

We started the day with a fun 2 hr queue to go up the Empire State Building.  Amazing views, we were on the 86^th floor which is about 1500 ft high.  Fortunately, the weather was beautiful again so we got some great photos.  We did more walking, and spent the next few hours walking back to our hotel via Little Italy and China Town (not much to brag about here …. we were pretty happy to wander through and keep going).

Downtown Manhattan
see all photos »

The best part of today is the 6 storey shopping mall next to us which sells discount designer goods.  Carmen had lots of fun buying new clothes (thank goodness for the extra baggage allowance in the States).  Now the hard part is going to be repacking for Europe and taking less than 20kgs (and yes, Carmen will be minimising the amount of shoes she takes).

Saturday 5^th September

Skyscrapers
see all photos »

We had a lovely morning.  We did a ‘Run around sights’ – we had enough of walking so decided that running around downtown and the financial district would help us see things a bit quicker.  We took in some cool sights, like the Stock Exchange, Wall Street, Trump Tower, and an old church called Trinity Church.  We then ran over Brooklyn Bridge and got some great photos from there looking back towards the Manhattan skyline.

Times Square
see all photos »

There is an old 17^th century area downtown that has lots of cool pub style restaurants.  We wandered back there for lunch and then boarded the Staten Island Ferry so that we could sail past Liberty Island and the Statue of Liberty.  The ferry is free, so that was great, but it was hilarious watching (and being a part of) everyone rushing to get through the doors and onto the ferry.  About 1000 people practically run on when the doors open and you feel like a sheep being pushed through the gates.  At least we saw the funny side.  There isn’t too much that we wanted to see on Staten Island so we took the ferry out and came straight back.  We wandered back past the mall and Rich got bitten by the bug and is now the proud owner of a swanky new velvet jacket and some new plaid pants!

Times Square
see all photos »

Downtown at Sunset
see all photos »