Get ready for a long, but interesting blog...Got back from NEW YORK CITY yesterday.... i absolutly LOVED it, it is such a beautiful city with so much happening and so much to do. It is exactly like all the movies. After the very long 12 hour over-night bus ride, we caught the SUBWAY to our hostel but couldn't check in untill 4pm that day so we put our bags into a locker and off we went to explore.
After breakfast at this dirt cheap yet very tasty street stall, we headed straight to CENTRAL PARK which was right near our hostel. Its hard to believe there is this really beautiful/huge park in the middle of the city. Within the park there are heaps of sporting arenas, ie baseball courts, rock climbing, gyms, basketball, tennis and skating etc and 100s of poeple running... there is a non-stop, continuous line of poeple runing or cycling around the park, i dont blame them, it would be really nice to run there every day with the trees around and lakes etc. BUT of course there are some unpleasent sights like the 'bums' the scavenging squrirrels and the smelly polluted water.
We left central park and headed to the GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM (an archetecturel museum that featured in one of my HSC exams... unfortunatly it had scaffolding all over it) we spent a while walking around the spiral museum looking at some original paintings of artists such as PICASO, GOYA, VAN GOGH etc.
That night we went to TIMES SQUARE (saw the biggest toys-are-us with a huge Barbie doll house, the statue of Liberty made of lego, a huge moving T-Rex, and a working fares wheel) to get tickets to the BRAODWAY production PHANOM OF THE OPERA!!!!! Which we all really enjoyed. Then home to bed in the dorm like rooms sharing with 12 other people (the mornings were a bit smelly... dirty socks etc).
Next morning breakfast at the same street stall then off to the EMPIRE STATE BUILDING. The whole experience of goingup the empire state is a LINE UP, right from entering the building on the street to getting tickets, getting on the and off the lift (takes 1min to get to the top), getting a photo taken (that we didn't buy anyway), getting audio, even to take a picture at the top you line up to get to the edge, then more lining up to get back down. Its one continuous line of people. BUT was all worth it, the views are amazing, the audio was really good and pointed out the most impotant sights such as where the TWIN TOWERS (mid-right of buildings in 2nd last pic also you can see a very small statue of Liberty to the far right) were, where the TITANIC was supposed to dock (next to the green baseball net in 5th pic), Central Park, Chrysler Building, Brooklyn bridge etc
We headed to the WORLD TRADE CENTER: GROUND ZERO SITE!!!!!!!!!!! It was a bit emotional to actually be at the site that I have seen so many times on TV, where so many people died. There was a time line of the events of 911 ie when the planes hit and what George Bush was doing etc. There are also pictures all around showing the events of the day. There was a homeless guy who was shouting out politics about America and said that he had gone there everyday since 911, he had a garbage bag full of newspaper clippings and knew every single time and persons name etc he was pretty interesting (2nd last pic). There are parts of the old building still standing, but all the buildings around it are all brand new, even 5 years later they have only just finished reconstructing the surrounding buildings and subway etc. Ground zero is just a construction site at the moment, there is, it seams, a hole in the NY skyline where the towers used to stand (see Empire State pics) so its good that they are now building a huge Freedom Tower and memorial garden.
After breakfast at this dirt cheap yet very tasty street stall, we headed straight to CENTRAL PARK which was right near our hostel. Its hard to believe there is this really beautiful/huge park in the middle of the city. Within the park there are heaps of sporting arenas, ie baseball courts, rock climbing, gyms, basketball, tennis and skating etc and 100s of poeple running... there is a non-stop, continuous line of poeple runing or cycling around the park, i dont blame them, it would be really nice to run there every day with the trees around and lakes etc. BUT of course there are some unpleasent sights like the 'bums' the scavenging squrirrels and the smelly polluted water.
We left central park and headed to the GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM (an archetecturel museum that featured in one of my HSC exams... unfortunatly it had scaffolding all over it) we spent a while walking around the spiral museum looking at some original paintings of artists such as PICASO, GOYA, VAN GOGH etc.
The rest of the afternoon was spent walking around the city marveling at the wonder of the buildings, people and sights such as TIFFANY & CO (didnt purchase anything as the cheapest thing were earings at $2000)
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That night we went to TIMES SQUARE (saw the biggest toys-are-us with a huge Barbie doll house, the statue of Liberty made of lego, a huge moving T-Rex, and a working fares wheel) to get tickets to the BRAODWAY production PHANOM OF THE OPERA!!!!! Which we all really enjoyed. Then home to bed in the dorm like rooms sharing with 12 other people (the mornings were a bit smelly... dirty socks etc).
Next morning breakfast at the same street stall then off to the EMPIRE STATE BUILDING. The whole experience of goingup the empire state is a LINE UP, right from entering the building on the street to getting tickets, getting on the and off the lift (takes 1min to get to the top), getting a photo taken (that we didn't buy anyway), getting audio, even to take a picture at the top you line up to get to the edge, then more lining up to get back down. Its one continuous line of people. BUT was all worth it, the views are amazing, the audio was really good and pointed out the most impotant sights such as where the TWIN TOWERS (mid-right of buildings in 2nd last pic also you can see a very small statue of Liberty to the far right) were, where the TITANIC was supposed to dock (next to the green baseball net in 5th pic), Central Park, Chrysler Building, Brooklyn bridge etc
After the Empire State we stumbled across Madison Sq Garden and were amazed at how tame the squirrels were, but were more ferrel then in Canada.
We headed to the WORLD TRADE CENTER: GROUND ZERO SITE!!!!!!!!!!! It was a bit emotional to actually be at the site that I have seen so many times on TV, where so many people died. There was a time line of the events of 911 ie when the planes hit and what George Bush was doing etc. There are also pictures all around showing the events of the day. There was a homeless guy who was shouting out politics about America and said that he had gone there everyday since 911, he had a garbage bag full of newspaper clippings and knew every single time and persons name etc he was pretty interesting (2nd last pic). There are parts of the old building still standing, but all the buildings around it are all brand new, even 5 years later they have only just finished reconstructing the surrounding buildings and subway etc. Ground zero is just a construction site at the moment, there is, it seams, a hole in the NY skyline where the towers used to stand (see Empire State pics) so its good that they are now building a huge Freedom Tower and memorial garden.
That night we braved the cold and took the Staten Island ferry, free of charge, to see the STATUE OF LIBERTY!!!!! The pictures dont show it, but seeing the skyline and the statue all lit up at sunset was really beautiful. After coming straight back from Staten island (there is not much to do there) we went to ROCKEFELLA!!!!! Which has the famous big christmas tree and skating rink that is featured in so many NY movies. There were SO MANY PEOPLE, we lined up again to get to the edge for a picture. The crowd was too extreme so we left to get some dinner, without skating. 
That night we stumbled across a street performer who was playing the drums with kitchen appliances such as buckets, pots and pans and an old sink!!! He was awesome, i could have stayed there all night listening. There are alot of street performers at every corner, mainly in the subway, which is pretty cool because you can listen to good music wherever you are. There were two bongo players who were working the trains playing their music and as they said 'spreading the peace and making our journey more enjoyable' but of course they all want money. There are also alot of homeless people holding their cardbaord signs up etc once we saw a women whistling holding out a cup, I felt so bad for every one of them but you cant give all your money away so had to say no to alot of sad looking faces.
NEXT morning, our last and favorite day in NEW YORK, we missed out on breakfast at our traditional street stall, instead we went to the SEINFELD DINER: TOM'S RESTAURANT. It looks exactly like in Seinfeld on the outside but it has a different interior. It also has the best breakfast you could ever want, but not for the faint hearted and not something you would eat everyday!!!! 
After brekkie, we burned off the calories with a leisurely walk over the BROOKLYN BRIDGE. We had perfect whether for it, not to cold not too hot and very clear. It didn't take us long to cross it (its smaller then the Golden Gate). After the walk we decided to pay the small price to see the Statue of Liberty up close, im so glad we did as this was my favorite part of the trip in NY. We had to go through security to board the boat (there is alot of seccurity around with police at just about every corner, you feel very safe in the entire city). The boat ride gave us really great veiws of the NY skyline and of course the STATUE OF LIBERTY which I loved. We got off at Liberty Island and were able to walk around the statue, and stand RIGHT underneath it. 
After we were back on dry land we had done everything we wanted to do (and spent more then we wanted) at 'the BIG apple' and it was just about time to get back on the bus for the 12 hour drive back to Canada so we headed to our hostel via GRAND CENTRAL STATION (also in all the NY movies). Me, being the sensible one was given the important job of minding the entry code to get into our locker and of course I lost it... BUT no drama security were there to help break in to it. After changing into compfy travel clothes we realised we were running a bit late for the bus... so panicked a bit running to get to the terminal (me with my extremely heavy bag), where we made it in perfect timing. Slept most of the way home where we expected to see HEAPS of snow ready for our WHITE CHRISTMAS, but no snow was seen, and wont be seen... oh well!!! (there will be plenty to go round in Whistler) So thats my trip of a life time... I love NY and will definatly go back there again (when im 21).
2 comments:
OH MY GOD!!!!!!
I can't think of anything else to say.....
Mum
It was fantastic! You would love it Mum!
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