From the moment I set foot in Manhattan, I was in love. It didn't take long for New York to find a place in my heart and it quickly become one of my favourite cities in the world. It has only been 10 weeks since Hurricane Sandy hit New York City but you couldn't tell. And it's no wonder that New York is so well known as the city that never sleeps. There is always something happening and plenty to do in NYC.
Day 1
On our first day in New York we couldn't wait to set off to explore the city. In Manhattan, it's pretty easy to navigate around. The city is a grid system with avenues running North to South and streets running East to West, plus they are numerical order, with the exception of a few main avenues such as Broadway, Madison and Park. First on our agenda was Central Park. At 843 acres, the park covers 6% of Manhattans land area. The park is huge! We walked for over an hour and would not have even covered a quarter of it. Along the way we saw the famous Central Park ice skating rink, walked Lovers Stroll and sat on the steps of the MET, gossip girl style. Rhiannon and John were hoping to spot the Bird Lady from Home Alone but didn't have much luck.
Central Park
That night, we headed to Madison Square Garden to see the New York Knicks vs Chicago Bulls. I have been a Knicks fan for as long as I can remember and seeing a Knicks game at Madison Square Garden was a childhood dream come true. Although they are having a great season, the Knicks recent form against the Bulls hadn't been great, having lost the previous two games. Coming off a loss to the Packers the night before, the Knicks looked flat and were struggling to hit a shot. Down by 21 points at half time, I feared that it was going to be an absolute whitewash. In the 4th quarter, the Knicks showed more intensity and looked like they might just come back, but just fell short 101- 108. The only real highlight for Knicks fans was Carmelo Anthony's 33 points. Since Ryan is a huge Michael Jordan fan, he was the only one of us happy with a Bulls win.
Knicks No.1 fan!
Carmelo Anthony at Madison Square Garden
Day 2
Today we headed into the Financial District via the subway. Like walking around in Manhattan, the subway system isn't too difficult to navigate although it's evident that the wealthier population of New York stay above ground. We encountered a real mix of behavior on the subway from a man preaching and two kids break dancing.
I was really looking forward to seeing the 9/11 Memorial at the World Trade Centre site. It's still hard to believe that on the morning of September 11, 2011, 19 al Qaeda terrorist hijacked four airplanes, deliberately crashing two into the Twin Towers, an event that deeply impacted and devastated not only a city and a nation, but the world. I can remember Mum and Dad waking me early in the morning before school and watching the news. I'm not sure that I completely understood what was going on in that moment but over the next few days, the more I saw on TV, the more it all began to make sense. The memorial honours the 2983 men, women and children who were killed in the September 11 attacks, including over 400 NYPD and FDNY who perished in the line of duty and 6 killed in the World Trade Centre bombing on February 26, 1993. There are two pools with cascading waterfalls, a north and a south pool that stand in the exact location that the towers once stood. Nearly 3,000 names of the victims are inscribed in bronze around the perimeters of the pools. These names are arranged to reflect where the victims were and there relationship with others victims including flight numbers and ladder companies. In the middle of the memorial is the Survivor Tree, the only surviving tree from the 9/11 attacks. The tree was moved and nursed back to health in the New York City Park. In 2010, the tree was uprooted by severe storms, but true to its name it survived. More than 10 years on, the city of New Year is clearly still hurting, but there is signs of hope. Surrounding the memorial is the construction site of the four new World Trade Centre Towers. Tower 1 is almost finished and will be the highest building in the western hemisphere. The area will look spectacular when it is complete.
South pool of the 9/11 Memorial- construction of new World Trade Centre in background
It was Saturday night and we were keen to head out in New York. We went out to the Meat Packing District and decided to do a bar crawl through the area. Those of you that know John, knows he tends to make friends with strangers when he is out. Tonight was no different. At our 3rd venue, John met a guy called Gav in the toilets and next thing we know we were following him to a club in Chelsea. We had officially fallen off the tourist trail, as many people told us that only locals go to this club. After a couple of hours, a round of Jagerbombs and a few too many drinks, it was time to take John back to the hotel.
Drinks in the Meat Packing District, NY
Day 3
Rhiannon and I set off to see some of NYC's famous landmarks. First stop was Grand Central Station. It was exactly like it appears in the movies, although it wasn't a busy as a thought it would be, possibly because it was a Sunday morning. Next we wandered into Times Square to have our first look at one of New York City's busiest streets. Times Square is crazy busy and there are so many people trying to sell you things like CDs, broadway tickets, comedy shows and souvenirs. It didn't take us long to find the M&Ms store, where we were pretty excited to make our own personalised M&Ms. Here you can pick the text or choose icons that are printed onto a huge variety of colors of M&Ms. We caught back up with Ryan and a very hungover John to visit the Empire State Building. The building is 443m high and boasts views over Manhattan, Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge and Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately it was quite a foggy day and we could see much beyond the building from the observation deck.
Grand Central Station
Personalised M&Ms
Times Square
Empire State Building
View of Manhattan from top of Empire State Building
Before dinner at the Hard Rock Cafe, we went to Madame Tussaud's to see wax figures including Jennifer Aniston, Robert Pattinson, Taylor Lautner, Taylor Swift, Lady Gaga, Barack Obama and Michael Jordan just to name a few. The most entertaining part of the night was seeing John pretending to be a wax figure and a tourist looking at him and trying to find out who he was. The look on her face when he moved was priceless.
Day 4
We got up early this morning to spend the day in downtown Manhattan. First we walked over Brooklyn Bridge, 1825m from Manhattan to Brooklyn. John tried to convince us that the pipes that ran over the bridge was the entire water supply for Brooklyn. Since he is a plumber, we assumed that he knew what he was talking about. We only found later on that he had made it up. Next we went to Wall St and saw the New York Stock Exchange building. We found the 'Charging Bull' or as it is also known the 'Wall St Bull'. Some believe that if you rub it's balls, it will bring you financial wealth. After lunch, we boarded the Staten Island Ferry to get a closer look at the Statue of Liberty. The statue was a gift to the United States from the people of France and represents Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom. The statue has stood on Liberty Island since 1886.
Brooklyn Bridge
Statue of Liberty
That night, Rhiannon and I headed into Broadway to see Chicago the Musical. We scored pretty good seats being centre to the stage and only a few rows from the front. The musical was different than what I had expected it to be but I was impressed nevertheless. I enjoyed that fact that the producers added jokes to the script and that it was a small cast, with members of the chorus having the opportunity to play a variety of roles. The leads were extremely talented. The whole way home in the taxi I couldn't get ''All That Jazz' out of my head.
Chicago on Broadway with Rhiannon
Day 5
Today we went back to Central Park, this time to visit Central Park Zoo. We were lucky to arrive just in time for the California Sea Lion feeding, where we witnessed some very cheeky and clever Sea Lions showing us their tricks. We saw a sleepy Polar Bear, cute Red Pandas and a swan who tried to bite Ryan and Johns feet. We went over to the Children's Zoo where we got to feed some goats, sheep and alpacas. After lunch, Rhiannon and I discovered Macy's and spent close to 4 hours on the one floor. The store is so big, I even lost Rhiannon for at least half hour. Macy's managed to do a bit of damage to the credit card.
While we were shopping, the boys discovered the New York Hofbrau Bierhaus so we decided to go there for dinner and some beers. During my trip to Europe we had visited the Hofbrau Beer Hall in Munich, Germany. Drinking beer in steins definitely brought back some good memories. Ryan and John were keen to kick on so we headed into a bar in Times Square, where I drank Cosmpolitans, 'Sex and The City' style.
California Sea Lion at Central Park Zoo
Polar Bear at Central Park Zoo
Day 6
On my last day in New York, I decided to go it alone and venture out of Manhattan into the West Village and Soho. First was West Village to see two landmarks made famous by Sex and The City. I visited Carrie Bradshaw's apartment in Perry St, which reported sold this year for $9.85 million. A block down the street was Magnolias bakery which cupcakes were made famous by the TV show. I took with me two chocolate cupcakes which were incredibly rich, but incredibly yummy. Just a short walk from the West Village is Soho, the shopping capital of New York, where locals shop. There is 4 main streets in the district lined with clothing stores from Louis Vuitton to Topshop and Zara to Adidas. After spending a lot of time shopping in New York over the past week, if you looking for for somewhere that has a little bit for every taste and budget, Soho is my pick.
Carrie Bradshaw's apartment in West Village
Cupcakes from Magnolia Bakery
We finished off our stay at New York with ice skating at the world famous Rockefeller Centre. While the other stayed on the bench, I took to the rink. Safe to say I was pretty shakey to start with, sticking to the side of the rink, but after a few laps I found my feet. Not bad for my first time ice skating.
Ice skating at the Rockefeller Centre
Things I have learnt about New York..
- It is easy to get around in New York City. There is always cabs (unless it's raining) and they are quite reasonably priced. The subway is quick, easy and cheap. It's hard to get lost walking around the city and enjoyable if you have time to wander.
- The city is surprisingly safe. They are NYPD officers on almost every corner and I haven't felt unsafe at all, not even when walking alone.
- Tipping at restaurants is between 18-20% and is usually added directly to the bill. We got quite a shock when the bill came on our first night in New York.
- McDonald's has over 100 varieties of drinks, including Powerade, which makes it quite difficult to choose a beverage.
- New Yorkers love their hot dog stands. You only need to walk to the next corner to find one.
New York City was the destination I was most looking forward to out of all of our stops on our tour of Canada and the US and it certainly didn't disappoint. We managed to pack so much into such a short time. By the end of our week here I started to feel like a bit of a New Yorker myself, talking in lingo saying phrases like '51st and 3rd' when getting into a cab (translation: take me to the corner of 51st Street and 3rd Avenue). New York, I love you, I'll miss you and I'll definitely be back. Next stop: Las Vegas baby!
-A
