New York Visit (Saturday)

Our final day was only really half a day as we had to head off to JFK at 1.30pm which only gave us the morning. Being thrifty and having found nice jewellery shop on Broadway not far from the hotel, we headed there after breakfast to pick up some gifts for family back home. However the shop was not very well stocked and the items we wanted were not there. So we decided on a mad dash down to the Village at 8th St where there was another branch with the things we wanted. Timed to perfection, we arrived back at the hotel, collected our luggage and headed to the airport for our late afternoon flight back to Paris and then onto Manchester. After the time differences and the extra hour jump for daylight savings (as it was the end of October) we were thoroughly disoriented and rather worn out.

We would recommend New York City to anyone who has never been. I'm sure we could have stayed for a month and still not have seen everything. I will have great memories of our week there that had some spectacular highlights. Would we go back? - Yes but not until we'd visited some other parts of the US.

Our last view of Manhattan from the departure lounge

New York Visit (Friday)

Our last full day in NYC began with an "All American" breakfast: Pancakes, Ham, Sausage - the works!!! We jumped on the Downtown Express and rode all the way to Wall Street. At the pier we saw the Brooklyn and Washington Bridges and the fire station housing one of the crews first on the scene on September 11th (See picture of plaque) We walked around the bottom towards Battery Park and the Staten Island Ferry. During the crossings we saw both Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty (without the queues). After the return journey we took the subway under the World Trade Centre site and visited Ground Zero. At Fulton St/Nassau/Broadway subway station we got completely lost but eventually managed to find the A train that took us all the way to the Port Authority Bus Station and 42nd Street. In Times Square, we purchased some proper NY souvenirs and tried to contact Fred (our man in New York and provider of Rangers Tickets) however he couldn't make it to meet up. Feeling rather drained by 5.30 pm we headed for the Hard Rock Cafe (http://www.hardrock.com/locations/cafes/Cafes.aspx?Lc=NEWY) for a quick drink which turned into 6 quick drinks and a game involving trying to find people from as many different states as possible. We also had a great time with the barmaids and general people at the bar who were all very friendly. After a journey uptown on the 2 express we arrived back at the Manhattan Diner for a huge burger and a slice of the most amazing cheesecake ever before staggering across to the hotel full and a little drunk!!!

New York Visit (Thursday)

Thursday was our last day with our NY Pass and therefore we wanted to get as much out of it as we could. We headed straight for the subway and took the uptown 2 train to the Pelham Parkway in the Bronx. After some confusion as to which way to walk, we headed under the Bronx River Parkway and into the Bronx Zoo. This is a sprawling zoo which disguises well the fact that it is situated in the middle of a vast conurbation. Our highlight here was 2 Tiger "Enrichment Sessions" This involved zookeepers showing us the work they do with the tigers to keep them happy and healthy. As cat lovers, this was a treat for us! 3 hours passed far too quickly and we had to head south. From Pelham Parkway, we took a 2 train to E180th Street and changed onto a 5 train and rode as far as Lexington Avenue and 59th. Here we had a quick snack at a Subway (sandwich shop, not train station!) and then went to Bloomingdales. There was no way we were ever going to see all of the shop but we saw a good selection of departments and used our NY Pass for an 11% discount. My wife purchased a rather fetching hat and scarf and a free gift which was a black tote bag. For my souvenir, I asked the lovely lady in the cloakroom for some "Little Brown Bags" and came out with 4!!!From "Bloomies" we walked along the bottom of Central Park to Columbus Circle and caught the subway home. We ate at the "Manhattan Diner" on the north east corner of 77th and Broadway which has (thankfully) very quick service and we ate a bacon cheeseburger each with all the trimmings. We had to eat quickly so we could catch the subway to Penn Station and Madison Square Garden to see the Rangers vs Islanders game (Thanks again for the tickets Fred!). The seats were amazing, 7 rows back. The Rangers won 3-1 and we bought a Rangers Puck! After the game, we got one last use out of the NY Pass by going back up the Empire State Building for a night time view (Which is just as impressive as in the daytime) We bought a souvenir Christmas decoration from the shop on the 86th floor before descending to street level and making our way back to the hotel.

New York Visit (Wednesday)

Wednesday arrived and after a relative sleep in, we headed to 72nd Street station and took the express to Penn Station. As we were running behind time, we settled for another bagel with cream cheese (they're kind of addictive!!!) We queued for close to 2 hours to get to the top of the Empire State Building - it was worth every moment though, the views were spectacular and we picked the perfect day for visibility, although the wind was quite severe. We lunched at TGI Friday's at the corner of 34th and 8th (I think) and took the M34 crosstown bus to pier 83 to catch the 14.30 circle line cruise, but we missed it by a mere 2 minutes! However, our NY Pass also gave us admission to the USS Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum which is only 2 blocks up. This is an entire museum based on a retired aircraft carrier and is very impressive, lots of history to learn about from WWII up to 9/11. We also 'flew' a fighter jet in a 360 degree simulator churning our stomachs thoroughly. Also there was a small slice of home in the shape of a retired British Airways Concorde sat on a barge on the Hudson - a strange sight! From the Intrepid, we took the M50 Crosstown bus to 50th Street station and the subway back to our hotel. A quick change saw us out again and on the subway back to Rockefeller centre for some night time ice skating. From there, we walked back through to Times Square via Avenue of the Americas for an obligatory hot dog and pretzel. Once again we hit the subway back to our Upper West Side neighbourhood for a couple of well earned beers at the Westside Brewing Company.

New York Visit (Tuesday)

Tuesday morning arrived far too soon (some kind of delayed jet-lag?) bringing with it a lot of rain. (Although, perhaps the weather channels over-reacted just a little bit because it was like a normal Winter's day in England really!! Not half as bad as we were expecting!) Anyway, as it was raining we decided to make it an "inside" day so we were off early on foot to the American Museum of Natural History. We called for the obligatory bagel with cream cheese at a place on Amsterdam Avenue and made our way over. Even with our New York Pass www.newyorkpass.com we encountered security checks and then a queue for admission (much smaller than the queue for general admission) Then it was off around the museum. We did find the floor plan a little confusing in that there is not a route to follow and often a display finishes with a dead end! However, the displays are stunning and the models amazing. In particular the Ocean and Dinosaur exhibits were wonderful. We didn't nearly see everything that we would have liked to and could have easily spent the day there but time meant we had to move on. Next stop was a quick walk along the West 81st Street transverse road through Central Park which then becomes the West 79th Street transverse road. Anyway, we hit 5th Avenue, past the Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art) and up to the Guggenheim. A feast of art awaited us, much of it by Russian artists as this was the specific collection on display currently. As equally interesting as the artwork was the structure of the building, an innovative spiral shape that basically gives the gallery a lot of wall space. Again, a more leisurely pace would have been preferable but we were beginning to realise that we were never going to see everything unless we kept moving! From there, a 101 bus took us straight down Lexington Avenue to 50th Street and Bloomingdales. (We were not visiting there today but it was handy to know where it was.) We wandered down to 42nd Street and the Grand Central Terminal. Again, you can't fail to be impressed by the architecture and the amazing restoration work that had taken place in recent times (thank you Discovery channel for the program I saw prior to visiting) Suddenly it was 4pm and we realised lunch had escaped us, however, luckily we found a lunchtime special in Coke and Pizzas on 42nd Street. I say lucky because they served us and then promptly removed the sign as the offer had finished, or should have, a couple of hours earlier. Refuelled, we headed to the Empire State Building for our first of 3 visits. We had a go on the "New York Skyride" an interactive, moving show in a kind of simulator, all narrated by Kevin Bacon giving us a guided tour of NYC from the air. Had the weather been better, we would have gone up the Empire State Building then) However we then walked along 33rd Street to Madison Square Garden (www.thegarden.com) to collect 2 tickets for the Thursday night Ice Hockey match between the NY rangers and the NY Islanders. My wife had the good fortune to secure tickets from a season pass holder who was unable to attend (thanks Fred) On collecting the tickets we had a quick celebratory beer before heading back to the hotel. Dinner that evening consisted of the biggest sandwich ever, with salad and fries and a few beers in the Westside Brewing Company on the NW corner of 76th and Amsterdam. This was accompanied by a quick lesson in Ice Hockey from my wife in readiness for the match on Thursday...

New York Visit (Sunday & Monday)

(For more pictures, click the title!)

Quite on the spur of the moment (unusual for me!!!) My wife and I decided to spend the October half-term holiday week in New York. We booked through www.expedia.co.uk a fortnight before leaving, giving us just enough time to pack and prepare - Lucky we didn't need to apply for visas!

So we arrived in NYC on Sunday 23rd October after a rather lengthy flight from Manchester via Paris!. (Air France = v. good but a VERY hot stifling transatlantic flight) - Have never been too hot on a plane before!

Anyway, we arrived at the hotel "On the Ave" at around 7:30 local time planning to have an early night but a local bar beckoned so off we go to sample some Upper West Side hospitality in the shape of "Harrisons" on the SE corner of 77th and Amsterdam. Good beer, good food and a very loud opinionated (in a good way) bartender who was the youngest looking 59 year old ever apparently!!!

Beer was not as cheap as we expected - coming from the UK we were told it's much cheaper. However we found that all week we rarely paid less than a "London" price for a drink.
Anyway, Monday was a day for getting our bearings: we travelled from 72nd Street Subway to Times Square to pick up our "New York Passes". These were waiting for us at Planet Hollywood and basically entitled us to lots of discounts and free entry to many tourist attractions. From there, we had the traditional NY breakfast of any type of fried food in a bread roll and some seriously strong coffee.
From there, we wandered down Broadway to 34th Street and Macy's - very posh and far too expensive for me!!! We then did the most embarrasing thing of standing in the middle of the street, looking at a map trying to work out where the Empire State Building is. It was only 2 or 3 blocks away and massively obvious if we had only looked up!!! So we wandered past there and down 5th Avenue to a deli for lunch. Onward, via the tube (never got into calling it the Subway) to 8th Street and NYU. A lovely part of town, we walked through Washington Square Park and the Village to a rather specific location - namely the intersection of 7th Avenue and Christopher Street. This is the home of "Village Cigars" which sports a controllable webcam (www.sceenz.com) We had looked at this site before leaving the UK and so had to call in and see it. We also arranged via mobile phone (and a 5 hour time difference) for my brother-in-law to gain control of the camera and snapshot us standing outside Starbucks - he did this and promptly MMS'd the picture to us!!! How's that for interactivity!!! After managing to find a beer (and more importantly, a toilet) we headed back up the 1 line to 79th Street and our hotel.

We returned to Harrison's bar that evening for a traditional American burger with all the trimmings and a front row seat for the evening's sports entertainment on the 3 massive plasma screens. I think it was Ice Hockey on that night, or it could have been Baseball. It's worth noting how into sports the Americans are, to say it was a Monday night, there was no shortage of fans in to watch the games.

A relatively early night followed because of the impending 3 days of mad tourism that would follow! There was also news of the arrival of Hurricane Wilma from the Carribbean which (according to the dedicated weather channel) was due to mix with Tropical Storm Alpha and basically blow Manhattan away on Tuesday. We fell asleep fearing the worst...

Travel Blog

I've decided to use this for something useful (and as a reminder to myself) I'm going to publish my thoughts/memories on various trips I've been on (hopefully complete with photographs.

First up will be New York City. Just returned and had a great time.

Travelblogs to follow...............