The Big Apple
Trip Start
Mar 12, 2010
1
19
Trip End
Jun 04, 2010
Where I stayed
New York City, New York
Saturday, May 29, 2010
We eventually arrived at our hotel which was nice and we had a superb view of the Empire State Building! (Thanks to Kate requesting it on booking even though everyone else laughed at her and said she wouldn't get it!!) After a bit of a sit down, we had a walk around the centre and tried to get our bearings in the madness around Times Square! We had arrived in New York in the middle of Fleet Week and Memorial Weekend so there were lots of sailors and marines strutting around in their uniforms!
The next morning we had a great lay in before meeting Kate's friend Louise and her boyfriend Byron. We had a sit down in Bryant Park which is a lovely little park where we grabbed some lunch and did some people watching. The weather was really nice so lots of people were taking their lunches on the park. We had a look around Grand Central Station after leaving Louise and Byron which was a great building to see. We then headed back to the hotel to wait for Nigel (Dad), Rob and Lorraine to arrive as they had booked into the same hotel as us. It was great to see Dad after 3 months and he looked excited to be in NYC!
Once they had got settled in and refreshed, we all hit Times Square to find some dinner. In the end, we settled on 'Juniors Diner' where the portions were double the size they needed to be….I wasn't complaining!!! After this we had another walk around Times Square and took Nigel to see the Grand Central Station.
The weather was really nice again the next morning which was Memorial Day, a bank holiday in America! We went to the Empire State Building in the morning - we didn't have to queue for long which was good! Nigel was getting a bit scared about going to the top as he isn't good with heights but once up there he was fine. The views over Manhattan and the surrounding areas were amazing.
We jumped on the subway up to Central Park after the dizzying heights of the Empire State Building! I don't think any of us realised how big the park actually is! We entered the park about half way up and walked South past some large open fields which were packed full of people playing sports and relaxing. We had a quick stop at a small castle overlooking turtle pond and then another stop for some ice cream and a rest. The park was really busy with people but still looked really nice and it was an enjoyable walk. After the walk, we had a well earned beer in the Rockerfella Plaza before heading back to the hotel for some rest!
That night we had some grub in an Irish pub just off Times Square and planned the next day's activities! We had another walk around Times Square after dinner and saw some Police Officers (NYPD!!) lining up their motorbikes, clearly showing off and loving the attention they were getting from all the tourists wanting to have their pictures taken with them!!
We headed down to the southern tip of Manhattan the next morning for our helicopter ride! The chopper ride was awesome; we all really enjoyed it! We flew around the Statue of Liberty and up the western edge of Manhattan. The views of the statue and the city were superb, although I imagined the statue to be a lot taller than it actually was! Kate got to sit in the front next to the pilot too so she was happy as she got the best view! After the excitement of the chopper ride we walked to Ground Zero which is quite near to Wall Street and the Stock Exchange Building. We visited the Memorial Centre too which was sad but interesting. They are now building on the land where the World Trade Centre used to be, but the actual foundations of the two buildings are going to be made into Memorial Gardens which I'm sure will be nice.
That night we decided to visit Chinatown for some Chinese food. Chinatown itself is not very nice if I'm honest, its very dirty and smelly. I think all of us were a little disappointed with it, but we did find a Chinese restaurant that looked nice and it was busy so we thought it must be good. I really enjoyed it, the others thought it was ok but Nigel didn't like his dish very much, maybe he didn't like broccoli because there was tons of it on all our plates!!!
Our last full day in New York saw us head for the USS Intrepid which is a WWII warship turned into a museum. I reckon you could spend all day in the place because there is so much to see but we only stayed in there for a couple of hours because Kate and Rob didn't fancy going in. We saw lots of old war planes which were sitting on the flight deck and also went inside a nuclear missile submarine called 'Growler.' We also got to go on Concorde which was just next to the ship - this was pretty cool too!
After this we only had one thing to do…….SHOPPING!! Me, Kate and Nigel went and we spent plenty of money buying some new gear as our old stuff had started to become a bit tatty after 3 months of constant wear! That night we had booked tickets to see 'The West Side Story' at the Palace Theatre on Broadway. I didn't know what it was about but the preview sounded good and I was looking forward to a gang related show. What I didn't realise was it was about two camp dancing gangs!! The show was good although we both said it wasn't the best show we have seen! We sat in the balcony way up in the clouds but we still had a decent view so that was good!
On our last morning me and Kate needed a lay in so the others went out for breakfast early and we went out a bit later! Kate fancied pancakes with fruit and I fancied steak and eggs for breakfast. Unfortunately I didn't get my steak because they had ran out, so I had a steak sandwich instead?! We all passed the afternoon by sitting in Bryant Park relaxing until our crazy chauffeur came to take us to JFK!
We all had a great time in New York, there is so much to see and do, you can't get through everything so I'm sure we will visit again some time!
Comments
so there was an end to this lovely book
The best Times Square pub, bar, restaurant and carvery in Irish area. All men and women are most welcome in the moment or for hours where they can get generous drink. It provides all type of facilities