The New York Trip

I'm going to go into a bit of detail about what I did on the trip. There are pictures in the photo's section of the site that you can look at if you are nosy.

Wednesday
Woke up today with a terrible hangover. I'm not going to drink again!(well maybe...) Anyway I was up early and on the train bound for London.

The flight was uneventful, very smooth, 6 films (all crap). Finished Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy on the flight. It is superb, a good laugh for anyone. I'm looking forward to the film now.

When I got to the hotel I was nacked but the view was brilliant.(See what I saw)

Thursday
Work up today without a hangover and very early, eager to see the sites.

But first I had to check the UCAS website in the hotel lobby to find out if there was any update from Durham Uni. I held my breath as the site loaded and there is was. Conditional Offer. That really but a good start on the holiday.

We left the hotel and walked a block to the nearest diner for breakfast since my dad refused to have continental breakfast when America. It was strange but nice, I had pancakes eggs(sunny side up) and sausages, it was an unusual mix i thought but it worked.

Then the site seeing started. We were very close to times square so that's where we started. That was brilliant even in daylight hours. The number of adverts makes Piccadilly circus like a couple of billboards.

From Times Square we went to Lower Manhattan, the part of town I was rather interested in because of the number of sky scrapers. We first stumbled across ground zero by accident. Those people who say it is really moving and so on need their head examined, its a building site with a flag. Next on the agenda was to find out how to get to the statue of liberty. To cut it short we never made it because the queue was too long and none of us wanted to waste time queuing. We then had a wander about Battery park trying to find some mystical shops that never materialized(later in the week they were found on the other side of the island). However, we did find the Battery park winter gardens, an impressive building that provided a good place for a break.

We then went back to times square and from there went back to the hotel, stopping in many tacky gift shops en route.

Since we were all up early we did little on the night. I watched American television. It is better than the UK in many ways but it can get annoying when adverts on sit coms come on in 3 places in a half hour show instead of the UK's 1.


Friday
First on the list for today was a trip to the eastside to see the Chrysler building and Grand Central Station. Both very impressive buildings.

From there we went to see the Brooklyn bridge spanning the east river. That trip took us to south sea seaport where there were lots of shops and food places. I had a Chinese which I regretted very quickly. I felt ill for a lot of the afternoon thanks to that.

We then walked from there back to the centre of downtown, Ground Zero. Where I proceeded to spend more money shopping.

Similar night, went for a meal this time. Was quite nice.

Saturday

This is the day the rains came. It rained almost solid through this day. The temperature dropped to 2 degrees C.

So it was decided that today would be mainly shopping. So we headed across town on 57th street to the Park/Madison avenue area. I spent a lot of money very quickly but I got lots of stuff so it worked out well really.

After being dried at the hotel we went to Times Square to the cinema. It was really quite quiet considering it was a Saturday night in times square. Still the film was great. Be Cool, you will like it if you liked pulp fiction. More Uma and John dancing scenes.

Sunday

The day of rest. Or so they say. Craig was very unwell on this morning with a migrane attack so him and my mam stayed in the room for the morning while me and my dad headed uptown. Not that they missed much, it turns out there is little uptown from 57th street. We found this and promptly returned to the hotel, stopping by wendy's on the way for a square burger.

In the afternoon Craig was up and about so we went to Macy's. I personally think the store is overrated. Its not as posh as harrods but its not as expensive either. If you want really posh try Bloomingdales. I still got some DKNY combats so it was a worthwhile trip.

From Macy's on 35th street we walked back the hotel leaving me nackered(the hotel is on 57th street).

Monday

We set out early to get to the Empire State Building before the queues. We were partly successful, we only had to wait for half an hour. But it was well worth it. The views are outstanding. If you go to new York you cannot miss it.

From there we did some more shopping in the area before heading to Greenwich village.

Greenwich is a great part of new York. This is where the University put itself so it is quite an intellectual area. Visiting Washington square park(with the arch like Paris) really encapsulated the feeling. It felt a bit like Oxford. But the area was filled with loads of great little shops selling all sorts of obscure clothes and music stuffs. I wish we had more time to spend there.

When we got back uptown to 57th street the parents were too tired to stay standing any longer so only me and Craig went for a walk in central park. It was really good though. The park is my favorite part of Manhattan. Its all man made too which is hard to believe when you see it. Its so rare that you can stand surrounded by what looks like nature and see so many spectacular buildings.

Tuesday

Today was the last full day and everyone had things that they wanted to see. The first was the Staten Island Ferry. This is a free commuter ferry from lower Manhattan to Staten Island as the name suggests. It was really good though, the view from it parallel the empire state building. You see the images of new York you see in pictures.

When we arrived back on Manhattan we split up with Craig and my dad going to a museum and me and my mam going to South Seaport to get me some trainers.

The weather was really nice today about 22 degrees, a massive 20 degrees change from Saturday.

By the time we met back up in times square the day was pretty much over. Got some presents for people while waiting in times square.

Wednesday

The last day arrived. The weather was getting hotter. Since it was too hot for any more site seeing or shopping(we did more than enough of both really), we decided to spend the day in the Park. I never imagined that I would end the holiday in April sunbathing in a park but that's how it turned out.

From the park we went to JFK and waited for the flight. While waiting I bought a great book called "Conspiracy of Fools". Its very long though. I hope to finish it before the end of the year.

The flight back was a bit turbulent but i got home alive. A disappointment to some I know but I was pleased.

All in all a good holiday. Spent too much, ate too much, was in starbucks too much and slept to little. I'll never forget it.

Back to normal blogging from now on.