New York, New York!

We had a good time in New York but there's more to do and see in just the long weekend that we were there for that we're already talking about going back in the Summer.

Things we did manage to do were:
See a show on Broadway - Yeah, I know that it's such a touristy thing to do but then Americans visiting London almost always visit a show and so we reciprocated. As it was, we enjoyed our night out seeing the musical version of "The Wedding Singer" as we're both children of the 80s and liked the film version too.

Go to Liberty Island - It just has to be done. Whether or not we believe in the USA's modern take on "Freedom" (and I don't), the Statue of Liberty is still iconic and had to be seen close up. Ironically lady liberty is looking a bit run down, but then most Americans apparently don't understand irony. We went across just before the sun set so I managed to get some nice moody shots along with frozen bollocks as it was a bit nippy out on the boat at the time!


Visit Macy's - It's the largest store in the world, don't you know! Ten floors of heaven or hell, depending on whether or not you enjoy shopping. It was quite an experience. We went on a Saturday when one of their one-off 50% off sales was going on. It was crazy the things that we could buy at huge knock down prices. All in all we spent almost four hours in this one store alone. I was practically dead on my feet by the end but the other half was in retail heaven! Hehe...

See the Rockefeller Ice Rink and "World Famous" Christmas tree - It was HUGE. The tree in Trafalgar Square looks pretty crap this year (I think that the Norwegians are trying to tell us something) and this tree really puts it to massive shame. Mind you the electricity for the lights on the tree alone would probably be enough to power a small suburb.

Stroll through Central Park on a beautiful Sunday morning - It was cold but Sunny and we had a lovely romantic stroll through the park. That plus the fact that we needed the exercise after eating American size portions of everything for the previous few days made
this perfect. We both agreed that it would be nice to come back here in Summer. A week later we did the same thing in Hyde Park and it was cool to think how we'd been in New York just a week before walking through Central Park.

Do the Empire State Building at dusk - We'd originally planned to go on the Friday but visibility was poor and the outside viewing area closed, the same on Saturday but then we ended up with the best visibility on Sunday and I got lots of pictures at daylight and then after the sun had set. Just brilliant! I also had to resist the temptation to propose here as the sun set behind us. Perhaps, next time?

We took the subway a few times but never really needed to get a taxi as most places that didn't require a subway were within easy walking distance. I discovered that New Yorkers are the grumpiest city people in the world (Yes, even grumpier than Londoners). I've never come across such a bunch of unfriendly people before. When the other half asked for a tea but then forgot to ask for milk in it the person working in the cafe wouldn't stop moaning about it. When one of the employees in the Empire State Building tried to take our picture and we refused as it was really tacky, he muttered "Well, why don't you just fuck off then." to us. Most people in the street or in shops don't understand the use of the work "Excuse me" when trying to get past you and just go in elbows first. And a few other similar cases of people not really being particular friendly to strangers.

Also, in the few days that we were there, we managed to see a shoplifter getting away from a store detective and a mugger getting arrested with great force and volume by the NYPD. I've lived in London and have yet to see a mugging all my life and we get to see a few instances of things in just three days. It's not as safe as they say it is, is all I can say to that, though we never felt unsafe walking along the streets, even at night, as there were always loads of others around in the populous midtown area where we were based. And besides, if you are a city person, you'll feel at home straight away. It's just the pure scale of the buildings that can take your breath away for a few seconds when you first arrive.

We managed to fit a few more things in but is was all over too soon for us but as I said, I'm sure that we'll be back.