Leaving
late on 31st May meant that UK time my birthday started on the
plane, and as there is a 6 hour time delay to New York I ended
up having a really long birthday. Our first New York New York
experience was riding in a yellow taxi from the airport to our
hotel. Not a normal tourist attraction to mention but it was
a real yellow taxi like the ones I've seen in so many movies
and TV shows... it really set the scene for the weekend. There
was bullet proof glass between us and the driver and everything.
Riding through New York at night was also a cool experience
and we saw the lights of many building that we were going to
learn the names of during our stay. Our hotel Washington Jefferson
was just south of Central Park and really near Broadway. It
had a lovely front but after walking through a couple of doors
the rest of the building reminded me of an old school with low
down brass handles on the doors. We had 2 beds in our room and
a noisy air con unit, so after sleeping for the rest of the
night, we asked if we could change rooms in the morning and
ended up in a much nicer part of the hotel.
So it was
off to explore - and again a TV scene was how I would describe
the first things we saw. Rising steam from the road. Yeah corny
I know but I really enjoyed seeing this stuff for real instead
of TV. We walked down Broadway and I glimpsed some of the theatres
that I had dreamed of performing in. No-one was auditioning
and I had left my tap shoes behind so maybe I'll blast Broadway
next time. We continued to Times Square. If you've been to Piccadilly
Circus think 10 times bigger and brighter and loads more billboards
and you'd be getting close. Later at night when we went back,
it was just like daylight there are so many lit billboards.
There was a lot of very innovative advertising, including 2
mobile phones texting each other with little jokes and thing.
Times
Square
Click to
enlarge
Our big
site for the day was a visit up the Empire State building. It
was such a nice day and a sign informed us we would be able
to see for 15 miles today. We took 2 lifts to get to the viewing
deck which is below the beginning of the spire on the 86th floor.
The view was fantastic, I think it's the furtherest I've ever
been able to see. Each side had a viewing guide so you could
pick out the famous buildings. Of course the was one glaring
admission from the view - the twin towers.
View
from Empire State building
Click to
enlarge
You can't
go to New York with out checking out the shopping, and what
a pleasant experience that was. People were friendly and the
street wasn't packed with people despite it being a Saturday
afternoon. Fifth Avenue was our destination and we made a bit
of a dent before the stores closed. We also visited Macy's another
famous department store. I got a free bag from a coupon in a
tourist brochure. Macy's was similar to the department stores
here but it was still New York so I enjoyed it.
My birthday
dinner was at the Hard Rock Cafe. We were a bit tired from jet
lag so it wasn't a late night.
It would
be unthinkable to go to New York and not travel on the subway,
which is a lot safer than it used to be. We took a trip down
to the financial area passing Spin City's City Hall (no Charlie
Sheen or Heather Locklear) on our way to the World trade centre
site. The first sign that we were close was the church whose
fences are covered in tributes. How will they ever be able to
take those down? We rounded the corner and saw the vast empty
space which used to filled with 2 unbelievably massive buildings.
The Thursday before they had finished the clean up so today
there was a memorial service for family inside the site. It
was just a surreal feeling to be there. You really got a sense
of what it must of been like for the people of New York, something
out of a movie I'd imagine. We also passed a fire station nearby
that had lost some members and they had a lovely banner up saying
"All gave some, Some gave all". There were still flowers
being left outside the main doors.
A
wall near the trade centre with tributes to firemen lost
Click to
enlarge
After a
stroll around to Wall Street - not much happening as it was
Sunday - we decided to finish of the shops and Gavin found the
shop of his dreams, one place where he could get everything
he wanted, so we left behind an extremely happy sales person
and went home. Gavin was keen to see a movie that we won't be
able to see in UK for a while so we went to see Sum of all Fears
with Ben Affleck. Great movie, quite realistic.
The last
thing I really wanted to do in New York was visit one the most
famous symbols in the world, the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately
since September 11th (isn't it funny how that has become a word)
the Statue has been closed but you can still take a boat trip
to the island. It is so large when you get up to it. Gavin struggled
to get both of us in the photo.
It was neat
to look back at the skyline, but impossible to imagine how big
the towers really were.
Sadly we
had to leave New York which reminded me a lot of London - with
a friendlier slant on it - however we were off to Disney World
so I couldn't really complain.
We
took a taxi and experienced the New York traffic nearly at it's
peak and consequently we arrived just an hour before our flight
was due to leave. You know what's coming don't you... come one
it wouldn't be us travelling if you didn't think something would
go wrong. Well unbeknown to us they had changed our flight to
an hour earlier, so as we arrived our flight was leaving. What
now?? The next flight was Tuesday morning so we were booked
on that and went off to experience life in an airport hotel.
Not too bad actually until about 5 in the morning when the planes
start up. So slightly delayed we were off to Disney World.
Disney
World
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