New York, New York

View from the Empire State

I left the UK with all good intentions to write on my blog regularly, but we have just been so busy we have barely had time to sleep, let alone come on the net. Sorry everyone, I will try harder in future!

We’ve had a fantastic time so far, I’m so glad New York was our first stop and we had so much fun with Patrick and Vicky in the 3 days we had together. On our first day we saw 2 of the biggest tourist attractions the city has to offer, The Statue of Liberty and the Empire State . We began the day with a trip to Liberty Island to see the Lady herself. Unfortunately, we appeared to have brought the good old Scottish weather with us as it remained cloudy and overcast for the duration of the day, also with a few heavy showers. But we still had amazing views of the Statue and back to the famous skyline of Manhattan, and it was still warm enough to walk about in vests & shorts so not quite as bad as back home! We also went to the Liberty museum, which is in the building that Lady Liberty stands on. Here we saw replicas of her face and feet and also her old torch (she has had about 3 I think).

We then took a walk through the Financial District, seeing many interesting buildings, mostly on the famous Wall Street. Every building in New York is built so high it is difficult not to spend your time looking up at the sky all the time! The most impressive building of course, has to be the Empire State, now the tallest building in New York since the unfortunate events of 09/11. We queued for ages to go up onto the observation deck on the 86th floor, but it was totally worthwhile. The views over Manhattan were simply outstanding although the sky was still very dull we were able to make out lots of landmarks. We then took the elevator up a further 14 stories to the enclosed observation deck, at the base of the radio & TV antennas. Here we were able to see Central Park, which we were unable to view from the 86th floor, so it was worthwhile paying the extra $15.

Day two, we headed for the Pulitzur Fountain, opposite the Plaza Hotel to meet our tour guide for the Sex and the City Tour. I won’t bore you all with the details as I know most of you aren’t watchers, but we saw loads of venues used in the TV series and also the film. We also stopped off for cupcakes at a bakery called ‘Magnolia’ in the West Village which was featured on SATC and also Saturday Night Live. They do the best cupcakes in the world by the way…. Daan and I went a total of 3 times during out stay in New York, and to be honest I would have gone more if I’d had the chance! We then stopped off for Cosmopolitans in a bar called ONeils, which was used in the series as Steve & Aidan’s bar, Scout. It was so surreal being in all these places, but so very very cool! After the tour, the Scottish weather started again so we headed into Planet Hollywood for a bite and to shelter from the rain. We then headed back to our rooms to get changed for the evening performance on Broadway ‘The Little Mermaid’. Daan and I actually got the time of the performance wrong, so we ended up having over an hour to kill before the show began. We went to a revolving bar on Times Square for cocktails which was pretty fun although we didn’t get to do the full 360 degrees before we had to leave.

‘The Little Mermaid’ was absolutely fabulous! A show on Broadway just makes the shows we have in London and the UK almost amateur! Not saying that the cast are more talented in any way, but no expense is spared on the costumes or the set. The choreography had been done amazingly too.

As day three was Patrick & Vicky’s last day, we decided to take it easy and have a look about the shops and venture into Central Park. Daan and I took a horse-drawn carriage ride, which to be honest was a bit of a waste of money as you only see the tiniest part of the park, and as we were at the south end, there wasn’t much to see! We then headed up to the middle part of the park to see the Alice in Wonderland statue, the Boathouse and Lake, and Strawberry Fields, the memorial for John Lennon which Yoko Ono donated. This was situated in the park but just opposite the Dakota Building, where Lennon lived and sadly where he was shot in 1980. We rounded up the day with a trip to Magnolia’s and to see Carrie Bradshaw’s apartment steps (more Sex & The City, sorry!). It was a great way to spend our last evening with Patrick & Vicky.

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~ by mhairitravelblog on July 5, 2008.