078 USA; New York

USA; New York
When you arrive in New York everything seems familiar - because we've been seeing it all the time for years on our TVs & in the cinema. It feels great, even though the weather is cold and showery for the first two days.

So we catch the Metro into Times Square and are immediately attracted by the Naked Cowboy. Now we've just moved from shorts and singlets to jeans, vests and sweaters and this guy is in the street wearing just his jocks, without Goosebumps - and yes, I looked!!

The New Years ball is tiny. So different from what we see on the TV

It is cold and wet and we've both caught a cold on the plane yet we are still enjoying ourselves.
I now understand why people come back here time and time again. It feels good.
The views from the Top of The Rock (Rockefeller Centre) are magnificent. We walk straight in, no queuing, no crowds.

Great photo of  the Rockefeller centre

We walk the Highline. A wonderful 're-use' of an old railway line. It is much longer than we thought and very busy.

At the end of the Highline walk we come across the ComiCon Conference. Brilliant. Thousands of young people, who've gone to a lot of effort, having  a great  time. It was wonderful just being on 'the periphery' of it. Perhaps this is why we couldn't get reasonably priced accommodation?

 

We go to a NY Jets game and  learn that Taxi drivers do not like to cross state borders. Even though they are the New York Jets, they play in New Jersey. Getting there was an adventure! Once there the prices surprised us. $5 for a small  bottle of water, $10 for a small bottle of beer, $115 for a  seat in the gods section. But we are glad we go and we even understand most of it :)

bit slow though. Takes 45 minutes to play a 25 minute quarter.

We intended to try American food but just couldn't bring ourselves to eat Hot Dogs.

The  stadium holds  85,000 seated.  The  second biggest seated stadium in the USA. The Americans sure know how to pump a crowd. The  National Anthem  brought tears to my eyes. There were fireworks, cheerleaders, free gifts, entertainment. So well done.

We made the mistake of going to the Empire State building. We queued for nearly 2 hours. What was annoying was there were no signs to let you know how long to go and the line was designed in such a way that it took about 10 mins to reach the next corner, so you always thought you were nearly there. Really it was a total rip off. Yet look at the crowds as compared with the Rockefeller Centre, where the view was basically the same.

Ticking off the boxes; Grand Central

And there she is. Magnificent. Yet once again smaller and less imposing than imagined as we've all been exposed to pretty good film footage of her.
It was funny watching the ferry tilt to one side as everyone went to Port to look at her.

The World Trade Centre memorial is so well done. Not quite as moving as Gallipoli, but not far off.
In the rubble they found this tree, not quite destroyed. They've nursed it back to health and replanted it at the site.

There are two of these 'pits'. With everyone's name around them, including those who died at the Pentagon and the 4th plane. The fact they have not rebuilt on land that must be amongst the most valuable in the world is truly inspiring. When it is someone's birthday they place a white rose by their name.

The sun came out for us and we had a magnificent walk in central park.
A great space. Loved it and loved the numbers of people (locals, we think) who were still being at leisure. We spent two to three leisurely hours in the park and loved it.

The Guggenheim Museum.
The building is magnificent and really makes you want to explore.
Unfortunately I think they must have used all the money on the building because the art was pathetic.

And that was New York and we loved it. Next stop Washington DC.