New York. U.S.A.

"Start spreading the news, I'm leaving today, i want to be a part of it NEW YORK NEW YORK" Yes after nearly 12 months of travelling we finally landed in New York, the final destination of our around the world trip (we do have 10 days left in europe to do, but that was a seperate trip booked for after we arrived home) After getting in a famous New York yellow taxi we arrived at our hotel up on Upper West 94th street in Upper Manhattan. New York is absolutely stunning and so easy to get around and there is so much to see here. On the first day we caught the subway into 42nd street and Times Square and had a walk around, to be fair it wasn't as big i'd thought it would be having seen it on the TV. The rest of the day was spent seeing the inside of the Great Central Station (New Yorks Train Station) and the Chrysler Building. We spent the night eating and drinking at the Hard Rock Cafe - when in Rome. The following day we headed down to Battery Park where we caught the ferry over to Statue of Liberty. On the ferry crossing we were treated to some fantastic views of Lower Mahattan. After walking around the Statue Of Liberty we jumped back on the Ferry and headed over to Ellis Island which is where all the immigrants landed before being accessed and then possibly allowed into the country. Then it was back on the ferry and back to Manhattan where we queued up for half an hour to get half price tickets for a broadway show. We got tickets to watch The Colour Purple for the following night. That night we just went out for a quiet meal in the neighbourhood that we were staying in which was nice especially being away from all the tourist stuff. Day 3 we went to Central Park for a lovely walk, we passed the Dakota Building which is where John Lennon lived and was shot outside of, we also went to Strawberry Fields which is located in Central Park and is a tribute to John Lennon. Central Park was lovely and chilled and with the trees overhead you couldn't see any of the buildings making it feel like you were a million miles away from the hustle and bustle of the city. We also spent some time in Little Italy, China Town and SoHo. That night we went to the Broadway Theatre on Broadway to watch The Colour Purple and despite having half price tickets we had fantastic seats, the show itself was absolutely outstanding, funny, sad and extremely heart warming, fully recommend it to anyone. Day 4, We getting a little tired by now having been on the go for nearly 3 weeks (I know you're thinking aaahhh must be a tough life, well it does take a lot out of you) So we just spent the day relaxing, we did do a bit of sight seeing, with a walk around Ground Zero and the tribute centre, this did take alot out of us metally as it was absolutely heartbreaking reading the tributes about everything that happened that day and since. One picticular story that touched me about the heroics of the emergency services was a guy who lived in New jersey across the river and because the road tunnel was closed to traffic, he ran about 3 miles in full fire fighter gear to get to the twin towers to help but was caught inside when it collasped and killed him, a true hero. After wiping away the tears we had a walk around the Financial district and Wall Street and then finally jumped on the Subway and went over to the borough of Brooklyn and walked back over the Brooklyn Bridge with fantastic views of the city. That night we met up with Sean (one of my best friends) and his beautiful wife Sarah who were also on holiday In the Big Apple, we spent the night drinking champagne (celebrating our engagement) and numerous drinks, an enjoyable night catching up as we had only seen each other on one afternoon in the last year, a fantastic night. Our last full day was spent just finishing off what we hadn't yet seen which basically consisted on the Empire State Building which we went to the top for some fantastic views. We finished off with a walk up 5th Avenue and around the Rockerfella Centre and then spent the night in Times Square with all the neon lights, very cool. That was the end of our trip around the U.S.A. as the following day we were aboard the plane going HOME!!!!

Lee