New York New York Dec 07

'One belongs to New York instantly, one belongs to it as much in five minutes as in five years' I spent last week in New York and it was AMAZING New York is amazing, it's like everything you've ever imagined it to be and more! It's like you're on the set of your very own movie .... haha not really (and we didn't see any celebs either!) We arrived early Tuesday evening and went up the Empire State Building and the views over the city were amazing - it was just soo cold so high up! The lights of the city were magical, it was like a Xmas tree spread over a island! Wednesday the weather was not soo hot (like there were snow flurries) so we decided to have our shopping day - we were only planning on having one .... haha So we started down at Ground Zero - it's quite eeiry there ... and it makes you think about all the people who died there a lot, the site is just a building site and the buildings around it are also getting fixed I would say from the attacks Ground Zero is opposite this shop called 'Century 21' which is a designer outlet - no bargains to be found though ... Shame I was looking forward to my Gucci jeans! We then moved onto Canal Street - thanks Camellia for the tip - and spent a good few hours buying every sort of fake designer handbag under the sun! I am now the proud owner of some Dolce and Gabbana!! haha I wish - there were also some funky clothing stores where we spend some cash! The afternoon was spent at Macys and other stores trying to get items from the 'list' - the others had a list of desirable items to buy ... not me haha which went hand in hand with the drinking of Starbucks ... the great American institution! We managed to get tickets to see Hairspray on Broadway for Weds evening which was cool cos it was opening night again after the writers strikes which struck the US writers since early November hairspray is such a fun musical and we got to meet some of the cast at the end too
we then spent some time browsing the always open shops around Times Square .... and eating M and M's from the M and M store The lights and sounds of Times Square are pretty cool and very bright they didn't have the billboard you can get your face on up anymore so we couldn't be world famous in New York with Hemi the Kiwi! Thursday brought more fun .... and some sunshine! We started off the day with a walk round the famous buildings of New York - the Rockerfeller Centre, Grand Central Station, The Chrysaller Building etc etc and the infamous Xmas trees dotted everywhere! This took a while because of the shops which sidetracked us!! Then we made our way down to Battery Park to get out to see the Statue of Liberty ... but .... there were no tickets available for then so we caught the free Staten Island ferry past her and admired her gracefulness from the water (twice!) Thursday night we met up with Emily's cousin and her BF who were also in NY and headed down to Chinatown for some authentic Chinese! the food wasn't too flash - a bit like getting it from Chinatown in London but it was cool to say we had been there and done that!I tried to get the security guy at our hostel to give suggestions on his favourites but he just thought I was a bit mad! Friday was a bit of a mixed bag - we had a bit of time and breakfasted in Trump Towers .... and browsed the better end of Fifth Ave, Tiffany's, perved at the topless guys in Abercrombie and Fitch 2x and spent the rest of our cash! We did some ice skating in central park which was quite fun once you get the hang of it ... but the ice had to get cleared while we were there so once we were allowed back on they changed the way round you could go and it made the brain work a bit harder and you had to really concentrate we didn't have time to go to the Met or MOMA as we had to rush down to the heliport for our helicoptor ride ... but the weather started getting whiter and when we got down to the heliport and waited for a while they cancelled all the rest of the flights ... so it was back to the shops!
We were pretty tired at the end of the day and didn't quite make it down for some italian in little italy so we just found an italian near our hostel and ate there instead and then went home and packed all our fun new stuff ready for our early wake up to catch our flight back home we stayed in a really good hostel just off times square like literally called 'the big apple hostel' def go there if you go to NY it was quiet and clean I did not disapoint all you shoppers and came home with five pairs of shoes - I really needed new shoes for work ok cos the pavements in London mash shoes up really fast - and some jeans that actually fit - I'm sick of jeans getting to be too big .... and a pretty pinkish jacket and now I have no money because I just did a massive posting to NZ the lady at the shop was not too happy with me and my millions of envelopes and being a day late ... haha ohh well .... and the Xmas cards to NZ were 1gram over so cost like another 50p - I hate the british postal system! Gina/Elaine - I have your parcels thank you! now it's back to work - we have some deadlines for next week which is not fun but I start a(nother) new position on 1 Jan so hopefully that will keep me occupied for a while! And now it's time for some Sinatra! Start spreading the newsI'm leaving todayI want to be a part of it, New York, New YorkThese vagabond shoesAre longing to strayAnd make a brand new start of itNew York, New YorkI want to wake up in the city that never sleepsTo find I'm king of the hill, top of the heapThese little town bluesAre melting awayI'll make a brand new start of itIn old New YorkIf I can make it thereI'll make it anywhereIt's up to you, New York, New York. I want to wake up in the city that never sleepsTo find I'm king of the hill, top of the heapThese little town bluesAre melting awayI'll make a brand new start of it
In old New YorkIf I can make it thereI'll make it anywhereIt's up to you, New York, New York. the human spirit isn't measured by the size of the act, but by the size of the heart...