New Years In New York.

There was still a Christmas vibe in Manhattan.
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The Journey Begins After an exhausting 12 hour journey we landed in New York. Next came the gauntlet of passport control, Max sailed through the face and index finger scan. However Mike had been fretting about the possibility of a cavity search, but luckily all he got was a verbal interrogation (and frisk)!

We were now in the unknown realms of New York City, maps in hand we were at the mercy of the New York underground system...Our first priority was to find our hostel, looking lost and scared an AMERICAN thought he might offer some advice on which trains to take. Now our directions said there was a direct train that would take us a couple of blocks from the hostel. However this American who was a "subway expert" disagreed. To cut along story short 5 trains, 2 hours, and a 2 mile hike through Harlem with HUGE rucksacks we found the hostel, Americans!!

The Chrysler building we recognised from the Spiderman Film. Twas F*ing big
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Our hostel was a large 10 bed room filled with travellers from around the world, there were the two Germans who lived in Texas, an Israeli traveller who hadn't gone home in 5 years, three Canadians from Toronto, a dashing young Swede, a Brazilian beaut and some Japs. And although the room was a mix of cutlers and creeds, Harlem wasn’t. Fact, when walking down the street Max was the ONLY white person within eyeshot.

Day 1, we woke to a cloudy New York. We wanted to make the most of our limited time so we jumped on the subway and headed downtown to Central Park. From there we made our way to the Rockefeller centre basically a large building that we didn’t rate. Instead of going up this skyscraper we decided to the classic tourist thing and headed towards the Empire State Building. Fighting our way through the hustling streets the tower dominated the skyline, once we got there the queue looped around the building, Mike suggested we start queuing to which Max in true American style shouted “screw that, lets push the queue!” Like snakes we slithered through the line until we had reached the 1.5 hour queue section. Unable to pursue our goal of reaching the top within 5 minutes we settled for the most boring wait of our lives. Slooooooooooowly we dribbled forward every once in a while someone would give up, greeted by chants of CHERRIOS from Mike and Max. The top finally came once we passed numerous people on their way-down looking thoroughly pissed off; a final queue and we were there. Memories of all the films and TV shows that had shown the Empire in all its glory came to mind. Like King Kong we barged our way through the annoying tourists and made the summit. Panoramic views of the city were before us, with the wind howling and the fog lifting the city looked astonishing.

The view from the top of manhattan, The Empire State building.
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Day Two {New Years Eve}, Max was awoken by Mike telling him to “get the F#@*k up!” It was 11o’clock and the city was waiting. Today was all about the Lady… We headed to the south of the island to the statue of liberty. The prospect of another 3 hour queue was enough to deter us from taking the sight seeing ferry. Instead we basked in the sunshine and drank morning coffees on the shore overlooking Liberty Island. Next on the agenda was a browse of the downtown financial district. Wall Street saw money fluttering and great buildings. A mock roman design inhabited this area, at least up to the point of ground zero. The site of the former World Trade Centre was impressively eerie as it gave you a feel for the devastation brought to the area. (The Dambuster song and dance we did was apparently a little untasteful so we briskly moved on). We landed on Canal Street, the main strip of Chinatown. Canal Street is essentially a bootlegger’s work station, a black market where anything and everything can be found. Hypnotised by the big name brands (Praba, Vercase and Bullgari etc) it was time to get haggling. Mike set his eye upon a Tag Heuer watch, the vendors were about to be burnt. Starting at $55 he battled them down to $12, it wasn’t until we got back to hostel we realised the watch was too big and unadjustable, crap! Due to the unexpexted sun we each managed to pick up a pair of sunglasses, Prada for Max, and Ray Ban for Mike. After driving hard bargains we were left weathered and hungry. As ‘Little Italy’ was only a block away we hoped countries and dined on the finest Pizza Pie in New York, very tasty.

Mike chilling in our tidy room in the Jazz Hostel
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After scrubbing up back at the hostel, we were ready to start drinking in preparation for the big party. After talking to fellow hostel lodgers we were hesitant of actually going to Time Square. It would involve an 8 hour wait, standing still without food, drink and a toilet. We would’ve also had to endure the drone of Christian Aguilera as lead entertainer. So we got there early to see the crowds gather and celebrated the British New year. We met up with some International friends we made in the hostel, who kindly provided us with adequate ID to get us into a lively Night club. Mike past for a 29 year old Israeli Jew, Max was a 25 Year old Canadian, the bouncers bought it. Drinks were drunk, dances danced, songs sang, a good time had by all…

Max looking out to New Jersey.
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The hangover. 2007 began with headaches and “stomach upsets” all-round. We rose at midday and contemplated our next move. Despite our first rainy day we decided to walk off the excesses of the previous night in central park. Hovering near rest rooms we managed to enjoy the fresh air and scenery that the great park offered, we even stumbled upon a zoo. However this day was short lived and having one last look at the night glow of 5^th ave and surroundings, we decided to call it an early night, grabbed some ’soul food’ in Harlem and prepared for our departure the following morning. Next Stop Canada...