Kings of New York

We arrived at Heathrow the mandatory half-day before our flight much to our inconvenience as we found the flight had been delayed a couple of hours. The eight-hour flight was smooth probably as we were upgraded due to some seatbelt failures back in cattle class. Despite BA's best attempts at seperating Emma and I, a belligerent Emmy wasn't letting up till we were back together again.

The first impression of JFK Airport was bleak. Post September 11, the customs gang was giving us the right royal going over. I’ve had job interviews less stressful and after giving every detail apart from favourite pizza topping, we got through and boarded the bus into the Port Authority Terminal in Manhattan. An hour later after a window gawking drie through Queens and Flushing we were over the Triborough Bridge and into Manhattan. We proceeded to walk the 20 blocks south to the Chelsea Hostel. The hotel was one of the more expensive of our trip but needless to say as New York accommodation goes, the most basic. With the time delay we sought our fourth meal of the day. Strolling around Manhattan we wandered up 7^th Avenue past Madison Square Gardens to 34^th St. Saw Macy’s and proceeded up Broadway to Time Square. We sampled a typical New York steak meal and turned into bed at the early time of 9pm.

Excited with our rejuvenated energy we opened the curtains to find a miserable spring day. The rain was persistent but not torrential enough to stop us from exploring. After an early coffee bagel we headed toward Union Square. From here we started a mammoth walk toward and the Midtown. The walk took in Madison Square, Flatiron building, Bryant Square, NY Public Library, Rockefeller Centre and Radio City Hall. We reached the glitzy bounds of 5^th Avenue that was hosting an Israeli parade and walked along to Columbus Circle where we took our debut ride on the subway.

Going underground was slightly nervous with some of New York's unsightly characters loitering around the ticket machines. We took the train downtown to Greenwich Village and walked through the famous Washington Square markets before heading into Soho, famed for its cast-iron facades and trendy boutiques. Despite the lure of many shops and bargains I kept Ems reeled in and the greenbacks strapped to the inside of my wallet. With tiredness brewing we walked back up to 34^th St and had some Chinese before taking in Times Square at dusk. With the weather clearing we decided to take on the Empire State Building that night. From ground level all the skyscrapers looked the same until we reached the 86^th floor observatory. New York and Jersey City stretched for miles in every direction and the wind at 300 metres was near on unbearable. Exhausted we walked back to the hotel and turned i for the night.

Blue skies greeted us from our poky box and immediately our mood lifted as New York glistened in the sun. We took the first subway down to Battery Park with every intent to catch a ferry to Liberty and Ellis Islands. The monstrous queues put pay to that idea so we decided instead to pay a visit to the World Trade Center site.

The massive pit fitted in reinforcements and surrounded by scarred buildings was a numbing experience. I couldn't quite believe the size of the area destroyed. We took the short walk down Wall St and then found ourselves at the South St seaport on the East River which is famous for the fish markets and looked a tad like the Auckland viaduct. After a spot of lunch in Civic Square we walked into the bustle of Chinatown and Little Italy.

Dodgy vendors lured us in with fake watches and ripped off CD’s and we left happy with our purchases. One Gucci, Tag Heuer, Omega and Swiss Army watch for $50. We continued through the East Village and headed back to the hotel for some afternoon rest. That evening we were off to the show Cabaret at the famous Studio 54. As an early birthday gift I was allowed to go to Hooters first for dinner and relive my dream to become Al Bundy of Married With Children. After the obligatory ogle and photo with the Hooters girls we headed to Studio 54. The venue itself is a lot different from the movie but the show was well worth the experience and the $25 spent.

The blue skies were replaced by grey again. We took opportunity for our last sleep in for a while and despite plans for an early boat trip our late departure meant it had to wait to the afternoon. We ended up strolling up 9^th Ave and began our adventure through Central Park. We were surprised by how big the park was and how wild it was in places, The Rambles especially. The compasses were sorely tested as we rattled off vistas from movies we recognised and scrambled to Park Avenue by 3pm with only half the park visited.

Our boat touraround Manhattan was due to leave at 3pm from Pier 26 and the mission to grab a yellow cab was on. This proved to be more difficult than thought and just in time we managed to grab one and I tried my best New Yorker accent when ordering the cabbie to take us to Chelsea Piers. The cruise around Manhattan Island was informative and pleasant despite being overly long. We finally achieved our close up of the Statue of Liberty and caught the Financial District skyline from afar. The rainfall reemerged so we resigned ourselves to some unfun chores that evening ie: catching up on our laundry and sorting out the bombsite that was our hotel room.