Up in NYC

The Big Apple at night.
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Leaving our flight from Washington (DC as the yanks call it) i manged to get some photos of the capitol building, the pentagon and the big needle thing.  When we were flying into LaGuadia we were also very lucky and managed to see Manhatten from the air, amazing, not sure if i got photos of it though.

We arrived into the Big Apple (iv heard 3 completely different reasons why its called the big apple, all as stupid as the other) jumped in a yellow cab and it took about 30 mins when we finally pulled into this dodgy looking street, thankfully our hostel was quite a bit down on the corner of 8th av and actually looked ok.  When we got to the room we couldnt stop laughing due to the size of it.  It had a bunk bed in, was as wide as a double bed and if you sat on the toilet you wouuld have one leg in the shower and the other sticking out the door.  It was tiny, but at the same time perfect for what we needed.  On our first evening we had a walk aorund town and searched for a highly reccommended italian, Tony's Family Resturant.  The place is A La Carte with massive portions, so better for a family of four.  We had ravoli, which was really tasty, really cheesey and came with fresh bread.  Certianly live up to the hype and with all of the food we would eat in New York really cheap.  We finished off the night by walking up to Carnegie Deli (just south of central park south) for some famous New York Cheesecake.  A slice was 8.70, which we thought was a rip off, untill we got home and saw the size of this 'slice' that couldnt be finished between us.  After this creamy beast ill never look at english cheesecake again, id highly reccommend Carnegie as the best cheesecake.

we lived the nyc dream and hailed a taxi

Manhatten from the air.
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Our 2nd day was our first real day in NYC and we did it by walking all over the shop.  Our first port of call was the icon of NYC, the empire state building.  We went thier early to avoid any queues which iv been told can reach upto an hour in wait in the hight of summer.  The views are spectacular,  iv got load of snaps from up their, but they dont show half as much as what your eyes can see.  They need to design cameras with 20x optical zoom to do the views justice.  After coming down, we had a look in Macy's (the biggest department store in the world, occupying an entire square block and i think 14 floors), just to say we had been there, we didnt buy anything.  After swapping rooms at the hostel (dont ask) we headed out to see the Chrysler Building and saw some of 5th Av before heading east to the United Nations.  Here we grabbed some lunch at a deli, but just couldnt keep up with the locals and all of the different combinations they have for sandwiches, turnedout to be quite confusing and obviosuly a moment for spot the tourist.  We walked all the way up to central park zoo and spent a moment on the great lawn, which was in a word great!  Its really wierd being in this massive park, you can just forget that your in the middle of one of the worlds largest cities.  We next went to see Strawberry fields memorial garden and the Dakota building where John Lennon was shot.  From here we headed back south along the upper west side to columbus circle (where there is now a massive shopping center, the Time Warner center), then down broadway and headed west to see Hells Kitchen, which as well as being more classic New York was also a great place to get some more shots of Midtown.  Eventually we made it down to west 30th & 8th where the hostel is located.  At the end of it all we must of walked around 5 miles.  On the evening we both fancied a burger, so went to one place reccommended in Lonely Planet, Islands Burgers & Shakes.  The place was tiny, and looked like a dump, but it had over 80 different burgers on the menu, and was easily the nicest burger, shake and jacket potato (not enough room in the kitchen for a chip fryer) id ever had.  You know its good too when the boys in blue choose to eat there.

Manhatten Skyline Panoramic.
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Day 3 started with one of the tourist bus tours of lower manhatten.  Although these are a bit of a toursit trap, they are a must for first time vistors, just for all the information you get off the tour guides.  The buses are hop on and hop off so we decided to get off at Greenwich Village and have a look round.  We decided to stop off at a soul food resturant for a cup of tea, which was an expereince!  Greenwich Village is wierd, because it feels eurpoean, like your in Amsterdam or Paris.  For an hour you can forget that your in the middle of an American super city.  After getting back on the bus headed towards ground zero (where the twin towers used to be on the world trade center site) for a look at what is just a giant hole in the ground, before going down some walkways to the winter gardens.  We then walked along the harbour front to battery park and eventually on the staten island ferry.  Not only does it give excellent (free) views of the Statue of Liberty but also gives you chance to step onto Staten Island, even though theres nothing there.  After the ferry back we had a chicken parmasan sandwich (if only it was the same as the teesside variety) and headed around the financial area towards Wall street.  After seeing City Hall and Mr Bloomberg we walked all the way across the brooklyn bridge into Brooklyn heights, which actually looks better than expected.  We headed towards a shopping center and went into a McDonalds for a drink.  It was only then that we realised that we were the only white people in site, im not joking, i mean in all directions no other white people.  We headed back to Manhatten over the Brooklyn Bridge and it gave some amazing views of Manhatten, the best skyline iv seen so far!  We finally arrived back in the main borough and had a look in Abercrombie at Pier 42 shopping complex as well as buying Jill a Yankee's cap.  We got back on the tour bus and went up towards Times Square catching some sites, such as the Coyote Ugly bar and chinatown.  On the evening had a stroll through Chelsea, which simmilar to Stamford Bridge is full of Gays and had an ok chinese.

Small Pizzas in NYC
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Next day we went on the north loop bus around Central Park, saw the upper west side, some posh university then Harlam and Spanish Harlam.  This is where Malcom X Blvd is.  We then headed back down Museam mile along the upper east side and stopped of to look at a museam about the history of NYC.  Dont worry we didnt pay for it, it came free with the bus tour.  We eventually got off near 5th Av, saw Bloomingdales, which is basically a more traditional version of Selfridges and had to go into another Abercrombie Store.  In the entrance to the Abercrombie store they have some shirtlifter stood with his top.  Gets the women in the store, but doesnt get anybody buying the crap clothes.  For lunch i was feeling hungry so grabbed a cuban sandwich (ham, pickle & mustard) and a bagel with a schmear (load of cream cheese).  They say its the New York water is what makes the bagels so much better here than any where else.  Seen as it was my first one i cant comment apart from it was very nice.  We were now running a bit short for time so we lived the nyc dream and hailed a taxi to go cross town to get to the circle line pier (pier 83).  We only just made it then.  The circle line harbour cruise took us closer to the Statue of Liberty than the Staten Island ferry and just gave some amazing views of all of NYC, but unfortunately this was the exact moment both our camera batteries went dead - gutted.  When we got back we changed at the hostel and headed ouit looking for some pizza.  We found this place on one of the side streets of broadway near Times Square and it was amazing, proper thin yet really juciy, oh and look at the photo to see the size of the mofo.  If thats not big enough you can get extra large as well.  After this we jumped on the night bus which takes you to underneath the brooklyn bridge and back.  This was probably the best thing we did and eating home made ice cream underneath the brooklyn bridge looking at Manhatten lit up should not be missed, if only the night photos would come out better.

View of Downtown from Empire State
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On our last day in the city that never sleeps we grabbed a day pass on the subway (underground / tube).  First we went to Chinatown and Little Italy.  Chinatown was really busy and quite an expereince seeing all the market stalls selling fresh seafood, sorry still alive seafood (honestly, see the photos, the fish were swimming in tiny tanks and the crabs kept having to be put back in the baskets), but the place smelt pretty bad and was really dirty all over the place.  Little Italy was much cleaner, but smaller and more quite.  Got a photo of Lombardi's which is meant to be the best pizza in all of NYC but we never got to try some.  Walking back to the tube station we got collared by some guy pretending to be a director wanting to shoot a movie with us two in it, but he quickly came clean and told us he was selling caps for dying children.  I said i only had twenty's but how convient he had change, so we bought one for Jill's friend Lisa, haha no expense spared!  We got back on the tube and went all the way through brooklyn to coney Island.  This is where the original hot dog is from and the world hot dog eating competition takes place.  Last years winner was appartently a skinny japannese guy who ate just short of 54 hot dogs in 12 minutes, thats one every 13 seconds for 12 minutes!!!  We obviously got one with onions and they were very nice before moving onto Flushing in Queens via Manhatten.  All of the tube lines go via Manhatten so bit of a pain if you only want to travel to the outer boroughs.  Flushing is where the Mets (city's 2nd baseball team) stadium (Shea Stadium) and the US tennis center is.  Its also home to a large korean community and some world expo's down the years, which include the spaceships from Men In Black 1.  The tube ride to flushing is mainly above ground and its really good to se all the differnt neighbourhoods and some of the graffiti is amazing.  We went buy so quickly i didnt have time to snap an entire building that had a marvel superhero graffiti montage on it, these guys had real talent.  Last on our outer borough tour was The Bronx.  First stop was Yankee Stadium, home to the most successful baseball team ever (The Bronx Bombers AKA The New York Yankees).  After this we hoped to eat a traditional italian in Belmont.  We got the subway up to Fordham Road and the further we went the more dodgy looks we got.  When we got off i could see why.  This place made brooklyn look like Notting Hill.  Again we were the only white people in site, but it was worse here, there were gangs on the street corners and all the stores were selling knock off goods, it honestly felt like we would get robbed as soon as we were off the main street.  I know the locals will be laughing at me, but we decided to play it safe and got back onto the tube to Manhatten where we ended having some more italian at the tried and tested Tonys Family Resturant.  More amazing pasta after we spent some time enjoying Union Square, Grammercy Park and more of Greenwich Village.

Manhatten From Brooklyn Bridge
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Sad to leave NYC, but at the same time looking forward to new places and Niagara Falls in particular.  To end our time we went back to Grand central Terminal to try some (highly recommended by the locals) Juniors cheesecake, which Jill thought was better than Carnegie's, I disagree!