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We arrived at jfk airport at dawn after flying through the night on Jetblue - an excellent airline to our surprise. Not quite bright eyed and bushy tailed we grabbed a shuttle into NYC and before we knew it we were smack in the middle of mid Manhattan.
First stop was a view from the top of the Empire State. This gave us a chance to get our bearings and spot some of the famous landmarks. We wandered up 5th Avenue checking out St Patricks cathedral and the fancy shops. It was fine and sunny but bitterly cold - a freezing wind blowing. We reached Central Park as exhaustion was beginning to set in! Never mind - we battled on - walking down 8th Ave to finally check in to our hotel and recover for a while. We discovered a great little diner called the Skylight just around the corner and after dinner crashed for the night.
Day 2 we checked out Macys before nervously heading into the subway. I don't think our attempts to blend in with the locals were particularly successful! We took the Staten Island ferry for a close up view of the Statue of Liberty and then wandered up to Wall Street, the famous bull, and the stock exchange building. We really enjoyed this part of NYC - much more than expected. A short walk away was the 9/11 memorial and we soaked in the significance of this place. This is a national shrine and treated with dignity and respect. If you could see only one place in NYC then this would be it. We ventured back on to the subway and popped up near the "Night at the Museum" natural history museum, wandered along a beautiful street lined with brownstone dwellings before once again wandering through Central Park. This time we took it a little slower though Nige was trying to set a decent race pace until Clare had a little chat to him (so much to see, so little time!). We saw Belvedere Castle, crossed the Bow Bridge, and wandered down the Mall. It really is a beautiful park. A quick look inside the Plaza Hotel foyer and then on to Times Square at dusk. We sat at the top of the red stairs and soaked in the lights and busyness. This is an amazing square and it felt like we were in the centre of the universe. Back to our favourite diner for dinner and that was it - NYC done in 2 days! A couple more days would have been good - we missed MOMA and Brooklyn Bridge and a thousand other things but we got a great taste. We found the locals friendly, helpful, and polite especially on the subway. We were saved from our disappointment by our dinner waitress at the Starlight - rude, impatient, slopping coffee - we were delighted, and duely tipped her. This was the real NYC!
And now we are on board the Amtrak train bound for Washington dc, just passing through Philadelphia. The White House awaits!
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fiona go see the cherry blossoms if they are still there. :) !! Did yas know white house was designed by an irish Architect - James Hoban. there is James Hobans bar in DuPont circle it has lovely food and a good Guinness :)