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Hello Blog fans and thanks for all the messages on the message board ! So this is the New York blog! I apologise in advance for the length but we just did so much!
So we took the Megabus from Boston to NYC and arrived about 5:30pm on a warm Saturday afternoon. After working out how to use the Metro we rode all the way to the HI Hostel on 103rd street. It was very clean and pretty modern but then disaster struck. The Mac had issues with the WiFi network! More on that story later...
We went out for a curry with our Aussie pilot mate Derek who we had met previously in Boston. After that we unpacked and prepared for a busy week of sightseeing. The first day was a Sunday and we got up to attend a tour of Harlem, which ended up in a Gospel Church (L'agree Baptist). Our tour guide aptly pointed out the various traces of drugs on the street and all the Brownstone coverings on the buildings. By the time we reached the Baptist Church the singing and swaying were in full flow and there was a great atmosphere as the people there worshipped. The old style organ was jazzy and made you want to get into it and bounce! After this we called our mate Derek we met him in Times Square briefly before moving on to visit the Rockefeller and Empire State Building. We bought our tickets to go up the mighty tower and decided to return for the sunset. We moved on and spent the afternoon sightseeing. We saw the very Grand Central Station, the Chrysler Building and Ground Zero. Seeing the area where the two towers used to stand was emotional as was the memorial to the firefighters who were heroic during the event. When we returned to the Empire State the sun was due to set at 8:00pm and it didn't disappoint as we got some good photos! We returned a little chilled by the windy tower and bought some Brie to have on toast and warm ourselves up, as well as other food for the week. Hmmmm brie...
Derek found two girls in his room of his hostel (waheeey! No, they were booked in to be there...) so we decided to tour the city as a Commonwealth Crew. Sonia (from Finland) and Rebecca (from Aussie land) arrived with us at the Met Art Museum adjacent to Central Park only to find it was closed on Monday's. So we moved up to a semi-open Guggenheim Museum where we met a lady called Molly who informed us about the Paintings and works. We retired to Central Park for lots of football and then later some lunch. We then returned to the Hostel to get a tour of the Staten Island Ferry from which we could see the Statue of Liberty and the Manhatten Skyline. The Statue looked really good after that huge tsunami knocked it over in that Geogrpahical docu-film "The day after tommorow". Anyway it was a good evening and we ended the illuminating tour at the shiny Times Square where we enjoyed cheesecake. A German bloke was kind enough to buy mine for me, but we never did find out what his name was...
The following morning we got up late and went on a quest to find an Apple Shop. The reason for this was the Mac was struggling to connect to the WiFi in the hostel. When we arrived the conversation went like this:
Craig: "I've got an issue with my Mac"
Apple Store Rep: "Impossible!"
As it happened the Mac didn't have a problem and it appears the network routers in America are the ones with the issues. Anyway this is the reason our correspondence has been sparse. After getting up late we queued for tickets to the Broadway production on Avenue Q. That afternoon was spent walking over the Brooklyn Bridge with Derek and the girls. The bridge itself is huge and has a central walkway. When we reached the other side we went to a "World Famous" Pizza joint called Gribaldis and enjoyed some delicious slices! Avenue Q started at 8pm and didn't disappoint, I wouldn't take the kids to see it but it was certainly an awesome show. We walked home with the feel-good-factor of having seen a Broadway performance!
Our final day in NYC was spent chilling out in the enormous Central Park because we felt we had contributed enough to the New York economy! On our walks we found John Lennon's Imagine memorial and played yet more football, trying new tricks and alike. That evening our little Commonwelath crew met to enjoy a Mexican where a strange guitarist with large eyebrows gave me an unwanted shower whilst singing and expected a tip at the end! We gave in but only after testing his knowledge of English music by asking him to play Oasis - sadly he didn't know it! We said our good-byes and got an early night as the next day we were to fly to Orlando!
The next episode will come from the state of Florida! Good-bye for now!
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