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New York, New York! The city that never sleeps. Whilst we were initially a tad shocked and sad by the reality that our journey through Europe was over after a whirlwind 10 weeks, the feeling of minor depression was quickly shaken as we arrived at JFK airport in New York & headed to our share apartment in the central location of East Village, Manhattan. It didn't actually hit me until our taxi ride from the airport into the city as to how many sites there are to see in New York, which meant our 5 days stay here was going to be a busy one. Besides the large sky scraping buildings of this overpopulated city; I saw it as quite comparable to London; both large cities, both containing loads of touristic attractions, both a large park located in the heart of town, and gratefully, both English speaking. With so many activities to do and places to visit in order to successfully complete our list, we were not able to spend any wasted days lounging around the apartment, with each day being an early rise and up & at 'em.
The first day saw us venture to the south of Manhattan to the likes of Wall Street and the financial district; which was a harsh 40 blocks by foot, a great test for the body's current physical capabilities. It was here we booked in to visit ground zero where the 9/11 memorial is located; the water features they've created in the holes where the two Twin Towers once stood tall are rather spectacular. Whilst in the area, we decided to book in to a Liberty Island express tour; whereby we jumped on a 1-hour catamaran which ran us up the Hudson River to visit the Brooklyn Bridge and get up close to the Statue of Liberty. Heading back to the apartment up Broadway, via the shopaholics district of Soho, we were tossing up ideas as to how we could go about getting tickets to the free Global Citizens festival that was to be held on the great lawn in Central Park the following evening. Thinking eBay or Gumtree, we stumbled across a lady promoting ticket give-aways for a purchase of any Cotton-On clothing item. We jumped at the offer, and six pairs of jeans, a hoody and a tee shirt later we had definitely earned our tickets; hardly a free festival after all. Never mind, a great marketing ploy to their credit and everyone came out a winner in the situation, as we got to see live acts from rock band Kings of Leon, Alicia Keys, lady-killer John Mayer, and my favourite, the legend; Stevie Wonder ... he had an absolute blinder of a performance that night and claimed we were one of the best audiences he'd ever seen! Ok, ok enough with the vision-impaired cracks.
With the Statue of Liberty, World Trade Centre & Wall St all crossed off the list, our next adventure was to the mid-Manhattan region, in the direction of Times Square. Setting off by foot again, you really get to take in a lot more of the sights and get a greater feel for the city than by transport. One main thing I did notice was the ridiculous amount of fast food outlet stores there are around the city. I'd almost say about 75% of the stores will sell you a burger and chips with a refillable cup with the option of '100+ coke varieties'. Is it any wander that the US are powerhouses in the obesity stakes. Anyway, rant over ... The next tourist attraction we paid a visit to before reaching Times Square was the Empire State Building in the heart of the city. With lines apparently reaching up to 2-3 hours at times, we were extremely fortunate to have only a 10 minute wait before zipping up the tower to witness a glorious sunset from 1,250ft up in the sky. The final stop of our day travels was to arrive at Times Square, where we took in the chaos, had dinner & bought tickets to the Broadway musical performance 'Chicago'. A lot more singing and not as much plot as I thought there would be, but their dramatic acting talents can definitely not be doubted; a wonderful show & another item to tick off the checklist.
Whilst the first couple of days were action packed and entertaining, my favourite day was our final full day in New York, where we decided to head up north to Central Park & hire a few bikes to mix it up and explore the 778 acres of the park. The idea of having such a beautiful, Garden-of-Eden-like natural habitat in the heart of such a hectic, big city is a perfect escape for people to relax and avoid the mayhem and pollution of Manhattan. The first stop on our park itinerary was the Manhattan Zoo, the setting behind the movie 'Madagascar'. However, the movie is a tad misleading, as there were no such lions, zebras, giraffes or hippos here. Whilst they would've been awesome, it was still cool seeing seals, birds, monkeys, snakes, sheep, poisonous frogs, pandas and my favourite; the snow leopard. After feeding a few of the animals, we dropped past the John Lennon memorial in Strawberry Fields to pay our respect & grab a photo before setting off in search of the 'Friends' fountain. Surprisingly enough, we found it with a great deal of ease and took our shoes off to splash around in the fountain, in an attempt to replicate that of the show (we got a few funky looks, hope it's not some sort of religious worship fountain these days). We finished the day by riding up to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir for a touch of exercise, a great panoramic photo opportunity and throw a frisbee around. A great day out in the park to finish off the last few items on New York to-do list.
Other than the Global Citizens Festival & the 'Chicago' musical, the only other real noteworthy night out we had in New York where we weren't in bed asleep by 11pm was the Friday night where we were taken out by Mary & Johanna Duff, two American girls that we had met whilst they were on an exchange semester in Sydney a year earlier. The girls were lovely, hosting us for pre game drinks, and it was here I broke my 4-Loco virginity; a drink that tastes like acid and Joe claims will "melt your face". Not too appetising, nonetheless he was right, it really hit you for six and only set us back US$4 a pop. The rest of the night, however, was funded by the girls, with them being ever so generous with shouting us all beers, vodkas, shots and taxis, putting all expenses on their credit card ... well their parents credit card anyway. We first went to an American Ocktoberfest party which was just what we were wanting to see after the week we'd had previously, still slightly cringing at the sight of a stein. After a brief beer there, we kicked on to a multi-level bar where the night really took off; a tinder date gone wrong, Jack & I getting forced out at close at 4am, Louis & Joe ending up sleeping in Queens for the night & Mary unknowingly ending up in a hospital with no recollection of how she got there or where her purse & iPhone ended up; I would love to be a fly on the wall when she tries to explain that story and the hefty hospital fee to the parents. A good, messy, late night that gave us a taste of what the city that never sleeps has to offer.
All in all, New York was a great city. Loads of sights to see and clearly a lively nightlife on offer throughout Manhattan. In 5 days I think we probably saw more of New York than half of the population of the city have seen in their lifetime. Whilst it's an awesome city that I could spend an extra few weeks at, it's probably too busy and chaotic to live in; not to mention I'd put on an extra 20kg with all the fast food on offer that would make up your diet. Our next movements are a two and a half hour flight directly south to the party destination of South Beach, Miami.
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