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Arrive to NYC after the most bumpy flight which left me reaching for the sick bag. Not good. I got the shuttle to hostel and spent the afternoon pulling together my itinerary for the next 6 days which took a few hours, then I went for a little wander along broadway to get some food. Then I met up with Sam for a few beers at the mean fiddler, a return to the final contiki pub and the night which did indeed turn into a pretty drinken night, I blame our very attentive Irish bar tender Sean who finished up giving us a free jäger shot and then some locals treated us to an equally potent shot which well and that well and truly finished me off. I'd forgotten that I hadn't eaten since 2pm - school girl error! Anyway a great start to the final leg.
So today is the only decent weather for the next 3 days so according to my detailed itinerary I was supposed to be going into lower Manhattan to visit Brooklyn bridge, the WTC memorial, Wall Street and the Statue of Liberty. That went out the window I didn't get up until 4pm, whoops! So instead having had some food I made my way to the rockafella centre to go and see the Christmas tree which was huge and very colourful! I also saw the skating rink which was a bit smaller than I had expected. The decorations are incredibly impressive, it felt very very Christmassy! I then saw the light show projected onto Saks 5th avenue. From here I set off to the top of the rock to see New York in all it's glory by night, my god it was bitterly cold but the views fantastic!
Today was Christmas shopping day owing to how shocking the weather was, torrential rain all day and very very windy, surprisingly my crappy umbrella held up......just. It was just me that was beginning to flag a lot. So I've now got a horrible cold, it was always going to happen, it's been threatening for weeks. My first stop being Bloomingdales where I caused the mother of all queues again.......bit like being back at the post office. Purchases sorted it was off back to the hostel to drop everything off and to work out how the hell I was to get it all home. Next stop was Macys the worlds biggest shop, and it was absolutely enormous! I also thought a little visit to Santaland was in order, it was at this point I inadvertently found myself in the queue to see Santa, the English couple in front of me made the same mistake I had. Anyway, this was the best Santa I've ever seen, and I asked if I could get a job for after Christmas! He suggested I head to Lapland to help the elves lol.
By this point I was feeling ropey as hell, but the day wasn't over yet, I was next off to Madison Square Garden to see a college basketball game. This was brilliant and for $20 my seat actually wasn't too bad. The MSG was great, glad I got the opportunity to see a game there, plus it was my first ever basketball game. Then it was back to the hostel with no heating brrrrrrrrr.
So the rain isn't as bad today so I set off to walk the highline, this is a park that has been built on old railway line that starts in the meat packing district and goes back up to 30th street. Having got lost and the rain now as heavy as yesterday I find two very helpful nypd women who give me directions. Eventually I found it and made the 45 min walk in the wind and rain back to penn station, the umbrella had now well and truly given up the ghost. I then had to try and locate my friend at the station who was going to show me around, it was now properly snowing and I no longer had the umbrella so had to seek shelter and hope that he found me. Eventually I was located.
Next stop was the natural history museum and a cheap way of getting in if you know that you can pay by donation rather than the very steep 'entrance fee'. This place is massive!!!! Floors and floors of stuff. From here it was off to metropolitan art museum (check name) which had loads of cool stuff. Egyptian tombs, china, a shed load of paintings, really really old British furniture and some hilarious guards who took in good humour our joking with them. Then the snow really started to come down, it got really cold waiting for the bus which seemed to take forever but eventually turned up. In the meantime I was learning about ice hockey!
Off to TGIs it was for dinner and a couple of beers, then next stop a bar in the village which was very cool and what was supposed to be not a late one was 2am! Food on the way back and bed!
Next day was a trip to the World Trade Centre memorial gardens and the museum. This was a very moving visit, many a time i had to fight back the tears. You forgot how horrific this was, the museum reminding you of the harrowing events of September 11th. A very moving and thoughtful day. The memorial waterfalls a really lovely memorial, a peaceful place. I'm very glad I had the opportunity to visit.
Next stop was a whistle stop trip to Wall Street, past the New York stock exchange to the river. If I wasn't feeling so bloody rough I would have gone further afield but it's flipping freezing! And I need to get back to the hostel to start sorting out the epic task of working out how to get my increasing load of stuff back, before that is I meet Amy and her mujmat TGIs for dinner. So so lovley to catch up.
I get back to the hostel to discover someone has stolen my perfume, thieving bleeps!!!! this was not the language i used in my discovery! and i had double checked everything before I made my frustrations kown on facebook. Its a real shame this is the first time something like this had happened in a hostel. To be honest it wasnt what was taken that really hacked me off its just that fact someone had taken my stuff and the the worry about all your other stuff you have with you. Anyway, moving on......
My final full day in New York and I am feeling like death warmed up, this would be a off sick day if i was home, and we know these dont happen lightly. So i haul myself out of bed, put more and more layers on, the sun it out today but its so bloody cold.
I make my way to South Ferry to get the free Staten Island Ferry past the Statue of librety which was very cool. From here i then took the walkway by the river and made my way to Brooklyn Bridge, i had planned to walk across but was feeling quite wobbly so decided against it and made my way through Chinatown and Little Italy on foot up Broadway and then 30 blocks up the Empire State Building. The views forn 86th floor were great. I then remembered that I still had my apple gift card from when i got my Mac so hen had to walk another 30 blocks to the Apply shop, which ocnsequently didnt have what i needed. By this point 5th Avenue was absolutely heaving full of tourists ramdomly stopping in the middle of the pavement - why do people do that! Anyway i then made my way to Grand Central Station to go to the alternative Apple shop which did indeed have what i wanted.....then i joined NYC rush hour on the subway - such fun that was lol. It was a nice day and it was great the sun had come out, I was just really hacked off i felt so rough, i would enjoyed it much more..........
I have to say, I cant wait to get back, my travelling is done, I am absolutely exhausted - i would like to come back to New York again when I am not absolutely knackered, there is still loads more to see that i didnt manage to do.... sepaking of which I am cycling round Central Park tomorrow before go to the airport.....
Nest stop Heathrow and my bed................
see you all very soon
xxx
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Dad Cant wait to get you back, lots of hugs and kisses.