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New York, New York - so good they named it twice.
Saturday
Not much to say about the flight other than that it was successful. My thoughts on whether to stick or twist with my assigned airport seats had been proved wrong, as I ended up next a family that just let their child en-circle the isles of the 747 at full speed at let him watch Toy Story 3 at full volume while I was trying to sleep. My get drunk plan was going well as I'd been able to get a few beers in at the airport then, got a G&T and some wine with the first meal, however the booze dryed up after that which left me with a daytime hangover, which made the children even more annoying.
Got to into JFK at about 5pm and then got the exitingly titled sky train and the sub way to my first hostel. It was at this point I realised that my previous views on New York and americans in general are based mostly on the Wire.
Sunday
Next morning my body clock forced me to make an early start, however luckily breakfast was availble from 6 at the hostel. As far as breakfast went they appeared to be concerntrating mostly on quantity - also I can't believe how bad american bread is and how sugary their serial is...
I hit Manahattan around 10. It's currently around 35 deg c. I went for a look around Grand Central station, which was an awesome building. Then browsed the manhattan street market, before heading up to Central park to read my book in the sun for a bit, as walking was becoming very hard work in the heat and humidity. At least they had AC on the tubes. I spent much of the day trying to locate the Emplire State Building unsuccesfuly without a map. You might think this would be easy to find the tallest building, but a lot of them look the same height from ground level. The Crysler Building and the Rockerfella centre were just two of the false positives on my quest.
Then I got the train down to the famous Times Square, where I thought I'd try and test the British accent on some american girls by asking for directions. I expected them to go immediately weak at the knees throw themselves at me, so when they weren't even able to give me particularly good directions, let alone anything else I was a little disappointed. From there I travelled down to ground zero - the sight of the twin towers - now they have built about 20 floors of 'Freedom Tower' which will eventually become the tallest building in New York once again. Had a look at the memorial, which was small in comparison, but nonetheless poinient in its detailing how many Firefighters had dies and who they were.
Got back to the Hostel and got talking to Tracey, a rare american girl who was into football (the proper kind) and who was travelling to the world cup the next day. Having been unable to by one from anywhere she was hand crafting a Tim Howard goal keeping top.
Monday
Relieved to find out at breakfast that someone else had struggled to find the ESB. Having eventually looked it up on google the previous night, I proudly boast of just how easy it was to find. I couldn't help but notice that everyone in the hostel has a laptop which made the whole place a wee bit anti social. Later that day I finally got to the ESB. They appeared to be on to a winner, charging $20 to go to the top of their building, but it was still an incredible view and may even have been worth the money. Then I went into the sex museum, curious as to what exactly that would entail, but discussed at the $16 entrance fee a resorted to looking through a popup book in the gift shop like an adolecent school child.
Later on I got myself to an a Broadway show of the 39 Steps, which was most enjoyable. Although I would suggest that the dialect coach should be shot, as one actor's Scottish Accent was to Scottish what Dic Van Dyke's was to Cockney. Still that almost made it more entertaining. Their direct style of comedy and engagement with the audience reminded me of my own portrail of Nathaniel Chain, one of the infamous Ravenscar property developers Pull, Chain and Flush in St. Martin's School's production of Via Victoria.
Tuesday
During the night the rather noisy air-conditioning in our room had been aimed straight at me which eventually caused for me to get out my new sleeping bag. It was at this point that I discovered it had a maximum user length of 80cm and was in fact a baby's sleeping bag. Amusingly at breakfast I sat with a girl from New Zealand who was over here on business selling baby's sleeping bags. I decided to give sight seeing a miss for the day as my feet were killing from the previous two, although this gave me the chance to watch some World Cup with Spanish Commentary - GOOOOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLA!
Wednesday
Had indended to go to a bar called Nevada Smiths to watch the England game, although once we got there, it was so full of TV crews it was packed out, so we went to a place down the road. Me and a German guy living in England - let's call him Hanz because I don't remember his name. We were the only England supports in the place and there was about 200 people in the bar and with the USA and UK game on the same time it made for a great atmosphere. Got the Staton Island ferry which was an excellent free way of getting a look at the statue of Liberty. Then I got a Pork filled Taco from a cafe where I was served by a woman closely resembling the wife of Dog the Bounty Hunter.
Then I went to the Natural history museum. There is a suggested donation of $15. It was 2 hours from closing and I though my idea to just pay $10 was a good one, however the woman over the counter looked like she wound give me two minutes head start and then chase me around with an automatic weapon. The museum was great though and I leart some great facinating facts about space:-
- After Million years
one day on earth is 16 seconds longer due to the pull of the moon and this means there is gradually becoming less days in a year
- The moon is slowly moving further away from earth
Thursday
Found a new local sanwich shop about 4 blocks (this is the way everything is measured in the US) away. They seemed to do a good selection of fresh sandwiches and I talked for a while about Britain's chances with this guy (who was Egyptian). He claimed to be a causin of Mohamed Al Fayed. Got talking to a guy who had been travelling for 17 months, for whom I had emense resepect. He had spent nearly a year in OZ doing various jobs, but said casual call centre work can pay AUS $22 - 24 an hour which is pretty good going.
As I have worked in a call centre before and consider myself to be pretty casual I may have to re-think whether I get a work Visa.
Friday
Last full day in the City and spent almost all of it in Central park, which I have now decided is brilliant. As an open space it has a use for pretty much everyone - it has playing fields, a ball park, many lakes, amusement park, restaurants, cafes and theatres. Just as I was thinking there may be one thing that Peasholm park in Scarborough has that Central park doesn't I found it - the boating lake. $12 an hour was a bargain as far as I was concerned as it was a massive lake and I got to row around it all by myself. Most people see rowing in the park as a leisurely pastime, however I get quite competitive about it. 'Are you sure
you've not got a motor on your boat,' said an elderly lady with two samll kids that I ploughed past, 'you should give us a tow.' Not likely I thought as I laughed jovially with her and then sped off. As I got out of the boat, the man said we don't usually allow professionals (Thanks Durno).
After an enjoyable hour's boating, I had a walk over the Brooklyn bridge and then went out for few drinks in the trendy part of Brooklyn.
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