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New York, oh wow. Confident that we had left Buenos Aires without an iron deficiency, we boarded our night time flight to the Big Apple where we got very little sleep in the rubbish old plane. We landed at 6am into the cold which was a bit of a shock and negotiated our way into Manhattan, bleary-eyed on the subway. Luckily our AirBnB hosts had given us detailed instructions to their apartment near to Union Square. Jason and Pepper the dog gave us a thorough introduction to the apartment and a recommendation for breakfast where we headed to straight away as our room was not ready (we arrived at 8.30am).
Breakfast was good and it was nice to be able to speak to people without pre-forming a sentence in my head, but the expense was a bit of a shock, particularly when an 8.8% tax and a 15-20% tip is added onto the menu price! From here we wandered up Broadway, past the famous thin Flatiron building until we reached Macy's: the largest store in the world, apparently. Here I equipped myself with some boots so I didn't have to wear my walking shoes anymore, and a bargain coat in the sale- much better! For lunch we dropped into one of the many pizza eateries for a giant slice then continued onto Times Square. We ran the gauntlet of many people dressed up as cartoon characters, wanting to pose with us for photos, and reached the land of huge advert screens all around us. I was a little disappointed that Times Square is not a square but it was still an enjoyable area to experience. We popped into the giant, 3-floored M&M shop for a quick browse.
I was beginning to flag a bit after the night flight but we were enjoying ourselves so decided to see a bit more. We caught the subway to Grand Central Station to marvel at the beautiful building. Inside it we found a food market, although I'm not sure 'market' is a posh enough word for it. The place could easily have been transported into Harrods; the food was beautiful. We spent some time just wandering and eyeing up all the delicious-looking food. Even though Chile and Argentina were pretty developed, we hadn't seen choice and quality like this for quite some time. However we didn't buy anything as it was a little on the pricey side.
By this point I was really tired so we went back to the apartment for a little rest before going out for some dinner. We got a recommendation from Jason's partner, Kellie, for dinner at a hidden Japanese bar. Unfortunately they wouldn't let Simon in without his ID so we had to go and get it then return. ID retrieved, we were shown into a packed, dark basement bar. We ate amazing beef udon, as recommended, then headed home for much needed sleep, via the poshest corner shop I've ever seen, to pick up breakfast supplies.
Fully rested by the next day, we began our day with bagels and coffee- I'm pretty sure that's what every American eats for breakfast- then set off for the day into the sunshine. We decided to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island to make use of the good weather. As well seasoned travellers, we did not fall for the scamming man stood outside the subway station who tried to tell us we needed his boat tour otherwise we wouldn't be able to see the statue from the front! We bought our tickets for the boat and were soon on, being ordered around by the over-officious staff (we found this happening all over, being told to keep moving in the queue etc). The views from the freezing top deck of the boat got gradually more impressive as we moved away from Manhattan towards the Statue. We picked up an audio guide and leisurely wandered around the small island that Lady Liberty is situated on, taking tonnes of photos. As we hadn't booked in advance, we couldn't go anywhere other than around the base but that was fine with me as it was pretty impressive. We learnt how it was given as a present from the French who admired the Americans for abolishing slavery before they had. Ironically, at the grand unveiling of a statue of a woman representing freedom, no women were permitted to attend: suffragettes chartered boats as close as they could get in protest.
As part of the boat trip, we also got taken to Ellis Island where we spent a bit of time in the museum. It's housed in the building that thousands of immigrants passed through, on arrival to the US, to be permitted to enter after long and exhausting boat journeys. We could have spent lots longer there. But time was ticking on so we got on the boat back to Manhattan where we ticked off a must-do: ate a hot dog from a street vendor.
To make the most of the good weather we decided that we should go up a tall building for a clear view of New York, so after our snack, we took the subway to the Rockerfeller Centre, had a bit of a walk around then had a late lunch. After standing in various queues to visit the "Top of the Rock" (the roof), we were ushered past a photographer who made us do some cheesy poses before we were allowed to continue on our way. The views from the top were brilliant and I could really get an idea of how big the city is and how many tall buildings there are. It really is a cool city.
Our next stop was the Museum of Modern Art which is free to visit on a Friday evening, saving us $50. Unsurprisingly, lots of other people had the same idea so it was pretty busy. It's a huge art gallery so we were in there for quite some time, making sure we saw everything. Some of the modern stuff was not to my taste but the impressionist gallery was good as was an exhibition about living in some of the world's biggest cities and ideas to make them better to live in as they continue to grow.
By the time we'd traipsed around the gallery, we were pretty hungry again, so went to a nearby burger place that had been recommended. The place was hidden away in the corner of a lobby of a posh hotel so you had to know about it to find it. When we arrived there was a queue but it moved reasonably fast. I was excited and hungry but sadly it was a let-down. When I think of good burgers, I think of gourmet burgers, which this was definitely not: we could have been eating in any fast-food joint. Anyway, we were fed and ready to continue again, to the Empire State Building for views of Manhattan at night. Again, some ticket vendors outside tried to scam us by selling very expensive tickets which we nearly agreed to until we realised they shouldn't be that expensive and continued inside where we bought them for the normal price. It was really nice to see it all lit up at night and to see the glow from the Times Square area. However it was really cold so after a quick once round on the outside, we remained inside to view through the glass. Eventually we headed back to the apartment which we reached just after 11pm- a long day!
The following day was rainy so we went to the 9/11 memorial museum. Where the twin towers had stood are now two square waterfalls going into the ground, surrounded by the names of the people who died in the terror attacks. The new huge trade centre building is complete but the viewing floor is not yet open to the public- we were a few months early. Next to the memorial is a huge museum which even after three hours in there, we couldn't get round all of. It was interesting but a little heavy after a while. It was weird to see the foundations of the twin towers preserved in the underground museum. To get ourselves back into sightseeing mode, we went for another American experience: brunch.
Fully sustained on great food and mimosas (Buck's Fizz to normal people), we were good to go on, and it had almost stopped raining. We went for another dose of culture in the Guggenheim museum where the building is as impressive, if not more so, than the art work housed inside. When we had finished, the rain had fully stopped so we walked back downtown through Central Park. The huge reservoir and the lakes were all frozen over (there had been heavy snow the week before we arrived and for the duration we were there, we saw frozen piles of cleared snow in a lot of places) but the walk was nice. It's amazing how such a huge park is right in the middle of the city and all its skyscrapers.
At the end of Central Park, there is a huge Apple Store where it seemed there were so many employees that they rivalled the number of customers. Here we bought our new toy, an iPad, at a cheaper price than the UK even with the current rubbish exchange rate. We walked a bit down 5th Avenue, past the expensive shops then hopped on the subway back to the apartment. We were quite tired so bought some food to eat back at the apartment and had an evening in with our new toy and Netflix.
Sunday was our last chance to see a Broadway show so that morning we went to Times Square to queue for discount tickets. We were entertained in the queue by the woman behind us talking to another couple: she was an all-American stereotype. On steroids. I've never heard the word 'cute' used so prolifically. After an hour in the queue, toes verging on frostbitten, we got ourselves 40% discounted tickets to see Les Miserables that afternoon.
We had a reviving hot drink before continuing to see the High Line. Although probably not looking its best in the winter, it was still good to see this great regeneration project of a disused raised railway turned into a walkway and park/garden. It's made the area of western Manhattan that it's situated in more prosperous, although judging by an advert we saw for some new property, it may have driven out some of the old residents (1 bed = $2 million). At the end of the High Line is the Chelsea indoor market. Less of a market, and more a collection of quality food stalls and shops. A perfect place for lunch although it was difficult to choose and we could have eaten everything. We started with a taco then shared a Vietnamese sandwich. Then after browsing in the most amazing seafood shop I have ever seen, Simon couldn't resist a lobster roll which he ate amongst lots of Asian people all eating whole lobsters! I opted for a chocolate brownie (from a different shop of course).
It was then time to make our way back to Broadway for the show. I went for a pre-show toilet trip which involved standing in a huge queue until a scary woman started organising everyone: "stay alert ladies!" And the queue soon moved- amusing but it worked. The show was excellent.
For dinner, Simon wanted to try another burger recommendation. We thought that Shake Shack only had one outlet but it turns out they are a chain. Unfortunately the one we knew about happened to be closed then the tube line we wanted was out of action for the weekend so we ended going on a long tiring trek and finished up in the Grand Central Station food court. I was still full from lunch so Simon got his burger fix and I got some food later back near the apartment after we had first been to see Times Square at night. There are so many lights that when we emerged from the subway, it appeared to be daylight again!
Monday was sadly our last day although I'm not sure I could carry on at the same pace for much longer. We got bagels and coffee from a food cart and ate them in the Union Square park whilst watching the dog owners taking their dogs to the fenced off area of the park. We then caught the subway to the Manhattan side of the Brooklyn bridge then walked across it and out of Manhattan for the first time. Brooklyn has been doing some developing over recent years so is now a trendy place to be. The views from the bridge and at the other end gave us great views of the Manhattan skyline. We walked along the promenade, through a nice residential area and then to DUMBO (Down Under the Manhattan Bridge Overpass) neighbourhood for more great views. We wanted to go to Williamsburg but it was a little difficult to get to from Dumbo on the subway, so instead we went back into Manhattan and back to the Chelsea market for more yummy food.
We spent the afternoon wandering through the neighbourhoods of Greenwich Village and SoHo which was very pleasant, particularly as the weather was a lot warmer than the previous day. Then sadly it was time to go back to the apartment, pick up our bags and make our way to the airport.
We had a good meal and some celebratory drinks at the airport to toast our amazing 10 month trip. Despite picking the wrong season to visit and my dislike of the huge amount of waste created when going to eat anywhere, New York had been the perfect way to end the trip of a lifetime. An amazing city that would be so exciting to live in and I'd love to go back one day and explore it some more.
Adios travels and hola home.
Katy
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