Oh my goodness…

I am in love with New York!!

Seriously I am, and not just because it reminds me of home.  I have known New York, as many people have, through tv shows and movies. As such, I felt a certain familiarity with New York, almost like I had been there many times before and it didn’t disappoint going there for real. 

From the yellow cabs that dart around the city on some urgent errand to the big brownstone buildings with external fire escapes forever immortalised in so many ways, to the subway that cuts along below the streets letting off steam that escapes along the streets from airvents connecting the underground to the surface, to Central Park and Times Square. 

New York reminds me of London in so many ways but NYC is bigger and louder.  The city itself is massive, consisting of 5 boroughs which are Manhattan, the Bronx, Queens, Brooklyn, and Staten Island.  I stayed in the upper west side of Manhattan, 3 blocks from the northern end of Centrak Park, 1 block away from line 1 of the subway connecting downtown Manhattan with uptown Manhattan. In terms of location,  Amazing!!!!

The hostel was another Hostel International. Clean but bigger than previous hostels I stayed with 200+ guests I think?. Doors consisted of anywhere from 4, 6,  10 12 people per room and some private rooms. There was multiple common rooms (tv room, chill out lounge charger area,computer lounge, outside patio and BBQ area, front patio to name a few). Every day there where activities and twice weekly get to know you events which were really cool as well as in house comedy and magic show organised by the hostel. 

I generally spent my time completing a variety of activities such as a walking tour of the Bronx, comedy and magic shows as well as organising to see a couple of shows on Broadway. When in New York.. 

As well as this, there was the obligatory pub crawl which ended in multiple games of beer pong. Yep, things got messy and resulted in everyone having a proper hangover the next day. 

I wasn’t sure what to do for 7 days in New York as I hadn’t stayed so long in place previously on this trip. I ended up splitting it up into areas what I wanted to see. 

Central Park – which was such a gorgeous space, a mixture of woodland, streams, ponds, meadows and statues. I didn’t realise how big it was, so big that to see the whole park it was necessary to hire a bicycle and it took 2 hours to cycle around the edges of the park. This was great as it enabled me to find various places I might not have realised was there otherwise. 

National History Museum – awesome exhibits including a film about national parks included in my ticket and the subject of a couple of movies (night at the museum)

The Lion King show on Broadway – so, so good, amazing cast and stunning costumes, a must see

The Perfect Murder – the longest running play on Broadway also very strange and quirky, small intimate venue.

The 9/11 museum – this is something I wanted to see, being involved in 7/7 in London,  this was something I felt a need to do, to pay my respects. It is hard to describe the emotional response, I just don’t have the words to begin and there were so many emotions evoked and it brought back a few memories of my own experiences in London. The museum has done such a great job in trying to honour the memory of everyone effected in that event. It covers everything from the beginning impact of the first plane to the present day with various exhibits, not just the good things. It covers criticism also of things that didn’t go to plan. The water monuments outside on the locations of the 2 towers are simple but beautiful, with a continuous fountain emerging then disappearing in to the abyss below, seemed fitting somehow. I was certainly humbled and very much touched by hearing the stories and hearing the accounts of people involved in that fateful day and seeing various artefacts recovered from the scene. Although extremely upsetting and unnerving, I would advise anyone to visit the museum as it is really insightful, informative, moving and as previous stated, done in such a way as to honour those involved. 

Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island – a must see while in New York. Interesting history surrounding the history of the statue. I couldn’t believe how big it was. 

Rooftop bar 230 fifth street – a stunning venue which was a random find.  It had amazing city views over the New York Skyline

Coyote ugly bar – great fun, good music, good booze and lovely ladies dancing on the bar (ahem!)

New York is extremely simple to navigate and the subway runs 24 hours. 

What surprised me was the heat. Oh man, was it hot and humid. Stepping out from any air conditioned building and you are immediately soaked with sweat and the heat was even worse on the subway, which seemed to amplify the heat. I ended up changing clothes 2-3 times per day.  I sweated so much one day my clothes and handbag were soaking wet. Eeew, disgusting!!!!

New York was certainly eventful, the first place I basically was hungover for the the majority of the time and I made some great friends x x