Sunday, January 18, 2009

New York, New York!!!

Sunday 21st December






I felt a huge sense of relief as we hit the tarmac on JFK airport, it had been a turbulent last twenty minutes, but we were finally in New York. Winter storms had gripped most of the northern states of America for the week we'd been in sunny Florida, but now as we taxied to our gate, we were greeted with twenty foot piles of snow. It was just what we'd hoped for, a white Christmas...


Travelling has various highs and lows, for many different reasons, but there are places you plan to visit which stand out above others and New York is certainly one of those places. I hadn't exactly been wishing my time away, but this was a moment I'd been eagerly waiting for. We were soon on New York's subway system, a quick change onto line six uptown and off we got at 77th St, Upper East Manhatten. We climbed the steps onto Lexington Ave and just stopped and starred, wow, New York was just how I'd imagined. Tall brick buildings with iron fire escapes zig zagging down each building, hustle and bustle, yellow cabs, long avenues with tall bulidings and snow everywhere, it felt like a film set. We headed to our friends apartment a few blocks away, passing bars and restaurants buzzing with festive cheer.


We first met our friend, Roberto, in Colombia in August and then again in October in Costa Rica. He'd kindly invited us to stay with him for a couple of days until we got ourselves sorted with a hostel. His apartment was great, very New York, and the best part was it was only a ten minute walk to Central Park. It was great to see him again, we had a few beers and filled him in on the past few months of our travels and then headed out for some chicken wings and a third pound burger, mmm...



After an early night we woke up refreshed and ready to see some sights. So we jumped on the subway to Brooklyn and walked back to Manhatten over the Brooklyn Bridge, a digital thermometer displayed -6 celcius so it was fresh to say the least but what a walk. The Manhatten skyline for me is a man made wonder of the world. As a scouser, I love the Pier Head area of Liverpool, as an Englishman, I love strolling along the South Bank of the Thames and as a traveller, its hard to find a better city walk than that of The Brooklyn Bridge into Manhatten. Although that same day we did find an equally impressive walk in the famous Central Park, they say the best things in life are free, well, they were right.


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