New York New York

We arrived in NY 11pm local time on Thursday 6 November...We flew American Airlines from London Heathrow (approx 7 hours) and it was exciting having the added extras like reclining chairs, food, drinks, movie screens - you know everything you don't get on budget carriers! I was however a tad disappointed with the very limited movie selection (and it was exactly the same on the way home!)...but on a positive note I now know "Mamma Mia" off by heart (and yes, I do requests).

We struggled a bit with the subway into Manhatten, mission to say the least, very very confusing compared to London's tube that's for sure. We had bumped into a solo travelling kiwi guy (as you do) and later decided to share a cab to our respective hostels. We walked up and down West 95th Street trying to find Candy Hostel (how cute is that name) to no avail. By this time it was the equivalent to 6am London time...and we had obviously not slept for nearly 24 hours = slight freak out! We noticed another hostel across the street and a cop (a massive tall black man...very NYPD action movie type) that does security for all the surrounding hostels kindly showed us the way... through some back door... turns out our hostel is actually on West 94th street...handy that!!! ahhhhhhh, thank goodness we were in an english speaking country!!

The jet lag kinda got to us on this trip, just feeling a bit dizzy and hungry at weird times, but we managed alright and we were out of the hostel by 9am every morning and were just super tired when we got back around 10pm each night. On our first day we purchased a 48 hour hop-on-hop-off bus ticket which came in pretty handy as it included a night tour over Manhatten bridge and tours of uptown, downtown and obviously all the tourist spots. The only crap thing about them was the awful tour guides...who really were crap yet tried to drum into you that as they were part of the service industry you should tip 'em.

We went in to the Trump tower (which has cafe, restaurants open to public), Disney store, Tiffany's, M & M's store, Macy's, Century 21 (designer bargains) and Toys'R Us - which has a full size working ferris wheel, amazing large lego figurines, a giant barbie house and a "life-size" dinosaur...very cool! Times Square was fantastic, walking around that area is just like being in the movies, seriously so cool. It is manic, the billboards are unbelievably impressive and massive, the lights are blinking and yes there is a "naked" cowboy!

We wandered through "Chinatown" and "Little Italy" and ate evey takeaway you can think of including of course a street vendor hotdog, some new york cheesecake and doughnuts! We also saw the Ground Zero site of the 9-11 attacks - which is currently just a big building site, I think they have completed the basement levels but there is alot of work to be done as. There are quite a few tributes around still - we didn't go into the churches but apparently they have lots. Especially touching was a nearby fire station which is right on the footpath and it had a memorial thing set up with photos of about 8 men... which were obviously from that outfit, so very sad.

We spent some time in central park and again that was just like being in the movies!! There are a gazillion people jogging and there's those lanterns that we all love. The autumn colours are really stunning, I've never appreciated them before.

We took the Staten Island ferry, which is free, to see the statue of liberty, it was pretty exciting seeing her although it was a pretty crappy day and she was rather far away. Luckily on our last day, when the weather was beautiful, we had a free 1 hour boat trip (which we got with our bus pass) and we got so close to her, it was awesome. Plus obviously was great to see the buildings and bridges from a different angle and the guide/narrator was really knowledgable.

We took a train over to New Jersey to do a spot of shopping, we didn't buy much and it wasted alot of time, but anywho it was a bit of a thrill to have been in a different state! The view across the water over to Manhatten is pretty spectacular also.

That afternoon we lined up for the Empire State Building at 4pm but by the time we got through security and ticket purchase, and up the lifts to the 85th floor (90 mins) it was dark out, but still absolutely gorgeous. The view is terrific, would be awesome to see it on a clear day. The only thing that took away from it was the cold - luckily Niki had just purchased two big hoodies...although he was still in jandals! brrrr

On our last day we went to a different part of central park by Harlem Meer (lake) and the more manicured gardens which were very pretty. And you all know what happened next! We are engaged =)

Our flight was at 18:50 so we had time to have a quick lunch do our 1 hour boat cruise from 1-2pm, rush back to the hostel and then off to the airport - takes about 1.5 hours on the subway and airtrain. We were absolutely buzzing all day and grinning like idiots (and forever glancing at my bling). We have been together so long so I didn't think it would really change much but it is such an awesome feeling!! Anyway pics are in facebook and on the top link to the right... it's a nightmare putting them in here.