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The Big Apple

New York City map
Days 1 to 5 of our trip were spent in New York.  I don't know where to begin to describe New York.  It is just a fantastic city with something for everyone.

 After a long  and exhausting flight, we finally arrived at midnight, too late to do anything but catch up on some much needed sleep.

We woke up early the next day, eager to explore as we didn't start our Big Apple Explorer tour until the next day.                                                                                                                                                                                                    


We headed down to Times Square which was only a short walk  (about 20 blocks) from our contiki hotel the Beacon Hotel  which is, by the way in an excellent location on Broadway and 75th Street.  We had lunch at the All Star Cafe and witnessed history being made when Mark McGwire hit a home run and broke the long standing record of home runs in a baseball season, which was held by Roger Maris.  I also got to meet Martin Brodeur, goal tender for the New Jersey Devils ice hockey team.                                                            WOW! For a sports nut like me, this was an unbelievable start to my holiday and it just kept getting better!
Me at the top of the empire state building
View from top of Empire State Building

The next day our Big Apple tour began.  After meeting everyone in the lobby we boarded the bus and headed to the boat which would take us to the Statue of Liberty.  My first impressions were that she was much bigger than I had imagined.  She doesn't look that big on the TV!                                                                                                                                                                        After everyone had taken their obligatory million photos, we began a walking tour of the financial district including Wall Steet.  Our guide Tony is a New Yorker, therefore he had no trouble battling through the crowds, which was good for us, although the only problem was trying to keep up with him.                                                                                                                  The afternoon was spent touring the city, seeing the Brooklyn Bridge, Central Park, Harlem and lots of other sights.  A ride on the subway tonight to Planet Hollywood was a highlight.  This was followed by a group photo in Times Square which looked fantastic with all the lights on.


The next day was really full on - the Empire State Building, NBC studios, 5th Avenue, Rockefeller Centre, Trump Tower, FAO Schwarz, Tiffanys, the list goes on.  We really gave our credit cards a work out at Niketown off 5th Avenue.  It was huge, about 6 or 7 floors.  We also went to Madison Square Gardens but didn't go inside which was my only disappointment.                                                                                                                                                                                     The afternoon was spent at the United Nations building which was interesting.  We almost didn't make it inside because one of the friends we had made, Allison, who was also travelling on our Grand Southern tour, happened to have a knife in her handbag which was picked up when we went through the scanners.    Thanks for the great memory Allison.  I get a lot of value out of this story.                                                                                                                               The afternoon was spent shopping, but first we had to catch the subway from Grand Central Station, something I had always wanted to do. That night the 3 us, Tracey, Allison and myself went to the Hard Rock Cafe for dinner, where we made plans to get up early and go to Toms Restaurant for breakfast.  This was the restaurant known by the name Monks, made famous by the TV show Seinfeld and a must see while in New York (especially if you are as big a Seinfeld fan as I am!)
The Seinfeld restaurant
Outside Monks Restaurant

Inside Seinfeld restaurant
Inside Monks the one liners were rampant


Skyline from Central Park
View of New York looking out from Central Park
Our last day in New York was spent mostly in Central Park.  After walking back from Seinfelds restaurant (great idea Tracey, 50 blocks didn't seem that far until you were walking it after a big breakfast!), we met Tony and the rest of the group and headed to Central Park.                                                                                                                                                              It was interesting to see the Dakota building where John Lennon lived and died and the memorial called Strawberry Field which Yoko Ono set up in memory of John in a corner of Central Park.                                                                                                                              We had a lot of fun riding the carousel and even took a horse and carriage ride around the park.  Its hard to believe that a park this big can exist in a city like New york.                                                                                                                                                                                          Tonight we had a group dinner and headed to a standup comedy show.  Just a tip though, don't sit at the front because the comedians (and I use that term loosely) really give you a hard time, but it was a great last night.



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