My big 3 nights in New York New York!!!!

Well hellooooo!!! Have ya missed me?? Well I've missed you all so it's time to get you up to speed on all that I've been up to since we last spoke.  Talking of that, where was I when I last blogged on....

Oh, I remember, it was time to bid farewell to the magnificent Niagara Falls and head for an equally famous destination, New York New York!!!!

So Vera was all packed up and ready to go (remember Vera?  Seems so long ago.....) and we headed off down the Atlanta Highway (well it was the road to Toronto but it didn't fit in with the song lyrics quite as well)  After sitting in a fair bit of traffic (which I kindly informed sat nag about rather than vice versa(, another rather protracted and stressful pull off for a wee and finding petrol to return Vera back in her full state, I finally arrived at Budget Car hand back garage.  I was expecting all sorts of drama with her bumper, but it couldn't have been easier.  In fact the very chipper and rather handsome fella I handed her back to just shrugged, smiled and said 'that's the norm for these babies' Hoorah!!!

Before I knew it Vera and I were parted, no farewell selfie or recording of mileage (about 1400km me thinks) just here she is and goodbye.  But the although dependable, we didn't have the connection I had forged with Trevor or indeed Colin.  I didn't have to sleep in her for a start! She was good, faithful and dependable and coped well with my stresses and the Canadian driving!  But now the driving was over and I could sit back, relax and enjoy the ride!!

Quite an easy one it was too.  After interrogation at customs (I opted to declare my chocolate as food, well it is a food group in my eyes), waiting to board the flight in a very comfortable boarding lounge whilst the slightly loud attendant made boarding for some slightly more complicated than it should be, chatting to a lovely lady who had lived all over the World about travels, family and the not too subtle differences between the Canadians and Americans (namely the decibels at which they speak) and an hours later I was in the good old US of A!!!

I flew into La Guardia and the hustle and bustle hit me straight away.  And I loved it! So I jumped up next to the driver in the full up hotel shuttle for the ride to my hotel. What a ride it was too.  Stop start traffic (mainly stop), honking of horns, the familiar skyline and landmarks of the ever madder Big Apple.  The streets were heaving, the heat was in the air and I was smiling from ear to ear.

Eventually having been round the block more times than Jenny, we got to my home for the next 3 nights, Cassa NY, 70 West 45th Street!! It was lush and right on the doorstep of all the action.

Bags dropped I headed out to wander and get my bearings in the hot, heaving streets of this mad mad Marmite city (love it or hate it) and I soaked up the atmosphere and began clicking away with my camera (you are all in for a treat!!)

Now, how do I document 3 days in one post.  Will be tough, may be long, but I will summarise and hopefully you can follow the pictures!  There was all the usual suspects to see and do and I shall begin with the first night...

A show on Broadway.  Wicked to be precise, and wicked it was indeed!! Then a meander back through Times Square.  I say meander.  It was almost midnight and the sky was as bright as day with the lights reflecting.  And it was heaving.  Thousands of people doing absolutely anything and everything they pleased and adding to the thrill.  Hotdog for tea Then home to bed.  Big day tomorrow.  God I love this city.

Day two, up early and a Circle Line Cruise round the island of Manhattan,  3 hours soaking up the familiar skyline, with one exception.  The gap left by the Twin Towers was evident, and the new tower that occupies the space just to the left of where they stood made it even more prominent.  I was lucky to see them and experience the view back in 96 and the skyline will never be the same now they are gone.  But more on that tomorrow, back to today.  The bridges, the signs, the commentary from the awesome guide, the heat and humidity but watching the clouds gather, then start to rain, not too hard.  Wandering the streets after the cruise, ending up in Hells Kitchen for the most hugely incredibly massive BLT in this old versus new neighbourhood.  Then the clouds began to gather more as I headed Central Park.  An oasis of calm in the madness.  A row boat on the lake, Alice in Wonderland, Hans Christen Anderson reading me a story (The Ugly Duckling ironically), watching baseball with the million dollar backdrop.  Then the rain stopped and the cloud began to lower. Low .  Very low.  Which unfortunately was not the ideal conditions for a trip to the observation deck of the Empire State Building. But us Brits to not give in to adversity.  A quick stop in Bloomingdales and up to that observation deck I went.  Or should I say up to the unable to observation deck.  Nothing.  At all.  And no people, at all!! Awesome!! The guides were great fun and inside of clouds lit with the lights from below seen, it was time to head back down for some dinner.  Hard Rock at 1030pm, rock and roll and staying out late!!

Day three, paying the price of staying up late today was Downtown time.  A ride on the subway took me to Wall Street, Battery Park, Liberty and Ellis Island and then the 9 /11 Memorial and Museum.  And the sun was shining on the righteous.  Hot hot hot!! So over on the ferry to Liberty Island for a date with the main lady.  She was on top form, glorious in the sunshine.  Hopefully the pictures will show you and think yourself lucky that you only got a fraction of how many I took!!  Next was Ellis Island where the immigration centre is beautifully restored and takes you straight back to that time.  The ferry back to Battery Park, socking in the sun and the skyline once again and a walk down past Wall street to what once was Ground Zero but is now the new World Trade Centre, the Memorial Park and 9/11 Museum.

Speechless.  It was moving, poignant, beautifully done and respected by all that were there.  There were two amazing pools where each of the magnificent towers once stood with the name of each person that perished engraved around the edge, a memorial garden, the Survivor Tree (the name says it all, it was in the middle of the carnage and it lives on) the new World Trade Centre built to the left, a testament to the originals and the museum, which resembles a fallen tower, which is built within the old footprint and that houses the most incredible and moving collection of artefacts, stories, pictures and memorabilia (I hate to say it like that but that is what the watches, shoes, bags, fire engines, equipment and pieces of the towers are - articles that promote memories). survivor stories, last voicemails of victims, harrowing but compelling photos and the most amazing memorial to those that perished with a picture of each and every one along with an individual interactive biography and testimony.  Even now as I write about it I get goose bumps and I was in there for nearly 4 hours.  And could have stayed more.  A place I remember from before and will never forget again.

Back out in the sunshine, realising I had missed an massive rain storm, it was time to head back uptown on the subway to have a second bash at the Empire State seeing as the sun was starting to set and the sky was clear and blue.  But unlike last night the foyers were not deserted and the queues were long - express pass it had to be.  Like Royalty I was whisked past the lines, straight to the front of the queue for the elevators and after no more than 10 mins I was on the 102 floor, marvelling at what yesterday had been like looking through marshmallow.  Awesome.  And even more so as the express pass meant I watched the sunset over the familiar landscape whilst those I had whizzed past still waiting in the queue.  Time is money people, time is money.....

After drinking in the view it was now 10pm (another dirty stop out night) and it was back to Times Square for a little bit of shopping and a gyro on the streets from one of the hundreds of food carts littering the streets 24/7, whilst watching the madness of the square pass by (and gyro is a kebab just in case you were wondering...) before a  pretzel bigger than my head and bed for my last nights sleep in the Big Apple. 

And that, in a nutshell (thankfully for you) was that!  I woke this morning, got an equally entertaining shuttle back to La Guardia, had an equally as entertaining flight sitting next to the most incredibly rude and pissed of passenger I have ever had the misfortune to travel with (thank God it was only an hour!) and then seeing the familiar Toronto skyline come into view.

So here I sit, on my last night of my adventure, not quite ready for my final post.  And ironically, as I did on my very first night in this city, I sit watching the Blue Jays playing baseball but this time in the hotel bar with a pint (or two) on the go.  I shall soon retire to bed, upload this post and the seemingly but ever so entertaining and informative photos that accompany this narrative ready for you poor souls to read in the morning.

SO until tomorrow my faithful followers it is, as always, TTFN.....xxxxxx