New York

As far back as I can remember I always wanted to be a gangster. Not strictly true but I have always wanted to visit New York but the expense of doing it solo always put me off. I made sure that on this trip I would finally get to see how this city, deemed to be one of the most cosmopolitan in the world, compared to London.

New York City is the birthplace of Graffiti, and I mean the good stuff, not the scrawling your name on a wall with a marker that blights most major cities today. I'm on about the multi-coloured throw ups that are works of art, even if painted in a public environment.
Over the last decade or so though the city has been fighting the war on graffiti and its not as prevalent as it used to be. Some examples do appear such as this on the side of a van.

As with most major cities space is at a premium so it was amusing to see this confined car park that lends itself to a massive game of tetris than the conventional car parks we have back home. Where your car is parked is based on when you want it back so your social life in the city is partly driven by this.

I can't remember if this is a municipal building, a gallery or a museum. This is what riding too many head banging coasters does to you I guess.

I can assure you that the officer in the background is carrying a box of paper files and not a party size Krispy Kreme platter. I'm not sure how I managed that fish-eye effect at the bottom of the picture though!

This is quite sad but having deliberately not read any travel guides on New York I started to recollect seeing a lot of buildings in the city before but couldn't think where. It turns out that as well as being in movies and TV programs a lot are in a Spiderman game I have on the PS2.

The morning was spent making our way to one of the touristy areas for a bit of city sightseeing from the river. Avoiding the "I ♥ NY" t-shirt shops we made our way to the docks.

With a large selection of boat trips to choose from some lasting up to 4 hours, we eventually plumped for one that would take us up the Hudson river and around the Statue of Liberty (not "Luberty" as I'd originally typed, although that would be an interesting, if slippery statue). We're already on the boat in this pic so please don't think I did it on that old looking boat in the shot, which is just there for tourist effect I think.

This is downtown with the familiar skyscraper filled skyline but unfamiliar grey sky that most photos usually contain. The weather had taken a turn for the worst but given the inordinate amount of hot days I'd had this came as a pleasant change and we remained on the top deck of the boat whilst others retreated to a more sheltered viewing deck.

The Empire State Building isn't actually in amongst all those skyscrapers, which I hadn't realised. It resides in the midtown part of New York further north. I also hadn't realised that since the destruction of The World Trade Centre, this was again the tallest skyscraper in the city.

The Brooklyn Bridge is another iconic landmark within the city, joining Manhattan and Brooklyn (so why isn't it also called the Manhattan Bridge?). Opened in the late 1880s it has survived inumerable attacks from terrorists and still stands today. This is also the bridge where The Fantastic Four came to public notice when they managed to avert a tanker explosion that almost happened on it.

Ellis Island was built by a Welshman and is famous for once being the immigration processing centre for Europeans travelling to America for a better life. It has also been the site of a long running territorial dispute between the states of New York and New Jersey, which has led to neither side paying for its upkeep and as a result it has fallen into disrepair. However its still popular with the tourists, particularly those who families once passed through its walls generations ago.

The Goldman Sachs tower is the tallest structure on the New Jersey side of the river. That would be because its the tallest building in the state. Its also the tallest building not in a major municipal area in the U.S. The big clock to the left is the Colgate Clock, cited to be the largest clock in the world. The toothpaste company left the site many years ago and clock is all that remains, I guess it was just too big to load on the truck.

Perhaps the most iconic of all the New York landmarks is the Statue of Liberty, a large copper statue given to the Americans by their best friends, the French. A lot of tourists stop on the island and walk around to take pictures but wouldn't they just end up with nostril shots? This was the main reason for choosing a boat that goes around the island; better pictures!

This funny shaped building marks the entrance to one of the many tunnels that run under the Hudson river.

New York harbour is still one of the most popular cruise destinations. This one was preparing for a jaunt to the Caribbean.

Having finished the hour long boat trip (highly recommended by the way) we noticed a Bodies exhibition close by and as Keith had never been to one but was curious about what was on show, I took him in. The display is similar to others that are now being shown worldwide, and I think they're very important exhibitions as we don't really know a lot about how we work and take ourselves for granted. I think going to a place like this would make a more worthwhile school trip than one to a theme park.

Interesting Sign #30
"No Standing Anytime"
Not wanting to face the wrath of New York's finest I took the picture then quickly moved on.

This is New York City Hall, a fenced off building that houses the Mayor's Offices and the New York City Council. A lot of political speeches are often made on the steps to this building, such as clamping down on rappers with guns.

This is City Hall Park which adjoins City Hall. It offers a perfect place for city workers to stop for lunch.

This is New York Supreme Court where rappers found not guilty of committing gun crimes stand on the steps outside and thank the American Justice system.

A quick trip on the Metro and we were in Times Square.

Rather surprisingly it's not a square at all, but more a meeting of major roads in the city with 42nd and Broadway as its centre. In London we have all our neon in Leicester Square, which really isn't a square either. In New York they have all their neon here. Its all very impressive but not in the league of Tokyo.

There are so many adverts here it is hard to take them all in and you wonder if the money being spent putting them here is well spent. I guess its more about having a presence than actually getting people to take it in.

We stopped off for lunch in a Chinese Restaurant called Ollie's. The food was really nice especially their pork buns, which I am assured are quite commonplace but which I had never seen before. I shouldn't however have insisted on ice in my drink as I had to run into Virgin Megastore soon after and find a toilet.

Radio City Music Hall is a show venue that has been running since the 1930s. They have a very famous Christmas show that plays there but there didn't appear to be much on when we were visiting however.

The Toys R Us store is so large that it has a big wheel inside it with cars themed around popular toys such as Snoopy and Loony Tunes. I didn't go on it choosing instead to try to find a case for my DS Lite, a console that had only been out a few days and which I'd bought at a massive electronics store close to City Hall.

I've been doing quite a bit of travelling of late and have noticed that just about every major city has an Inca/Aztec pipe player. So I wasn't pleasantly surprised to come across one in New York City too! I would have been impressed with this one however had it not been for his poor attempt at the A-Team van behind him.

This is Rockefeller Centre, another popular location at Christmas where an ice rink is put in place for people to fall over and break their hips on. During Summer however its used for a big square hat convention, which doesn't make for an interesting picture.

This is the Rockefeller Centre, actually its one of the buildings that make up the complex. There are 19 in all. We had come here for "Top of the Rock" a viewing gallery on the top of the tallest building in the complex, for a chance to see the city from on high. However it took a little while as we couldn't find the way in.

But the views from the top were amazing, even with the grey weather. This is the Empire State Building to the south.

and here's Keith enjoying the view to the North of Central Park. I am pleased I was able to drag Keith along as he'd never actually done this even though he works just next door. I guess like me with the London Eye if something is on your doorstep you take it for granted as you could "go at any time" but end up not going at all!

We must have spent at least 90 minutes up here just chilling out and taking in everything. You are so far from the noise of the city below that you'll easily find yourself unwinding up here.

That is until you find this little room where you're tracked as you walk around inside and as you stand in various locations you trigger different light shows. We must have spent another 30 minutes in here trying to figure out if there was a system to how it worked.

Having spent plenty of time up top it was time to come down low, where night had started to fall and the neon of Times Square would come into its own.

After taking in Times Square we headed off to a bar to see a band play. They were really good and consisted of around 12 people crammed on a small stage playing Blues Brother's covers (Keith will kill me for that). We left a little earlier than planned when we started to sense some unease in the room, like a fight was going to kick off. I do know the friend got into a shouting match with someone over the drummer's playing abilities. I thought they were all really good though.

This was one thing I didn't expect to see in New York; a shiny train. I thought they'd all be painted up but as mentioned earlier the state is winning the war on graffiti. Trains are cleaned so frequently that the artists don't bother painting on them as they know their work will only last a day or two. In a way I was disappointed but at the same time it was good that pride was being taken in the transport system.

The following morning I had a quick opportunity to look around Brooklyn. I had wanted to go to Harlem just so I can say I had been there but the rain storms over night meant that it wasn't going to be practical for me to do so. Brooklyn is really neighbourly though and I had preconceptions of it being rough, but it isn't. Maybe it is in the places Keith didn't take me!

One house that stood out was this weird one where the owner had covered the fences with birdhouses and dollhouses for reasons no-one really knows.

A short drive past the tenement buildings, where I wouldn't want to go alone, and I was at the airport. After saying my farewell to Keith and his nephew for being great hosts it was time to leave and after 30 days in the states it was time to head home.

So, in conclusion?