New York

We were lucky enough to be invited on a trip to New York City with one of Adam's friends (Jeff) that he met while he was in the Middle East. Jeff's mum always organises a bus load of people to head to New York City for the weekend just prior to Christmas. It took approximately 4 hours to get there from Baltimore (45 min drive north of DC) and we crossed several states along the way (though we're not counting them as states visited).

Because it was the week before Christmas there were plenty of people out seeing the Christmas Lights. I have never seen so many people in one place before in my life. It was just us and 20 million of our closest friends all trying to do their Christmas shopping and site seeing on the same weekend. Jeff's brother lives on Long Island so he met up with us and was able to show us around the city. Jeff's wife, Nicole went with her sister-in-law and another girl window shopping and I went along with the boys for some sight seeing. We firstly visited the UN (United Nations) building and took a 45 minute tour. It was great to see all the rooms that we normally see on TV and now we can say we have been there in real life.

After that we took a walk down the all famous 'Wall Street', although being a Saturday it wasn't busy with business people, rather tourists instead. For such a talked about street, it really isn't very big. It is almost like a little side street. In the photo gallery there is a photo of one of the buildings with some lights on it in a very specific pattern. Hopefully you can see what the lights are, they are in the shape of the American Flag, they are very patriotic in this Country and that's just one example.

We also stopped by the World Trade Centre site. That is something to see and feel. Imagine walking through a city where you feel that the buildings are almost pressing in around you. They are tall and there are lots of them. However you break out into a huge clearing when you get to where the World Trade Centre buildings once stood. It is a very weird and strange feeling to be almost out in the open again. They are still trying to decide what to build there but I'm sure whatever it is, it will be big.

Something Adam like was that we stopped by the church out of the movie National Treasure. Not the same inside (and unfortunately no treasure underneath it) but it's a beautiful old church only a couple of the blocks from the World Trade Centre.

Once we had seen that we took a ride on the subway so we could get back to meet the girls and have some lunch. Wasn't that an adventure. Fortunately Will (Jeff's younger brother) knew how to use the subway and so he purchased our tickets for us and we just followed like little lost sheep. The subway in NY is no way near as nice as the subway in DC, its older and dirtier. We were unable to get a seat on the train so I learnt how to hang on in a packed train (just like in the movies). We changed trains a few times before hitting our next destination (Broadway).

We are very keen to see a show on Broadway, so whenever anyone is visiting New York, please let us know so we can join you. There are so many great shows to see including Mamma Mia, Beauty and the Beast, just to name a few. We will keep you up to date with reviews if we get the chance to see these shows.

Time Square is a couple of blocks in New York City that is just sensory overload. There is noise, flashing lights, neon lights and every other sort of advertising just trying to get your attention. We saw the spot where the big crystal balls drops on New Years Eve but I don't think we would have been able to get anywhere near it actually on the night.

5th Avenue is the famous shopping street in New York and they certainly price everything there accordingly. We went through Tiffany's but Adam decided that I had enough diamonds for now. I think we would have needed another house loan. The toy store that is featured in the movie Big (the one with the piano on the floor) is on 5th Avenue however the queue to get in was about 50m long. As such we decided to wait until next time. That and we need a little piano practice first.

Rockerfeller Square is famous for it's ice skating and Christmas tree and we had the same idea as everyone else, go and see both!!!! Remember those 20 million friends I mentioned, well I think they were in Rockerfeller Square the night we were, it was ridiculous. That said it was good to see.

We rose early on the Sunday morning to beat the rush to get to the top of the Empire State Building. At over a 1000ft above the city streets of the city you get a magnificent view of New York city and the surrounding area. It's a must do for anyone who visits New York. Even though is was slightly hazy when we were there it was well worth it. Visit www.esbnyc.com for more information on the building.

Central Park was the oasis in the middle of the bustling city. The further you venture into the park the easier it is to forget that you're in one of the most populated cities in the US. You almost can't hear the traffic or city noise. The park covers over 843 acres, which is 6% of Manhattan and stretches from 59th St to 110th St.

It's been a few months now since we've been to New York so I think it's high time we headed back!!! Still plenty more to see.