Day 1 Sunday 29 March 2009

29 Mar 2009 13:48BST, 09:49EST

Greetings All!

Landed at JFK International at about 5:30 local time and after an uneventful flight (barring some turbulence and a bit of a rough landing (according to Steve that is who obviously hasn't experienced a BAD landing before!)). After having our finger prints and photographs taken by an immigration official who thought it was very funny that Steve looks like Harry Potter in his passport photo we headed for a yellow cab straight to the West Side Y! (note, not YMCA, just The Y) to find we had a free upgrade to having a private bathroom and double bed!

Quickly dumped our stuff did a quick freshen up and headed out to Broadway baby!!

We opted for walking straight down Broadway to Times Square which is pretty phenomenal really, I had know idea it was quite so light! This journey included walking past the Lincoln Centre, Trump Tower and several other classic New York sights such as the Subway grates smoking away (Steve was particularly disturbed to find that the grates he had been walking over were directly over the Subway...you can actually see the line below!!).

Once at Times Square we had a good look around at all the MASSIVE buildings around and then decided to try and grab something to eat (it was about 8pm by this time or midnight by our bodyclocks) and headed up a random side street to be confronted by the Empire State Building to our right. We then realised that it was fast approaching 8.30 and the Earth Hour so we stopped at the first busy food place we found, we had obviously be subconsciously guided by Rachel (Mez's Cousin) as it turned out to be a Chipolte's so we ordered our first proper Burritos and a Root Beer. Burritos 10 out of 10, Root Beer – NEVER again, but i think i wont get a cough for the next year having drunk that much cough syrup.

After that we had a wander back to Times Square just in time to see that all the big TV screens had been turned off (not really the big eco-friendly message I had expected...everything else was still blindly bright), but quite impressively both the Empire State building and Chrysler building were almost unrecognisable without the pools of light surrounding them.

By this time we were feeling the hour and beginning to flag rapidly so decided to head back home, stopping to buy some supplies and also heading into the NHL shop which we just (genuinely) happened to be passing and buying a coffee from their in-house Starbucks (which Mez insisted we go into...as some people may already know Steve said he would never go into one here, but was pleasantly surprised).

We then headed straight back to The Y and almost immediately to bed (9.30 local time, 1.30 on the bodyclock) for a nice nights sleep... until 8.30 bodyclock time, or 4.30AM local time...such are the joys of jet lag.

Day 1 Proper

We finally decided it was ok to get up at about 7.30 and i had a slightly off cold shower (good water pressure tho you will be pleased to know) and we headed for H&H bagels as recommended in the guide book, however when we got there it turned out to be right next to Zabar's (highly recommended in the guide and by the Parents) so we got ourselves some Nova Bagels (Nova Scotia Smoked Salmon, Cream Cheese and Chives) and a coffee and grabbed a couple of stools, the best bagel i have ever had!!

We then decided to walk to the Guggenheim via Central Park, which is a really amazing place actually, i can easily see why New Yorkers are so proud of it. Having walked through almost empty streets to get there (is was 9.30 on a Sunday and raining) the park was bustling with runners, walkers, dog walkers and chatting friends, queue some stunning scenes of wet woods with sky scrappers peeping through the fog and general quite and stillness.

All of which takes us to the Guggenheim where we are currently having a coffee and writing this whilst waiting for it to open!

06:25 EST

So the Guggenheim – really bloody good actually, and both of us think that too!

We took the advice of many and started at the top working our way down and also doing the annex galleries off to the side and they were the best bit i think. One was the winner of the 2009 Hugo Boss award (whatever that means (well seeing as they are a big sponsor of the gallery, not much!!)). It was all bits and pieces owned by a Palestinian living in Rome who was assassinated by Mossad. The other was quite different, it started with asking you to take off your shoes and you then went into two rooms with 'stuff' hanging from or attached to the walls lit strongly in pink and blue while the rest of the room was dark with some very intense music/noise/sound. Very bizarre but interesting.

We then headed to The Met (Metropolitan Museum of Art) and did a quick tour of the Greek, Roman, Native American, and Modern American Art Galleries before stopping for a refreshment break at the Balcony cafe (S had coffee, M had ice t (very nice) and shared a chocolate cup cake (amazing!!!) before heading to the Egyptian galleries.

By this time we were both famished and decided to find somewhere to have lunch. The intention was to have something substantial, but not too filling as we planned to do some walking in the afternoon. We found a cafe/restaurant a couple of blocks (getting with the lingo :) )away from the Met that did what seemed like light lunches (burgers, sandwiches etc.). S decided to go for the heavy option with a “Deluxe Cheeseburger with Feta Cheese” and like a stupid English person looked very confused when asked how he wanted it done (in the end getting the drift and going for rare). M went for the “Reuben” which turned out to be a Pizza style open sandwich with sauerkraut and pastrami and melted swiss cheese. The burger turned out to be more blue than rare, but was excellent none the less and the Reuben was very nice, but M couldn't finish it (!!!!) as it was just HUGE!

Feeling particularly full and realising how far it was we opted for the Subway to Battery Park and boarded the last ferry to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The view was a little hampered by the low cloud but none the less stunning, the statue of liberty on the other hand was actually a little smaller than expected so we opted to stay on the ferry and go straight to Ellis Island and the Immigration Museum which was fascinating.

We got the last ferry back to NYC and headed for the Subway via the NY Stock Exchange which was an anticlimax, now back at base to recuperate before dinner.