New York, New York!

The Big Apple. I'm still not sure why they call it that, but man is New York overwhelming. What a place! The sidewalks buzz continuously 24/7. We arrived at LaGuardia airport and took a car service to our hotel in downtown Manhattan, right next to the Empire State Building. The air was humid and thick and we were pretty tired after a long red-eye flight. We dropped our bags off and got straight on a tour bus to give us some idea of this overwhelming island. The skyline was covered in skyscrapers and a mix between beautiful old Parisian influenced architecture and 20th century fire escapes. There were people everywhere, all the time. We toured downtown and found ourselves in Times Square in the midst of a tropical thunderstorm. It rained and rained non-stop. Luckily we had been given incredibly dorky rain ponchos by the tour bus. We explored the city for the remainder and the afternoon and then went to bed early in an attempt to conserve some energy for our very long to-do list.

Our first full day in New York found us lining up in Times Square to purchase discounted tickets to various Broadway shows. We then went to Macy's, the Worlds Largest Store, and shopped to our hearts content. Before we knew it we were taking our VIP seats at the Imperial Theatre watching Billy Elliot, the musical on Broadway. I cried the entire time and was absolutely blown away. I wished so much that I could have shared that moment with everyone in my life but can only beg you to go and see it. I have never seen anything like it before in my life. My first Broadway show was obviously quite the hit in my books.

Later that night mum and I headed out to the Upper East Side and drank cocktails at one of NY's loveliest and classiest venues, the Bemelins Bar at the Carlyle Hotel. We had our own private jazz band and came out a few too many pennies poorer and a fair bit more intoxicated. One of the best highlights of our whole trip!

The next morning we jumped on a tour bus and hit uptown (Upper West, Upper East and Harlem). We jumped off at Central Park on the Upper East and played with toy sailboats in the lake and visited the Met (The Metropolitan Art Museum). After lunch we headed to the Lion King on Broadway and were yet again blown away by the magnificance of the show. Coincidentally, both were produced by Elton John. Unfortunately, though, we were both incredibly hung-over and tired that we couldn't enjoy it to its fullest extent. Was nonetheless breath-taking. Later that night we climbed the Empire State Building and sunset and enjoyed the illuminated views of Manhattan Island. What a place!

We enjoyed our last day in New York by walking across the Brooklyn Bridge, standing in line for an hour all to enjoy 'New Yorks Best Pizza', Grimaldis. It was indeed the best pizza I've ever eaten, and well worth the wait. We also did some last minute shopping and picked up all the goodies we had been eyeing off over the last 2 days. We finished up our last afternoon in New York by taking the subway and catching the Staten Island ferry past the Statue of Liberty. We took a car service back to the airport later that evening and headed back to Californ-I-A for the remainder of our road trip over there. Oh New York, New York. You definitely swept me off my feet & stole my heart.