Our trip the United States of America was amazing. New York was such a buzzing city with the bright lights of Times Square, a huge number of yellow taxis, great sites and massive skyscrapers.
Our first day in the big city was Thanksgiving, a real American holiday. We woke early for a second row view at the huge Macys parade - even two hours before the parade start! The balloons were huge and there was a great number of floats, school bands and even a few celebs and the atmosphere was amazing.
We had a wonderful time cruising the sites on open air bus tours, a boat tour and the subway. The weather was brisk but bright most days, which made the view from the top of the Rockefeller Centre amazing. It was a glorious autumn day when we strolled through the gorgeous Central Park, bagel and caramel apple spice in hand yet freezing on the top deck of the boat tour past the Statue of Liberty! One night we took the bus tour across the Brooklyn Bridge and the view of the lit up Manhattan skyline was amazing.
The shopping was great too with Macys - the largest department store in the world, Bloomingdales, Times Square and Broadway. Got some good bargains on clothes to fill up the suitcase on the way back and also enjoyed the american food - bagels and pretzels and hotdogs and Taco Bell and thanksgiving dinner, including pumpkin pie!
We were very sorry to leave after only 4 nights but will definitely back. Although loud, the Americans were a friendly bunch and there was never a dull moment in the city that never sleeps.
I’m thankful for being in New York for Thanksgiving.
I could definitely live in New York. It’s such a huge, expansive, exciting city, even compared to London. It was both bigger and smaller than I expected: its many skyscrapers are absolutely massive, but every now and again you catch a glimpse of the river and remember that Manhattan’s just an island.
The Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade was huge. Much, much bigger than the Kamo Christmas Parade. Hundreds-of-thousands of people line up along the parade route hours before it starts. Luckily, the YMCA we were staying at was a block from the parade route, so we managed to find a good spot from which to view the action.
Central Park was a stone throw away, and the bright lights of Times Square were only a 10-15 minute walk away. Times Square is an overwhelming experience. It’s a vibrant, neon-valley of brightly-lit billboards. Like Las Vegas, or Piccadilly Circus multiplied by 100, it’s a grotesque but strangely beautiful tribute to capitalism, and a must-see tourist attraction.
London has toughened us up, I think. You hear stories about New Yorkers being rude, but we thought they were generally a lot nicer than Londoners. We read in a tour guide that we should be wary of walking too slowly, especially during rush hour, but if anything all the other tourists pissed us off, because they were walking too slowly. We’ve also become quite adept at jaywalking, weaving our way between taxis, and deciphering public transportation.
Using the subway was a piece of piss, which is exactly what it smelt like. London’s Tube is immaculate compared with New York’s subway. I’m sure it’s relatively safe, but it never felt that way. Most stations were like dirty, smelly dungeons. The trains don’t run nearly as frequently as they do in London, either.
For a man with a serious fear of heights, I’ve done pretty well. I’ve been up the Sky Tower in Auckland, the Sydney Tower, the Eifel Tower, Portsmouth’s giant sail, and now the Rockefeller Centre. True, it’s not as big as the Empire State Building, but the view is better. It’s quite spectacular, actually: Central Park on one side, and the Empire State Building on the other, and if you really look hard you can sort-of-see where the Statue of Liberty is. Sort of.
The Statue of Liberty isn’t as big as you think it is. I found it quite underwhelming actually, when compared to the sheer magnificence of New York’s many skyscrapers and the bright lights of Times Square. Don’t get me wrong, though, it was brilliant to have my photo taken next to such an iconic monument.
We saw all the sights, experienced all the American food and drink we could – including hotdogs, pretzels, root beer, and a traditional Thanksgiving turkey dinner with pumpkin pie – and had a wicked time. I know it’s cheesy, but I heart New York.
A million NYC pics are here! (It was very fun.)
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