LittleSandyBeach

On our last day in Auckland we went to watch the new horror film Obsession for a belated birthday present for Tasha. It’s been highly reviewed and it was as horrifying as everyone has been saying!! We loved it!

It was then time to leave Auckland and head to the airport for our extremely long flight on the way to New York. A storm was rolling into Auckland as we were on the bus and the wind was crazy!

We checked in and made our way to our gate. The projected flight time was 15 hours and 55 minutes and luckily it ended up being slightly shorter at 15 hours and 29 minutes. Definitely slightly swollen legs after but there was a good film selection onboard so it wasn’t too bad!

After a long wait at immigration in JFK Airport we finally made it into The United States of America! Luckily to compete with Uber the world famous yellow taxis have a fixed rate from the airport to Manhattan so we got one of those and had our first experience of a New York taxi driver!!

After checking into our hotel which is in the Hell’s Kitchen area of Manhattan we headed straight out to see Times Square which is only 5 minutes away!

On our first full day we started off bright and early to fit as much in as possible. The first stop was St. Patrick’s Cathedral, Neo-Gothic in design and completed in 1879. It’s the largest Gothic Cathedral in the US with a capacity of over 3,000 people.

Directly opposite is 30 Rockefeller Plaza which started construction in 1931 and employed 40,000 people during the height of the Great Depression. The world renowned picture “Lunch atop a Skyscraper” was taken during the construction.

On the same street is probably one of the most policed buildings currently in New York, The Trump Tower.

Also on 5th Avenue we came across the Louis Vuitton store that’s under construction and had been cleverly disguised as a stack of their classic luggage.

For breakfast we have been going to the popular chain Liberty Bagels. They have previously gone viral due to their colourful trademarked rainbow bagel. There is a huge selection to choose from with a whole counter full up of different cream cheeses…

We then went to 57th street which is also known as Billionaire’s Row. There are several mega towers which have ultra luxury apartments within. A standard one bed starts at $5M and the record price for a penthouse sold for $238M in 2019.

We then started our walk through Central Park. The park is absolutely massive at 843 acres and features many different areas such as playgrounds, sports grounds, a zoo etc. It is 2.5 miles long and 0.5 miles wide.

Another feature of the park was Shakespeare’s Garden which is an English cottage style garden featuring plants mentioned in Shakespeare’s plays. There are also bronze plaques dotted around displaying some of his most famous quotes.

After a nearly 3 hour walk we made it to Roosevelt Island Tramway. It is a commuter aerial cable car taking only 3 minutes and connects the upper east side of Manhattan to Roosevelt Island.

We then used the subway for the first time to get to our next destination. The subway is not quite on the level we’ve become accustomed to but at least it functioned!

We then arrived at Grand Central Station! Having been in many movies it is a world famous site to see and looks even better in person. It is the third busiest train station in North America and has 67 tracks.

Nearby was the Chrysler Building which is an art deco skyscraper famous for its stainless steel crown. It was the world’s tallest building for one year between 1930-31.

Just around the corner is the Empire State Building. It is art deco in style and well known for its distinctive spire. Completed in 1931 it overtook the Chrysler Building as the world’s tallest and kept this title for almost the next 40 years until the North Tower of the World Trade Center was topped out in 1970.

Next it was time to checkout Macy’s Herald Square, Macy’s flagship store. It spans an entire city block with 11 levels of shopping and is the largest department store in the US. We really liked the rare 1920s wooden escalators still operating on the upper floors.

Close by our hotel is Madison Square Garden. It is the fourth venue to bear the name with the original opening in 1879. It is currently home to the New York Knicks who are competing in the NBA final for the first time in 27 years so the atmosphere in the city is electric!

For dinner we tried Chipotle for the first time. It is a Mexican grill specialising in bowls, tacos and burritos which are made to order at the counter (similar to subway). Let’s just say American food portions being large is definitely not an understatement!

Yesterday, we started the day off by hopping on the Staten Island Ferry. It is a free ferry running 24 hours a day connecting Staten Island to Lower Manhattan across New York harbour.

The main reason we took the ferry is to get a great view of the Statue of Liberty. Designed by Frédéric-Auguste Bartholdi it was gifted to the US by France to commemorate their alliance and American independence.

On the journey back from Staten Island, we saw some amazing views of the city skyline which reminded us a lot of being on The Bund in Shanghai.

We then had a short walk to go and see the Charging Bull. It is a symbol of financial optimism and prosperity. It was sculpted in 1989 by Aturo Di Modica the same man who made The Bund Bull for Shanghai.

We then walked down Wall Street which runs 8 city blocks in the financial district of lower manhattan. It is known as the financial centre of the world and we enjoyed seeing the New York Stock Exchange which is by far the largest stock exchange in the world by market capitalisation.

We then went to visit the 9/11 memorial which was very moving. Where the two towers stood there are two massive, nearly one acre sunken pools surrounded by the names of those who died.

The One World Trade Center was completed in 2014 and is the tallest building in the western hemisphere at 541m. It’s a symbolic height at 1,776ft referencing the year that the US Declaration of Independence was signed (250 years next month).

Across the road is the WTC Transportation Hub with its iconic winged structure called the Oculus. It is designed to resemble the wings of a bird in flight and is the most expensive train station ever built in the world costing $4bn. Every year on September 11th the skylight is opened for 102 minutes (the duration of the attacks) to align perfectly with the path of the sun casting a beam of morning light down the centre of the hall.

To be continued…