LittleSandyBeach

In the afternoon after seeing the World Trade Centre we walked to and over the most famous bridge in New York, Brooklyn Bridge. Upon its completion in 1883 it was the world’s longest suspension bridge at 486m in length.

In the Dumbo area of Brooklyn we went to look around the Time Out Market. There were lots of restaurants and bars dotted around and a fantastic rooftop that had amazing views out over the river.

Just around the corner we had to stop at the viral photo spot to catch the view of Manhattan Bridge. The buildings on the road perfectly frame the blue steel tower of the bridge. It aligns exactly so that the tip of the Empire State Building is centred in the bridge’s lower arch.

To get back across to Manhattan we walked across the Manhattan Bridge that was opened in 1909 and is over 2km in length. It has two decks that have seven vehicle lanes, four train tracks, one bike lane and a pedestrian walkway. When the trains come across it is extremely loud and shakes the bridge a little too much for our liking!

As we were extremely hot from walking for around 3 hours in the sun we had a stop in Chinatown as there is our favourite store from China there… Mixue! Two ice creams and two lemonades later we were cooled down!

For lunch a couple of days we’ve of course have been sampling the amazing pizza New York has to offer. 2 Bros. Pizza is one of the most popular chains in the city as the huge slices of pizza start at just $1.50 (£1.11), not bad for one of the most expensive cities in the world!

Yesterday we started off the day by checking out the area around Union Square. It’s a very popular place for people to hang out especially in their lunch breaks. It has statues of George Washington and Abraham Lincoln as well.

Surrounding the park are many shops including the flagship store of the biggest bookstore in the US, Barnes and Noble. Spread across four huge floors in the historic Century Building.

Also just around the corner is The Strand Bookstore, an independent store well known for having 18 miles of books! It holds 2.5 million new, used and rare books across multiple floors. Having been opened in 1927 it will celebrate its centenary next year!

We were in need of a refreshing drink afterwards as it was already 32 degrees in the city yesterday morning so we went to a Trader Joe’s Store. They’re popular in New York as they don’t hike their prices in the city so are very affordable for any groceries.

We then walked to the west side of Manhattan on the edge of the Hudson River. We first came across The High Line which is a 1.45 mile long public park built on a historic, central railway spur that hovers 30 feet off the ground. A nice escape from the busy streets!

Just a few hundred meters away is the artificial ‘Little Island’. It’s built on the site of Pier 54 which was where the RMS Carpathia docked to drop off the 706 survivors that it had rescued from the Titanic in 1912. Pier 54 was completely destroyed in superstorm Sandy in 2012. The new island is built on top of 132 concrete ‘tulips’ that rise out of the water. There are great views of the city from the island and also a few performance spaces.

As we were walking around the island suddenly some rather loud fighter jets appeared with four of them performing a low flyover the city. It wouldn’t be the US without some fighter jets on show!

We then went into Pier 57 just nearby which has been converted into a large entertainment complex featuring a rooftop park with skyline views, a food hall and city winery.

Just a short walk away we visited Chelsea Market. It’s a large indoor shopping mall and food hall but what makes it famous is that the original factory building on the site is the birthplace of the Oreo cookie!

We had to get a picture of one of the classic New York firetrucks that we saw many times trying to battle through gridlocked streets! Many of the individual firehouses make custom signs displaying the names of those who died in 9/11 and hang it from the backs of their trucks to remember them always.

After the market we were strolling around the Times Square area and noticed TV crews and lots of people gathering around. We then heard the music start and to our amazement it was Madonna performing a surprise 15 minute show to promote her new album! What great timing that was and the atmosphere was electric! She is performing a show in Broadway tonight and for two tickets it is $290 (£217) so to see her for free was the ultimate budget travelling!

This morning was our last in New York so we got up nice and early to get another Liberty bagel! Then we went to the last place to visit, the Intrepid Museum. The museum is on and within an aircraft carrier, the USS Intrepid and shows numerous military aircraft including a British Airways Concorde and even the first ever Space Shuttle built!

We spent 2.5 hours walking around (you can’t believe how big the aircraft carrier is) and learnt lots about everything on show. One of our favourites was the USS Growler, a submarine that operated between 1958-1964 during the Cold War. It sat off the coast of the Soviet Union and acted as a deterrent and was always loaded with four nuclear cruise missiles.

Our other highlight was seeing the NASA Space Shuttle Enterprise. It was the first ever space shuttle built and was used for glide and landing testing. For the test it didn’t need its own engines as it was flown on top of a Boeing 747. After testing NASA wanted to add engines and the heat shield to be able to fly it in space however that was scrapped due to overrunning costs.

Then it was time to check out of our last hotel! We got the metro across Manhattan and Queens and then got on the Air Train to JFK Airport. We now have a short (for us now!) 7 hour hop over the pond back to London Heathrow.

We’ve loved New York even more than we thought we would. During our five days we’ve overheard (as Americans are very loud) some funny quotes we’d like to share…

• In Trader Joe’s – “Be nice lady!” “I was being nice, if I had smacked her that wouldn’t have been nice”
• In the street – “He was too fucking high to know what was going on”
• Lady on the phone – “I called the cops on you to check you were ok, and they reported that you were ok”
• Man on phone – “I like doing business, I don’t like doing bullshit”
• Salesman in Times Square – “You sound like congress on woman’s issues”
• Madonna – “New York I’m so hot”
• TSA Officer at JFK – “Is that a watermelon?” “Yeah, they don’t got them in California, it’s a seasonal thing!” (He got to keep his watermelon)

Tomorrow we will be posting a round up of our entire trip and making sure we have a good rest! See you soon parents!