New York!

Yes!!!! That is right! No your eyes are not playing tricks on you, we were actually in New York! The city that never sleeps! The Big Apple! And this city, with its high reputation, did not disappoint!

When you walked the streets, you felt like you were in a movie! It was exactly like you see it on television! Our apartment was in West Harlem, a real cool neighbourhood! We were really near to Central Park. The first place we went to in New York was, of course Times Square! God it was magical! Massive television screens everywhere, billboards, flashing shop lights, just basically lights and bright, moving things everywhere! And shops! Gosh everywhere you turned there was something new to look at! We spend a lot of time in Times Square as that was where 42nd and 5th avenue was, so the heart of the city! As we had a New York Pass, it meant we could hop on a tour bus plus get free entry into most attractions. Went to Ground Zero and saw that they are building a new World Trade center. There was a memorial center which was very moving.

We also went to the Harry Potter exhibition, in which we saw props used in the movies and how they made the movies etc. It was so awesome! That first night we went to Mary Poppins on Broadway! It was such a great show, so different from Wicked in London but just as fabulous. The set was incredible and the singing exquisite.

The weather wasn't too fantastic as we cruised out on a boat to see the Statue of Liberty. That was also smaller than it looks on television but still impressive. After some shopping at shops including Macy's. It was cloudy but we were beside the Empire State Building so we went up. It was unfortunately zero visibly so we couldn't see anything beside the buildings below us. But not many people could say they have been above the clouds on the Empire State Building.

Central Park provided a lovely walk to the Natural History Museum. We saw the amazing dinosaur skeletons in the museum then caught the hop-on-hop-off bus and crusied round Harlem then onto 5th avenue. After window shopping, we went up the Rockafellar Centre to see the wonderful view of Manhattan. It was a sunny day so we could see for miles. A cool dinner at Planet Hollywood was followed by a magical bus trip round Manhattan and Brooklyn at night! It was stunning and brought tears to your eyes! When we returned to Times Square that night, well lets just say that it was brighter than in full daylight I would hate to be the person paying the power bill! But also the people was the thing that amazed us! From the top deck of our bus, we couldn't see the street due to the sea of people walking around! It was like nothing I have ever witnessed in my life!! :)

Unfortunatley,it was our last night. :( But we still managed to sneak in on last activity before boarding the bus to Boston: a session at the local gospel church. That was a service like I have never been too before. You sat in a theatre with two levels and watched the choir sing. They had the speakers turned up so loud, you couldn't hear yourself think! There was no formal standing and sitting, no terrible, droning songs, just passion and loud worship singing. Bloody brilliant! The people were so passionate and emotional, it really brought you to tears. In fact most of them were in tears after the priests sermon. They were exclaiming and praising God, standing up and clapping when they agreed with what the priest was saying. The priest was so involved with his sermon, he was sweating like crazy! The whole experience was just really moving and enlighten all of us.

Goodbye New York! Thanks for a wonderful time!!! :)