Countdown!

Showing posts with label new york. Show all posts
Showing posts with label new york. Show all posts

Monday, 8 July 2013

NYC Days 3 & 4!

This post has taken quite a bit longer than I'd hoped, sorry!

On our third day in New York we spent the morning in Central Park just having a wander. We only walked about a third of the way into the park in the end. I didn't really realise how big it is but it's about 800 acres which is bigger than the zoo I work at (600 acres) and that feels massive!
 
The park was very peaceful although still quite busy. It was just a nice change of pace from the rest of our time in New York.  It was really weird being surrounded by green but seeing the skyscrapers either side.


I had seen some black squirrels on my first trip to Central Park in the early evening of the first day, but I didn't see any on my second visit. I did however see a cardinal which I know are not particularly rare but I had never seen one before and it's quite a surprise to see a flash of red go by when we don't have any birds of that colour at home in the UK.

We left Central Park at about lunch time and headed back towards the hotel to the pizza place right next door. My sister said it was the best pizza she'd ever had. I probably wouldn't go that far but it was really good and not too expensive either. The restaurant is called Angelo's Pizza and is very convenient for people staying at the Salisbury Hotel next door (just in case anyone is thinking of staying there!).

The afternoon was pretty relaxed, we just had another look at Fifth Avenue and went to sit in the Apple store for a bit (free wi fi! :) ).

In the evening we went to see Matilda the musical. Times Square was sooo busy that evening. We encountered a hold up in front of a store called Oakleys where they were holding some online music awards and Andrew WK was sitting in the window playing drums with one of the Ramones. We had to hurry past to get to the theatre on time but I'll come back to this later in the post!



The musical was so good! I had been wanting to see it on the West End since it won lots of awards last year, including the Olivier award for best actor in a musical won by Bertie Carvel for playing Miss Trunchbull. He was also in the Broadway production and I could see why he won the award, Miss Trunchbull was hilarious!

I wasn't sure I would like the songs much since I hadn't heard any of them before but they were really good and very clever. I'm going to try to get to see the West End production later in the year because I'd like to see it again. It's the sort of thing you will pick new things up in each show, I think.

On day three we didn't do much. We went to Macy's in the morning on the request of my mum (neither me or my sister really like shopping!) but she didn't like it in there that much, surprisingly. We had visited a Macy's in Florida and apparently she preferred that one! It probably didn't help that the store was being renovated while we were there but it was quite a disappointing trip compared to the rest of the week.

We walked back to the hotel through Times Square and when we walked past the Oakley store Andrew WK was there drumming AGAIN with someone different this time. Apparently he was attempting a 24 hour drum session record, which he did complete later that day!

After packing during the afternoon, me and my mum returned to the Rockefeller Centre in the evening so that we could visit the observation deck in the dark. It was pretty impressive to see the whole city lit up. I did try to take some photos but they didn't come out great.



The next day we were up at 4.30 to get to the airport for our flight home. I think the time we went for was long enough for one trip, but there were plenty of things we could have done if we had more time there. We'll have to save those up for our next visit!

So that's the last post on my New York trip. It was only a couple of weeks ago that I got home but time seems to have been running away from me for the past few months! In two months I'll be off to Slovakia and I bet that time will be gone before I realise.

Bye for now!

Lucy


Sunday, 30 June 2013

NYC Day 2!



Day 2 we went to the Rockefeller centre and visited the Top of the Rock observation deck on the 70th floor. I don't think I've ever been that high up in a building before but the view was amazing. We could see the whole of Central Park and also the Empire State building and the new World Trade Centre One tower which is nearly finished. It was pretty quiet up there when we went but it was getting busier as we left. We seemed to have a knack for avoiding the crowds all week actually!


After that we walked down 5th Avenue to the Grand Central Terminal which was huge and far too beautiful inside for a train station. We stopped there for lunch where I had the biggest burger ever! It was pretty amazing.


We walked back up 5th Avenue to get back to the hotel and had a look in some of the shops. They were mostly expensive designer places so we didn’t buy anything except some NYC souvenirs from one of the (many!) gift shops.

In the evening we went to see our first Broadway show, Annie. It was very good and our seats were great despite being pretty cheap! Jane Lynch played Miss Hannigan and I thought she was really good, although I'm not a fan of Glee. It was great being able to see Times Square all lit up when we came out of the theatre, and it was still packed!


I'll post about day 3 and 4 together, hopefully tomorrow.

Bye for now!

Lucy

Wednesday, 26 June 2013

New York! Day 1

I know I said that I was going to make this blog just about vet medicine, but I realised that means I won't have an awful lot to write about until I start university in September.

Sooo, this is a post about my recent New York trip :)


I went to New York city with my mum and sister for 5 nights last week for my sister's 21st birthday (which was actually in May, but oh well). It was a fairly hectic few days but we managed to do lots of touristy things and also see two Broadway shows!

I'll spread it out over a few days because otherwise this would be one ridiculously long blog post!

Day 1 we went on a boat tour around the island of Manhattan with Circle Line tours. We got a really good view of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island but couldn't visit either because both islands are still closed after hurricane Sandy last year. The tour was really interesting, and we got to see some landmarks and areas of New York that we wouldn't have managed to visit otherwise, like the Brooklyn bridge and the Chrysler building.




After that we wandered over to Times Square and had lunch and a look round the shops. My sister could have spent hours in the Disney shop but we eventually dragged her away. Ooh and we also stumbled across people setting up for the World War Z premiere; there were fans camping out already! We didn't stay for the premiere but it was interesting to see.



In the evening we had a wander around Central Park which was only 2 blocks from our hotel. It was nice and peaceful, but still quite busy!

Speaking of the hotel, it was really cheap so I wasn't expecting much but it was actually really nice. If anyone is thinking of travelling to New York I recommend the Salisbury Hotel. The location was great, we were less than a 5 minute walk from Central Park and about 10 minutes from Times Square and the Rockefeller Centre. Everything we wanted to see was in walking distance. There is also a supermarket opposite that is open 24 hours and a little deli next door that did some hot food. The rooms were clean and larger than I expected, and also not too noisy, although I suspect it is impossible to get a perfectly silent night's sleep anywhere in the city.

I'll post more about the trip tomorrow.

Bye for now!

Lucy