New York

I've not posted in a while as I've been in the states! I went to NY with a huge group of almost 50 people from my Uni, for 5 days. I feel like I've done so much in that time that it feels longer though! The day we landed was so tiring, having thought I hated planes and then being pleasantly surprised and finding the whole experience beautiful, I thought I was off to a great start, but once off the plane it was a wait in immigration for about 3 hours. Not Fun. After that we had a bus journey into the city (you are all crazy drivers, and your radio stations sound like Grand Theft Auto) and checked into the hostel, which was again a long wait. Our room was..."quite" all right  The TV didn't work, the next door neighbours were LOUD teens from Essex who enjoyed banging on our walls and our light was motion censored ..which we couldn't turn off. That made for a lively night. We went out to eat that night, (New York pizza - yum.) and then just headed back to sleep.

The next day we did Central Park (well, the lower end) which included a long walk, playing in the park, and ice skating, before a trip round the National History Museum, and a film in the planetarium, which was AMAZING. We then hit up the local supermarket where I proceeded to buy necessary items to bring home, such as oreo's and cake mix...and then went out for Mexican.

The next day was my birthday! We went to Times Square and bought copious amounts from Hersheys, and then to a post-production house on Hudson St, which was pretty cool. A quick trip to IHOP and then we went to the top of  the Empire State Building at sunset, just as it began to snow - magical. That night we went to Rocky Horror in Chelsea and it was amazing, I wish we had that show over here because I'd love to be a regular! What a birthday.

The next day we visited the public library (!) though I was dissapointed with the actual lack of books...(I was picturing Beast's Library from Beauty and the Beast). I then went to get a little souvenir tattoo, and tried to get to the Top of the Rock, but it wasn't open due to lack of visibility :(  That night we went out to a bar where lovely Jimmy the bartender was kind enough to introduce us to Cafe Patron...

The next day we visited ground zero, and took a boat out to see Ellis Island and The Statue Of Liberty. After that we walked to Wall St. and into Chinatown, where we were lucky enough to catch a parade!
That was our last full day, and so that night was just spent in the hostel lounge watching the Oscars.

The last morning we finally got to the Top of the Rock, did some last minute shopping and then got back on the bus to the airport!
I had such an amazing week, and even managed to pick up a few paperbacks in the airport!