NYC Part One ft. Touristy Stuff

Prepare yourselves for a series of long winded and picture heavy posts on my trip. You have been warned!

I flew into NYC on September 11 in the evening and was glad to finally be there after two flights, not to mention SO SO SO excited!

Driving into Manhattan with two giant beams of light shining up into the sky representing the twin towers was an eerie but unforgettable sight. Got to my hotel and dropped off my bag and considered going to sleep for about 40 milliseconds before I realised that would be futile with the levels of excitement I was experiencing so I went for  a walk. I have to say, I have never felt so at home walking out into a place I have no idea about at night. Yep, NYC was the place for me!

I made arrangements to meet up with a Big Apple Greeter before I left but didn't hear anything so thought it fell through but I ended up having a message at the hotel that he would be meeting me the next day which was a surprise. Big Apple Greeters are a volunteer program made up of NYC locals that show visitors around different areas of NYC depending on what your interests are, being art, food, shopping or what not. I know it sounds a big naff but my greeter Joel was really friendly and I had a great few hours with him on first day. He took me around Chelsea, East and West Village. 

Can I just say, I could easily live in any one of these areas, a brownstone building in a leafy street would suite me just fine!

Looking like a jet lagged hot mess in Washington Square Park  on my first day. 

Had the best weather while I was there, the first few days it was actually pretty hot and after that it was beautiful fall weather.

I did the usual touristy things like go up the Empire State Building. The glow coming from Times Square is amazing!

Please excuse my craptastic camera. 

Looking at the Chrysler Building

Also went up to Top of the Rock ( Rockafella Building) on a beautiful clear day. 

Reduced to taking photos of my self due to flying solo!

I love that Central Park was set aside for public use and it hasn't been developed on after all this time. 

Speaking of Central Park, I loved it. I LOVED IT. I hired a bike a couple of times and cruised around listening to Yeezy and loving life. It's massive, full of super hot fit runners and so many nooks and crannies....

....and views likes this. Yep a massive lake in the middle of the park. 

I walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and had a bit of a look around Brooklyn on one day. 

A walked around the former World Trade Centre site where construction is well underway on the new Freedom Tower. I didn't see the memorial as it was all booked out as you can imagine. 

St. Peters church is directly opposite and was still cover in white ribbons from the anniversary services. I mean every piece of fence etc etc was COVERED. 

I saw How to Succeed In Business Without Really Trying on Broadway. It stars Daniel Radcliffe ( aka. HARRY POTTER). It was a great show, really funny. I usually pretend I like musical shows and then get really bored when I don't know the songs but I honestly liked this. 

Times Square, where slow walkers go to die. In my world slow walking is a crime. It was like being stuck in an Easter Show crowd. Couldn't get out of there fast enough!

There are some really beautiful buildings in the city, like Trinity Church which is down near Wall Street. The grounds were beautiful and the gravestones were from the early 1700's. Just a friendly reminder for ya'll, Australia wasn't even settled by that time!

Federal Hall, where the first President George Washington of the US was inaugurated. 

I took the Staten Island Ferry down past the Statue of Liberty one day for a look but didn't get off because I wasn't really that interested. Was good to see it from afar though.

OK I think that was enough for one post! More to come....