A week in The Big Apple.......

New York City

I love this city. I have visited here twice before and each time fell in love with something new - the views from the Empire State building, the sport and concert history within Madison Square Garden, the blocks of green in Central Park, the lavishness of 5th Avenue, the decorations in Rockefeller Centre, the energy and madness of Times Square, the magic of Broadway, the solemn stature of the Statue of Liberty, ferry rides around the island, walking Brooklyn Bridge..... I have visited all these tourist spots (sometimes on both my visits) and loved every one!

There was one difference with my visit this time. On both previous visits, I made my trip in wintertime ~ firstly around February and then in December (the week between Boxing Day and New Year's Day). This time however, I would be visiting this fast paced city in summer ~ and boy, what a difference! The first noticeable one was that I didn't need three layers, a scarf and gloves to walk down the street! In fact, when we arrived it was quite humid! It stayed warm into the evenings as well, which made it feel like a truly different visit to my last visits! :)

Ashlee had come with me on my last visit to this wonderful city and as a result we weren't rushed to see every single 'tourist' attraction on the island this time. In fact, we kept it fairly low key and saw what we wanted to while still finding time to just relax. It felt like we kind of lived in the city actually ~ we'd go and see something and then head back to our apartment one block from Times Square, rest up and then head back out. Because we were staying so close to the Square, it was easy to get around either by walking or catching the metro.

In fact, on our first afternoon after arriving from Boston by train and walking three blocks to the apartment, we headed out to Times Square to get our first look at the city........ only to stumble onto the World War Z Red Carpet event right in the heart of Times Square! We hung around for two and a half hours, pretty much in the same spot, until the actors, producers and director began to arrive. I gave up at about 6pm (no food since breakfast began to affect me - I headed to Maccas for sustenance) but Ash stuck it out and was rewarded 20 mins later when Brad Pitt arrived. Even better was that according to Ash, he ran off the red carpet and went around the outside of the rails. As he went past where Ash was still standing (second row back) the crowd surged forward and she stuck out her hand - which Brad Pitt then shook as he went past! Needless to say, that made Ash's NYC week right there - nothing else this week would top that moment! :-)

The red carpet set up

Ash snapped a picture of Mr Pitt when he arrived

Our list of places to see this week included Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge, Battery Park and the statue, a Broadway show...... a very small but achievable list to which we added a few other things. Much easier to explain with photos, so below find a small sampling of pictures documenting our 5 days in NYC and some further details of our days ...........

Central Park - the pond by the castle

View of West NYC over the Park

Enjoying the heat and sunshine!

Ash and I on the red steps in the middle of Times Square

Standing in front of the apartment of Will Smith from the movie
'I Am Legend' - blocks from NYU and across from Washington Square Park

Crossing the Brooklyn Bridge - midtown is behind me
(Empire State and Chrysler Building)

Twin Tower 9/11 Memorial - they have done a magnificent job with
this site. Two pools symbolizing the two towers with names of those lost
listed in the area / with the people they would have been with on that day.
A museum is being opened this fall.

5th Avenue - shopping mecca of the expensive kind!
(Nothing purchased here for me though!)

Grand Central Station

Battery Park, overlooking the Statue of Liberty

Ashlee's picture of the Naked Cowboy :)

We stopped by the Kardashin store 'Dash' - $4 for a pencil!

To see more photos, click onto the New York City Sights page to the right to see an even larger plethora of picture memories. Remember, you have been warned about the amount! :)

This wrapped up our traveling sisters adventure - it was so much fun traveling around and hanging out with my sister for four weeks after not seeing her for five months (to the day!) since I left Oz. Ash headed home to Oz from New York and I headed to Texas for an ICT conference. Ash's flight home was not smooth sailing though - she arrived in Melbourne 24 hours late after a delayed NYC flight, a redirected flight and missed connection in LA 😓 She was very glad to be home in the end!

More to come - still heaps of traveling to share with you all!

Stay safe and keep smiling 😊
Candice