Back in Blighty

I am in an internet cafe in Central London at the moment- yes I do have internet access at my sister's house but this seemed a more 'authentic' way to update the blog.

Right, so I left us (me and my sister that is) in New York on our first night there. We were staying in a strange hotel which seemed to be a cross between a hotel/hostel/long term dosshouse. We didn't really see many of the other residents but we did hear some of them fighting at night. Nice. But we were only a hop, skip and a jump away from the World famous Central Park. So the next day we got up and went there. We walked through the park and into the theatre district. Now, Broadway confused me, I had no idea that it was such a long street! Our hostel was also just off Broadway but a loooonnnnng way from the centre of the theatre action. Then we went onto Fifth Avenue and had a hot chocolate in Trump Tower before moving onto the Empire State Building.

I must have ignored the bit in the guide book that told me to be prepared for queues so it was a shock to be warned that there was a two hour wait to get up the Tower. But they lied, in fact, we only stood in line for an hour and three quarters so that was good! Finally we could see the lift. And then we were in the lift and thought that we were on our way to the top, so imagine our dismay when the lift doors opened to reveal... another queue for the NEXT lift! We chose the other option and walked up the next six stories to the top.

There really isn't a lot at the top of the building, two almost identical gift shops and some toilets. But it worth all the waiting for the view and the fact that you are actually outside looking down. It was pretty awesome.

After that we queued again to get back down again. We must have had our defences weakened by all the standing or waiting or something since we ended up buying the souvenir photos that they had taken of us before we started queuing and looking fed up. I think that buying the photos at that stage was just a way to break up the tedium.

And after all that walking and waiting and admiring of views, we decided to walk back to the hostel- don't ask me why! All I know is that we walked a lot that day and it took the rest of my time in NY for my legs to stop aching!