new york: i want to be a part of it

when people ask where our favourite place on our trip was both of us have said that new york is right up there on our list. that is why it is unacceptable that it has taken me nearly one month to blog about new york. what can i say? it's a lot easier to blog when you are away! but anyway, let's dive right in. 

after arriving in new york from our flight from vancouver (via toronto) we got our only yellow cab of the whole trip from the aiport to our hotel. arriving late on the friday night we had just enough time for a quick look at times square before collapsing into our hotel bed. the next day, the first thing we had to do was to sell our gps device as we had no more use for it without a car (despite my request that we should keep it... just in case!) anyway, we sold it successfully in a second hand electronics shop in the 'diamond district' to a group of quite threatening looking italian-american guys who could easily have been extras from 'the sopranos'. we'd decided to do the open-top bus tours to get our bearings a bit as neither of us had been to new york before. we took the uptown bus tour first taking in columbus circle, cathedral of st john the divine, grant's tomb, harlem, and central park. in the afternoon we went to the museum of modern art (MOMA) which had a mind blowing collection of modern art including van gogh's starry night and work by miro, kandinsky, pollock, gaugin, rothko, magritte, matisse, and monet. 

'top of the rock' (rockefeller centre) provided excellent views of new york from its 68th and 70th floors.

we got up early the next day (sunday) to go on a wall street area guided tour, something that i was particularly excited about after my economics classes at uni! the tour was lead by james, an excellent tour guide, who told us lots about the area and took us to see the bull statue, NY stock exchange, the financial district and city hall.

that afternoon we went to the national september 11 memorial and museum. a fitting tribute with the twin waterfalls and survivor tree. it was a very emotional experience and we felt it an appropriate way to pay our respects to the city. 

the next day we were back down to battery park to get on the ferry to liberty island where we went up to the pedestal of lady liberty. we actually had tickets to go right up to lady liberty's crown, but we estimate we probably made it as far as her breast before the extremely cramped and steep spiral staircases became too much for us and our combined fear got the better of us. besides, the best views are from the bottom - we got some great snaps from the downstairs. it was selfie central outside so jam and i thought we better join in!

the ferry afterwards took us to ellis island for look around the immigration museum which we both found very interesting. back on the mainland we walked over the brooklyn bridge, which, by the way, jamie cannot say in any way other than as an alicia keys impression from her annoyingly catchy hit 'empire state of mind'. the walk across the bridge was lovely and gave brilliant views of both manhattan and brooklyn.

 

once in brooklyn we had a look around the dumbo area which was so much quieter than manhattan and full of cool book, art and pastry shops! we then took the subway to williamsburg where we had happy hour cocktails in a thai restaurant called Qi; the bathrooms alone make it worth a visit but the lychee martini was super beautiful too. dinner was at the very hipster-esque commodore complete with arcade games, diner booths, dim lighting, fried chicken and mint juleps!

vancouver: a late update

okay, i've been a bit slack in writing up the last few places on our trip. not because we didn't love them (we really did) but just because we were so busy and didn't have the best internet connection at the end. now we have been back home in the UK for nearly a whole week and this is the first opportunity i've had to sit down and write. anyway, excuses over.

so, after we'd had our little break to vancouver island we returned to vancouver for a couple of days. we took the car back on the boat and had a smooth sailing. we spent sometime in downtown vancouver on the first day, checking out robson and granville street as well as yaletown. we checked out the vancouver public library which is an absolute gem, as well as being a stunning piece of architecture.

in the evening we went to see the vancouver canucks play the nashville predators at ice hockey. the atmosphere was electric as expected, and we took our seats among the thousands of navy blue-clad fans. the canucks certainly took their time to get going and had a few sketchy moments early on, but eventually won with two goals in the third period, and their newest supporter was thrilled.

the next day we ventured out to find a traditional canadian breakfast. i had a craving for pancakes and bacon. well, i got a plate of pancakes and bacon alright. the biggest plate you have ever seen in your life. i ate approximately one eighth of this plate (yes i did take a nibble before snapping away!).

we went to lynn canyon park in north vancouver where we took a walk through the beautiful forest. the park has three bridges over the canyon. i went on two of them, but i couldn't quite bring myself to walk across the suspension bridge as it was far too wobbly! although a little scared, jam found the courage to cross.

i managed to have a peek over the side of one of the more stable bridges.

before we left we went in the ecology centre there which was full of interesting information about the park and the background to the area. the next day we said our goodbyes to sparky and dropped him off with the car rental people before checking into our flight to new york and preparing ourselves for the long plane journeys ahead.