New York

Arrived at Penn Station and caught a cab to our hotel which was nearby. Not overly impressed but $170 per night plus taxes seems to be 'cheap' for New York. At least it seems to be well located on 5th and 27th West. The grid system of roads will serve us well, the trouble is we can't get our sense of direction working accurately. So there's a few 'double takes' over our stay. Hudson River to the west, East River to the ....

Next morning we are up early as we have booked to be at the Statue of Liberty at 11am. Heather wants to go inside and up to the top so booked tickets were essential. We got the subway to South Ferry which was adjacent to Battery Park, from where we collected to our tickets. Then we joined our first queue for the ferry. A short trip to Liberty Island and another queue, this time a security check and to determine whether tickets are for 'the balustrade' or 'the crown'. We check out views from the balustrade before entering for the crown after joining another queue (or line as they call it).

Eventually it's a spiral staircase and single file. Landings allow climbers to have a rest or change their mind and go back. The progress was extremely slow, Jeff 'cracked it' and gave up waiting. Seems someone had cut their head earlier so there was a bank up of traffic. Patient Heather got to the crown and was pleased she did.

Rather than queuing for food we queued for the ferry back to Manhattan Island where we grabbed a bite in Beaver Street before going to nearby Wall Street and nearby where Heather fondled the famous Bull's testicles. This was quite embarrassing as NY is always crowded.

Then we walked back to our hotel via the former WTC site.

The next day we saw more of the sites that New York is famous for. Sites such as Time Square, Union Square, 5th Avenue, Broadway, Rockefeller Centre and the Empire State Building (many more queues at the ESB). That night we saw an Off Broadway show called Heathers which was enjoyable!

Day 3 we had time out from each other. Heather went shopping and Jeff went to Strawberry Fields in Central Park. Walked all the way from 27th to 73rd, and back. (We only caught the one train on Day 1 so we have done lots of walking.) Unpredictably, Heather spent the day shopping.

At each of our previous stops we've observed that drivers are very courteous. They stop when you're approaching a crossing or simply cross the road. Well it's very different in NY where the drivers, especially those driving taxis, take no prisoners. A bit like Melbourne actually!

So New York. Very crowded and busy. A city of queues. Not sure why everyone says they love it.