Back in the UK and jetlagged!

I'm back and at the moment I am soooo tired despite just sleeping for eleven hours! Guess I have jetlag. Anyway, it was nice to see that some of you had left me a message so thanks for that - it's nice to know you dropped by :0)

Anyway, I had an absolutely fantastic time in New York. It rocks!!! Big time. I thought I'd share a few of my photos with you as a taster now and I will post more over the next few days. I did so much and saw so many great things it would be impossible to write about it all at once. To start with, the first photo was the view from my hotel room. The hotel was called The Alex and was very nice. It was quite modern and comfortable and I even had an LCD TV in the bathroom. But the best bit by far was waking up on my first day, opening the curtains and seeing the Chrysler Building. It really is a stunning building and looked great at night too when it was all lit up.

Despite my hotel room being great I didn't spend too much time in it as there was so much I to see and do. I must have walked miles and miles while I was there but I also used the subway a lot too with the fabulous Grand Central Terminal being my nearest station. I could not believe how big it was or how beautiful this station was inside. Still, at the end of every day my feet were sore from walking!

The next picture was taken at dusk when I was exporing and was taken up the road from Radio City which you can just see in the distance. New York is definitely a city that looks good at night and my first view of it as we drove in was at night and I left in the dark too. What an impressive skyline! The other thing that took my breath away was how tall many of the buildings were. This meant that even on a nice day the sidewalk was often in the shade and boy, it could feel cold so I wrapped up nice and warm.

The photo above was taken at the site of the World Trade Centre which I visited on the day I went Downtown. It was quite a moving experience as there were pictures of 9/11 displayed at the site as well as a run down of the events that day. It was quite a positive place too however as you could see the building work taking place and it really felt like NY was repairing itself and looking forwards with this new project.

The next photo was taken from the top of the Empire State Building. The view took my breath away. It didn't matter which way you looked there was a building you recognised and the people and cars below looked sooo small. The photo below is of the East side of the city and my hotel was a block north of the Chrysler Building which you can see in the picture.


The next picture is of Radio City. I didn't go and see a show there but I was quite taken with how it looked all lit up with this huge Chriustmas Tree. The Rockettes were in the Macy's Parade which I turned out to see but was a bit of a wash out. It was cold, wet and miserable and the poor people in the parade looked the same even though they were trying to put a brave face on it. The weather also meant that the balloons were tethered very low so it was not such an impressive sight. I also discovered that on Thanksgiving NY is more or less is shut! The city that never sleeps took a day off for the holiday so I went to the cinema in Times Square instead. I saw Happy Feet and the New Bond Film and I must say that seeing a film is a much different experience in the US. American audiences seem much more vociferous and seem to get quite wrapped up in the film gasping at all the white knuckle moments and even yelling at the screen, or maybe this is just New York?

Anyway, I did go to see Tosca at the Metropolitan Opera in the Lincoln Centre which was wonderful. The sets were beautiful and the production was excellent and I also thought the Lincoln Centre was a lovely building with an Art Deco feel and an impressive chandalier in the foyer and auditorium.

My wanderings around NY took me to MoMA, the Metropolitan Museum, The Natural History Museum, Rockerfeller centre, Wall Street, Battery Park, Bronx Zoo, the Staten Island Ferry and 5th Ave and the area around it for shopping (including Tiffany's and Bloomingdales) and I have some pics to share soon. I also took time to walk around Central Park which is in the last photo below. I visited Strawberry Fields and also saw the skaters though I didn't go skating myself.

Anyway, I'm tired so I'll write more soon. I had such a great few days away but came away wanting to go back as there is still so much to see!