New York City: Part 1

Airfares from Europe to New York are much much cheaper than airfares from Brisbane to New York, so we thought it was the perfect opportunity to visit my sister Hannah who lives in New York. We booked an apartment in the Flatiron district from a girl who had moved out but still had a few weeks to run on her lease. It which was really cheap because the only furniture it had was a bed. It is a very central if not particularly funky neighbourhood and it was a perfect base for us.

Flatiron building just around the corner from our apartment

At first we just went on a big walk through various neighbourhoods towards downtown until we reached the World Trade Centre site. There is lots of construction work going on and the Freedom Tower looks like it is nearly finished.

Patriotic fire truck

Then across through Wall Street and the financial district to the East River and around to Battery park on the southern tip of Manhattan.

Freedom Tower

We took a ride on the Staten Island ferry which goes past the Statue of Liberty. About half the people on the boat were tourists doing the same thing, and they all just hopped straight on the return ferry at Staten Island.

Statue of Liberty from the Staten Island ferry

The next day we met up with Hannah and she took us over to Williamsburg in Brooklyn which is a gentrified area teeming with hipsters. We had a traditional southern style breakfast at Jimmy's Diner before having a walk along Bedford Avenue through a Hasidic Jewish community. We stuck out like sore thumbs here with everyone else wearing the traditional black outfits, and all of the signs were in Yiddish.

Breakfast in Brooklyn with Hannah

Back over the bridge on the subway we got off in Chinatown and had a walk from there through Little Italy and over to SoHo. New York is a great walking city, there is always so much happening everywhere and the neighbourhoods all have their own feel to them.

Little Italy

The next day we ventured up to midtown past the Empire State Building towards Times Square.

Empire State Building

Times Square is just as crazy as it seems in the movies with over the top advertising, colours, lights, performers, and people everywhere. There was a lady in a bikini and cowboy boots playing guitar even though it was below zero and our faces were hurting from the icy wind.

Times Square by day

Interesting characters in Times Square.......It was -1 Celsius and windy........

Hannah put us onto the citizenM hotel in Times Square that was offering free test nights ahead of it's official opening. Hell yes! The price is supposed to be $300+ a night! The room was super modern with everything controlled via a tablet on the bedside table. You could choose different "mood light" settings which changed the colours of the lights depending on your mood. The location was great and we walked a few blocks east into Hell's Kitchen for dinner at a Japanese restaurant.

citizenM Hotel at Times Square

Times Square by night

We saw just about every stereotypical American in New York. From the black guy walking past a Maserati and shouting "Daaaaaayyyuumm" to no-one in particular to white trash at the bus stop talking about their various baby-daddies. 

Typical Intersection

Later we happened to wander past Jay Z and Beyonce's place in Tribeca which Kate was thoroughly unimpressed with. It just looks like a converted warehouse from the outside but I'm sure it's much fancier inside.

I can't really explain in words how much we liked New York, so you'll just have to go there yourselves.

- Joe