6th July - New York

This morning we had to get up early in order to catch the 0830 train from Philadelphia to New York. The journey only took one and a half hours and we were in NY just after 10am. Fortunately we were able to check into the hotel early which gave us the whole day to explore a bit of this huge bustling city.

We were both a bit gob-smacked at it all and didn’t really know where to start! Our hotel is ideally situated, only one block (about two minutes walk) from Times Square. When I first booked this hotel the cost for 4 nights worked out at almost $1500 between us (NY is notoriously expensive, especially in this central area), but by compromising and only having one bed instead of two we bought the cost down to $500 between us - a saving of $1000! But it does mean we have to share the bed ….. no sarky comments please! Also the room is small, but as we do not intend to spend much time in it, it doesn’t really matter.

After settling in we first walked a few blocks to the Bus Station to purchase 2-day City Pass - the same sort of thing that we had in Chicago - $110 gives us access (and no queuing) at most attractions, museums, boat trips etc. From there we walked to Times Square and purchased a 3-day on/off bus pass for the price of a 2-day one. We are sure to make good use of both those passes.

We spent some time strolling around the Times Square area, trying to take it all in. It was very busy and all very vibrant and colourful.


After lunch and a short sojourn back at the hotel we got the bus to Central Park, alighting outside The Dakota Building (where John Lennon used to live, and Yoko Ono still does) and then entered the park via Strawberry Fields and seeing the Lennon memorial


We walked around some of the park - it was lovely. Different to what I imagined it to be - quite hilly and there were lots of big natural outcrops of rock. We stopped for a rest by a large fountain where we were entertained by a Japanese Drumming Duo.


We caught the bus back from the opposite side of the Park in 5th Avenue, and then after dinner and yet another ‘feet-up’ session we took a night time bus tour. That lasted over two hours and was lovely.

Brooklyn Bridge at night

The tour ended at Times Square around 10.30pm. It was still heaving with people and the atmosphere was fantastic.

We sat in a couple of chairs and just watched the people and the huge colourful adverts flashing everywhere we turned and just didn’t want to go to bed, even after the very early start this morning! I know we are going to have a great 4 days in The Big Apple.