New York Day 3 + 4

Day 3 was difficult, by this point we had walked so far my feet were suffering unbearable pain. However today was my friends birthday so I was determined to put on a brave face.
We started the day by visiting the Empire State Building. Overall we paid $50 for a ticket, but this included a video thing at the beginning. We hadn't really realised we had signed up to that but it was an interesting addition to our visit as it explained the history of the building.
At the top the view as you can imagine was incredible. It was pretty windy up there, almost a bit chilly - but not quite! It was still very hot. I spent a bit of time looking through the binoculars - I think it was about 25c for 2 minutes, but very interesting. I could even see into the offices and could see people working.

After the Empire State we went to TGI's for lunch as their website boasted a good gluten free menu - my friend is gluten free, and as it was her birthday she didn't really want a salad. Unfortunately it was a bit of a let down as they didn't have any gluten free buns - or anything gluten free. 

We then went of a bit of a treck to find the New York Sex Museum - which I would like to point out was totally not my idea of how to spend an afternoon. But of course the birthday girl gets to choose. Personally I thought the place was rather boring, and would not pay to go again. The only good part was a big bouncy castle of boobs. Strange I know, but it was hilarious, and I got to take my shoes of at this point so I was happy to go in. You basically got 2 minutes to bounce around in the boobs. There is no other way to describe it!

In the evening we had to celebrate the fact my friend could now legally drink in the USA so we went out to party. We had to make sure it was a unique night and not something we would do in the UK so we went to the Coyote Ugly Bar. For someone that doesn't really enjoy going out drinking, I had an amazing night. We weren't out for very long as my friend may have partied a little too hard, but it was a great atmosphere and I would recommend it to anyone. It's basically like the film - if you haven't seen it, go watch it now! Girls get to dance on the bar and the bar staff and singing and dancing on the bar. Its brilliant. The only downside was I kept banging my head #tallgirlproblems.

New Yorkers seem so much more friendly at night time! 

The next day was pretty much a write off - which is why is doesn't get its on post. My friend had the hang over from hell so it didn't look like she would be making an appearance. So I decided to head out myself and see Central Park. So off I went, braved the subway alone, and ended up in a park. It was nothing like what I had imagined - very quiet. There was a fitness class taking place, so I sat nearby on a bench and chilled for a bit. It wasn't until I got Google Maps out to see how to get back to the subway that I realised. When I got off the subway previously, I had turned the wrong way and was infact not in Central Park, but actually just in a random park on the outskirts of Manhattan - fail. 

New York Take 2 - Day 1

Last month saw my return to the concrete jungle. I went back to New York for my friends 21st birthday. This trip gave me a completely different view of New York. I was there for longer this time. 6 days to be precise. It was incredibly tiring and my feet were killing me by day 3.

Day 1 and we arrived at JFK in the morning. We decided to get a shuttle to our hostel. This cost us $16 each and it dropped us at Port Authority bus station where we jumped on he subway down to Chelsea. Note: Getting the subway is not easy with a big suitcase! In hindsight we probably should have just got a taxi...
Unfortunately the hostel hadn't given us very clear instructions on how to get there so after standing around gawping and looking lost for a bit, a friendly american (rare in NYC) came to our aid. Turns out we were pretty far away. After a pretty long walk in pretty crazy heat, we finally found the tiny, completely missable entrance to our hostel.

We stayed in City Rooms NYC which in the end did turn out to be in a great location for sightseeing. We were a two-minute walk from Penn Station, which was handy for the subway and had a seven eleven right next door.
I will admit, due to previous experiences in hostels, I really was not happy about staying in another. And was sulking beforehand that we weren't going to a hotel. However I would recommend this hostel to any one on a budget, as it was the nicest I have ever been to.
We stayed in the room named Brooklyn. It came with a double bed - pretty comfortable, air con, a fridge, a sink, clothes rack, and a safe. For a hostel, it was a fairly spacious room, and there was a cleaner that came in everyday and changed towels and bins. In the reception area they offered coffee for free in the mornings and there was also a cold water machine which was handy for filling our bottles up.

The place only had two downsides. Firstly the shared bathrooms. Being a hostel, there had to be something that made in hostel like! To be fair, they were incredibly clean. The toilets were tiny. Any taller than me and you would probably find them uncomfortable. The showers were more spacious and were separate to the toilets, but weren't very powerful. The second downside was the layout. This is New York so the building was taller rather than wider, which meant a heck of a lot of stairs. We were on the third floor so it was a challenge to get the suitcases up and down. Luckily when we arrived there was a male member of staff there to carry my case for me.

By the time we had settled in I was completely knackered. I knew the day wasn't going to last much longer for me. We took a stroll to Times Square which was about 15 minutes away. I don't know if its an age thing or because I had seen it before, but the place didn't have the same feel as last time I was there. The crowds were not appealing and I felt in the way everywhere I stood. Don't get me wrong, it was still pretty cool to be stood in Times Square. But it just didn't feel as magical as last year. We had a browse around a few of the shops. Including the massive Forever 21. I remember when I went in last year and initially thought it was incredibly small for their New York store. I then noticed the escalators that went down...way down!

On our trip to Times Square, we also spotted the Naked Cowboy! I was so determined to find him this year as previously I hadn't. And people hadn't believed me when I told them he was a real New York thing/person. He was taking selfies with tourists but the crowd was too big so I took a sneaky shot from behind.

I didn't last much longer and headed back to bed, because at this point I had been awake for about 26 hours, which wasn't working well for me...

Day 2 coming soon.