New York, New York

I'm sitting in a warm, cozy kitchen of bright yellow hues in a spacious and beautiful old house in the deep south of America. That's right, I've arrived at my first proper location: Atlanta, Georgia. This is the city of deep fried chicken, the hospital with the highest number of gun shot wounds in the world(allegedly) and where saying y'all is practically mandatory. Lets not get ahead of ourselves however, the title is self explanatory-this little note is about New York.

New York is by far one of the coolest places I've ever been. I know they say it all the time but it really is the city that never sleeps! It's a place where world class musicals run as frequently as movies at a cinema, Dali and Picasso can be found on a daily basis at any of your closest art museums and every shop, no matter how cheap, is oh so very sophisticated!!

I could write forever about my new found love of New York but that would be boring for everyone other than me. I'll give a brief run down of my experience;

Hidden fees: day 1
Get in at around 8pm and argue with the hostel for 20 minutes about how $21 is not 15% of $73. Eventually the poor guy had to call management and then explain to me there was an additional fee for 'occupancy'. I thought the whole paying to occupy a room thing would be adequate occupancy fee but apparently not. That was the beginning of the hidden costs of New York. Everything has a 15% tax so watch out!

My awesome Hostel:
Broadway Hotel and Hostel involved a spacious room with one bunk bed shared with me by Natalia, my Russian roommate here to learn English. As it was around a bend at the end of a corridor the small, hidden bathroom was practically private-WIN!!

Urban Outfitters: walking down the street the first shop I go into happened to be my all time favourite and I didn't realise till after I'd finished salivating over all the amazing clothes!

The ease of transport

Staten Island Ferry

It was oh so easy and wonderful to get around in NYC. My first morning after my culturally correct breakfast bagel found me catching the cheap and easy subway to the Ferry. From here I met two Canberra girls and caught the Staten Island ferry, a free ferry that goes right up to the beautiful, majestic and iconic statue of liberty. I also got amazing views of the buildings in Manhattan, well worth it. After this I headed to Brooklyn bridge for my initiation walk. It would have been sub zero and windy but the place is amazing. It's wooden, old and creaky and all these people exercise up and down it. In the centre was a plaque dedicated to a woman who 'through love and determination helped her stricken husband through so he could complete the bridge-behind every great man is a great woman'. Apparently there were quite a few heroic lives lost to the bridge. On the pillar with this plaque all the links have locks through them with the initials of lovers. It was a beautiful gesture but kind of sad to think some of these locks will outlast the love behind them. It was a nice symbol of hope however-I guess all people hope for eternal love and friendship and that should be respected. I challenge whoever reads this to put their own symbol of love and hope on the Brooklyn bridge.

Ground Zero
I thought I'd better pay my respects to the lives lost in 9/11 so I went to the memorial. It's a construction site still. They will build reflective fountains over the areas with plaques acknowledging all the lives lost. It was a complete tragedy: the survivors and family of lost ones spoke on a video and parts of the tragedy were displayed like a museum. It really made me realise how far reaching the death of one person is and the magnitude of the impact this event truly had. So many people spoke of having to learn to live without their loved ones. The lucky ones were those so scarred they couldn't use their hands. It was hard to be in there.

Times square
This is what NYC is known for: billboards, shopping and a hard rock cafe that will own anywhere in Australia! This place was so busy and crazy it was unlike anywhere I've ever been. All the broadway theatres were here and it was so much fun to walk up and down the streets looking for the one my ticket was at. There are so many specialty stores: I cuddled a giant M&M at M&M world, at Hershey's chocolate at Hershey's and relived my childhood joy in Disney world. Very fun.


Museums and Art

Dali

MOMA: I went to the modern museum of art because everyone told me I had to. It was brilliant and well worth the $14. I saw art I never dreamed of seeing including some of Dali's most famous pieces!! It was also really warm, a nice relief from the -6 outside.
MET: After meeting up with my friend Dario, whom I met volunteering in India, he took me through the beautiful Central Park(picturesque lakes and trees with winding pathways but keep to the right or get eaten by an angry, stressed out new yorker!!!!) to his favourite place-the MET. Beautiful art including Monet and an Egyptian section like nothing I've ever seen led us to miss the sex and the city tour bus.

Sex and the City

Pleasure Chest

My tasty cosmo at 'scouts'

Yes, I did the tour and it was amazing!! I missed the first 30 min as, although I missed the bus, my trusty New Yorker friend Dario helped me hunt them down via subway. We actually beat them to the first location- the pleasure chest sex shop (where the girls discover the rabbit). Here I got to visit the most iconic places  for the girls: I ate a cup cake (and a peanut butter cookie...) at magnolias, got my make up done at fresh, went to famous parks in the meat packing district and had a Cosmo at Scouts (actually O'neils). It was here for the first time that I wished I had a friend with me. Knowing no one on the tour I decided to sit with the nearest cluster of girls to drink my Cosmo and chat. They turned out to be a group of Russian's who spoke no English and I promptly killed their conversation by sitting. It was too awkward to stay but more awkward to leave so I drank my Cosmo and ran to the bathroom...oh well.

Broadway
Anyone reading this might not realise- pretty much the sole reason I came to NYC was for musicals. The one show I bought a ticket to was the lion king. It was a splurge but worth every cent. The music was amazing, the choreography so spectacularly beautiful and the costumes and make up at a level I've never seen. Do yourself a favour and look at the preview of this show for an idea. It was just the most fantastic performance I've ever seen and this is a daily occurrence in this place. This was truly the highlight of my trip. I had to go back. The next day I took a chance and went to Jersey Boys theatre to ask about student tickets. They sold me a partial view one for $30!!! I couldn't see the top of the stage but the performers were tight, the singing amazing and the Mexican next to me gave me awesome travel tips!

I know this blog is completely too long and self-indulgent but how can you capture the wonder of NYC in one little excerpt. I always loved the outdoors, big open spaces and nature. When travelling I get out of cities as soon as possible but this place was different. The place was alive and rich with culture and fun(even if it is absolutely freezing!!). I truly hope that one day I can become a part of this amazing place, even for just a little while. Definitely have to get back there and soon!!

Day 1

I'm sitting in the common room of my New York hostel, Broadway Hotel and Hostel, on my first real day of my year off. Around 35 hours ago I got on a plane and started the epic journey to NYC. I thought it would be better if I just didn't ask how long it would take and live in denial. I arrived in Sydney on 17/01/2012 at 6:30am and arrived in LA on 17/01/2012 at 6:30 am. Somehow I gained a day and I know about the time zones and everything but it still seems kind of magical.

My first experience in America was catching the shuttle to my hostel. In it were  two American characters that seemed to be out of a play. There was the woman in her early thirties trying to merge her company while balance her children and home life while buying a new house over the phone and an elderly gentleman returned to NYC to attend court over something unspecified who also hired young hip hop artists on the side for something equally unspecified and several other backpackers. All this information was gathered from the multiple loud phone calls these two made. The shuttle driver sped through traffic leaving a trail of angry horns and gave us a little tour of New York by night, beautiful.

After washing off the grime of the last day and a half I hit the streets rugged up in thermals and several jumpers. There are so many people all the time that I feel I can walk the streets alone anytime! The first stop was a store with a sale and cute clothes. Nothing purchased but when I checked the name it was Urban Outfitters, my all-time favourite internet shopping stop!! Cross that off my list of places to visit.

I stopped in a diner for a $4 USD sandwich(teriyaki chicken, rice, broccoli and kidney beans!) and picked up a $2USD punnet  of blueberries on the way back. I'm absolutely knackered but I have to say NY is completely awesome. It seems so alive, so cheap and there is so much choice!