I think I awoke at around 6.30am in the morning, got ready and went to have breakfast in the cafe next to the hotel (The Prime Cafe). I ordered a pancake (with maple syrup) and a cup of tea. Here was me thinking that I’d get one pancake on my plate. Instead, I got about 3! Seriously couldn’t eat all of that! In fact, by the time I was finished, it looked like I’d barely touched the food on my plate. They were so yummy though.

We met with our tour group in the foyer of the hotel at 8.25am and Adrian introduced us to our bus driver, Diego. Once aboard the bus, introductions were given- 4 Scots, 2 Welsh, 3 Irish, 16 English, 1 Romanian (our guide) and 1 Colombian (our driver). Our plan for the day was to have a morning tour round New York. We picked up a local guide name Mary-Ann and started our tour.

Strawberry Fields
One of the first stops on the tour was the Strawberry Fields section of Central Park, which is just opposite the Dakota Apartments, where John Lennon was shot dead on the 8th December 1980. It was set-up as a memorial to John Lennon. While walking into Strawberry Fields, I was struck by how incredibly peaceful it was. Standing by the edge of the lake I forgot I was in New York, one of the largest cities in the world. It was a lovely day and I could have spent all day there, watching the squirrels running around (I’ve only seen them a handful of times in Scotland).

The entrance to Strawberry Fields contains a plaque relating to nations which endorse the memorial. Our local guide said that it had been dug up by people on a number of occasions, because they felt some of the nations listed were no longer peaceful. Also, there is a mosaic which has the title of Lennon’s most famous song written on it- “Imagine”. This is used as a gathering point on the anniversary of his death and his birthday. In addition to this, we were told that many people gathered here on September the 11th, hoping for peace.

On leaving the Fields, we passed some women with prams. I didn’t pay much attention but my mum and several other members of my tour group noticed something funny. Normally, one would expect a pram to contain a baby or two. Not in this case. These prams had dogs in them. I know- what?!

The Flatiron and round Central Park
After getting back on the bus, we headed half a mile along the road, to see the Flatiron Building. You might be thinking “what’s that?” but I guarantee, you will probably have seen it in the movies or on the tv. It’s a pretty neat piece of architecture and resembles an old-fashioned iron used by tailors.

Following this, we drove right round the edge of Central Park, going up to Harlem, then passing museums such as the Guggenheim. We saw other places such as the Waldorf Astoria hotel- the last of the grand, old hotels. One of the other things we saw on the tour was the giant inflatable rat, which was near Rockefeller Plaza. It was being used in a protest of some sort but I don’t know what it was about. We were then told we were heading to Ground Zero, a place I didn’t even know we’d be visiting don our tour.

Ground Zero
On the way there, we passed the World Trade Center Cross beside St Peter’s. This cross was found in the rubble of the World Trade Center and is a shrine to those who died in the attacks.

Once the bus had parked, we were led in the Winter Garden Atrium of the World Financial Center. We had lunch there at a place called Donalds- I had the most amazing buffalo-turkey-cheese sub.

After walking up the stairs inside the Atrium, we reached a large glass wall, essentially an observation deck over Ground Zero. I was nearly 14 years old on September the 11th 2001 and I remember watching the news in horror when I got home from school that day. After seeing it on tv, it felt weird standing that’s where such an appalling loss of life had occurred. I felt a mixture of emotions. Anger towards the terrorists who killed so many innocent people and ruined so many lives. Sadness, thinking of all those who lost their lives and had their families torn apart. Finally, I felt particularly impressed by the attitudes of the New Yorkers. Their determination to carry on, and not let the terrorists bring them down was inspiring. The size of the construction site where re-building is taking place really brought home the shear scale of the destruction that occurred. It must have been hellish living in Manhattan, amongst the aftermath of the attacks.

Now I’m not a religious person however, when the group was shown the Church which survived the attacks, I was amazed. I think it was called Trinity Church. All these huge modern buildings were destroyed but this relatively small church stood it’s ground amid chaos.

Some members of our tour group opted for a couple of optional tours, including a helicopter ride and a boat cruise. We ended up driving through the Meat Packing District to get to the terminal and we dropped them off.

The afternoon- Rockefeller Plaza and shopping!
The rest of us went back to the hotel. On the way there, we noticed these weird parking spaces. Where cars are stacked on top of each other, supported by a metal frame (that’s the best way I can think to describe them). I found a picture of what I mean on Flickr. Apparently, parking spaces in the part of Manhattan can go for as much as $250,000. Totally nuts!

We had a few hours free and I wanted to visit Rockefeller Plaza so my mum and I walked from 26th Street to 50th Street along 6th Avenue and the Avenue of the Americas. To tell the truth, we walked a couple of extra blocks then realised that we’d gone too far. Enroute, we walked past Bryant Park where everyone looked so relaxed, eating, chatting and playing French Bowls.

Finally, we made it to Rockefeller Plaza. Of course, this is where one of my favourite tv shows, 30 Rock is set. I wandered round the plaza, and had my picture taken in front of the Prometheus statue and of course, the 30 Rockefeller Plaza sign. Following that, we decided to go up the “Rock”.

I was surprised that there wasn’t a queue- my mum and I were able to walk straight into the elevator. We had to go through one bag check but it didn’t take long at all. A quick photo later and were were ready to get into the elevator to take us to the the top. The elevator was one hell of a high-speed ride- something like 60-something floors in about 40 seconds. My ears kept popping! Once up there though, it’s just amazing! Seriously, what a view! Although my hotel was closer to the Empire State Building, I went up the Top of the Rock so I could get the Empire State Building in my photos. You could see for miles and I spotted the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

After spending quite a bit of time atop the GE Building, we went down to the NBC Store where I got myself some Friends and 30 Rock goodies. I’ll confess, I almost bought a SNL Cowbell which had “Needs more cowbell” written on it. We then went to Macys on 34th Street. The had some nice jewellery there, and some extremely nice clothes. I wanted a pair of jeans but all I could see was designer clothing. Where were the cheap, non-designer jeans?! We were aware we had to get back to the hotel as we were going on an optional excursion: a night tour of New York. The Prime Cafe adjoins the hotel were staying in so we just ate there. Of course, I had Nachos with “ground beef”- a gross way of describing mince. The food was lovely although the portion I was served was way too big!

The evening- another tour
The NY sight seeing bus came directly to the hotel to pick up members of the group who were going on this tour (normally, you board the bus in Times Square). When we got to Times Square and started picking people up, there was a bit of an argument between the guide on the bus (no idea what he was called) and some French people who got on. Basically, the bus was full, the guide asked them to leave and they wouldn’t. Adrian came over to us and we were all like “err, what’s going on?” and making worried faces. After the troublemakers got off the bus, we drove around a good portion of New York, some of which we’d already seen in the morning.

It was a good night tour however, the highlight for me was going to Brooklyn, because we hadn’t been there in the morning and the lights on the bridge looked pretty in the dark. I ended up feeling a little cold towards the end so sat with my hood up. I’m not sure when we arrived back at the hotel- maybe around 8.30pm or 9pm? We sorted out our suitcases (for travelling to Niagara Falls the next morning), watched some tv and set the alarm for an early start in the morning.

This has to be said- I *heart* NY

Mood : bouncy   Music : On A Day Like Today  by  Bryan Adams