Fo' ged abou'd it...

On arrival any previous confidence I had gained with the subway and New York was shattered with a couple of wrong subway stops and walking the wrong way once out of the subway. But after an 11 hour train ride, we eventually found our (My montreal friend Sebastian and I) way to where we were staying.
On saturday my friend form New Jersey (Ciana) came to pick us up, and we made our way down to Philadelphia, where after a spot of window shopping and a 'Phily cheese steak'. Which was a little disappointing as I had had a better one in L.A. But I didn't say that too loudly since the line went out the shop door!! After which we found the Museum that was featured in the 'Rocky' series. And of course after running up the steps just as Rocky had done in '76 I too did it. Which full filled a long time dream of mine. Along with getting photos by the statue of the man him self. It was a walk back to the car and back on the road.
By the time we got back to Jersey it was well past dinner time, so a stop for pizza was the answer. And what a pizza! before eating we were all adamant that we could easily eat alot. However due to the size of the pizza after 3 of us had had enough there was still half left over! Although I have to admit that we did have an entree of Calamari.

The next day we went out to one of the beach's in New Jersey, it was a very nice beach but I couldn't believe it when I had to pay $6.50 to get onto the beach!!. It was a 2 hour drive, but the sunny day definatley made it worth it. Due to the severe surf that suggested a very step drop at the shore line. We were unable to swim, and at the life guards authority could only go knee deep. But there were certainly enough people enjoying them selves.
The ride home proved that every man, dog and dogs family took advantage of the sunny day and went to the beach. As the drive had growen an hour, due to a small accident.

The rest of the week Sebastian and I checked out some of the sights in NY, the Museum of Natural History and The Met. Along with 'winning' (so they call it) tickets to the filming of "The Late Show" with David Letterman. Which was a faily well polished show, it felt like they were putting a show on for us that was being filmed rather than we were watching a show being filmed. Interestinly enough they filmed it in one take. After I left I thought I should have also tryed to get to see a 'Saturday night live' filming.

On my last day I went on to the 'Intrepid' a WWII air craft carrier. Which was really interesting. I also went into the submarine that they had there. Along with one of the Concords. Being on the aircraft carrier was another thing that I've always wanted to do.
NY is a great town, reminds me of Wellington but in a much much much bigger way. In regads to the corperate areas, arty areas, park and water front areas. Some of the buildings were impresive, but many of them were lost amongst the rest. Had they been trasported to say Masterton they would certainly be outstanding structures on every level.
Its an awsome place to visit however due to the massive size of the city, I was ready to leave once my time was up. It just takes so long to get anywhere. And theres sooo much of nothing usefull. Just office buildings.
I was initially quite intimidated by the fact that there NY is so big and was expecting to get mugged at every corner, but where we were was not the case at all. It actually felt quite safe, while staying vigilant of course. Also, while I know that there are so many more people here, I didn't feel like the millions of people in the city. It almost feels like the buildings are abandoned. As I haven't seen a mass exodus at 5pm that you do in Welly. Possibly partly because NY is always busy. And quite possibly because I'm not standing in the street at 5pm. I would love to have a teleporter to go back to U/H or even Wellington for just 1 hour and then go back. Just to see if my opinion of either has changed after spending time in NY. But thats not possible.... well yet anyway!