New York

Arriving in New York late on Wednesday, I woke up Thursday fully recharged and was up and ready to explore the city by half 8. With no idea what to do I decided to go about the day on foot, despite it being about a 7 mile walk from the hostel to the other end of Manhattan. I felt doing it this way allowed to take in more sights I would not otherwise think to see. All I knew was if I head south I would see most of the main sights en route.

With my hostel just a couple of blocks from central park, I decided to explore here first. The park itself was a lot bigger than I expected and if it wasn't for the occasional view of towering skyscrapers surrounding it on each side you could easily get lost! Passing lakes and going down woodland tracks, you would have never guessed you were in the city! When reaching the end of the park it was a short walk to times square which was very impressive, and also very busy.

From here I hopped across a couple of blocks where I got close up glimpses of the empire state and chrysler buildings. From the bottom they just looked like normal buildings. Another interesting building I passed was the flatiron building, a skinny triangle structure famous for its shape. Continuing south passing through the occasional park, I ended up at the world trade centre. It was very interesting visiting the 9/11 memorial and seeing the new towering skyscrapers both finished, being built right now, and planned for the future.

I eventually ended up at the southern tip of Manhattan and battery point where I got my first glimpse of the statue of liberty. It was here I hopped onto the Staten Island ferry which was recommended on my flight as one of the best free things to do in New York. Connecting Manhattan and Staten Island and lasting 25 minutes each way, many people use this service to get views of the statue, Brooklyn bridge, and New York skyline, which is what I did. The views were worth it, although it started drizzling at this point which was annoying. 

When back on shore in Manhattan I continued exploring by heading back north, this time to the famous Wall Street. I did however encounter a protest down here! From here I headed to the Brooklyn bridge, and then back inland through Chinatown and Little Italy famous for where migrants moved to in the past. By this point I was quite hungry and found this pretty cool salad bar buffet place, which was takeaway. I went there and sat in Union Square which was very lively with entertainers to name a few.

At this point it was getting dark, so I headed back to Times Square which was even more impressive at night with all its signs, people in fancy dress, and the ridiculous amount of tourists, not helped by the roadworks in the middle! I stayed here for a while to take in the atmosphere before heading back through central park to my hostel. It was well lit through here, although there were loads of rats running around. There were some good views looking back though of the skyscrapers all lit up though!

On Friday I went out about 10ish. On reflection I was out yesterday for over 12 hours and where I went was geographically a 14 mile round trip, although I definitely walked further because I zigzagged a lot. Instead of walking today I caught the metro down to battery point where I went yesterday to catch a boat to liberty island to see the statue. Luckily today was a sunny day, although getting to the island involved a high security process.

Once aboard the boat the views of both the statue and the city skyline were amazing. When landing it was cool to see such an iconic landmark with my own eyes. I may have got lots of selfies here. The island itself was only small and offered brilliant views of the harbour. From Liberty Island I caught the boat to Ellis Island which is where immigrants went in early 1900s before being let into the US. This island was essentially a museum and was very interesting.

When leaving Ellis Island I caught the boat back to battery point where I decided to walk back to the hostel once again, stopping off at union square for  something to eat. The street entertainment here was amusing, similar to Leicester Square. Once again from here I headed to Times Square, although this time going via the Empire State Building to see it at night. When arriving at Times Square I spent a while there once again to take in the street entertainers and iconic billboards before heading back to the hostel.

To be honest you could easily spend a week in New York, and I was spoilt for choice of things to do today (Saturday), but in the end I decided to explore central park through geocaching. To put it into context it took me 5 hours to do a lap of the park whilst geocaching to give you an idea how vast it is. You honestly would never think this green space was in the middle of the city at times! It was a really enjoyable day.

I arrived back at the hostel at a reasonable time today to Skype a few people, and even cook my own dinner. It's a shame it's my last day in New York although onto South America and Cartagena tomorrow! My flight is at 7.55am though which means I am going to have to leave quite early taking into account it's over an hour on the metro to get to the airport. Good night and I'll see you in Colombia :)