Today was an exciting day as we were moving from New York to Washington. We spent the last few hours of our time in New York exploring the area around the Flat Iron building. It is surrounded by little enclaves of park land which New Yorker’s prize highly and were sitting enjoying the morning sun with a book and a coffee. We walked through the area and I was amazed that the roads had been closed for a farmers market selling food and plants – not something I had expected to see. Behind us we got excellent views of the Empire State building which was an unexpected surprise.

After exploring as much as we could we made our way back to our hotel where we picked up our suitcases and, in true New York style, walked to Penn Station where we picked up some lunch and caught an Amtrack train. I was so impressed with the trains, we managed to get a porter to help us get to the platform and find our train early so that we got good seats which were all together and even though we were in economy the seats were huge and reclined.

The train journey gave us a well deserved rest and so we arrived at Union Station in Washington we felt refreshed enough to go on a night time Old Town trolley bus tour of the city. There was a fantastic sun set and so all of the famous monuments were set against a beautifully coloured backdrop. We stopped at took photographs at the Lincoln memorial, the Martin Luther King Memorial with views over the Capitol and the Washington Monument, the Korean memorial, the Vietnam memorial and finally a very short stop at the US Marine Corp monument. It was an amazing experience that was such incredible value for money. To get such a comprehensive view of the city from an informative and entertaining guide.

I had a really fantastic day but I was so tired by the time we went back to our room at the Holiday Inn hotel.

Woke up the next morning and went down to our included breakfast. New York is notoriously expensive and it was nice to know that we could have a really good breakfast to set us up for the day without worrying about how much it would cost. I had a weird sausage patty, scrambled eggs and a pancake, planning on not eating until the evening.

We then walked to Madison Square gardens where we bought our tickets for the Grey Line double Decker bus city tour. These buses go to all of the major parts of the city and operate a hop on hop off system so you can explore where ever you want to. I was a little disappointed with the commentary this time, they have swapped to listening to the commentary over headphones rather than over loud speakers and consequently I missed a lot of it. Some of the commentary was also recorded which was different to the all live speech we experienced before. We traveled via bus from Macy’s, past the Empire state building to the 911 memorial where we had prebooked timed ticketed entry into the memorial gardens. The memorial is vast and gives you an idea of how massive the Twin Towers were. Where the towers once stood there are now two giant square pools with water cascading down into them. Through a glass window you can just gimpse two tridents which used to adorn the towers, at the top they are totally mangled. I had expected a quiet, sombre place of reflection – but this is New York and so its loud and full of people.

We then walked a few blocks to Century 21 which is a discount designer department store. I’m sure with the time, money and interest you ciud have found some bargains, I had none of these things and so to me it looked like a junk shop. We then walked along past Wall street and the Wall Street Bull (Mom said it was a copy of the Bull Ring bull in Birmingham, I suspect its probably the other way round) to Battery Park where we looked across the water to the Statue of Liberty. Time didn’t allow us to take the boat trip across to Ellis Island but we did that last time. We also saw the dented globe that sat in the lobby of the Twin Towers.

From here we reboarded the double Decker bus to South Street pier where we ate lunch at the famous water front restaurant and bought ridiculously expensive pick and mix from a sweet shop. After lunch and a sit down we walked down and to the centre of the Brooklyn bridge, this is something I’ve never done before and the views were fantastic. It’s quite a long way to walk to the centre and you do have to compete for space with native New Yorkers on bikes which is scary but I’m told that you have to have done it if you want to say you’ve been to New York.

We then stopped for a coffee and a sit down before heading back to the bus stop opposite to J&R photos. The bus took us round via the freedom tower, wall street, BatteryPark, under the Brooklyn Bridge and via the one and only supermarket in Manhatten. We then went through China Town and back up to Mid Town. We got off the bus at Times Square where we got off. We then spent an eternity in M&M world to queue for toilets which turned out to be disgusting.

The toilet stop was to prepare us for going to the Rockafella Observation deck known as ‘The Top of the Rock’. This observation deck gives you unrivalled views of the city skyline including the Empire State Building. The Empire State is a fabulous place to climb but obviously when you’re on top of it you can’t see it and its absence in the views leaves the skyline rather lacking.

After this we were understandably exhausted so we walked very slowly to Ellen’s Stardust Diner for something to eat and to watch their unique entertainment so live singing and dancing from the table staff as they take orders, deliver food and clear tables.

Arrived Birmingham airport at 5am for a 9am flight
6 hour 55 minute flight into Newark Liberty International airport, very nice flight, no problems on arrival either
Our prebooked bus took us into the city and to the Holiday Inn Express on 232 West 29 th Street where we checked in and dumped our luggage.
We then walked aa few blocks to the High Line Park to get an idea of what New Yorkers call ‘open space. The above ground disused railway track was packed full of locals enjoying the sun.
We walked towards the city centre and came off the High Line near an Apple Shop in Soho, South Manhatten on West 14th Street where we stopped at a sports bar for a snack and a drink. By this point we had been up a very long time so it was ProPlus caffine tablets for all. After refueling we had a personal first by taking the subway (C line) to Times Square where we did the traditional things of taking photos and going to the Hersheys shop, the M &M store and Toys R Us. The last time I was her in 2010 this was the point at which my beloved 18 to 55 Nikor lense decided to give up and break. Thankfully my 18 to 105 that I bought to replace it did not let me down and the Nikon D300 that I persuaded Tom to lend me works brilliantly (even if he has set it up to work in such a way that only makes sense if you think like Yoda like he does -Like Yoda Tom does think)