Day 16 & 17: Welcome to New York!

Day 16 saw the four of us; myself, my dad, Marius and Steffen (the two CSV volunteers) squeeze into the car with all our luggage, a feat which was actually surprisingly easier than we expected to be. With the sat-nav set for our hotel at 2130 Broadway, we began on our four and a half an hour journey, which was a largely uneventful, monotonous drive, pretty exhausting for my Dad who nevertheless did a pretty stellar job of getting us there. Particularly in the last final push, which involved some quite stressful driving through the New York traffic, and a narrow escape from some low-flying hub caps from the car in front which threatened to slice us in half! As we arrived at the hotel we found the car rental guy outside waiting to take the car off our hands, and I don't think my Dad has been so pleased to see anyone in his life!

Our New York hotel, the Hotel Beacon is located on Broadway, about a 40 minutes walk from Times Square and the theatres, so in a slightly quieter location than you might first expect from the address. It's quite an old building but the two suites we are in are very nice, with a double bedroom and a separate lounge and kitchen with a fold-out bed, and lots of amenities from a large flat screen TV to individual iPod stereo systems. Not bad, and a bit of a step up from the Hilton in Boston although that was not bad itself!

The evening was largely focused on relaxing, and we did little in the way of exploring, even to the extent of going to a restaurant in the same block as the hotel. Still, it was nice food and after what seemed like a long day we were quite glad not to have to traipse around on an extensive restaurant search!

Today, Day 17, started off with an unusually early start for me - for little reason other than excitement at being in New York! I'm not sure exactly why but coming into New York I seem to suddenly have more energy and seem to be getting into my stride with the trip. This is exactly the opposite of how I felt a day after coming into Boston but cannot quite explain it - but whatever it is I'm glad for the change. As some of you may know, I have for quite some time been planning to meet up with my friends Tubb & Helen during this leg of the trip. Although it was a bit iffy at one point whether they could make it due to the BA strikes, I was thrilled to find out that their flights were not affected and they arrived safely yesterday. We agreed to meet up at midday today at our hotel.

As they are staying at a hotel directly in Times Square, they decided to walk the 30 odd blocks to our hotel, which took about 40 minutes. We found them in our lobby as we came down, looking a little worn out as you might expect from the combination of jet lag and the 85 degree heat outside! After a brief catch-up, we resolved to spend a leisurely day wandering around Central Park and finding somewhere to have some drinks of the alcoholic variety - although not for me as drinking in the afternoon tends to send me to sleep! In the end, it turned out that the only bar in Central Park was closed for Memorial Day (the US bank holiday weekend). So we began a long search around the streets adjacent to the park, with Tubb’s beer-radar working overtime but to no avail! Humour was provided briefly in Tubb’s complete failure to eat an ice cream with any degree of dignity. Eventually we decided to head in the general direction of Times Square in the hope of what Tubb called “civilisation”, i.e. somewhere serving beer. Not sure I would classify that as the defining element of human endeavour but then I'm more of a wine man myself anyway!

As we were all about to collapse in the heat, we finally found a French bistro which was thankfully accessible, and tucked into drinks and some lunch. It was a rather understated affair but the food was good and portions generous. As ever with these places, it was appreciated all the more for the long search leading up to it! Sitting round the table gave us a good chance to catch up and chill out, and a thoroughly enjoyable way to spend an afternoon.

After the bistro, we decided to continue our walk on to Times Square, where we ended up stopping at Tubb & Helen’s hotel for more drinks. I bet you're beginning to see a theme here! Times Square was just as loud and in your face as you might expect, and made me glad we are located a little further out, although having said that Tubb’s hotel did seem quite peaceful once you were in there.

Walking around New York was great fun, and even though we walked probably about the same distance as in Boston, it seemed far easier, mostly due to pavements (although not the roads strangely) that were better kept and also the simple layout of streets that means you always know where you're going and how far. If you've got some sense of direction that is – not mentioning any names, eh Dad? Hey, it’s OK – that’s not his name! But seriously, although it can be a little claustrophobic between the tall buildings, there is this buzz about the city, full of life and energy. Or maybe its just my own excitement I’m sensing. Whatever, I’m just glad to be here!