New York – Arrived in The Big Apple

Our flight from San Francisco to New York went very quickly once we were in the air considering our 5 hour delay.  American Airlines hauled ass and got us there 1 1/2 hours earlier than the 
normal flight time with the help of a brilliant tail wind.  Flying into New York JFK you can tell you are entering some of the densest airspace in the world as the sky was full of gnat like planes either leaving for far off places or waiting for their chance to land.  On the runway taxiing toward the airport you could actually see the arrivals line, five planes perfectly spaced in a row at varying heights approaching the runway.

Our bags were the first ones off the plane and out we went into the mild dusky night to catch a yellow cab into the city, I must say it was the shortest taxi que I have been in anywhere in the world, the driver though, was the same as everywhere else….foreign immigrant with no English skills whatsoever….

We were driving into Manhattan at 6.45 pm, the sun was setting and the traffic running smoothly, over all 4 lanes of traffic each way.  New Yorkers love their horns and are very forceful using them if a fellow road user cuts you up or hesitates too long.  The city skyline from the taxi was beautiful, you could pick out uptown and downtown and the buildings soared up into and illuminated the sky  Through the midtown tunnel we entered the canyons of the city, the buildings soar around you and the people immediately swell around you.

We arrived at our hotel without a hitch, the numbering system of the city streetS is the best idea ever, the numbers run consecutively so no need to get lost and no taxi driver can ever take you for a ‘long ride’.  Our room is on the 10th floor and Rosie was worried it was going to be a small space as alot

of the New York hotels have tiny rooms….yay!  A chair, a desk and the comfiest bed ever, we couldn’t ask for more.  The traffic was pretty noisy throughout the night, but hey, look how close we are to Times Square, the picture to the right is the view outside our window and the bright spot of light is Times Square.  We are in a great spot with Grand Central, Restaurant Row, Broadway and heaps more all within walking distance.

Rosie and The Operator dumped their bags and headed for the bright lights of Times Square.  Our side street has residential apartment blocks, small restaurants and bars along it, there is street lighting but it is quite gloomy, then, we hit the crossroads and entered the craziest place we have ever come across.
.Times Square was teeming with people….and I mean thousands of people…..it was as bright as daylight with multistory advertising billboards filling the night sky.  Rosie cannot stand the crush of humanity and hung on the fringes taking snaps.

Times Square or, ‘The Crossroads of the World’ is in itself just a junction of roads where Broadway and Seventh Avenue intersect, it is gaudy and a little grubby by day but this small area draws in 27 million visitors a year who spend over 12 billion in the area.  Rosie had better get her shopping quota up…total spend to date $4 on postcards…..I will get there, there is some great shopping about, even I who am by reputation the lousiest shopper in the world cannot 

resist the lure of New York….in the next few days….when I get used to all the people about…

Rosie and The Operator went on a night tour of New York to get the feel of the layout of the city and orientate ourselves.  Our tour guide said that alot of the buildings in Times Square were completely empty of tenant’s…Rosie thought ‘yeah no wonder think how high the rents would be’, No, said the guide, the buildings were empty cause the likes of Coca Cola paid an entire building lease to have their electronic billboard on the side blasting and blinking night and day.  There were even apartments with no view outside cause they had sold their windows to be covered with advertising….it paid their rent and some.  Crazy!

These mounted NYPD coppers were sitting on their horses right on the ege of of Times Square, in front of them started the crowd of thousands, they were talking about the latest ball game amongst themselves as tourist after tourist came up, patted the nose of the horse and flashed their cameras at them, those ponies never missed a beat or got anxious plus those coppers had the best view of the street.  The police have a station in Times Square and a pretty heavy prescence, Rosie asked one when it gets quiet….he looked at me like I was bonkers and said it is like this 24/7 and tonight was a relitively quiet night.  Crazy!

Rosie and The Operator stepped out of the bright lights, away from the gabble of every language under the sun, hustlers trying to sell you watches and give you tickets to shows….mind you Rosie did accept free tickets to the taping of The Jeremy Kyle Show….and the press of the crowd, we turned down our street to go home just as the trash was being put out.  Mountains of bags lined the street…..where does the rubbish go?  Our tour guide said NY rubbish used to go to a landfill on Staten Island, the real estate is too expensive there now and they need the land, so NY rubbish gets redistributed all around the country.  Crazy!  Its just like the petrol stations….believe me when I say there are a million cars here in Manhattan…..where are the petrol stations?  There are only a couple on Manhattan island, you have to travel off the island to tank up….there is no room for petrol stations here, all available land is real estate……CRAZY, CRAZY, CRAZY!