Day 3: 22nd September 2005

After all the events of the previous day we were not up quite as early as expected, but once we were up, we decided to go up to Central Park and have a wander. After brunch (yes, we did brunch) we hailed a cab, whcih took us to the southern end of central park.

In the park we immediately saw some decent views of the lakes, trees, grass and high rise buildings, which blended together to make for some cool photos. We spotted a very camp looking Kevin Bacon walking his dog, and saw some very bad tennis players on the courts, but apart from that it was a chilled out walk where nothing really happened. Strawberry Fields, the memorial to John Lennon was incredibly lame, so I didnt take a picture. All in the the park didnt really live up to expectation, as there were not nearly as many crazy people or just things happening as I expected there would be.

We had most of the afternoon to fill, and as it was another glorious day we thought a walk around the west coast of Manhattan Island, followed by a boat trip to see the Statue of Liberty and the buildings of Manhattan would be a good way to pass the time, so we walked to the Cirle Line station, picking up a hot dog from the famous Papaya Joe’s along the way. The Circle Line runs boat trips of varying lengths around Manhattan Island, but only a three hour trip was available. Feeling tired and not really up for a three hour trip, we opted instead for a trip on ‘The Beast’. The Beast is a speedboat which takes a trip doen to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island before heading back to its base on the West Side of Manhattan.

Upon boarding ‘The Beast’, we were given warnings of all the bad things that could happen by the two guys that ran the whole operation, Mad Dog and Crazy Horse. It turns out that these two guys were neither Mad nor Crazy. They were in fact a little bit lame! The boat was cool and the views were outstanding, but as for the tour guides, I think Lame Ass would be a more suitable name for one of them, and as I’m in a rush typing this, I can’t be bothered to think of another. Suggestions Please…….

Upon safely docking with our lives intact, we walked to Time Square, which was in full swing, Neon lights blaring and all. It reminded me a lot of Piccadilly Circus in London, but on a scale of about x 100! Trust me, in hindsight, that was nothing compared to Vegas!

With a riging thirst on, we has the obligatory drink in an Irish bar for Brits abroad. This was funny, mainly due to the abysmal accents of the bar staff.

On a side note, during the two days we had been walking around New York, we hadnt failed to notice the sheer amount of absolutely stunning women with whom we were sharing the city’s streets. I love people watching and never more so than when the people are as easy on the eye as they are in New York.

We went out later that evening trying to see if we could locate some of the gorgeous women I just mentioned. We tried to find some more locations in the city that they may be hiding, but at first we only succeed in finding the San Gennaro street festival, where we ate dinner. We then headed to the meatpacker district, where some of the coolest (and most expensive – Chris paid $48 for 4 drinks – the most expensive of the hols) bars were supposed to be, and purely by chance we stumbled into a Coyote Ugly style bar, where the girls get up on stage and scream and shout and generally be bad girls. We all agreed we loved it in that bar!

After leaving and unsuccessfully trying to find another bar that matched Hogs and Heffers in the fun stakes, we decided to make our way back to the hostel, not before popping into the bar across the street for a nightcap.