The sun setting before the fireworks
The subway was in total chaos after the display but somehow we made it back to Times Square, which was also jam-packed with people (as in shoulder-to-shoulder, shuffle-stop-shuffling rather than walking). A bunch of police went by on horses and everyone cheered! New York is definitely different to London.
We decided to go to Planet Hollywood for post-firework junk food and nerdage. I decided to be good and have the spinach salad which was actually DELICIOUS, even if you're not on a diet I totally recommend it. It came with peaches and strawberries! <3
After my pathetic salad-excitement was over I went to check out the film stuff. This was the Holy Grail:
The day before when the three of us met up in New York we checked into our hotel in Times Square then went to Olive Garden for lunch (bit of a crappy looking restaurant but quite nice food). The view of Times Square from our window table was great but it was slightly off-putting having a gigantic poster of a perfectly normal-looking woman with 'HUGE' written next to it facing me while I was trying to eat my meatballs :s
Speaking of Times Square billboards and body fascism aside, did anyone else NOT know that Green Day's American Idiot is now on Broadway? Erm, what??
Didn't think anyone would believe me if I didn't take a picture
If you follow my Twitter or have added me on Facebook then you probably read my "I'm on a video billboard in Times Square" update. Even from another continent, I can still pwn you :p
So yeah, every dickhead walking through Times Square was on the billboard, myself very much included.
That night I had an almost spiritual experience when I came across the guitar Kurt Cobain smashed up at the end of the Teen Spirit video in the Hard Rock Cafe. Teen Spirit was the first alt rock song I ever heard and completely changed the way I thought about music from the age of 13 onwards (before then my favourite band were Queen) so it's a special one for me :)
There was also a rather cool In Utero promo poster under it
There was tons of crap donated by various bands of course, but one of the more interesting/ unusual things I found was this drawing that Jim Morrison drew in high school. The writing says, "It only hurts when I laugh."
I also photographed this "Hard Rock Barbie" in the gift shop because I really want her jacket :p
Must ask a designer to make one for me!
While in NYC we had to visit Little Italy again. I love that place for some reason, it makes me feel really at home. We got some great pizza in SPQR:
More holiday snaps!:
Dancing in the street
Meaningful fridge magnet in a souvenir shop; so true!
Me and my "little" bro in Times Square
The lifts at The New York Marriott Marquis. I'm a total bumpkin and still amazed by skyscrapers
View from my room on the 36th floor
Breakfast at Westway Diner! Bran muffins are so good but I can't find them in the UK. Think I'll experiment with baking my own!
The subway. Not as slick-looking as the tube but at least it runs all night!
Highly intelligent and well-written poster presumably produced by a non-smoker
It was too hot for my dad and bro during the day on 4th July, so while they went back to the hotel for a siesta I slathered on the sunblock and went on a pilgrimage to Strawberry Fields, Central Park to see the John Lennon memorial mosaic.
I imagine it would be dodgy at night, but during the day, Central Park is just a lovely place to be. It feels like some sort of woodland pod, removed from the world, especially when you look to the horizon and see skyscrapers poking up from behind the trees!
It was too insanely hot to walk round the whole of the park, but I saw the fountain, listened to a choir group singing Stevie Wonder songs and saw the Alice in Wonderland sculpture <3 I'd just seen the new Alice in Wonderland movie on the plane on the way over so I was well in the mood!
On the last day we went up the Empire State Building because Josh hadn't been there before. Now that the Twin Towers are gone it's the tallest building in New York again.
me at the top with the Chrysler Building in the background
Better view without my head in the way
Tops of the buildings below... things look different from 86 floors up!
A friendly pigeon doing his best King Kong impression
The very top of the Empire State
After our trip to New York we hopped on a plane to get to my dad's place in Kentucky... more about my adventures on the Bible Belt later :p
