My lovely wife surprised me this Christmas with a 5 night stay in New York.  To say I was excited is a slight understatement… I had been going on about visiting the city for years, and I have finally been! I will certainly be going back again. It’s a superb place!

We arrived on the Wednesday and were pretty tired after the travel, so headed out to see Times Square and for a bite to eat before a fairy early night.

View from our room.

Times Square.

The next day we were up and gone pretty early.

9/11 memorial.

It was a very sobering visit, reading all of the names on the two fountains, and the amount of people stood there in silence makes you realise the enormity of it.

After a walk around the site, and a spot of lunch, we visited a few shops before heading to Central Park for a stroll.

Strawberry Fields, John Lennon tribute.

We wanted to head up to the Rockefeller center for some views of the city. We decided the coldest, and windiest day of the trip was the ideal time for this! -28 with the wind chill, and we really felt the chill!

After heading back to the hotel, we nipped over the road to the Deli and grabbed a couple of slices of Pizza before crashing for the night. Jet lag and long walks were starting to catch up with us.

3 a.m and I was awake! After trying to sleep I went to the corner of the block at 6.30 to get some early morning shots of the traffic and some time-lapse on the phone. After getting better time-lapse’s on my phone than shots with my Canon, I headed back to the room to get ready for the day ahead.  High line, Chelsea Market, Flat Iron and Empire State. A busy day indeed.

Some views from the high line.

Chelsea Market.

After there, we went on to one of the building’s I’ve wanted to see for a long time. The Flat Iron.

After a bite to eat, we headed to the Empire state for a day time view of the city. There was a lot of queuing, more airport style security, and more queuing. We opted to walk the last 6 flights instead of waiting again for the lift.

View downtown.

Saturday morning and we headed to the former aircraft carrier, USS Intrepid. This was after a visit to B&H, the worlds largest camera store, where I almost had a heart attack after losing my checked bag receipt. Luckily, after telling the staff my contents and showing ID I managed to retrieve my bag. I’m just glad no one had picked the paper up and took off with all of my gear. That would have been devastating!

Anyway, on to the boat!

LEGO model. 22 foot long. 250,000 LEGO bricks!

Lockheed A-12 (Blackbird) Unfortunately, the view of this wasn’t great.

Enterprise. This thing was huge! Absolutely amazing to see in the flesh. Well worth the extra admission fee.

After leaving here, we headed off to find 8 Hook ladder house. A few day’s before we left for New York, Harold Ramis who played Egon Spengler in Ghost busters had died. There were still some tributes to him at the station which is still used today.
Photo: Laura Crowe.

We then headed back before going out to the opening night of Les Miserable on Broadway which was my Christmas present to Laura.

Sunday morning, after booking tickets the night before,we headed over to Liberty Island.

Manhattan, viewed from Liberty Island.

A short ferry over to Ellis Island, where we had a look at how many of our ancestors had emigrated to America.

After a hot chocolate we headed back to Manhattan and got the subway over to Brooklyn and walked the bridge back.

The shot I really wanted to get. Unfortunately it was a grey and miserable day but the shot still came out pretty strong.

There were some brilliant lines on the bridge. I couldn’t get any long exposures due to the movement. Probably quieter at night but by that point in the trip, I’d missed the chance.

After a long day, we went to an Italian for a bite to eat. The Oscars were on that night, and the staff were keen on watching it. After a very good meal, a few drinks and some Oscars fever, we headed back to the hotel.

Monday was our last day here. We had packed pretty handy so took the bags to the concierge and checked out.

Going for our last breakfast, we decided what to do with our last day as our flight home had been delayed by an hour until 23.50!

We headed back to Times Square to do some shopping, eat some food and kill time before then heading to the airport.

This man got the last of my change! Got to admire his honesty!

New York. A magnificent city that has lots to see and do. I will be back again I’m sure, but not before I have had another holiday to get over this one!