New York City (14-15 May 2007)




After 2 days of Atlantic City excitement, I was in need of some less tacky civilisation and made my way to the Big Apple to meet my second road-trip accomplice, R. After a minor diversion via Brooklyn, we found each other at our trendy Manhattan hotel and immediately hit the streets to check out ‘Ground Zero’. We decided against the official tour which seemed to mimic a walk through a building site, and made our way to Battery Park for a photo shoot with the Statue of Liberty. From there we spun by Central Station but failed to find the big clock so instead we went to the Chrysler Building to check the time. Next stop was Times Square where we picked up ½ price tickets for the Phantom of the Opera – an amazing experience except for the continuous cell phone interruption from the guy behind us. However, a couple of evil stares from myself and a slightly violent interception from the person next to him soon put a stop to that.


The next morning, we decided to delay our departure to Brunswick and Bath, Maine so we could complete the NY experience. We considered paying $40 each for a coach tour of famous scenes from ‘Friends’, ‘Sex in the City’ and other TV shows but with a bit of help from our friends (the internet) we figured out our own self guided version of the tour. After wandering around a residential area, we found the Friends building and then Washington State Park provided us with photo opportunities of the famed arches. We confirmed that the Magnolia Bakery featured in Sex in the City does indeed have the most fabulous cup cakes in the world and we tracked down Carrie Bradshaw's appartment so that R could do her best 'Sex in the City' pose. After a bit of shopping in Manhattan, it was time to set off towards Conneticut, Rhode Island and Maine. Admittedly a few hours later than planned but we figured could easily make up time en route. Unfortunately we didn’t plan for the flat tyre....