Okay I'm beginning to get this now. The smell in the hostel has subsided and the cleanliness has improved. I guess the cleaner had Sunday off. At the mo I share 2 toilets, 3 sinks and 3 showers (only 1 works) with 5 other rooms. I reckon I'm the only one who uses them though, at least properly. Respect to Mx though, she's got to go upstairs. Also we're sharing a room with 2 other guys. 1 Korean and the other polish. She's just got on with it though. I think we've both dreamed of a bath (not together), but we'll stick to the hostels for a while yet. Someone confirmed that this hostel is a shithole and the standard is better in other places in America. phew.
Last night we went to the cinema and watched SWAT. It was a good evening's entertainment, but the plot was a bit obvious. We did learn that cinemas are a con everywhere. It cost $10 admission and then $11.70 for a coke, a water and Popcorn. Oh yeah and if they ask if you want butter on the popcorn, say no. It tastes absolutely minging. The cinema seats are fantastic. Definitely designed for Americans. By that I mean that you can fit 2 of me in them. They also recline and are so comfortable.
After the movie we cheated and got a cab home $10 (Mx Paid, I'm such a gentleman). We were knackered after so much walking. The cabbie spoke not a word of English (none of them do, apparently), he was also mad, but very rapid. The $40 budget has gone completely out the window today. Ho Hum.
Today we decided to make the trip to Downtown Manhattan to take in the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Centre. To do this we needed to get a tube to the bottom of Manhattan. Everyone has told us what a great system the American Subway is. Well to me and Mx it came as a total mystery. Firstly you've got to find the entrance. It's not like London where they put red, white and blue signs up to indicate the entrance. No in New York it's just a stairwell to what lies beneath. After looking at the map it turns out that we had walked past 2 entrances without realising it.
Once inside the subway it costs $2 for any journey. That ticket is valid for 2 hours. You can also get a day pass for $7 or a week pass for $21. Seems like excellent value to me. These tickets take in all of the 5 boroughs of New York and are also valid on the buses.
Now you've got to try and make sense of the map. The different lines basically travel from north to south, following the lines of the Avenues on the road system. If you're not familiar with the road systems in New York (and America, I think), I wasn't. Then the roads are straight and the Avenues stretch from North to South and the Streets from East to West. Instead of naming the roads they number them. I'm sure it makes sense to New Yorker's, but it takes a little getting used to.
We worked out we needed to go downtown, so managed to find the right entrance. Now also the different lines aren't named, but they're numbered or lettered. Ingenious, not!!! It also transpires that not all trains stop at every station, some are express. After waiting for a while we eventually found a train that stopped and was able to take us to Wall Street.
The trains were nicer than the London ones. The air-conditioning was a big plus. In truth we were just glad to get on one.
Right so we rocked up at Wall Street, the financial heartland of the US. It had taken about 45 minutes to get there. Wall Street was narrower that Midtown Manhattan and the building on both sides were tall. Suddenly the noise of a Fire Engine sounded and as we looked up we saw flames from one of these tall building. We sat on the steps to the church and watched the fire. It was quite surreal. Mx sat there reading the rough guide, me and all the other tourists sitting on the steps to this church taking photos of the NYFD and all the New Yorkers just carrying on with there business. Nothing exciting happened after that so we continued on our journey.
Saw the New York Stock Exchange, which is now closed to tourists after 9/11. It was also guarded with Armed Soldiers and there were slabs of concrete in the road to stop people driving near it.
From here we headed to Battery Park to catch the ferry to the Statue of Liberty ($10). As the ferry closed in on Liberty Island and we got a good view of the statue, Mx commented that it was the best bit of the tour so far. I said "yeah you won't see this in many places, except maybe Lego land" Doh.
On the Island you're not allowed up her, so to speak! Poxy terrorists. The ferry comes back via Ellis Island, which was used to keep the immigrants. We didn't get off the ferry here, but at least we can say we went there. The main building was beautiful and it is probably worth a visit.
We walked from Battery Park up to the WTC site. This in itself looms large, in its own way. The site is bigger than I imagined and I can only imagine how big the towers actually were. You can't really get a good view of the place, but the surprising thing is how centralised the site is. There are obvious signs of scarring to some, but not all the buildings in the immediate vicinity.
We then walked up from Downtown back to Midtown, it's a long way. We went via Robert De Niro's restaurant in Tri be ca, although we were not suitably attired to enter, so we ate in a nice Diner and had a chat with the waitress, who's just come back from Liverpool (why I ask myself??). We also passed the University and all the parks we came across.
We then made it to the Flatiron building, which is my personal favourite site. I just think it looks great.
We walked up Broadway, back to Times Square and what did strike me was that all the pedestrian mayhem seems limited to a few blocks around Times Square. New York doesn't strike me a being as being as busy as London. Oh yeah, and we saw Puff Daddy and his entourage.
Having made it back to Times Square knackered again, we decided to go to the movies again. This time we watched Matchstick Men, which is actually a good film and Nicholas Cage is good too (there's always a first time). This time I got no butter on my popcorn. We got a cab back again, and no the driver couldn't speak English and was mad, but rapid and Mx paid again. I know that this is becoming a regular thing, but we're getting into the swing of this.
