GETTING THERE & N.Y.C.

So we actually entered USA in Dublin...  Seems strange but the US border patrol were doing immigration checks before we boarded the aeroplane. This was a terrifying experience for James, as they asked us details about our trip, showed us photos of our bags and took our finger print scans.  However after that ordeal was over (along with another metal detector and hand luggage check) we had 7 hours of flight to look forward to.

NEW YORK

We arrived in New York late morning and by the time we found our hostel, we could check in.  The lady at the counter warned us that New Yorkers 'are very tough' and apologised for 'some of the behaviours you may encounter' but we naively dismissed it, thinking it would be similar to London.

New York is a very impressive city with an awe-inspiring skyline, even though most of the buildings are actually very ugly.  The Chrysler Building stands out as a building that is easy on the eye.  The city is also very dirty and smelly with bags of rubbish on the pavement and subway stops full of litter.  However despite all of this there are lots of very cool things to see!

5pointz: ****
One of our favourite sights was 5pointz on Long Island, which was a large abandoned building covered in graffiti.  There were still people adding to the art to make this a really dynamic and exciting area.

Guggenheim: **
We also visited the Guggenheim, where all the art had unfortunately been removed for a James Turrell installation. Whilst the main installation, which incorporated the impressive architecture of the building itself, was quite magnificent, we came away from the experience somewhat underwhelmed. After queuing for an hour to see 2 lights shining at a wall, we decided that his art was essentially a load of bollocks!

MoMA: ****
MoMA was significantly more enjoyable. There were 2 exhibitions that particularly stood out; that of Stephen Shore and the nudes by Brandt.

Top of the Rock at the Rockefeller Centre: ***
With the intention of seeing the sun set over the Manhattan skyline, we went up to the observation deck of the Rockefeller centre. The views were good, though ruined by immense crowds. As expected the Empire State stood out as the main attraction and we posed for cheesy photos in front of it wearing our I <3 NY T-shirts.

International Centre of Photography: ****
Our joint favourite piece here was a video chronicling floods throughout the world, which was beautiful and colourful and yet incredibly sad and moving.

Statten Island Ferry: ***
We found the one free thing in New York! We literally hopped on and hopped off, but got good views of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline.

LOL New York: *
Awkward evening involving very expensive drinks and racial jokes, with the odd paedophilia one thrown in for good measure.  We both laughed occasionally, though for the most part through discomfort as opposed to amusement! Best quote of the night 'The US is Europe's reality show'; so true!

The Moth: Flames and Flings: ****
A very enjoyable storytelling evening, where people told true stories on the above theme, which basically meant accounts of messy break-ups and awkward make-outs. The deserved winner of the night was a woman called Christine, who recounted the loss of her virginity and a three-way relationship she somehow accidentally entered in. Best quote of the night 'She lay on top of me and did sexual acts on me, but not to me'! The hipsters surrounding us were unbearably obnoxious and seemed rather judgmental of our I <3 NY T-shirts.

SEA: ***
On our first night we went to a rather swanky Thai restaurant in Williamsburg, a.k.a. Willy B in Brooklyn. James was ecstatic to be in the same place, where Carrie and the girls from Sex and the City used to hang out (called RAW in the show)! Good, reasonably priced food; massive portions, confusing toilets.

Notable foods tried:
Chili dog - odd combination that somehow works.
Grits - still not sure what it was, though knowing the Americans it involves corn in some form or another. Verdict: inferior porridge!
NY Pizza - James's most anticipated moment in the US was to try this. Turned out to be not so different from take-away pizza in the UK.
Murray's bagels - really good, though with enough meat inside to make 5 sandwiches. Crazy!
Root beer - James thinks it's fine, Vicki likens it to TCP.
Twinkies - Tesco value Swiss roll dipped in corn syrup. Don't need to have another one of these.
Arizona Iced Tea - delicious, though doesn't resemble tea at all due to the large amounts of sugar poured into it.
Crumb Cake - cinnamon crumbs on pastry. Meh!
Cannoli - quite pleasant fondant wrapped in a chewy brandy snap, sprinkled with chocolate chips.

We resisted a heart attack and passed on the deep fried Oreos and doughnut ice-cream sandwiches!