Travel: New York Day Five

Plenty of free time for today, so was quite excited to escape off on my own for a bit in the evenening. Had a rather barbaric breakfast I suppose- knawing on the rest of the chicken I took home in the doggy back I got from the restaurant last night. I know eating leftovers cold the net morning might be considered a little chavvy, but mreh, if it tastes really good then I don't think theres anything wrong with doing that. We went to breakfast and oof course, having my sneaky breakfast at the hotel i wasn't really that hungry, so i asked them if they could possibly serve me something light, like a fruit salad, and they served me this. Lovely fresh fruit salad, I realise I may hate normal grapefruit, but i LOVE pink grapefruit. It is so much nicer, and sweeter, and refreshing.

Today we went to the Museum of Moving Image, which I was particularly excited about, because i suppose for me personally this was the only 'educational' part of the trip, with me studying Film Studies A level. It was a really funky and interesting museum really. The first section is mostly about costumes, and how people apply masks/ make up in films. Here are a couple of props, one of them is Winonya Ryder's like, bloodied up legs, in the film Black Swan (when she gets hit by a car and she's in the hospital). They looked so realistic I was half expecting them to twitch, lol! The second photo is of a pair of boxing gloves that were worn by Robert De Niro in the film "Raging Bull". The last photo is showing the stages of how they applied the mask/makeup onto John Hurt for the film "The Elephant Man".



We then went through s section looking at film merchandise- merchandise being a particularly important part of film production, and of course during the film production a lot of thought is put into how they will be able to market their movie once it is out of the cinemas. Disney an Pixar have done particularly well with merchandise, as well as surprizingly- George Lucas. When George Lucas made the first Staw Wars film, he asked producers/companies for to obtain full profits from any merchandise produced from the series of films. And when you think about how many Star Wars models/ posters/ games that have been created, you've got to think that must've been one of the most profitable financial decisions in film history! Speaking about games, there was also a big collection of the importance of games/ gaming in the film and media industry. Over the past twenty years in particular, the gaming industry has become substantially larger and more important. Recently when games are released, there are "film-style" red carpet premiers, the budgets on these games (particularly MMORPGS) are often larger than the budget for mainstream films, and for instance: The last "Halo" game's advert was directed by Steven Spielberg, who is rumoured to be directing a film based upon this series of Sci-Fi multiplayer shootem-up games. Documenting the history of games, they also had a very large collection of original working arcade consoles- can't believe that the Space Invader's machine was out of order- That is totally my favourite!!!

Our tour guide was really informative and I learnt a lot- took lots of notes to bring back to my film studies classes, hoping that they'll help me out with my upcoming (too quickly!!) film studies exam. There was a collection about the science behind the first cameras, including the first ever handheld camera. Also how the television was first integrated into the household. They would often combine televisions with other household items such as radios, cupboards, and even ovens- to make people feel more comfortable with this new invention- by making them literally part of the furniture. Here is an image of an old TV, look how small it is- I sware the screen is even smaller than a postcard!!!

After the museum of moving image, we all headed uptown and allowed to all go our seperate ways (well, not literally, there was still the "group of three" rule, but I managed to sneak off) and I headed off to Madame Tussauds. O.K, O.K, so i know theres one in London- but I haven't been to the one in London so yeah I really wanted to check it out. Most of the models are SO real looking. I mean, seriously, it is so scary, you just look at the eyes and you think that they could move any second! And because in most rooms they are scattered about randomly, and it was quite busy, at one point I turned round to ask someone to take a picture of me with someone, and i realised that i had asked one of the waxworks!!! How embarrassing- i hope nowone noticed! to be fair though, as good as most of them are, there are a few naff ones. There were two of madonna- BOTH of them dreadful. And the spice girls were rubbish. And as you can see, John Travolta ain't all that good either, but i just HAD to get a photo with him, because that day i was wearing massive flared jeans so I believed the Saturday Night Fever Pose in front of Travolta was pretty much compulsary, haha! From one Johnny to another, got a pic with Johnny Depp as well. Did you know he's only 5'10?? What a short-ass ey? Fancy him slightly (juuust slightly...) less now. I'll add the pictures of Samuel L Jackson, Bella Legosi (who was just labelled "dracula", lol?) and The Kennedy's as well, cause I reckon those ones were the most realistic.





Did think it was quite amusing that during my holiday I had managed to snap Paris Hilton in the flesh and her waxwork, lol. The entire group was supposed to meet up at 8:30 at this unimpressive looking buffet diner for our last dinner in New York. I felt that i wasn't really looking forward to dinner there, and because the staff were paying for it (so i could eat as little or as much as I wanted) I figured I could find another restaurant in my guidebook to try out for an early dinner/ evening snack. I went to a place i had spotted that looked very promising near the hotel, called "Le Pain Quotidien". A nice cafe, that kinda reminded me a little of a chain of cafe's we have in the south west called "Boston Tea Party". Anyway, in my guidebook, it said that at this place they serve the best croissants in New York city. Wasn't in the mood for something sweet, so i had a damn good double espresso, and i ordered the "Mediterranean Mezze Platter". It was really beautifully presented, with three bowls full of Baba Ghanoush, Hummus, and Tabbouleh (not as good as mine- but pretty good!) and the selection of home-baked bread that came with it were SO scrumptious. The waiter serving me was really cute as well. He asked me where i was from in britain, and then he told me he had lived in Birmingham (that he pronounced Bir-ming-HAM, lol) for a year as part of his english degree, studying shakespeare. It was quite sweet really, when i left after paying the bill (a big platter and a coffee at less than $18, not bad!) he said " hope you enjoyed your meal ma'am, i love your country!!". Haha, love it! Also love being called maam, I told my friend, originally from Oklahoma, that he should call me that more often! Lol.

Dinner was a bit lame to be honest, the buffet items were mostly average and lukewarm. There was one pretty nice dish there though, called "Penne ala Vodka". I thought it would taste a bit gross, because to me vodka doesn't really have much of a taste it just tastes of alchohol, so I thought the sauce would taste a little too boozy. But actually it was rather nice really. I also got a slice of NY cheesecake to bring back for my mum. It did make it back, a little squished from the bumpy flight, but still just as tasty, haha! I think the only other eventful thing that happened that night was that i DID get busted for going to Madame Tussaud's on my own by my lecturer. He was so angry it was unbelievable. I mean, he was within his rights to be angry, because i had actually signed something to say that i would remain in at least groups of three. But I mean, i am 4 years older than most of the other students, the lecturers to be honest are only a little older than me, and I am a strong and confident woman. New York is a safe city, particularly the centre. Ok so if you headed off to brooklyn it would start getting dodgier, but the rest of the city is completely fine. And it is so hard to get lost as well. And even though I went off on my own, i was ALWAYS on time for all of the group activities, and i didn't actually go that far away from the hotel. I wasn't like the two spaccard girls that seperated, agreed to meet at a certain place, but because one of them hadnt set their watch correctly, one of the girls was left waiting on a street corner in the dark by themselves whilst the other one was lost. Basically, I figured my own way around, I was never late, and unlike either of these girls, i acted sensibly, and not like a complete retard. End of.

Born to write rubbish?

Last month I celebrated the third anniversary of this blog, a happy yet understated occasion.  However, during those three busy years, you won't believe how many times I have pondered just leaving it to die its own death in the blogosphere while I scurry back to an anonymous life far away from the wasteful coalface.  Fuelled by a multitude of conflicting commitments, an irrational fear of attracting more attention to myself and thoughts that there are much louder voices out there so what possible difference can I make, no wonder I've been at odds with my blogger's passion.

Yet this is my world, and yesterday I realised that I shouldn't be afraid of my own shadow. The issue of waste is more important than it has ever been, not least because of the imbalance between those of us who are lucky to waste what we like and those who are born into a life where the luxury of waste is not an option. What I am talking about here is real poverty and the wasted lives that result.

The event that has triggered such an outpour of serious contemplation on this otherwise relaxing Sunday morning was a blogging conference that I attended yesterday, which was organised by Save The Children.  As an international organisation, the charity operates in more than 120 countries, including the UK, working to save children's lives and fight for their rights, helping them to reach their potential.

Called Born to Write, it was a powerful conference, packed with hard-hitting photos and inspirational anecdotes about the influence of an individual's voice to harness change and prompt direct action.  Naturally the event focused on the work of the charity, highlighting its challenges.

I met passionate people who work hard to prevent young children dying from treatable conditions such as diarrohea and pneumonia whilst putting political pressure on world leaders to support necessary grants and in many cases cancel significant debts of impoverished countries. The aim of such political campaigns is to redirect much needed funds into free healthcare provision as well as solutions that tackle global child hunger and malnutrition. 

With rising food prices at home, we might complain about the higher cost of a weekly shop, but for millions, such hikes coupled by local famine, render basic foods unaffordable. And when you consider how much food is still wasted in the UK through lack of awareness and bad planning (and I confess to the odd item myself), it really highlights the scale of inequality.

One of the speakers at yesterday's conference was Director of Emergencies, Gareth Owen, whose job is to mobilise response teams to disaster zones such as Haiti. There were many things that he said which struck a chord, but one point that really stood out was his warning over the increased frequencies of natural disasters, which he attributed to the effects of climate change.  And it is the children of the poorest families who are ten times more likely to be affected by such environmental disasters.  It just shows how lucky I really am to have been born in the UK, with free health-care, access to education and a stable environment with minimal risk from natural disasters.  What I once took for granted now feels like a winning ticket in the remarkable lottery of life.

It would be easy to bury my head in the sand and run away from this blog due to issues of time, lack of confidence or the feeling that I don't shout loud enough to make a difference.  But one thing that yesterday taught me was that every blogger can make an impact on matters that they care about.

And I really do care about the amount of rubbish this world generates.  I also care about those who are less fortunate than me, and who are not so privileged or indeed do not live long enough to share their stories through their own voice.

No child born to die, is the carefully crafted title of the Save The Children campaign that was introduced to us yesterday, which asks each and every one of us, what we were born to do.

Well, after such a harrowing day, I realised I was born to teach my children about things that really matter and to raise them to be caring individuals, explaining more about the importance of stuff that I do.  Naturally I rushed home last night with renewed vigour to read them a bedtime story.   However as a blogger, and writing about the topics that I do, I hope that I was also born to make a difference to other people's lives too.

Whether that means I was born to write this rubbish blog, I guess only time will tell.  It's definitely stood the test of time so far, despite my other distractions.  Whatever happens, one thing's for sure and that's if what I write helps to bring even the smallest impact on the imbalance between the wasteful nature of our consumer-oriented society (governments and retailers included) and the poverty that exists both in the UK and abroad, I will be proud do have made my mark.

So, what were you born to do?

Whatever it is, I hope it matches your true passion, and if you're a blogger or someone who wants to take action to raise awareness of the effects of  global child poverty or indeed lobby parliament, you'll find lots of inspiration at www.savethechildren.org.uk.

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Travel: New York Day Four

So today, with what seemed thousands of layers of clothing, we all got up and trekked to the diner for breakfast. Our tutor told us that we really needed to wrap up warm for the ferry, which to be honest was very good advice, because even in Times Square it was freezing and blowing gale force winds!! I had the same breakfast as yesterday but most of our group ordered to pancakes- and my god the portion sizes were insane!!! This is a picture of them once Ceeva had already started tucking in. A serving consisted off 3 big pancakes, an entire sliced bananas, a large handful chopped strawberries, and practically half a bottle of maple syrup!!

So we popped onto the subway, and then onto the ferry. Took quite a while to get on the ferry actually. Getting onto the boat, which takes you to Ellis and the "Statue of Liberty" island, actually involved airport like security- with bag checking and going through the metal detector and everything. Heres a view of the city from the water, whilst the weather was so windy, by this time I was looking like i'd been dragged through several hedges backwards.

The island that The Statue of Liberty on is absolutely tincy actually, it just contains the statue and a little gift shop/cafe. You may not know this, but The Statue of Liberty was actually built in France, and designed by the french as well! The date inscribed on the tablet she is holding is the day that The Declaration of Independance was written. The seven pointed crown is supposed to symbolise the seven seas and seven continents, and the torch symbolises how America's Liberty enlightens the world. What you can't really see in the photo, nor can you see very well from the ground, is the fact that there is a broken shackle attached to The Statue of Liberty's ankle. This is to symbolise the breaking away from oppression. The weather got slightly more pleasant and got a nice photo with a pleasant blue sky background.

Next stop was Ellis Island, and i found the museum really interesting actually. I mean, not only did it have loads of stories of the many immigrants that tried so hard to get into the country, it also displayed how America's language and soceity has been influenced through all the different influx of cultures. I not only felt inspired by all these stories of hardship, I also learnt a lot about American History that i had not known before. Here is a picture of the main Registration Room, a funny article on how the staff at Ellis island would often dress immigrants into more "American style" clothing, as they believed that many of these foreign attires were a little too revealing. The third picture shows how America used to be divided up/ which parts other nations used to own. Surprised me how much of America France owned actually.



Once we were all done with the museum, we got the ferry back to downtown and walked up a few blocks to Ground Zero. On the way there we went past Wall Street- not the most impressive looking street in New York, but I think you have to consider the fact that some of the world's biggest financial decisions are made up in those buildings.

You know to be honest, if i was advising people where to go when in New York, I would tell them that Ground Zero isnn't really worth it. I mean, I understand it's a really historic site, and the vibes around where the towers used to be are rather edgy, but at the moment it's all just a bit of a building site really. I mean, once the museum and the monument is all built and ready, then it will be worth having a look, but otherwise I wouldn't work my way all the way downtown just to see it.

Despite Ground Zero not really being what I expected, i still had a good afternoon- because I found this amazing little place to have a late lunch/snack! It is a chain called "The Bread Factory Cafe" , and theres a big patisserie section, biscuits/sweets section, a make your own salad/ sandwich counter, a soup counter, and a pizza counter with a proper pizza oven. I thought this was the perfect time to try a couple of things i had been dying to taste- a genuine slice of NY Pizza, and a nice little New York Strawberry Cheesecake! Here are some lovely picutres of this place. The staff were really friendly as well, I think they were polish actually.




I love New York Cheesecake, i had quite a lot of it whilst I was out there (and I didn't even put on any weight! how on god's green earth did that happen???). It's baked, which is different to most cheesecakes we make in this country, which are usually just set. This makes NY/ American Cheesecake much richer, thicker and firmer.

As a group we had one last stop before they let us all galavant off to spend our own free time. We all went to The Guggenheim museum, which turned out to be a really cool and interesting actually. I was slightly apprehensive, because when I was in Venice, I went to The Guggenheim there and i was a bit dissapointed- it really boring and there wasn't really any interesting peices, except a couple of interesting Picassos'. But this place in NY has got to be the best and most interesting Art Museum that i have ever visited. What made it more "managable" and interesting to me was the fact that when you got in there, the staff gave you a headset with a number pad, and most of the paintings had numbers by them. When you put numbers into the keypad there would be commentary telling you all about the artist and that particular painting. I do not know much about art atall, infact pretty much naff all really, but these commentaries were really informative and helped me understand the paintings a bit more and what the painters were like. There was also a collection of Kadinsky's work, which I enjoyed because I particularly like his paintings.

It was quite late by the time i left the Guggenheim, and i was fairly hungry, so I thought i would have a go and scout out a restaurant in the NY Restaurant guidebook that my boyfriend gave me. It was a Greek restaurant called "Anthos", i thought i rather fancied a bit of greek nosh, as something we don't have in Bath is a good greek eaterie (the only vaguely greek place we have in Bath is called "Opa" and it is absolutely dreadful! It's kinda what english people THINK greek food is- stale pitta breads and soggy falafells, lol). So after getting to the right street and avenue and street, i couldn't find it ATALL. I walked around that block like three times in the dark before i finally brought up the courage to ask this waiter smoking outside a restaurant " Scuse me, this may seem like a bit of a weird question, but did this place used to be called Anthos?", and he replied " Yeah, we took over 5 months ago". I couldnt ruddy believe it, i had walked what felt like miles in the cold to a greek restaurant that no longer existed! I also realised that this restaurant guidebook was published in 2008, lol. So tired, cold and fed up, I found the next closest restaurant in the guidebook to where i was, called "BLT Market".

I realised very soon after entering this establishment that this place was particularly upmarket! Meanwhile in come me, face all red, wearing a silly (but sensibly warm) bobble hat, weighed down with shopping bags, looking like a right munter! Ah well, they were friendly enough, so i sat down, had a look at the menu, and ordered a sparkling water (which i realised by the end of the meal i should not have ordered- they charged me $9 for it!!). The Italian/New Yorker waiter asked me whether i wanted to look at the wine list, and i was good and said "No thanks, i'm sadly only twenty" and he said "well, your'e certainly honest, haha!". Damnit- could have got away with it there!!! It was a restaurant mostly influenced by seasonal foods- almost like an American River Cottage really. For starter I had home-made paparadelli, with slow cooked pork, with a red wine ragu, roasted "sunchokes" and a lemon and herb gremolata. This was STUNNING, i was so impressed by the homemade pasta, you could tell they had used really good quality ingredients. I found out once it had been served, that sunchokes are just what the Americans call Jerusalem artichokes.

With the starter they also served me a nice amuse bouche, they called it "hot dogs" but it was more like a posh sausage roll, made up to look like a typical street-vender hotdog, but obviously posher, like for instance, instead of fried onions they had little shreds of mooli (japanese white radish).

My main course was "Amish Chicken, stuffed Bourgoise-style, with a wild mushroom and bacon jus, served with fondant potato and watercress. This was lovely, but the portion size was incredible. I am not kidding- they literally served me HALF A CHICKEN. I took a picture- it isn't the best, but of course it was a fairly posh place so i didn't want to spend too much time taking photos.

I got a doggy bag, and a quick coffee (with which they gave me a couple of really nice petit fours- mini homemade cinnamon dusted doughnuts!), paid the bill + tip (which came to $75) and rushed back to the hotel- to make sure i didn't get back after curfew- and get caught out! I watched a bit of a bad movie with the girls (I don't mean naughty! I mean just actually bad- y'know, 'anything-with-adam-sandler' bad) and wen't to bed.

Travel: New York Day Three

So on the second day, after some very well-earned rest, we wen't to the place our college had booked for us to have breakfast every morning. We didn't have breakfast at the hotel like i would do normally when on holiday, because apparently the buffet breakfast at our hotel (The Manhattan at Times Square Hotel, 51st on 7th) was ridiculously expensive, so we went to this little place called "Applejack's Diner". It was a really nice, warm and friendly place. We all ordered off the set menu, where there would be a choice of french toast + bacon or sausage or ham, pancakes with fruit, 2 eggs prepared in any way, with fried potatoes, toast + bacon/sausage/ham, or a cheese or western omelette +bacon/sausage/ham. You would choose one of those, and you would also get a glass of fruit juice and top-ups of coffee and tea. The first morning I went for the french toast with bacon- here's a picture:

Honestly, GOD BLESS the American Breakfast! When you are in New York and sightseeing you end up walking a hell of a lot, so that massive meal really kept us all going. We first headed on to The Rockefeller centre- we didn't actually go up there, but we all had a little look at all the national flags and the ice rink (some of the group went skating- I didn't, because they said you shouldn't really do it unless you ACTUALLY know how to skate, and I have no balance on the ice atall!!) and went shopping in the NBC studio shop that was nearby. I got my mum a bunch of Star Trek merchandise- the original series of course! She is an utter trekkie and loved the presents I brought her back.

We then next went to the Museum of Modern Art. Most of the students I was going with were Creative Arts/ Photography/ Fashion/ Design students, so this trip to the museum was particularly important to them, for 'first hand research' (that's what the lecturer called it) to help them with their courses and inspiration for their practical coursework. For me, it was just really interesting to be honest. I thought it was an absolutely fascinating museum, and absolutely MASSIVE as well- I was there 3 hours and I still didn't get to see everything! The first collection was right up my alley! It was entitled "Design and The Modern Kitchen"- Perfect ey??

It was all about how kitchens and kitchen equipment have changed since World War One, and how much more important part the kitchen plays in our households nowadays. These are a few of my favourite photos- I love this first one- it's a "tupperware party"!!! Hahaha! I can't belive this actually used to go on! When i asked my mum she said she actually went to one as well! Basically when tupperwares were invented you couldn't just buy them in a supermarket, you had to invite a representative around and have a bunch of your friends/neighbours there, and you would have a look at all the different types and then buy some. The other two pics are just peices of art/photography that I liked.



The rest of the museum was cool, here are a few sculptures that I liked within the museum. The first one I thought was so random. What I kinda like about modern art is that sometimes when you are going through a museum like that, you're not actually sure whether you are looking at art or not. Like at one point I thought a box on the floor was a peice of art, but it wasn't it was just a load of workman's tools- lol! And at one point these two guys stepped on what looked like a splodge of rubbed-in chalk on the ground, and one of the guards told them not to do that because it was actually a peice! Haha!

These are two peices that I liked, one is just a massive square bale of hay- c'mon! I'm a somerset girl y'know!!!!!- and the other one is a peice called "Life, Death and Sex". It's not really something that i would put on my wall, as it is a bit of a rude painting, but i still think it's a really clever work of art. Its my opinion that you don't have to LOVE a peice of artwork, to appreciate that there has been a lot of skill/talent put into that, and that it's an intelligent peice.


I thought I would mention as well, the cafe at the museum of modern art had an absolutely delicious looking menu! I mean, unfortunately I was still pretty full from breakfast, but yeah if any of you guys make it to The Museum of Modern Art, leave some time for lunch!

We then made our way to The Empire State Building, we had a pre-booked slot appointment to go up there (because we were a group of 31 and therefore had to book) so we didn't have too much time to eat, so i grabbed one of those Massive salt covered hot pretzels from one of the hundreds of food stalls that line Manhattan's streets. It was soooo good- comforting, filling, and portable- just what you want in a "street food". I also popped into a little shop nearby to get a drink, and suddenly found myself surrounded by GORGEAUS looking food! It really did look like a basic supermarket from the outside, but once in there I saw the majority of the place was took up by three buffet tables brimming with delicious looking dishes, ranging from chinese, to american, to italian.



Cool right? And a lot of the little shops that you see round the centre of New York will not only sell groceries, but will also often have delis, buffets and a guy to make you MASSIVE sccoby-doo like sandwiches. Righty, next stop was The Empire State Building. I won't bore you with the hundreds of pictures I took up there- its very high up, allright? Lol!! You can kinda get how high up it is through one photo anyway I reckon.

We were then given a bit of free time to do what we want. I had a little look in the New York Public Library, getting so so SO lost in all the marble coridoors that all I found was the gift shop and then the exit- I didn't even see any books!! Still, it is a very beautiful looking building, if I lived in New York I would definitely read a hell of a lot more than in Bath, because of having such a nice place to go and read.

I walked all the way back, which to be fair took a while, but what I love about this city, and about a lot of America, is the whole street/avenue system. Everything being in "blocks" really helped me to figure my way around, usually when I go on holiday I have NO sense of direction, and I completely have no idea where I am or where I am supposed to go. In this city I knew exactly where I was, where my hotel was, and if I decided I wanted to go to a certain restaurant/attraction, all I had to do was check what street/avenue it was on and I was there! I had a bit of a swim and a sauna at the hotel spa, which was luuuush and very relaxing, and I dressed for dinner.

For Valentines day my boyfriend got me a book about some of New York's best restaurants, which said where they were, what kinda food it served, and how pricey it would be. I decided to check out one near the hotel- a Japanese restaurant called "Yakitori Totto"- details about the place and the menu can be found on their website: http://tottonyc.com/ . They are particularly famous for their various types of griddled chicken skewers, and when you sit down you kinda sit on a bench around the big griddle, where once you have ordered, the chefs cook your dishes right in front of you! I ordered some griddle chicken oyster (part of the chicken) skewers, griddled asparagus, boiled rice, Agedashi Tofu, and a dish of sauteed chinese mushrooms and yams. I took a picture of it, although after I had started eating- I was SO hungry! The chicken, asaragus and tofu was simple delicious- i think the mushrooms were to a slightly acquired taste- very pungent, but still tasty in their own way.


What really finished off this day well for me was this dessert- it left me in such a good mood for the rest of the evening, and that feeling definitely went on into the morning too. I order some black sesame ice cream, and MY GOD it was HEAVENLY!!! It is hard to describe the flavour. I suppose it tastes a little nutty, like peanut butter but without the "clagginess" and thers a toasty flavour, that makes it tasty a little like dark chocolate as well. Have any of you tried those 'sesame snap' bars? It kinda tasted a little like that but somehow richer.

I went back to the hotel and realised that I felt completely safe in this city, that by now I had already figured my way around, and feeling terribly confident about how much I would manage to get done during the rest of the holiday.

Travel: New York Days One & Two

Hello everyone! So i'm back from The Big Apple and I had SUCH a lovely time! I thought I would tell you guys what I got up to, and show y'all a few snaps that I took out there.

So the first day kinda blended into the second day, because of the long flight and the time difference. I had to wake up at 1am, to be at my college at 2am, to get to Heathrow airport by 7am. Gawd I was SO dead to the world- until I had this luuush breakfast. In Heathrow airport, there is this lush little place called "Eat.", and they serve loads of normal breakfast and lunch things, like croissants and sandwiches, but they also do loads of asian type foods, like noodle salads and sushi. Me being the noodle obsessed girl that i am, even though it wasn't even 8am yet, i started my morning with a "Chicken Pho" and a skinny latte. All you had to do was get this pot from the fridge, which contained cooked chicken, noodles, vegetables and fresh chilli, bring it to the counter and then they would add a hot fragrant broth and some more chilli sauce. Was sooo nice and really woke me up, ready for the scarily early flight.

The flight was allright, i mean it was fairly long (about 7 1/2 hours i think) but we had a screen to watch films/ tv shows on, and occasional food breaks. There was this really nice air steward, he reminded me totally of an older Robert Mitchum, like same accent and friendly face. He seemed to like me for some reason, because he kept calling me "cookie" (which is what my boss at the garden centre calls me as well, weird right?) and when the breakfasts came round for like no reason he saved me the last pancake meal. That was sweet of him, because the other option was omlette and that looked fairly gross/anaemic.

So we got to the hotel, we were staying at The Manhattan at Times Square Hotel, which was a nice basic hotel, that was very central so it was useful when trying to figure my way around the city. Look, whilst we were checking in, two cookie monsters strolled past! The three girls on the right are the girls i ended up sharing a room with- Ceeva, Charlia and Lucia. It was really nice because despite all of them only being 16, they were fairly chilled out, good fun, and 'normal'. A lot of the other students on the trip were, to be honest, acting like screaming children.

First stop was central park, the south of which was very close to our hotel. Our tutors went on one of those horse-drawn carriage rides around the park, whilst I just walked around a bit of it. To be fair i would have gone on one of the carriages, but it was $50 for 20 minutes, which is worth it if you are a group of four, but a little pricey if you do it on your own.

Didn't see much of central park i guess (but it is HUGE, it's like over 80 acres I think...) but after about 45 minutes walking around it i was STARVING, so i popped into a nearby deli, and had a "Pastrami on Rye"!!! Officially I had pastrami, mustard and pickle on rye bread (although it isn't what we think of as "rye bread"- its all white and soft.) from a lovely place called "Angelos' Deli". It was so darn tasty, and HUGE as well, there was 10 times more filling than there was bread! A bit of a scooby doo sandwich.


There have been loads of movies filmed in parts of central park, I think you should probably recognise the ball park in Central Park, which has been in LOADS of films, and this bridge here? Loads as well, but the most recent one i guess would be Cloverfield, where near the end the couple are sheltering underneath that bridge in loads of rubble.


After central park we relaxed a bit at the hotel, got settled into our rooms, and washed the "travel" out, we all headed out to get pictures of all the tall buildings and shiny lights of Times Square. It is really hard to get in photos
1. How tall all the buildings are. I mean, imagine being in the centre of London, then triple the height of all the buildings. It's only then that you get even vaguely close to being in New York.
2. How bright all these adverts and things are. Everywhere in Times Square is so bright it's really weird, it is so bright it almost feels like a weird type of daylight.


I then went with my friends to The Hard Rock Cafe- I know it's a little tourist-y, but the vibes were pretty cool, and as a group of eight of us we had a really good time. Wish I could have had a beer though, but with me being only 20, and being surrounded by 16/17 year olds, I couldn't get away with it. They are really strict about booze out there, its not like in England where I have been drinking in pubs practically since I was 15. I had an apparently "world famous burger", the bbq bacon and cheese one, and it was allright i guess. Not "world famous" though, adverage I would say. The meal was fun anyway, and I got to know some of the people that were on the trip with me a little better. Heres a picture of some costumes they had there are the cafe, these were worn by The Beatles.

OMG i almost forgot to say, me and my friends "Papped" Paris Hilton!!!!! It was on our way back to the hotel, and we noticed there were about 10 guys with fancy big cameras, waiting outside the exit of a shop for something/someone. Despite these photographers telling everyone to "buzz off", we stuck around, and soon enough, Paris Hilton came down the escalator, and everyone was going "Here, Here, Paris over here! Give us a smile". I was wrestling with these paparazzi, look i actually got quite a good photo of her!!!

I don't really even like her much, i think she's a bit of a (coining a South Park phrase) stupid spoiled whore really, but she seemed to be dressed a bit more classier than her usual skimpy pink attire. But still, we thought it was a bit fun to have a bit of a paparazzi moment in NYC. After all of this we were of course, absolutely KNACKERED. So we all dropped off to sleep and slept like a rock- ready for all the excitement the next day.