Last night, we arrived back in Baltimore after one of the fastest and intense visits to the big apple. The journey up and back took just 2.5 hours in both directions on Amtrak at speeds of up to 200 kph and that was interesting in itself as we went through Wilmington (Delaware)Philadelphia, Trenton and Newark. Many of these cities have hectares of rust-belt factories slowly crumbling away and many of the houses lining the railway tracks were none too flash.
We did the usual touristy things in New York like the Empire State Building, Central Park (three times), 5th Avenue, Wall Street, Battery Point, the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Ground Zero, the subway (many times), Times Square at night, the Met, Macy's Dept Store, and a Broadway musical - Xanadu. That's some two days. We were in and out of taxis and the subway many times and sampled numerous diners whose speed in meal delivery was awesome. It's really true that the larger the city the faster the pace of everything!
Did I like New York? The answer is a resounding YES ... at least in the bits we saw. We met up for a few hours with Kassandra and Michelle who were our next door neighbours in Armidale from birth. They are roughly the same age as Em and Beck and played together frequently. Kassy is now a businesswoman in Sydney running a flourishing design business. And Michelle was visiting for 5 days (the same as us) from (drum roll) Brighton in England where I was raised! How's that for coincidences? One of the things I really liked was the tremendous hustle all the time with millions seemingly on the street together. I loved the quiet of Central park and the huge buzz of Times Square at night. I can recommend the stage performance of Xanadu, though the film sank without trace 20 years ago. There were lots of jabs at Olivia Newton John and references to Australia!
Let me know when you're tempted to visit and I'll try to be there.AS
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