Start Spreading the News...

Well, our time in New York is almost up. It's the longest we've spent in any one spot so far, so it feels like we've been here forever. It's been good though, New York's turned out to be quite different to what I thought.

We've done all the touristy things, been on the sightseeing buses, did 3 tours in one day, Uptown, Downtown and the night tour so were so over buses by the end of it but they were good trips - even had a very minor traffic accident in the buses just to add that authentic New York flavour. Exerted our influence to ward off a looming thunderstorm on the night tour too. Some fantastic buildings here, both the Empire State and the Chrysler building never cease to take on a different appearance depending on the time of day and the weather. We went up to the Empire State observation deck at night, and with a full moon and the smog catching the glow from the city it's quite a beatiful sight.

Been to see two Broadway shows - saw the Lion King last night and it was fantastic, easily the best show I've ever seen at the theatre - Karen wanted to see Beaty and the Beast as well so we saw that the other night. It was pretty good too. Went to the Statue of Liberty this morning, she's smaller than you think but still impressive.

I've been doing the rounds of the art galleries - caught up with my friend Rico who's living in Philadelphia and we went to the Metropolitan Museum, the building was just as amazing as all the artifacts and paintings. Van Gogh's 'Cypresses' is shown there and it's an amazing painting to see in real life, there was also my old friend Matisse, Degas, Rembrandt and some great American art too. Also saw the Museum of Modern Art which had some great artwork, but I don't think it was presented as well as in the Met. My favourite painting from here would have to be 'Christine's World' by Wyeth, and another Van Gogh 'Starry Night' but it's just wrong putting a painting like that behind glass.

Wandered through Central Park a few times, the one place in New York where my sense of direction pretty much completely deserted me, as I found when I managed to walk about 30 blocks in completely the wrong direction. It's a bit of a maze until you figure out how to navigate using the skyscrapers visible over the tops of the trees, but it makes a great change from the city so it's quite a pleasant place to get lost in.

I've enjoyed the city more than I expected - I'm not usually a person who feels at home in big cities these days - and New York was somewhere I expected to be a bit overwhelming. Even though it's crowded, noisy and polluted it's so full of life you can't help liking it. Next top, Vegas, which should be a complete change of pace!