Yankee Doodle

Me taking a picture of  really sexy British
guy at ground zero

Good evening/afternoon or morning depending where in this vast planet you are.

So what have I been up to since we last spoke? Well Sunday I took a Mexican, Kiwi, Australian, German and a fellow Spurs supporter to a sports bar in Manhattan to watch the Spurs vs Chelski game. Now even thou most of the people that I went with don't particularly like or know the rules of football we all agreed that the ball has to cross the line in order to be a goal.

Where one of the towers used to be. There is a 30ft waterfall
there now.

Then yesterday a group of us from the hostel went to ground zero. It was a very sobering place. You get a real sense of the size of the buildings when you get up close to it. Even though it is in the centre of the financial district it seems very peaceful and quiet. They are still doing building work all around the site but you just don't get a feeling of noise or anything, it is hard to fully explain. The thing for me that was most sobering was not the vast expanse of the site or all the names carved into the side of the pools but it was the little artifacts that they found and have on display in the visitor centre. Things like wallets they discovered and fire chiefs hats etc. Unfortunately the museum isn't yet open so we couldn't have a look around that.

So then I walked down to the bottom of Manhattan because I was going to get the Staten Island ferry to see some present that the French gave to the USA. However by that point in the day I was so hot and sweaty that the thought of ANOTHER security check really didn't appeal to me in the slightest. I just took a picture of it from a distance. From the waterfront I caught a subway train up to YANKEE STADIUM!

LETS GO YANKEES! WOO!

I had tickets so it wasnt like I was just visiting. Things that I observed about my visit to Yankee stadium -
1) The price of the beer doesn't necessary reflect the quality ($12 for a 'American' pint of Stella)
2) Everyone is wishing that the Yankees win, just for me! - 'Hope they win for you!' whenever they heard my 'Australian' accent.
3) The subway station is slap bang next to it. Makes attending/leaving so easy.
4) It is not common for 2 'homers' to be hit in succession, in the first innings, with both opening balls. The Yankees achieved this and I thought that a 'slog fest' would be in order.
5) However the Yankees are then incapable of scoring any more runs after that first innings and will loose 7-3.
6) The is NO NEED to pause the game midway through the 7th innings and sing America the brave/beautiful. I couldn't understand the pause in play for this, if you want to sing it, do it at the start.

It really was a awesome experience thou and well worth the $11 that I paid for my tickets.

Most of my 'fwiends' that I have made in the hostel have gone home today. We had a group of about 10 of us in the end. All single travellers with a sole purpose - get drunk! We decided early on that instead of learning everbodys names we would just call people by what country they are from, just like in the movie Zombieland. This make it easier to remember names and as soon a new member joins the group then ,they are given a name straight away. We have had Mex, Kiwi, D.C., Cleveland, English (I am Wales), Sydney 1, Sydney 2, Sydney 3, Mel (bourne) & German (there are a LOT of Germans in this hostel, but our one is the coolest and he too, hates the fact there are so many Germans everywhere).

Some woman, holding a torch.

So I am leaving NYC tomorrow. I am not going to lie, I think that I have spent enough time here. For some reason NYC just hasn't 'done' it for me. I think that I came here with massive expectations for the place and it hasn't lived up to them. Sure things like the Empire State, Chrysler and Rockafeller center are all impressive, but I was expecting them to be. Central Park blew me away mind, that place was cool. Hopefully Washington D.C. will be pretty good - lots of things to see there, I just hope its cheaper than the Big (expensive) Apple.

Signing out from NYC

Tom