The real New York

Yes we made it to the real New York this time, not New York in Las Vegas.  We were not sure how we would like New York as our experience with San Francisco was not that good.  We arrived late on Tuesday night to a empty airport and 2 hours late.  Our flight was delayed to bad weather and congestion at the airport.  We had no idea where to go so we followed everyone else, by the time we got our baggage and found a shuttle to take us to our hotel it was 1.30 am in the morning.  We got to bed about 4am and had to check out by midday the next day.  We made our way back to the airport to catch a shuttle into Manhattan where we were staying for the next five days.  What a debarcle that was.  We found a guy inside the airport, paid for our shuttle and ended up in a large bus.  We then got swapped to another bus and 2 hours later we arrived at our hotel.  We got picked up at Grand Central Terminal by some guy that spoke English but it was a form of English I had never heard before, I just agreed and followed him.  We finally made it to our hotel which was nice and central to Times Square and Broadway.  You have not seen anything until you have seen Manhattan traffic, UNBELIEVABLE.  The horns are continually honking and you really have to be careful crossing the roads.  We decided to rest up and get ready for a full day of tours and stuff the next day.  We found a recommended tour company and purchased a 3 day pass to various tours and tourist spots.  We started on a downtown tour down Broadway and Times Square.  It is awesome down these streets, so alive, full of lights and there are just people everywhere, and I mean everywhere.  It is difficult to walk the streets as they are so packed.  The place is massive as well.  We went past Madison Square Garden, Ground Zero, Trump Towers, Macy's to name a few.  The weather since being here has been extremely hot and muggy.  I have had a couple of bad sunburns over the last few days and there is just no escaping unless you are inside near the air conditioning.  Yesterday we had severe rain and thunderstorms which Jase got caught in twice as he was uptown checking out some shops and I was at the hotel.  He came back looking like a drowned rat.  The streets were flooded and so was the subway but it was still unusually warm.  We have been to the Statue of Liberty, Empire State Building which has the most incredible view of New York, it was awesome.  We were 86 levels up which is not the top but it was high enough for me.  We have seen Central Park and been out to Brooklyn and also went to the 9/11 Tribute centre which is near the ground zero sight.  This was an emotional experience.  Well we leave Manhattan tomorrow morning to venture further out so will update the website with more information and photos.  Not long until we head home!