Back in the UK...

... and the whole day is already gone!

Up at 3AM and back in my place in Croxley at 9PM - it's only about a 7 hour flight but figure in the 5 hours of time change....

Enough time to get in a chinese take-away and iron some shirts and get to sleep before going to work tomorrow - I think I'll give the 7AM start a miss and just do a normal 9 to 5...

On the way back...

..to the UK on Virgin Atlantic flight VS026.

Well I booked a car to go from the hotel to JFK and then realised that the time booked was just 30 minutes before the flight was due to leave! The paper had both of my flights listed and I think I must have read the the arrival time of the first flight or something... anyway, a quick adjustment and all was set to get to the airport...

Get up at 3AM (sheesh) and downstairs to wait for the car coming at 4. Whilst waiting I had time to check-in over the internet. Frank the night-manager decided that he needed to demonstrate the wonders of his singing voice and launched into a medley of Tony Bennett numbers!!

The car arrived on time (whew) and an hour ride to the airport was completed in 25 minutes. The plan was, as ususal, to get to the airport a couple of hours ahead of time to allow for the rigours of security, etc. As is becoming a constant in these processes, I arrived at the airport early - the queues through bag-drop and then security are not as long or slow as predicted and so I find myself at the departure gate at 5AM - about the time I planned to be arriving at the airport! It's early enough for the shops to be closed and another 90 minutes before boarding the plane... Time to go hunting for coffee...

New Year's Eve in New York...

...was very crowded...

at about 6 in the evening I headed uptown to Times Square. Large chunks of the area had been cordoned off earlier in the day and there were a number of designated pens into which us revelers were to be herded.

The only location that I was able to get to was on the corner of 41 St and 7th Avenue, out of sight of the stage, the ball and the video screens... and by this time it was 7PM and another 5 hours to go. After a while I came to a conclusion that standing in a large crowd (estimated after the event to be about 1.3 million) and not being able to see anything of significance, this was not the place to be. To get a better position would have meant a walk a couple of blocks (either East or West) and come back in towards Broadway and Times Square without any real probability of getting a better view.

So it was time to cut the losses and go and at least enjoy some of the evening. A trip downtown and into Greenwich village and I was back at Café Angelique - coffee and chocolate fudge being the order of the moment. I then spent a pleasant couple of hours chatting with some people on the next table - they had come in from Conneticutt for the weekend.

It was about 10 and I was pretty much ready for sleep so headed back to the hotel. Watched a lot of the Times Square event on TV and it would have been pretty good to be there if the right spot could have been found - ce la vie...

here's to 2007 and all who sail in her - hope you all have a Happy New Year

New Year's Eve...

and a leisurely start to the day.
A trip uptown and a stroll through Central Park, followed by a brunch at Josies - a restaurant on the upper East-side (Amsterdam & W 74th)...

Times Square is being cordoned off to road traffic in the early afternoon. No backpacks or alcohol can be taken into the zone after 4...

They are estimating over a million people, so it'll be interesting to see if I can get close to the middle.

It has been an interesting day...

The ferry journey took about 40 minutes in all - first stop was Liberty Island for those who wanted to do the monument tour of Lady Liberty herself. I figured that the most of what I wanted to see was the statue itself, so stayed on the ferry for the next leg of the journey (as did many others...)

Ellis Island is a fascinating place - one of the main gateways for immigrants into the United States from 1892 to 1954. It's difficult to imagine the difficulties these people faced, not only with the journey itself but the conditions of the detention and processing through places Like Ellis Island. I would recommend a visit to www.ellisisland.org for a better description of the place and the process.

The trip back to Battery Park was only about 20 minutes. It is quite a mild day temperature-wise and, when there is no breeze, the sun is quite warm and pleasant. What started as a 'watch-the-world-go-past' sitting on a bench in the park, ended up in being a 'have-a-doze-for-half-an-hour' instead... v.refreshing though!

A quick jump on the subway from Bowling Green to Fulton St and a transfer to the A train for one stop finds me in Brooklyn. My Frommer's Guide recommends a particular pizza restaurant as a lunch stop followed by a walk back to Manhattan over the Brooklyn Bridge.

The restaurant has a queue of half a block waiting to get in so that's out. On the banks of the East River is an establishment called 'Pete's Downtown' - very nice meal and reasonably priced with a view of the bridge and the Manhattan skyline.

After lunch it was time for a walk - about a quarter mile to the start of the bridge and, I think, about a mile of bridge. The Frommer's book was on the mark about doing the walk from Brooklyn to Manhattan, as the view was always interesting... photos will be posted on the net but not until I get home with a dsl connection.