Waking up in the city that never sleeps

We spent the week before Christmas in New York. After flying in we headed straight to Times Square (all of a couple of hundred metres from where we were staying) where we were met by blinding lights.

The first full day we spent there we walked from mid-town where we were staying to Battery Park at the lower tip of Manhattan. This took us past the old WTC site, Wall Street, Macy's and heaps of other landmarks you would associate with New York. We took a trip to Liberty Island where the Statue of Liberty is and Ellis Island which until the mid-20th century was used as an immigration point for income immigrants. It's now an immigration museum.

The second day we were meant to take a surprise trip to Yankees Stadium for a tour as my Christmas present, but unfortunately the surprise was that there was a subway strike and we couldn't get there (the prospect of walking from 45th street to 161st wasn't that enticing!). Instead we went to Grand Central Station and then onto the UN Building. We did a tour of the UN but were told we couldn't see the General Assembly or Security Council as both were in session. When we got to the General Assembly though, they let us in just as Kofi Annan was addressing the General Assembly. We got to hear about 15 mins of his address, something he only does every few months or so. So we got very lucky there.

Rather than running through day by day, I'll give you the highlights from here. Firstly, was one day walking up to Central Park and going ice skating on the Wollman Rink. With views as you skate of the Plaza Hotel, the skyscrapers of Manhattan and the shops of 5th Avenue, it is just incredible. Jane hadn't skated before but picked it up very quickly.

Other highlights were climbing the Empire State (though at this time of year the views are a little shortened by the haze), going to see a Knicks game at Maddison Square Garden (Knicks were pumped by Spurs) and of course, Jane would kick me if I didn't mention the shopping. Bloomingdales, Saks 5th Avenue and Macy's were the highlights both inside and outside. After living in London too, the shopping was eminently affordable though we mainly picked up souvenir-ish kinds of clothes.

Christmas Day was spent with Tim and Charis (friends from home and our current housemates) at the Marriott Hotel Times Square having a very nice roast. We then jumped in a limo for the trip to the airport, before and overnight flight to Ireland. All up it was a bizarre but nice Christmas, though we're all looking forward to Christmas 2006 with our families and friends around.

As usual, check out our photos site (photos.yahoo.com/csmoyle) to see a few of our photos from New York.