Welcome to the final installment of.......Daz 'N' Mand - Livin' The Dream!! Coming to you direct from The Big Apple!!

New York, New York - you've got to be a part of it!

Friday 20th March
Arriving in New York was surreal we couldn't quite believe we were here. first thing that hit us was the cold - 2 degrees! was certainly a shock to the system. We took a bus to the port authority bus terminal in central Manhattan and then had a 6 block walk with our rucksacks on. Hostel is ideally located on west 46th - 3 blocks from Time Square! It was getting pretty late by this time and we had been up since 4am so we decided to grab a quick bite to eat in the diner at the end of our street before jumping in to our super comfy bed and geting some well needed sleep.

Up bright and early, super excited. we havent really got any winter clothes so it was a case of putting on 2 vests, 2 t-shirts and 2 hoodies. Not forgetting the cool pair of fingerless gloves i made out of a pair of socks which we were given on the plane!! (i knew they would come in handy for something lol) We walked to Time Sq on broadway which was bustling with people, we saw elmo hovering on the street corner so i guess seamee st have given him the sack lol and we even saw the Naked Cowboy - a very brave man who playes his guitar for tips in the freezing cold wearing only a pair of underpants and a cowboy hat (check out the pics) after we went over to the Rockefeller centre and watched some ice skating at the outdoor ice rink, On our way uptown we saw fox news filming so hovered in the background hoping to get on telly!! When we got to Central Park it was amazing. There were horse and carriage's parked up the street which is crazy to see in the middle of the city, and the park looked just as magical as i imagined it would. Iv always wanted to come ever since i saw it on Home Alone 2 - Lost in NY and i made daryl take my photo outside the Plaza Hotel where Kevin stays in the film lol We spent the rest of the day walking around the park and watched a few street preformers. Then when it got dark we made our way back over to Time SQ to see it all lit up which was just amazing.

Sunday 22nd March
Happy Mothers Day to our mommy's - sorry we couldn't be there but thankfully moonpig.com could!!
We took the subway downtown and boarded the free staten island ferry which gave us fantastic views of the Statue Of Liberty, we got some great photos, and then we got the ferry straight back to manhatten. Next we took a walk to Wall Street and saw the New York Stock Exchange building, american museum and George Washington statue, then went down to pier 17 for some fab views of the Brooklyn Bridge. We walked to the site of the world trade centre, there wasn't alot to see there as construction has already begun on a new transportation hub.

Monday 23rd March - ***HAPPY BIRTHDAY DARYL***
Time to celebrate NY style with all things american! We ate lunch at Ellen's Stardust Diner - a retro 50's american themed diner, where they have singing waitresses on the tables. The place was packed but we managed to get a table. It was a really good atmosphere and i got our waitress to put a candle in Daryl's desert and sing "Happy Birthday" to him (along with the other diners joining in) he he, naughty me!! I wasn't sure how he would take this but he seemed to enjoy it, if not a little embarressed lol!!
We had a walk over to the Grand Central station which is - as the name suggests -very Grand and then grabbed a cwoffeeeee. Later, just before sunset we marched across the other side of manhatten to the Empire State Building. 86 floors up and we were at the top, it was bloody freezing, in the minuses and extremely windy!! The views were breath taking though and you could see the whole of manhattan, brooklyn, the bridges....etc and when it got dark half an hour later and all the buildings started to light up it just kept getting better and better!! A perfect end to daryls birthday.

Our last day was spent souvenir shopping at Time Sq, much to Daryl's annoyance!! i coulda shopped all day looking at all things new yorkie. But, the time had come to go and pack our bags ready for our flight home tomorrow evening. We have loved NY its a great place but in a wierd way we are ready to come back to the real world now. Looking forward to seeing our famalies and friends and GOD... do i want lasagna and a REAL Sunday Roast Dinner with lashings of gravy cooked by a proper Yorkshire pud - these past 8 months i have dreamt about the day i will see my 2 favourite meals again lol !!!!

We certainly have been living the dream and anyone that wants to travel and hasn't yet done so then we suggets you get yourselfs off, we did and its been the best experience of our lives.

So from Mand n Daz in the Big Apple 2009........"Over and Out" x x x