Hi everyone, hope you are all well back home. Here's what we have got up to over the past 5 days in New York. We arrived at JFK airport early afternoon on Friday. Once we stepped outside the terminal we were in for a shock as it was freezing at only 3oc!!!!!! But that didnt deter us as in the distance you could see the huge skyline of Manhatten. From the airport we caught a Airtrain and a subway to our hostel located on the upper west side of Central Park. On first impressions we werent happy and it was a bit overwhelming but we didnt pay much for it and as long as it was warm and the bed was comfortable it wasnt a problem. However we didnt spend much time in there during our stay anyways so it didnt matter. Straight away we decided to go for a short walk and explore our surroundings......that turned into a 4 hour walk down to times square and back. An early nite was on the cards as we were both exhausted and in bed for 7 after being up for 30 odd hours.

The next few days we were up bright and early and got the subway over to Brooklyn to walk back over the Brooklyn Bridge. We checked out the sights of South Manhatten like City Hall, Wall Street and Ground Zero. We spent most of our time walking round 5th ave to see the shops and all the main attractions. Macys, Saks, Bloomingdales, FAO Schwartz, Dylans Candy Store, Flatiron building, Chrysler Building, Grand Central Station, Rockefeler Centre and the big one....the Empire State Building which we went up to see the proper view of the whole city which was pretty amazing. Sunday brought rain so we went to the Natural History Museum where the film night at the museum is based, then did some more walking. We finally got some sunshine by Monday so we got the South Ferry across to Staten Island to see the Statue of Liberty up close then went to Pier 84 to see the ship Intrepid and walked some more!

After indulging in all the local delicacies, pancakes, donuts, ice-cream, cheesecake, cupcakes, cookies, macdonalds, burgers, pizza etc etc. We were both feeling a little guilty and a few pounds heavier so by tuesday morning we had seen all the sights so we went to Central Park and did what every other new yorker does....jog. That afternoon we went to Times Square again to try and get some discounted tickets for a broadway show but there was none. We heard President Obama was in town at a nearby hotel so we thought we'd track him down. After camping in and outside of Starbucks (the police kept asking us to move) for 4 hours we finally saw a glimpse of his blacked out limo which was very exciting, it was like something out of a movie, dumper-trucks blocking of the streets, police on the roofs of buildings, the secret service and CIA roaming around going to any measure to keep the area safe...they were every angle grinding bikes off nearby railings and had a xray machine in a van tracking everything coming in and out of the hotel (see pics). And if that wasn't enough excitement for one day, whilst walking home that night after grabbing a slice of pizza we bumped in to the premiere of a film called Amelia. We got up close and spotted the stars of the film Hilary Swank and Richard Gere, and other celebs Ewan McGregor and Harry Connick Jr. This was a great end to our time in New York. We've walked miles and seen and done everything we could and are ready for the sun and sea of L.A.