The Swine flu spreading America had caused some concern about our visit to New York, so we had kept a close eye on its progress. The spread had seemed to hit New York then dip out again after the cases were isolated, as we were in the New York state having visited Niagara we decided this was the time to nip in and out before the flu picked up again.

We opted to stay a bit out of the centre and get the shuttle bus into Manhattan as they run until 1am, giving us plenty of time to get stuff done. The first day we started one block from 'Time Square', we walked from there southward until we reached 'Ground Zero' the now empty space where the Twin towers once stood. The site is surrounded by high fences and tarps, this leaving the only space to see anything through the small gaps between the fence sections. Work on the foundations has started in terms of setting supports in it, but as yet nothing has been confirmed to be built there, although several applications have been submitted.

A heavy security presence surrounds Ground Zero not only in the form of police, but by the US Army complete with body armour and all the weapon trimmings suitable for a war. It seems that they still regard this area as a target, even though there is nothing there. The only thing setting this site apart from any other building site is on a wall not facing, or on the site itself. This is what can only be described as a memorial picture, showing fire fighters in various duties and a list of names of those who died that day. We expected there to be flowers and candles all around as well as friends of families of the people who died in the attack, however there was no obvious sign of this which seemed very odd in view of how many people died.

We had taken our time at Ground Zero to try and get a sense of what it was like that day and place the images we had seen on the TV. From here we went in find of the famous 'Wall Street', en route we came across the American Stock Exchange building, which is a place where you would think absolute chaos would be of the Norm, right?! Wrong. This place was like a ghost town, completely locked down with not even a security guard insight to indicate an entrance.

Wall street was a different matter to the American Stock exchange, it was rammed from end to end with over stressed suit and briefcase workers. Reporters mulled around the top of the street catching people for an interview as they left certain offices, the buildings were mainly made of huge blocks of perfectly formed stone giving a very grand appearance. The biggest flag we have ever seen hangs on the front of the 'Ney York' Stock exchange, the NYPD have some pretty big vehicles around the area which again indicates there concern for the area and with it been only a couple of blocks from 'Ground Zero' its hardly surprising.

We continued on our walk down to the ferry terminal where we could see the 'State of Liberty' on 'Liberty Island', the ferries don't run late but we thought it would be good to know where we where coming the next day a we had a visit to the Island on plan. On our way down we came across a rather big Bull, well oversized and just plonked in the middle of the central reservation. A favourite picture for this one was to have your head in the rear, but there was no way we were getting our heads in that big but!

Our day wondering round the city had spanned a couple of hundred blocks, passing through various areas resembling Victorian themes, Italian, the rich and the poor and left us very tired. So we decided to take it steady and head back to the bus depot by walking up Broadway, as we had yet to eat we debated over a restaurant and type. But as we could not be bothered with the wait we decided to test one of the many street carts that the Wall Street bods rushed out to in their dinner break. Surprisingly this was some of the best food we have had so far and believe us it is nothing like the street carts at home, they don't have a patch on these.

It was late when we finally got back to our Motel so we just crashed out and slept. Breakfast at the Motel was pretty good so we made sure we filled up as today was going o be busy.

Fist on the list was to visit the 'Statue of Liberty' on 'Liberty Island', the security to get on the ferry to the island is strict to say the least. You pass the same security checks as an airport and it's a lot less friendly too. The ferry is full on every trip and leans to one side as you approach the Island as everyone goes to one side to get the best picture. Once on the island the size of the statue really became apparent, towering above us it easily dominates the island. If you wonder why it is a shade of green, this is caused when the bronze it is made of is exposed to oxygen causing a reaction called 'Oxidisation'. The statue was a present from the French years ago, which still seems like an odd present to start with but to have become such an American icon is even more bizarre. Not as Ironic as the fact that the Island is called 'Liberty Island' yet it used to be used to hold prisoners and immigrants!

Since 9,11 the inside of the statue and the crown have been off bounds for the millions of visitors to the island every year, but sods' law it is to open again on independence day 2009!!!! After we have left America!!!! Oh yeah one other thing, no women should ever have feet that big, they are ridiculous.

The gap where the twin towers stood on the skyline of Manhattan is much more noticeable from the Island than they are in the city itself, which made us think the people on the island when the crash happened must have sadly had a perfect view of what was happening. Stuck in an island witnessing the tragic events while a major icon towers over you must surely have caused panic.

Back on the mainland it was on to or next thing which was not one stop but several, the shops of Broadway including the famous 'Bloomingdales'. Now we didn't buy anything on this shopping trip, partly because we had managed for six months on what we had but mainly because we simply don't have the space in our bags for anything else and we mean anything!!! The shops here other than been a bit bigger are mainly the same to home, as we have been away for so long we don't know if the fashions here are just weird or if we are just out of touch with what's going on! An interesting experience all the same.

Now for those of you that don't know Central park is absolutely huge! So we only had a wonder around the bottom section in order to get a feel for the place. It seems the park is a haven of tranquillity for the stressed city dwellers, who jog, walk dogs or just walk and talk in the park soaking up its calmness. You can if you so wish take a beautiful horse and carriage ride round some of the park, but be willing to pay through the nose for the privilege. The best bit for us about the park was seeing a family of Racoons playing in and around a tree, not fazed at all by the people around them.

Now getting dark we were on our way toward the empire state building when we came across a street named 'Chanel No5' and as you can imagine this was one posh street. At the end of the street sat a huge fountain and lower level bar with an over towering bright building called the 'Rockefeller'. The 'Rockefeller' has a viewing area at the top but is not as high or as famous as the Empire state building therefore we didn't take the option to venture to the top, we did however go inside and admire the huge chandelier that hung in the centre of the spiral staircase.

Enroute to the Empire state building we found the shops we had been looking for on Broadway, these were the real New York shops, the type NY is famous for with the price tag to match. Anything you could think of is in a shop somewhere in this area, the front of each one sparkling in vivid lights and signs. This time we only visited a couple as we still were in no position to be buying anymore than we were earlier in the day.

The Empire State building is busy all the time but allegedly quieter on a night time so we had arrived after 9pm, to find it was still a 45 minute wait at least, in order to get to the top viewing platform. We had come a long way so just had to wait, the visibility varies at the top due to the fact it is in the clouds! You have to wait a few seconds in between the cloud drifts to get a clear view and need to be well rapped up as it is absolutely freezing up there. The viewing point you go on which is famous for more than one film, appears a lot smaller than on the films but is still a brilliant place to have been and seen the great NY from above. Oh and the lift that does over 80 floors in a few seconds doesn't seem like it even sets off!!!!

Last on our days tour was 'Time Square', on the approach there is no mistake that you are heading in the right direction with the beaming massive advertising screens and revolving neaon signs. Once again the NYPD has some interesting toys around this place, mainly the cherry picker converted into a weatherproof viewing cabin for some poor officer.

The size of the screens is hard to take in and have some odd things advertised on them, but it must work somehow or they wouldn't do it! This place could never be dark or boring as the lights are never off and you always have something to watch, but it could only ever work in America.

After such a long day we were glad to get back to the car which we had left at the motel we stayed at the last two nights, we weren't staying a third as we wanted to get on the road and on the way to our next stop. So off we went leaving NY behind in the dark and taking some good memories of this crazy busy place.