Day 4:

After breakfast in the hotel we set off to downtown Manhattan to visit ground zero – where the world trade centre towers used to stand. I felt really sad seeing the long list showing the heroes of September 11th. At the moment there is a huge construction site in which they are building the freedom tower amongst other things.

We noticed a large huddle of people and realised that they were all film crews from the news networks. In the middle of the huddle was Hilary Clinton who was stood with a man making a speech at a podium. The guy making the speech was the son of a NY firefighter and was working all hours to ensure his family could get by. Whilst we were in New York, Hilary Clinton announced her intention to run for president.

We left ground zero and had a walk around Battery park. The Statue of Liberty is visible from the park but is still some way away. From the park we went up to Wall Street. I am not sure what I was expecting from Wall Street but it was similar to any financial district in a large city – plenty of grand buildings and lots of places for the busy stock trader to grab lunch. The largest American flag we saw on our trip was strapped across the front of the New York Stock Exchange – I don’t know if it is a permanent feature or not.

A long subway trip from the tip of Manhattan brought us to the Natural History museum which is on the edge of Central Park. We had a look round the museum and watched a film in the Planetarium, but I am inclined to agree with my friend and say the museum in London is better.

At the cinema that evening we watched “Night at the museum” which was set in the Natural History museum NY. The film wasn’t the best but I enjoyed watching it as it was set in New York and we saw a lot of the places we had visited on the big screen. I was expecting to see huge buckets of popcorn and massive drinks but it seems the portion sizes are similar to those in UK cinemas. However, there is a much wider range of food and snacks available and I definitely approve of them having Cherry Coke on tap 🙂

Unfortunately I felt a bit ill after the cinema – we eventually placed the blame on some chicken I ate in the museum cafe. We took an early night as I had plans for the following day – our 2 year anniversary.