walking, walking, walking

and so to the walking tour of manhattan......courtesy of al from the big apple greeters. the instructions are to meet him at 10am under the large marquee promoting the 'mary poppins' show in times square.....easy enuff *gulp*

the first challenge of course was remembering that i had to travel uptown on the subway and get off at the right station.......check....

now, a big marquee in the square......ummmmmmmmmmm.......where's the square? what, you mean this maze of buildings, cars and roads is IT????? no park????????......ok so that means i've found the square......check.....

big marquee.....uuuuuuuummmmmmmmmmmmmmm.......where's the tent????? rising panic......no tent........there's a big sign 'mary poppins'......maybe that's it???????

well, i'll just hang about here - hoping not to attract too much attention of the authorities - don't they have some kinda law against 'loitering with intent' here in the US????

fortunately, al arrives, complete with his 'big apple greeters' badge.....we are both early so we head off. into this crazy world of times square. the buildings are absolutely ginormous.....we have absolutely nothing in brissie to compare this with. it seems that even the electronic billboards on the buildings are bigger than our buildings.....and the roads are everywhere - and i'm not sure that they even understand that the lines of the roads mark different lanes.........!!!!!!

anyway, with al as my guide i feel quite ok - he is careful to make sure i am following as we plunge into the streetscape - and cross roads with gay abandon as i reckon on true new yorkers can - but i am still very careful to remember to look the other way first! i don't think i'd ever get used to the traffic being on the other side of the road.

we meander around times square as al points out various landmark buildings, and explains the history behind many of them - there's the empire state building, and the chrysler building, and the studios for 'good morning america' and 'mtv', and the paramount theatre where many famous names performed......then the humanities library, bryant park with the coolest outdoor reading room and the cleanest public toilets, and grand central station - where up to 5 tons of newspaper is collected daily for recycling!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

and there's 42nd street, and 5th avenue.....famous designers, well recognisable shops, and trump tower, the rockefeller centre, a mounted police man (whose horse i absolutely MUST pat).....

then into the southern part of central park - another outdoor skating rink, and more real squirrels (still incredibly cute....!). and then for a subway ride downtown.....

• to SOHO (soho = 'south of housten street') - more famous shops and expensive stuff....
• and on to little italy - for a taste of canoli - excellent, but there were soooo many other gooey italian deserts i could have tasted too....
• and then chinatown - for a wander through narrow streets and past plenty of streetside stalls and lunch in a chinese restaurent frequented mainly by the chinese not europeans....

then - cause my legs were still up to it, across the brooklyn bridge (well, part way....we were running out if time). and of course the obligatory photo of me on the steps made famous by the opening scenes of the tv show 'law and order'.......

and finally, down to the world trade centre.......where the tour was to end.......this part of town is still a major monument to those who died, with lots of people reading of 9/11 and viewing progress towards rebuilding.......a very fitting place to end the tour.

al then headed off and i wandered round a little bit longer the found my way successfully to the subway station and back to greenwich village and squad's place.......

i have to say that getting in touch with the big apple greeters to organise a way to fill in my very short time in new york was a great idea. al is incredibly knowledgeable about his city and to spend nearly six hours in the company of someone who clearly loves the place they live in is an honour. i saw many things i would not even have thought to visit. and i managed to experience the city in a way that i couldn't have by myself unless i'd had more time....and all for the price of subway ticket!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

i would encourage anyone going to an unfamiliar city to see if there is a similar scheme. even if you are there for longer than one day, it certainly gives an great orientation......

nearly the end of my trip - but one more experience to report - in my next entry......