New York, starting with a very moving visit to Ground Zero

So much to do, so little time comes to mind as we only had 5 nights to see so much!

At first, we had to readjust to a frantically active city. Not an easy task as our first encounter with the locals at JFK almost resulted in us being ripped off by a taxi spiv. Only use yellow cabs and regular transfer outfits in New York. The rest are crooks.

Still reeling from this we arrived at The Herald Square Hotel only to find that the rooms were far too small for RTW travellers and the whole place resembled an overpriced hostel. Although evidently popular with those on a lower budget with one suitcase, unfortunately it did not fit our needs. Luckily, help was at hand and we checked in at the Hotel Wolcott across the road - a much nicer place where our large 11th floor room looked on to the Empire State Building.

Having recovered somewhat from this ordeal, the first trip we made was to Ground Zero. We both found this very moving, especially seeing the Church exhibits. The photo's also show the site under excavation - it will be years yet until the foul extremist blot is finally cleansed.

The days that followed could only be described as frantic and full! Our memories of Manhattan, going to see Hairspray on Broadway, jazz bands and Beatles memorabilia in Central Park, Grand Central Station, walking Brooklyn Bridge and Greenwich Village and the free trip around the Statue of Liberty on the Staten Island Ferry dominate the end of our trip. Towards the end of our stay visibility cleared - we had experienced some rain - and we made the trip up the Empire State Building. We timed it right (helped by my forgetting my camera, hopping over aisles and returning fast routed) and got some great photos at day and night. Last but not least, the pending birth of our twin grand-daughters prompted a visit to Macy's in Times Square. See the Macy Bears photograph!

Finally returning home was somewhat of a relief, much enhanced by a wonderful British Airways check-in girl who saved us about 6 hours traveling by changing our flight to one direct to Manchester. We also experienced our first - and probably last as new American regulations take effect soon - experience of flexible weight limits on checked in baggage. Our strictly 2 x 23kg each limit prior to this was no longer a problem! Thank you BA.

Back home to review about 16 GB of pictures and video should keep me occupied for a while!