And finally, NYC

Adrian's words:

From Boston we caught a bus down to New York City. It's the biggest city we've seen with more than 8 million people, but it's still very functional and easy to get around.

Highlights of our time here include time spent at Times Square, time spent on a large schooner cruising the Hudson river by Lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. After a few nights we caught up with my friends Bethany and Paul who had travelled down from Chicago to see us. We went with them to see Mary Poppins on Broadway.

New York City may have been our favourite city in the US had it not been for the terrible service we received in a couple of places. It got us thinking, could a city be so big that customer service no longer matters? Those attractions will still receive several million visitors every year (e.g. the Empire State building), so what's the point in being nice?

Enough of that, I'll end this hurried post with another highlight of our time in New York. In Queens (where we were staying), we found a small Bolivian restaurant, and I was able to introduce Renae to my favourite Bolivian dish, the Silpancho! Queens is one of New York's 5 'boroughs' and apparently has a large Latin American community - I don't think the restaurant sees many English speakers!

Renae's words:

On our first night in New York, we went for a sunset sail on a schooner, where we relaxed with free wine and beer as they sailed us past the Statue of Liberty and Manhattan Island. The light was incredible at that time of day, and Adrian was pleased that a band was performing on Governers Island, playing trance music by Tiesto, his favourite. The music was so loud that you could hear it from miles away, right across the harbour.

New York was incredible for its sheer scale and the inevitable craziness that comes with it. Times Square at night was amazing. One night we sat on some grandstand-style seating in the middle of it all to take in the lights and sounds and it was just a sea of people. The crowd moves so slowly and each person is just focused on getting where they're going...

Central Park is huge! You can easily get lost. We saw people filming a new Tom Hanks/Sandra Bullock movie, but the stars weren't on site. The Metropolitan Museum of Art (the Met) was amazing. Not surprisingly though, the staff were super rude and patronising! Possibly the highlight of NYC for me was Mary Poppins on Broadway. Incredible. I think you go into a Broadway musical expecting incredible, and that's exactly what you get!