Sam's Space

My little bit of something in this big space.

New York…New York!

June 4, 2025 by Sam

So the countdown had finally reached zero. Me and @RebekahEsme were off to New York!!

With a polar vortex just hitting America a few weeks before we went we knew it would be cold so with bobble hats and mittens at the ready, we jumped on that big old plane.

Flying from Heathrow T5 into JFK.

After checking into our lovely hotel (Milford Plaza) and dropping our bags off we where straight out, one block over into the hustle and bustle that is Times Square.

Times Square itself is crazy.
Times Square when there getting ready for the biggest sporting event in America (Superbowl 48) is on is mental.

The bright lights that never turn off, the 1000s of people just trying to get about, the ticket touts trying to sell you anything and everything, the traffic that constantly looks like there is going to be a crash. Its just everything you can imagine. Everything you see in films or on TV is just right.

The first place we popped in which i spotted across the street was Toys ‘R’ Us. This place was huge, it had a bloody ferris wheel in the middle of it which you could ride if you wished! The best feature of the store in my opinion was this big boy…

I spent 5 minute looking at this with my phone at the ready waiting to record. 😀

It was already pretty late that night and i was hungry so we decided to play it easy and hit up the Hard Rock Café. This place was amazing inside. I’ve never been to a Hard Rock Café before so it was a totally new experience. There was so much memorabilia to look and the restaurant itself was huge. I had my first taste of America, a double decked burger cover in bacon and cheese with a huge portion of chips (Although remember its Fries in America) on the side.

My eyes nearly popped out of my head when she plonked this tower of food down in front of me. I did give it a good go, but Hard Rock defeated me.

Day 2 started bright an early with us jumping on the downtown your bus.

The tour buses are the best way to get around the city fast. There is a bus every 30 minutes and they all have English speaking guides. Tickets can be bought from the touts which are all around Times Square.

Out first stop for today was going to be Ground Zero.

It was something that I always wanted to see. The new One World Trade Tower was very near completion. The feeling being there is crazy. Looking at these 2 big holes in the floor that have been created into a beautiful water features had a settling feeling to the whole place. We spent a bit of time here looking at all the names and the ‘Survivor Tree‘.

Note the names with a rose in them signified it was that persons birthday today.

A short walk from the world trade brought us to Battery Park. This is where most of the ferries from mainland to Liberty / Ellis island depart from. Using the ticket from our NY City Pass (This book is really worth the money!!!)

It’s only a short ferry journey to Liberty Island. On our journey the snow really did start to come down which made the whole thing very picturesque. We had a quick walk around the island as it was freezing and then huddled in the gift store while awaiting the next boat.

Straight after Liberty Island is Ellis Island or Immigration Island as some call it. There is a large museum to walk round on here with plenty to see inside. Once we had soaked up all the knowledge we dashed for the return ferry to land.

We left Battery Park and headed up towards Wall St. We walked past the big 34 tonne metal bull which was plonked in the middle of the path. Apparently you have to ‘grab it by the balls’ and it brings you luck. We did follow suit but I don’t know how true it is.

Wall St was a lot smaller than I expected. I thought of some big head street with posh buildings either side and suit wearing folk dashing all over but it wasn’t like that. It was narrow, quiet and full of bloody roadworks when we where there.

There is also a pretty little church which you can see right at the end of Wall St that makes a perfect photo opportunity.