Even though we promised this report wasn't going to bore you of dull historical American landmarks a review from NYC wouldn't be complete without reference to the Empire State Building, Central Park and that woman holding a torch in the middle of a small island. Please yourself if you fancy skipping this page, but we will attempt to make this as interesting as possible for you.
Kicking off then with King Kong's favorite skyscraper, The Empire State Building. A glutton for punishment if you are a vertigo sufferer the working building caters for office staff on its lower floors and annoying tourists, like us, nearer the clouds. Visitors take two evaluators up to the 86th floor, 1,050 feet off the ground to witness a remarkable view across the city. Wheelchair friendly the glass area is heated in the Winter although the outside obviation area can not escape guests from the vicious wind we battled against during our visit.
Higher up on the 102nd floor extra tickets can be purchased for those wanting the full experience and with the twin towers now tuned to dust this is one of the best ways to see a birds eve view of this magnificent city. When night time falls the building is lit up and depending on the occasion different colors will signify certain events. For instance, on Valentines Day the building will be red and Red White and Blue for Lincoln's Birthday and Presidents Day. On standard days expect to see a white lighting gracing the ESB walls.
Building on this beast started back on 17th March 1930 and was completed by November (13th) putting our Wembley Stadium workers to shame. They splashed out $24,718,000 on construction alone and the full height is a whopping 1,454 feet. We weren't the first famous visitors to the ESB but followed in the footsteps of Queen Liz, Pele, KISS, Prince Andrew and Ronald McDonald, oh and Tom Cruise!
From one interior to the great outside and where Kermit rode a bike with Miss Piggy in the first Muppet movie, Central Park. A few yards from the park John Lennon strolled out his New York apartment on 8th December 1980 - he didn't get very far! Lennon was shot dead and years on widow Yoko Ono has donated a wad load of cash for a memorial garden for her late Hubby opposite the crime scene at Central Park. Sadly upon our visit the area was full of construction work and closed to the public. As was every other ruddy attraction in the park. So this review is gonna be a tad tricky for us. The park space, all 700 acres of it, was legalised in 1853 forcing 1,600 residents to move to different homes, most of these were poor blighters such as Irish Pig Farmers and German gardeners. Gun powder was used to demolish unwanted rockery and other obstructing stuff which was replaced with 270,000 trees and flowers. In the winter of 1859 Central Park opened its gates to the public for the first time who took to skating on the frozen lakes. The wealthy would arrive in carriages to visit the park and today horse drawn carts still offer expansive rides around its grounds, but the poor were forbidden to use personal rusty vehicles and school kids needed a note from their Principal to play ball on the grass.
After constant campaigning from the public Sunday concerts were given the go-ahead in the 1880's and the Carousel was added alongside the Zoo in 1871. Both of which are still present today. Children had more treats in 1927 with their first public playground and, like the Zoo & Carousel the attraction still stands in the park to this date. In the 1960's the Woolman Ice Rink arrived. Which reminded our party about my drunken remark I made a few days ago. My excuse? It was too bloody cold and I would skate Tomorrow - another bad suggestion!
Profits for the park slumped in the 1960's despite rock concerts bringing in much needed cash, but in 1980 a private fundraising body called the Central Park Conservancy took ownership from the Mayor (John Lindsay) and restored the heritage which still welcomes millions of visitors in this century and many more to come allowing locals such as Madonna to have a forfeiting and active view from their overlooking bedroom windows.
Still with us? Not bored yet? Well jump on the ferry with us to Ellis Island for our third and final historic destination today, The Statue Of Liberty. Before you board you can buy your tickets at the box office, but we managed to sneak in. Yes, that's right - in troubled security times we actually managed to sneak in the Statue Of Lib. without paying! The first stage you see in the SOL exhibit, which isn't the most interesting few minutes we've spent in The Big Apple. Opened in 1986 you can leave your elders reading through chunks of drab literature about Fabricating the Statue, Stretching Technology, Fundraising in France etc. and move on to the second chunk of your visit - even more boring words, this time revolving about the flame. The most exciting bit though is that this part of the exhibition actually overlooks the original torch which was used back in 1886.
After facing all the educational rubbish you can walk around the lower base of the statue, but this is as far as you will get. Visitors are no longer permitted up the statue itself for safety and security reasons.
With our sight seeing finished it was time to start drinking, tomorrow was Superbowl Sunday which would hopefully not make time for our Ice Skating. Surely they wouldn't allow a Spaz on Ice would they? Mind you if Andi Peters was permitted appear on Dancing On Ice last year...