Staten Island and an Impractical Jokers Pilgrimage

Many tourists head on to the Staten Island ferry to see the Statue of Liberty and some stunning views back across to Manhattan. And many tourists then get off the ferry, walk through the terminal and onto another ferry to take them back to Manhattan. But we broke the mould by getting off the ferry and taking a taxi to the Staten Island Museum!

Stunning views from the ferry

There she is … 

The reason we went to the Staten Island Museum was to make an Impractical Jokers fan pilgrimage to their exhibition.  If you haven’t seen the show then you’re in for such a treat. It will make you laugh so much you end up on the floor crying (season 1 is on Netflix – DO IT). The four best mates who have made their careers out of winding each other up are all from Staten Island, hence the exhibition in the museum. It was a lot of fun and I particularly enjoyed that they had hidden items from the show in other parts of the museum, a wonderful woman who worked there would pop up occasionally to ask if we’d spotted everything. We were glad we made the trip out of the ferry terminal!

Altogether now – “Scoopski Potatoessss” 

One of the objects hidden in the rest of the museum, the mash potato bowl and spoon from this clip 

Posing with my favourite joker … Sal with a Pearl Earring

The exhibition ends today (24 March) unfortunately but the guys are only a few clicks away. This is one of my favourite moments with Sal in an art gallery   Enjoy…

 

One World Trade Centre

It’s hard to miss the One World Trade Centre, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere. When I last visited New York it was still being built, and my first visit to New York in 2006 was when construction was in the very early stages. It’s a beautiful building and the 9/11 memorial beside it is very sensitively done.

One of the two memorial pools marking the footprint of the two towers and inscribed with the names of the victims

I was in two minds as to whether I wanted to go up to the One World Trade Observatory but my boyfriend was keen so before I knew it we were gliding up to the 102nd floor in the lift. I loved the way that they unveiled the view, and once the following sales pitches were over, we spent some time admiring the breathtaking views (in-between stepping back from the windows to calm my nerves!). I had a delicious martini in the bar and had to pinch myself at the setting.

THAT VIEW!

After coming back down to earth, we went to St Paul’s Chapel. Known as the ‘Little Church that Stood’, St Paul’s was remarkably left standing after the events of 9/11. When I visited New York with my school choir in 2006 we performed in the church and it was one of the most emotional performances I’ve ever taken part in. I was keen to visit the church again and in the small 9/11 Chapel of Remembrance, I was moved by the artefacts they have put on display and the memories of when a group of girls from London had the privilege to sing in such a special place.

We then spent some time walking around the area, the architecture is stunning and the perfect place for some photography!

I have no idea what this building is, but I love it. 

More to come from my weekend in New York including a visit to Staten Island (yes – we actually went out of the ferry terminal) and a misty Sunday.

An Englishwoman in New York

I love New York City, it’s definitely one of my favourite places in the world. I first visited when I was just 15 and on a school choir tour, it was an incredible experience and left a real mark on me. I then visited for my 21st birthday with my Mum and we had such a fantastic time, accidentally walking onto the set of Inside Llewyn Davis was a highlight. After those two trips, I’ve been keen to return for a while, and my boyfriend hadn’t visited since he was a child so we set about booking a BA Holiday deal in January. Less than a month later we were sitting in a yellow cab speeding towards the skyline.

We only had a few days to explore, some might say it was crazy to go for such a short period of time. We landed on Thursday lunchtime and our flight back was on Sunday evening. But I think we managed to fit a lot into this trip, as you’ll see from my blog posts!

On our first afternoon, once we’d checked into our hotel, The Roger (with the comfiest bed I’ve ever slept in) we set off exploring. The plan was to walk to the Brooklyn Bridge via some of the neighbourhoods we wanted to walk through. It was a beautiful afternoon and I instantly fell back in love with the city.

I didn’t take many photos as we were walking through Manhattan but couldn’t resist once we got onto the Brooklyn Bridge, it was beautiful.

Sunset over the city, bathing the Statue of Liberty in light

Looking back to Midtown

Dumbo – the Manhattan Bridge perfectly framing the Empire State Building

 

New York is definitely a city that lends itself to black and white!

Once our sleepiness started to take hold we got on the subway to Williamsburg and the Brooklyn Brewery. As not much of a beer drinker, I was relieved to find that they also do a cider, which was delicious. We’d been awake for almost 24 hours when we finally got back to the hotel, but when in the city that never sleeps why waste time sleeping!

 

Ta Prohm and the end of an adventure

It’s taken me nearly 3 months, but this is the last blog post from my incredible trip to South East Asia back in November. I’d like to finish by sharing some more temple photographs. Ta Prohm was my favourite temple, and although it is one of the most popular with tourist groups, it was easy to lose the crowds and discover our own experience of this incredible place. When I studied A-level art one of the themes I explored was nature taking over man-made structures so this would have been the perfect subject matter! They are talking of restoring some of the temples but I hope they don’t do too thorough a job, as for me the beauty of this place is made by the ruins and trees intertwining.

Queuing for that iconic holiday snap!

There’s something quite sinister about this tree

Ok, so maybe some restoration would be required … 

A sense of the scale of the temple, and the number of tourists

It’s felt like quite a marathon to write all these posts and choose from my thousands of photos. But I’m glad that I did it as it’s given me time to reflect on this trip. I’m not what you would call a “traveller”, I hate flying and I’m a bit of a scaredy-cat generally so this trip was a big deal for me. Although it’s a cliche, this really felt like a once in a lifetime experience and I savoured every moment that we had. Although I’d rather forget the cockroach incident in our hotel …