Dear New York,

It's been real, but I am off! I love you and will miss you, but we
both knew that it was only a short time I was visiting for. My
question is when are you coming to visit me, Manhattan? I am always
coming to see you! Till next time,
Love, Alex.

Staten Island Ferry

I know, I know... I am a broken record, but the Staten Island Ferry is
by far the best free thing in New York! The views are amazing. You get
within a couple hundred meters of the Statue of Liberty as well as
great views of lower Manhattan and the Brooklyn Bridge!

Grand Central Station

I am not one for museums, but I do appreciate nice buildings (thanks
dad!). The main area of Grand Central Station is probably one of the
largest enclosed areas I have ever been in. It is so beautiful. Words
can't describe how much detail went into this masterpiece – luckily
photos can, see above!

Central Park

Walking around central park was a nice way to spend a few hours. I
went to the great lawn and sat under a tree, ate some strawberries and
watched a game of baseball. It was very relaxing!

Ke$ha

I should have known better; a free concert, in the middle of the
largest city in America, by a #1 artist? Yeah, I saw Ke$ha for about 2
seconds and only her head. A police officer told me that there were
people waiting from 3am for the 9am concert. Seriously? 6 hours, for
what 4 songs? All that said, Ke$ha was really great; she did an on
stage rehearsal with 4 songs about 6.30 – 5 minutes after I got there.
That was real nice of her (she only performed 2 songs on air at 9am).
I left after the rehearsal. I would love to see her if she comes down
under! I would rather pay $100 for a ticket to see her (and more than
her head) than wait for 6 hours.

Catching up with Barbara

A night on an airplane without sleep means that staying awake to meet
someone for a 2.30 'lunch' is harder than it would ordinarily be.
After more coffees than is healthy, 2.30 finally came around. It was
great to see Barbara! She took me to a little boutique restaurant on
the Upper East Side. It was so busy; I overheard someone say that had
waited for over an hour for a table! Lucky we had a reservation! A
frozen hot chocolate was the 'hot' item on the menu and I can say
justifiably so. We finished up the afternoon with a walk along the
East River (a very original name) and it was 7pm before we knew it!

Walking the Brooklyn Bridge

After not having time to walk this New York symbol last year, it was
at the top of my list of things to do this trip. After an all night
flight from Los Angeles, I arrived at my hotel at 7.15am. Now, whoever
said New York is the town that never sleeps is lying – it's more of a
town that goes to bed very late and sleeps in :) With most stores and
attractions closed at that evil hour, I made my way across to Brooklyn
and walked the famous Brooklyn Bridge (which was built before the
invention of the car, originally for pedestrians and horse and karts).
It wasn't as great as walking the Golden Gate in San Francisco, but it
was definitely a worthwhile experience! The views of lower Manhattan
are spectacular.

Guy Sebastian

You are probably as surprised to see a blog entry with "Guy Sebastian"
as a title as I am. I am not his greatest fan – can't even think of
one song of his I ever liked. I never watched Australian Idol, nor can
even remember if he was the one who won. He is an Australian. He is a
celebrity. He is talented. And he did sit 2 rows back and 2 seats
across from me on my LA to NY flight. When he boarded, I thought that
guy looks like Guy Sebastian. I didn't believe it. A 5 hour flight
later and I am at baggage claim. There is a man waiting to pick up a
passenger and on the sign it says "Sebastian". This is when I believed
it. I waited within a few metres of this person. Yes, like a stalker.
It was him! I knew I would kick myself if I didn't speak to him. So
whilst everyone was waiting for the checked bags to come through I
casually asked him "How was your flight?" We spoke for a couple of
minutes, I discovered he was in New York filming X-Factor (a TV show)
and he asked me what I was there for. It was pretty cool, probably
would have appreciated it a bit more if I hadn't been on an all night
flight without sleeping!

Chinatown in San Francisco.

Chinatown in San Francisco is the largest (by population) outside of
China! It is (naturally) very busy, the health practices are
questionable, but souvenirs are dirt cheap! I picked up a couple of
T-shirts for myself for under $2 each and got some gifts for people
back home. All that said I had a great day and had tasty Yum Cha for
lunch!

Sausalito

Sausalito is the most beautiful place I have ever been. It is about
10km from San Francisco, on the other side of San Francisco Bay, but
yet it feels like it is in another world. As much as I ♥ SF (yes, I
did buy a t-shirt to tell the world this) the weather is not the
nicest. I am here in the middle of summer and there are maximums of
15°C, nearly always thick fog and strong winds. Sausalito is the San
Francisco escape that has weather that California is famous for! A
beautiful 25°C today with spectacular views – as I said, it is the
most beautiful place I have ever been.