SEPTEMBER 13

This is my second trip to New York but first since 2004. I remember the year as England were playing in the Euro finals and, on the giant screens in Times Square, I watched them lose on penalties to Portugal. Sigh. It’s Jane’s fourth but first since 2017.

DEPARTURE

Jane lives 15 minutes from Manchester airport which is handy for our 2.30pm departure. We fly with Aer Lingus (Ireland’s national airline). Here’s a window shot just before landing and, in the distance, a first sighting of the Manhattan skyline. Flight time: 7 hours 45 minutes although, due to tailwinds, we beat that.

Below: We’ve landed. Cameras on, trying to capture the skyline. It’s within touching distance now. Well, 17 miles away to be precise (John F. Kennedy airport Terminal 7 to Manhattan).

We’ve pre-booked a pick-up car. It takes a little while to arrive but Jane seems happy as we wait for our driver (Guo from China) just outside the terminal. Well, why wouldn’t she be? We’re in New York!

It’s rush hour and rush hours in New York don’t involve much rushing. We should probably catch the train but succumb to the lazy option of the taxi which crawls through traffic and takes around 90 minutes to drop us at our hotel. On the plus side, from the back seat I manage to capture this pleasing shot as the sun starts to set just after 6.30pm (sunset is 7.07pm in NYC in mid-September).

HOTEL

Our accommodation – the Ace Hotel New York – is a recommendation from my brother’s wife, Emma. She stayed there with my two nieces the previous December. It’s an arty 12-story boutique hotel in Midtown so a cool location too (20 West 29th Street). The John Lee Hooker album is the hotel’s; the Salt & Vinegar Pringles are ours.

Here’s a video, revealing among other things a SMEG fridge, a guitar and chic wallpaper.

The SMEG is ideal to keep the milk which I pour on these – Strawberry Milkshake Frosties! What a find! Locating a local shop selling cereal is always a massive moment for me on any trip abroad. The sugar count is admittedly a tad high but they taste fantastic. There’s no spoon in our room so I shovel them out of a cup using the end of a tube of toothpaste. Needs must. Ten ‘resourceful’ points to me.

SEPTEMBER 14

Our first full day and, helped by the five-hour time difference with the UK, we’re up and about early.

The Subway is a very efficient way of getting about. We’re heading from Midtown to Downtown – about a 20-minute ride.

I always like to capture the sounds of a city when abroad. It helps place you.

Jane grabs a coffee from a health-food store near Wall Street station.

The New York Stock Exchange.

9/11 MEMORIAL AND MUSEUM

This is near the very top of my must-do list. It still seems astonishing the tragic events of September 11 actually happened. Woody Allen, who made so many great films about/set in New York, once pointed out that the terrorists were repulsed by American culture and yet decided to attack New York in a way that was beyond the imagination of a Hollywood director.

I remember arriving at work in Leeds the day it happened and watching the second plane hit live on TV. My naive instant take was that there was some weird forcefield throwing planes off course and causing them to crash. It soon became clear that New York was under attack. I had been in America the previous month, covering a golf tournament in Atlanta.

It was a very moving hour and a half I spent in the museum (could easily have been much longer). It’s huge inside, the scale, space and muted acoustics allowing a deeper reflection.

Before entering, I looked into the fountains where the Twin Towers once stood.

Some of the personal artefacts that were recovered really humanize what happened that day. It can seem abstract when you witness the planes crashing and read on a page the number of people (2,996) who died but seeing shoes/backpacks really hits you. Every life lost was a tragedy and sent its own wave of devastation.

Jane had already been to the 9/11 Museum on a previous New York visit so, with me having a fear of heights, she opts to make the short walk to the One World Observatory – Its website says: “The best views of New York City from the tallest tower in the USA.” Jane’s pics back that up.

YANKEE STADIUM

Next stop, it’s back on the Subway. We’re heading to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx to see one of the world’s most iconic sports teams/institutions: the New York Yankees.

Here we are pre kick-off. Or throw off? First pitch? Start time: 13.05 under blue skies. Ticket prices: £61 each. View: up in the gods but excellent.

Jane looks very American (the hat, the teeth). I look very English (Fred Perry shirt).

Not much happens in baseball for large chunks and it’s a slight surprise that it still exists in its present format given the reduction in attention spans and thirst for quickfire action in our current culture. But there’s enough music blaring out – including this from New York’s finest, The Ramones – as each player comes out to bat/change of innings to keep everyone entertained. Plus plenty of fast food and beer to tuck into as well.

At one point the game is halted and a senior military man starts singing the national anthem which feels a bit odd to a Brit (imagine them stopping Liverpool v Man Utd after 25 minutes to sing God Save The King).

The Yankees get hammered 7-1 (the above video shows their only run) as it happens and star player Michael Judge (his name wins the battle for shirt space) makes no impact. We don’t see a home run either although that doesn’t detract from a great first visit to Yankee Stadium. My first baseball game, Jane’s second.

As a footnote, the Yankees gain revenge over the Red Sox the very next day, winning 5-2, and even make it all the way to the World Series but their hopes of title glory are ended (4-1) by the LA Dodgers.

CENTRAL PARK

We stop off here – another New York must – for a stroll. Just over the road is the Dakota hotel where John Lennon was shot dead by Mark Chapman on the evening of 8 December, 1980. There’s no acknowledgement of that near the hotel itself but plenty of love for the late Beatle elsewhere in Central Park where his ashes are scattered. I can remember hearing the news of his death at school the morning after. I’m a huge Beatles fan and recall Imagine going to No.1 shortly after his passing (it only got to No.6 in the UK chart when he first released it in 1975).

TIMES SQUARE

A staple of any trip to New York although it’s a little too commercialised for me. Good for a few photos though, starting with some wide-eyed pointing at a gorilla.

A good day for the step count. With appetites worked up, we find a great little Italian place around the corner from our hotel – Pastagasm.

SEPTEMBER 15

RUNNING THE BROOKLYN BRIDGE

One thing on our must-do list is something not found on the usual tourist ‘Top 10’ list: running the Brooklyn Bridge. On a blog I’ve found, it’s around 1.3 miles in distance (Manhattan to Brooklyn) and the views are spectacular.

It’s 09.18 local time on Sunday morning and getting a little busy although there’s still plenty of room for all us early-morning NYC joggers. Yes, I’ve awarded us such a status. Off we go, full of beans, but what they don’t tell you is that there’s quite a sharp incline when setting off and we’re rather puffing away until the wooden planks start to flatten out.

But what goes up, must come down so it’s fun finishing on the other side.

And those views looking back to Manhattan are incredible. Almost unreal. CGI maybe. A real pinch yourself moment as you soak it all in. A brief bit of white up above thwarts the “not a cloud in the sky” line but it’s 22 degrees, sunny and we’ve got a live, close up view of the most recognisable skyline on the planet.

GOVERNORS ISLAND

New York’s biggest secret? Perhaps to UK travellers at least. No-one seemed to have heard of it when we mentioned it to friends but a trip out to Governors Island on the ferry (seven-minute ride) is a great way to spend the afternoon.

A rather strange place, it has the air of a former military outpost (indeed it once was) but also carries zombie film set vibes. Hence this video.

I think the joke would have worn a bit thin had I spent the whole day walking about like one of the undead so a much better way of getting around the island is to hire a bike from ‘Blazing Saddles’. Well, not quite a bike but a rather clunky go-kart that is a bit of a bugger to ride if truth be told. Certainly solo but when Jane doubles the leg power from two to four we really get going. And look at those views of the Manhattan skyline! Can’t get enough of them today.

With 360-degree views of New York and seven miles of paths (there are no cars!) it’s a great place for photographs/videos. Around this corner we find the “lady with the ice cream” as my daughter called it once.

Having run the Brooklyn Bridge earlier that day, I’m in jogging mode. I think Jane is filming the backdrop more than me but I’m happy to run into shot.

Perhaps the best thing about Governors Island is that you feel like you’ve hired it for the day, perhaps with 50 or so others. There’s loads of space to kick back and, with no-one anywhere near us, we find some comfy shaded outdoor seating to chill out and take in the views.

Below – I never miss a photo opportunity to make a famous big thing look small due to it being far away. The Statue of Liberty gets the perspective treatment here.

Rather than dash for the ferry back (they’re every half hour) we take our time and soak in those iconic buildings with a refreshing cocktail.

The video below catches the laid-back vibe. I think I choose to record this clip as the bar is playing one of my favourite Wings songs – ‘Love Is Strange’. Go Macca! Well, Linda McCartney was from New York so it kind of makes sense.

And here’s a ‘pano’ shot taken during our loop of the island.

And a photo of the famous Staten Island ferry.

WEST VILLAGE

Perry Street and a famous New York attraction – the apartment used by Carrie Bradshaw in Sex and the City. Here’s Jane outside before we walk a couple of minutes around the corner and have a cupcake from the iconic Magnolia Bakery – also made famous by the 1990s American comedy-drama. Fun fact: the bakery is on Bleecker Street, the subject of a 1964 song by Simon and Garfunkel who, of course, were leading lights in the Greenwich Village folk scene.

And just around the corner, another photo opportunity for Jane!

And here’s 82 Jane Street where a plaque remembers Alexander Hamilton, the First Secretary of the Treasury, who died here the day after his duel with political rival Vice President Aaron Burr on July 12, 1804. Hamilton? Yes, that one! His life story is told in the wonderful hit Broadway musical ‘Hamilton’ which I saw in London a few summers ago.

THE HIGH LINE

The High Line is a 1.5-mile-long public park that runs along Manhattan’s West Side. It’s built on an elevated historic freight rail line. Very pretty with lots of public artwork (spot Andy Warhol in the second pic), places to eat and even live music. It was founded by local residents in 1999 to prevent the rail track being demolished. Lovely chilled atmosphere and some great views.

The Korean district is very near our Midtown Hotel so that inspires tonight’s food choice. The food here at ‘Her name is Han’ is gorgeous.

SEPTEMBER 16

Our final morning. Jane pops to the shops to get some items for her daughters while I make the 20-minute walk to the iconic Grand Central Terminal (42nd Street and Park Avenue in Midtown).

It’s back to the hotel to check out. Catching the monorail back to the airport is much quicker than the rush hour taxi.

It’s 7.45pm local, the sun is vanishing and it’s time to say farewell to New York and enjoy the overnight flight back to Manchester.