Happy New Year!
we started the day on the bus wishing each other a happy new year for Brisbane time (9am here), and ended the day just now at 2.15am as we arrived back at our hotel, wishing each other a USA happy new year.
Our first port of call this morning was Fenway Park, the home of the Boston Red Socks and we all really enjoyed listening to young Pete, our tour guide, as he proudly showed off the oldest ball park in the USA - the tour was a real highlight and allowed us a chance to really experience the feeling of baseball and the World Series. Then we headed off to New York City, a four hour drive through some most beautiful countryside, stopping along the way to let the group have their first try at lunch at McDonalds or Taco Bell! We were able to arrange for the hotel restuarant to provide dinner (which was really lovely, and quite cheap) before we rugged up and boarded the bus heading for the South Street Seaport on Manhattan Island. Along the way we drove through Harlem, alongside the full length of Central Park, saw where John Lennon was shot, the New York Zoo (as last seen in the movie Madagascar) and drove much of the length of 5th Avenue. There was little traffic so it gave us all a chance to see into the shops (which were shut, much to some keen shoppers disgust) and fewer people around as they had all headed for Times Square.
After buying a few cheap 'I Love New York' tshirts and hoodies from a street vendor we boarded our New York City Ferry at 9pm and journeyed along the Hudson River for much of the full length of Downtown and Midtown, seeing so many famous site - the aircraft carrier Intrepid, where the 737 was brought down, the dock which was where the Titanic was supposed to pull up, the Empire State Building and Chrysler Building and the beauty of New Jersey across the river from NYC. Floating back we ended up at the foot of the Statue of Liberty - a breathtaking experience with so very many photos taken from the top deck of the ferry. A short cruise under the bridges over the Brooklyn River saw us head back toward the Statue in preparation for midnight. We were all given noisy horns, silly tiaras and a glass of bubbly for the adults and braved the cold to go back out for midnight. Words cannot explain how I felt on that deck as the fireworks rose of the State of Liberty, with New York City behind us - a once in a lifetime experience which brought tears to some of our eyes. The boys were fantastic, and watched in awe at the display and the setting.
We got back to the dock at 1.45am, and all are now safely tucked up in bed (many slept on the bus ride home too).
A couple of funny photos tonight - the first is of the swimming pool from my hotel room window, and the second is what you get in a restaurant when you order chips, not fries! The other two are from our river cruise.
Apologies with the mobile phone arrangements - the phones the boys have been given do not receive calls or texts from overseas - feel free to call or text my USA mobile (+1 201 443 6486) or my Blackberry (+6142 555 7672) or call one of the hotels - just remember the time difference as one mum called through at 4am this morning.
We are sleeping in tomorrow (or today really) and not heading off until 10.30am.
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