Decided that we absolutely needed to get up early today, and we almost managed it. We’d showered and dressed and were ready to go by about half past nine- well done us!
We’d decided to head to the UN Headquarters- because that sounded like a rather interesting place to start the day. But first we needed breakfast. We ate on the streets. Gillian and Alice got a tea and coffee from a street vendor. Gillian’s tea was ridiculously hot, and very strong, and Alice’s coffee was barely luke-warm, and weak- altogether not a great start... though Bessie was sort of pleased- she had a nice banana (unfortunately the peach was soft).
Okay I’m really sorry about that last paragraph. You were probably all wondering where it was going, and what exciting conclusion it was going to have, and then it just ended; talking about soft peaches and cold coffee. Great. It’s because I’m exhausted- we all are!
Moving swiftly on, we reached the UN building, after passing through an interesting office block which housed an indoor garden.
We had a thorough security check, and were admitted. First stop was to buy some stamps and postcards. It was a beautiful moment when we found ourselves paying at the till what was on the label on the products. No tax added for the first time in 6 weeks! See, in the building we were no longer on U.S. soil, but international territory- score! The audio tour we wanted to go on didn’t start for a while, so we bought even more food, and more coffee. Then we joined the tour.
It was really interesting, and to be honest, it was actually a bit emotional too at parts. First stop was in the room you’ve probably all seen on television on the news when important international conferences are being publicised. We looked out for the United Kingdom seats but we were only allowed in one area (the G part which had Germany, Ghana etc). What was really touching about this room was how every single country got 6 seats, and every single country received one equally weighted vote. So a country as populous as China with multi-billions of people, and one as small as San Marino with just 35,000 people, both have an equal vote on something- it was such a nice thought that small countries were just as empowered in this room as all the world-dominating super-powers.
Next stop was through a number of exhibitions about various things: land mines and the laws now preventing them, ‘schools in boxes’ which were literally that- cheap boxes with all the equipment needed to educate a child in an impoverished areas, human rights, and the terrible aftermath of the Hiroshima and Nagasaki atomic bombs (we saw statues that had been a mile away, charred and ruined, and glass bottles melted together in the heat of the it).
Our final stop on the tour was into the UN Security Council Room, where the 5 permanent members of the council (U.S., U.K., Russia, China, France), and then 10 countries elected on rotation held conferences in times of emergency (e.g. the recent Libyan conflicts).
Then we got a cheeky photo with Ban Ki Moon (Secretary General of the UN):
After finishing our tour we headed back to Times Square for lunch. We were originally planning on eating at the Marriott (in their rotating, rooftop restaurant), but it didn't open until 5pm, so instead we ate at a ridiculously expensive, non-rooftop, non-rotating restaurant. Then we queued for about half an hour in Times Square for tickets to a Broadway show. We'd all really wanted to see 'How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying' (the one with Daniel Radcliffe in), but it was fully booked. Instead we got tickets for 'Cirque de Soleil'- the acrobat performance, which we were all very excited about!!
We found ourselves with some free time, in the middle of Times Square, New York. Naturally, shopping was now top of our agenda. We headed to American Eagle Outfitters, and then Forever Twentyone - two very nice clothes shops! Sadly we didn't have much time, and before we knew it, it was time for us to move hostels.
We got the subway back to Columbus Circle, met up with Mike (one of the Americans from Toronto) to return to him the sunglasses he'd left in our room, had a bit of a catch up, and then rushed off to the hostel. Because the subway had been incredibly busy (as in when the doors of the train open, you just have to kind of jump in and hope you don't bounce out again), we realised getting the subway to our next hostel, with our suitcases, was an unviable option. Yellow taxi cab it was then.
The taxi journey was absolutely mental. Our driver seemed to have a bee in his bonnet about there being other drivers on the road, and seemed to be aiming to hit as many different vehicles as possible. Luckily, we made it in one piece (although I'm surprised our ear-drums survived the constant honking!). A hotel bellboy helped us unload our luggage, not realising we were staying at the cheap, shabby hostel across the road.Our hostel, the Whitehouse Hostel in East Village, was definitely the worst hostel we've stayed in this trip, but it was an experience! We were on the 4th floor, there was no elevator, internet was down, our 3 person bedroom was about the size of three toilet cubicles stuck together (no kidding!!). Each room on the floor was pretty much just separated by a thin, wooden, free-standing wall, which didn't reach the ceiling.
Quickly changing, we raced off to get the subway back to the Rockefeller Centre, which was near where our show was being held.
Arrived in the nick of time. The show was absolutely breath-takingly amazing!! Some highlights include:
1. A lady who could juggle about 9 balls, bouncing them under all sorts of different sized boxes at once, and them climbing stairs backwards while bouncing them on lower steps.
2. Two people hanging off one rope, swinging around, flipping etc.
3. Two men holding a bendy beam while a women flipped around on it as if it were a trampoline.
4. Two men in a rotating circle thing, running around, skipping, and flipping on it, blindfolded.
5. Some trapeze artists- this was incredible, but impossible to describe.
6. A human tower of four people on each other's shoulders (getting into the position by being thrown up, and then flipping onto the person below's shoulders).
7. Lady doing amazing sand-drawings.
8. A man balanced on a vertical ladder, holding another ladder above him, with a girl on that ladder, doing a one handed handstand!!
9. Awesome tight rope walkers/
etc. etc.
After the show, we were pretty exhausted, so started out packing, had a few of our Bacardi Breezers, and then went to bed. It was pretty sad going to bed that night, knowing that it was our last night here in North America. None of us are ready to go home- but we suppose all good things must come to an end!
One last blog entry to come- let's make it a good one!
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