I'm not sure why they call New York the Big Apple but I can assure you that it is big. In fact, the city is huge and the size overwhelmed and facinated me all at once. I knew it was going to be big but nothing prepared me for how big. We had a week to conquer New York but you couldn't see everything in a month so we tried our best amidst exhaustion and sickness.

We arrived in the evening after trying to get to our lovely little guest house in the East Village via the confusing and very dirty subway. Looking for a bite to eat we arrived at the famous Katz's Deli where I ate an awesome hot dog with saurekraut and mustard and a hearty helping of chicken noodle soup. We hung out at a groovy bar and then saw blues/rock artist Holly Golightly at the Mercury Lounge before collapsing in bed.

I was tired and probably not prepared for the amount of walking ahead for the next few days. A free ferry to Staten Island was adequate enough for a look at the Statue of Liberty. We had a walk around Wall Street, which had guards with huge guns!, and the financial district, before reaching Ground Zero. There wasn't a lot to see, just a timeline and pictures of the event but it did give me chills none the less. We made our way up to Canal Street where there was many a bargain to be found (if you could sort the real stuff from the fakes) then ate at an excellent dumpling house where they had 10 dumplings for $2!!! What a feast.

The Museum of Modern Art was free after 5pm so we made our way down there and it really was the most I have ever enjoyed art. The building was amazing and they had pretty much everything from the Impressionist period onwards. After this we saw some different art: music at Brooklyn's Southpaw, which has played host to some great bands. Tonight we saw some Chinese rock bands and some weird electro dudes from Canada.

That day exhuasted me but the next few were worse: we did plenty of window shopping in Soho, where everything was too expensive for real shopping and everyone looked beautiful and in which case I felt completely ordinary! This area is very upmarket with so many designer shops and expensive cafe's. The Prada store impressed me the most with what looked like a giant skate ramp in middle. I didn't belong there! Broadway was much more affordable for shopping and a lot of fun to walk around. The next day after walking around midtown for hours and window shopping and strolling through Central Park I walked 80 blocks back to the guest house and nearly collapsed! My feet were in so much pain. This area is exactly what you see in the movies. And although it cost 18 US dollars I had to go to the top of the Empire State Building and gasp at the view. It was beyond anything I had ever seen in my life. This city is enormous!

An entire day was also spent exploring Brooklyn, in particular Williamsburg and Park Slope, the former being a really cool alternative area with vintage shops and dive-y bars and the latter being very picturesque and more residential. Brooklyn was a great 'escape' from the busy, noisey life of Manhattan but even so you really cannot escape the city in New York, which is ultimatley why I could never live here. We ate at a great burger place called Schnack where they give you an option to have as many mini burger patti's in a bun as you like and beer milkshakes (they taste better than they sound!!).

I didn't think I would but we spent a bit of time around Times Square, where all the bright lights and crazy ads suck you in. We even bought Hershey's chocolates at the huge store which was packed with tourists. The square is so bright it looks like daytime. And you can't help but be sucked into the ads some of them are really awesome. We also saw The Roots at Nokia Theatre here, which was a lot of fun, and The Producers, which was so funny and entertaining! My broadway show was truly worth the $60 ticket (half price at tkts).

I did so many more things like gape at crazy clothing price tags in the East Village, eat Magnolia Bakery cupcakes and fall really sick with a cold and cough, surely due to exhaustion. But there is so much to do in New York that I couldn't waste time recovering in bed. It's a crazy city and very overwheliming. Surely unlike anywhere I will ever visit in my life.

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