Neiw Yoirk Repoit Part 1

Well... i have to say that our time in New York was excellent! The hotel was in a great location (East 30th Street) for walking to most of the stuff we wanted to see. My legs and lower back were killing me by the end of the week as we had walked so far! I am only usually used to walking from my house to the car and from the car to the office desk. Not really - but not far off the truth! New York is a really amazing place! Although the residents are a total ethnic/social mix, the roads are filled with cheeky honking yellow taxi's and the density of the buildings, businesses and shops is so intense, it all just "works"! It's quite funny to see people skateboarding to work or rollerblading down the street backwards during the rush hour. Not funny as in "har har, look at that twat" but funny as in that it's just accepted and seems normal! Even to me, who had only been there a few days. I read before I went that New York has a "can do" attitude and you realise what that means when you see the people just going about their business, but in their own unique way, with no hassle or prejudice from anyone! New York is definitely the iPod capital of the world. I counted more "white phones" per block than anywhere I have been before. People also seem ok about getting out their "technology" in public, be it iPods, CellPhones, Laptops or PDAs. I always feel quite reserved and nervous about using my laptop on a train for example but I lost count of the number of people using their Apple Powerbooks in coffee shops whist listening to their iPods or sitting outside in public parks using the free Google wifi to MSN video chat. I even saw what I thought was a tramp who was checking the bins for rubbish only then to pull out his Hipster phone/pda and sit down to do some typing! Weird! The whole atmosphere was great and we felt safe and welcomed where ever we went. I was going to do a big write up here on each day we were there, but it would take too long. In the next part of my report I will highlight the highlights and dish the dirt on the tourist attractions.