Monday 22nd November - Hollywood - Universal City, Los Angeles

After a haircut for Derek, some shopping for Sue and some nosh, we searched for some accomodation in New York . Not an easy task as Thanksgiving is coming up on Thursday and a long holiday weekend - we settled for a place in Queens for 5 nights and will have to sort out the rest when we get there. We also got a hotel in the French Quarter of New Orleans for next week. A trip a few miles away took us to Universal City close to the studio and theme park - 15 minutes walk on foot. Universal City is actually a complete district in it's own right with a fire bridage, police department, etc and no, they're not just there for the movies! We tried to get our tickets for Tears For Fears a day early but couldn't so we went home for an early night.

Tuesday 23rd November - A quick walk to the shuttle bus took us up to the gates of the theme park. We weren't tempted by the higher priced 'Front of Line' pass as the crowd around us seemed small. Our first stop was the 'Shrek 4D' show with it's moving seats, supplied 3D glasses and excellent special effects. 'The Mummy' rollercoaster we went for a ride on and once more as the queue was non-existent . Backdraft was a demonstration of fire effects and their creation for a movie. The Jurassic Park 'river' wasn't quite as soaking as we thought it might be and we liked the 84 foot waterfall drop. We found an area to sit outside of the 'Wet Zone' for the Waterworld show with it's futuristic pirate-like site with lots of big splashes and explosions. The 'Blues Brothers' got the crowd swaying with their singing. A bus took us on a tour of the film sets they've used for many major films over the years - Jaws popped his head up from the lake and we experienced an on-set 'earthquake'. One more 3D film - this time, the 'Terminator', a Back to the Future simulator ride and an animal show later and we'd covered everything available with 2 hours to spare. So we went back to the rollercoaster 3 more times. We ate and had a bottle of wine before the Tears For Fears show. On our way in we couldn't bring our 'backpacks' though a lady with a HUGE handbag had no problems! The beer was so expensive we had a bottle of champagne instead - but we had to put it in a milk carton cos they wouldn't let us have the bottle inside the venue! The Amphitheatre venue held 8,000 people and was pretty much full . It was was all over too quickly for Sue but we both had enjoyed the show.

Wednesday 24th November - Los Angeles - New York
We awoke the worse for wear this morning after last night's excesses. We paid our bill and jumped in the car for the last time in this part of the trip (2,400 miles in total) down the early morning chock-a-block freeway. We didn't know it at the time when we booked our flights for today but we were travelling on the busiest day of the year in the US. This was emphasised by the 1 mile long queue we spotted for the security checks in a different section of the airport. We found the car drop-off point easily enough and were soon checked in. The flight took 5.5 hours and we landed at Newark in New Jersey. We picked up a phone and booked a couple of nights at the airport till we move on on Friday. We decided not to stand in the McDonalds 'Drive Thru' 24 hours queue and came back to the motel for a late night Chinese instead (even though it wasn't really late night - it was 9pm as far as our stomachs were concernted)

Thursday 25th November - New York City
We woke at 9 .45am (6.45am to us) on the national holiday of Thanksgiving and decided we weren't in a hurry so we watched the New York parade from the best vantage point - our bed. We watched a cookery programme sing the praises of deep-fried turkey whilst an inquistive mother asked the experts how long she should put her turkey in the oven (It's on the package was his reply)! Last night's unseasonally balmy weather had changed to a cool windy day as we caught the train to downtown Manhattan. It started to pour down as we walked the streets past the Empire State Building towards 5th Avenue. The best place to escape the wet was the subway so we bought a 7 day ticket and headed towards Soho. Wrong turns took us through the 'dodgy merchandise' area of Chinatown before we settled for one of the few bars open at 5pm on Thanksgiving. We're still getting used to the fact that the barman 'buys' you a drink after you have 2 (for this a huge tip is expected). After some beer, wine and food in a 'Chicago' bar we headed back accross the Hudson river to New Jersey and Newark airport .

Friday 26th November - New York City
Still difficult to sleep at the 'right' time with our bodies still thinking they're in LA. A very crowded train journey took us from Newark to Manhattan and from there the subway to Queens which was the last place we'd found in NYC with reasonable prices. Despite the cigarette-burns on the chair in our 'non-smoking' room the place isn't too bad - about 20 minutes on the subway to Manhattan. By the time we'd eaten and dropped our bags it was late afternoon so we stopped off in 'midtown' at the tourist office. There wasn't a great deal of shows available on Broadway at TKTS ticket booth so we decided to try our luck with 'Rent' and their last minute 'draw' for front row seats. Lo and behold just like when he was here 7 years ago Derek's name was drawn out again (though his Dad's name wasn't like before!) ! So for $20 each we'd landed front row seats to see still one of the 'hottest' shows on Broadway. We spent a happy hour having a drink in a Chinese around the corner before joining the long queue to see the show . All about sex, drugs and rock 'n' roll, it's still the music (and the singing) that grabs your attention and brings a lump to your throat. We loved the show and sitting right in the front row was the icing on the cake.

Saturday 27th November - New York City
Changed rooms this morning for the better. Holiday season is in full swing right now with Xmas songs being played in every hotel, store and restaurant. We caught the subway to the infamous 'Ground Zero' where the twin towers of the World Trade Centre used to stand before September 11,2001. It is an eerie and at times emotional place. The size of the huge gaping hole has to be seen to be believed. We declined the opportunity to take any photos as it didn't somehow seem right to us - besides, all you're going to see is a huge building site now. We walked downtown a bit further to Battery Park where there stands a September 11 memorial, and past Wall Street and the financial district till we came accross a nice Irish pub in Lower East Side . We gave the place some extra atmosphere by continually pumping money into the jukebox to hear our favourite songs - jukeboxes should be much more common at home than they are, we think! Uptown we went to the 'Thady Dons' pub where Allen Gogarty (a man from Kilmainhamwood, very close to where Derek grew up) was playing as he'd told us by email earlier. Come 11pm, cometh the man and for the next 3.5 hours he belted out songs, old and new, classic and traditional. We were joined by Derek's cousin Shane who also lives in New York and caught up on old times as we hadn't spoken in nearly 3 years. We rolled out sometime around 3am and Allen was able to offer us a lift home in his car as he's only 5 minutes from where we're staying. We gratefully took it as it was pouring rain.

Sunday 28th November - New York City
Last night's 4am bedtime coupled with excessive amounts of alcohol made today a slow day in every way. We tried to contact Shane to meet up as agreed last night bus alas no-one was at home when we called (Shane, where were you !?) - so we settled for an afternoon and evening of vegatation, reading and TV in preparation for tomorrow .

Monday 29th November - New York City
We headed downtown this morning to the Statten Island ferry which is a local free service that passes close to the Statue of Liberty on it's journey. After getting our photos, like most people on the boat, we turned round and came back again immediately. In the Empire State Building we watched a 'Skyride' film over New York (with the twin towers still standing at that point) before we headed up to the 86th floor observatory level where the views were brilliant on a clear sunny day. Only 3 days ago someone had thrown himself over the edge at the top despite the 12 feet high spiked posts. We took a guided tour of the Rockefeller Centre built in the 30s in an art deco style by the son of business/oil magnate John D Rockefeller. Our guide was a quick-witted and knowledgeable guy about arts and politics. Next to Rockefeller (part of the same GE building complex as Rockefeller) was the NBC studios where we were the only people taking the 6pm tour! The tour was excellent, detailing such things as the incredible amount of lighting required for a show, how programs are produced and how to be a weather man, which Derek has now decided will be his new chosen career when he gets home!

Tuesday 30th November - New York City
We headed for Central Park first thing, where all New Yorkers come to play, with it's trees, flowers and 58 miles of footpaths . It was a great place to walk around on a glorious autumnal day (people were having wedding photos taken when we were there). The John Lennon memorial Strawberry Fields was more like strawberry cheesecake forever for us as we ate some of the local favourite on a nearby bench. Brooklyn Bridge was worth a walk accross for the views of the city skyline and we bought U2's new CD (they played a live trucktop concert here on Brooklyn Bridge last week!) in Times Square before heading for some pasta in 'Little Italy'. We didn't stay long though as we rang Derek's cousin Shane again and arranged to meet up before we left New York. So in the midtown Mercury Bar we met Shane and his girlfriend of the last 2 years, Rachel, and swapped stories not quite knowing where or when we'll meet again.