Sunday 2nd June

I don't think I've ever done as much walking in my entire life but I now feel like I have really seen New York! We started off the day by being given Metrocards and having our first experience of the Subway, turns out there is a knack to swiping the Metrocard and I am apparently a natural ;) We rode the number 6 from Pelham to 103rd St to visit the Museum of the City of New York. There was a 22 minute film narrated by Stanley Tucci (whose voice I could listen to forever) on the history of the city, it was interesting to see how, and more importantly why, it developed the way it has done over the years. The 'Activist New York' exhibit was also very interesting.. and we discovered that the Pride Parade is the day after we leave, gutted because that would have been an amazing experience!

After the Museum we rode the subway further along to Grand Central station, being a Sunday afternoon it was relatively quiet so we actually got the chance to stand in the main foyer and appreciate how beautiful it is- we then appreciated the food in the food concourse :)

Walking out of Grand Central and having the humid smell of street vendors hit me was the first time I really felt like I was in New York. We walked up 42nd to Fifth Ave to the entrance of the New York public library, it felt like walking into the British Museum- even if you don't really understand architecture you can't not feel in awe of such an incredible building.

50th St houses St. Patrick's Cathedral, the most influential Catholic Church in the country. Even with all the scaffolding outside (part of a three year renovation) it is still an impressive sight and there was a picture of one of the many stained glass windows inside the Cathedral but it is not uploading :(

The main part of the day was spent touring the Rockefeller Centre, also on 50th, I had no idea that it comprised of so many buildings and a lot of the tour was outside. We had possibly the most stereotypical American tour guide possible, full of enthusiasm and name dropping every 30 seconds, he was very entertaining though and the buildings and art work (along with the stories behind them) were impressive :) Possibly the best part of the tour though was the 'Top of the Rock', seeing the view from the 72nd floor of the Rockefeller lets you see NYC in a whole new way.. plus the elevator ride on the way up has pretty cool glass effects that made me feel like I was in Willy Wonka's chocolate factory and about to go straight through the roof! The last stop of the day was noodles at Sammy's in the Village :)

The tours were amazing but in some ways I think it's the smaller things that make the city so unique, like the guys who ride the subway begging for change, but as with everything in America they go to the extreme of getting the attention of the whole carriage then spilling out an elaborate story which lasts for 7 stops, or the girl (who you take 10 minutes to decide if it is actually a girl) who is clearly trying to memorise a hip hop routine and ends up doing a lil dance on the Subway for you.

All in all an amazing first day ended by chilling with the girlies in my room eating cupcakes (my room has become the living room because it's so big!). Kinda glad we are on campus tomorrow just to give our feet a rest though :)

Sorted out my picture problem- St. Patrick's Cathedral