The Honeymoon…

So, here we are again 6 months after the wedding!

2 weeks ago we arrive home from our honeymoon. We decided to take a belated honeymoon because of two reasons, 1-we had asked for honeymoon vouchers instead of a traditional gift list because we’ve lived together for over 5 years so this worked well for us and resulted in us being very spoilt by our very generous guests and also number 2 – because of work commitments we couldn’t jet off straight after our wedding.

So, we finally decided on visiting New York City and Las Vegas with 4 days in each. We didn’t think 4 days would be enough…and we found out that in fact it wasn’t – we should have had at least 5-7 days in each place.
Having never visited NYC but wanting too for some time when we arrived we couldn’t believe we were actually there!
Anyway, from the beginning.

We left for NYC a day before Nicky’s birthday so I had arranged for a limo to collect us from the airport with a nice chilled bottle of champagne waiting for us – which I am pleased to say it was although I had to spoil the surprise by telling Nicky about it as we stepped outside the airport because I couldn’t see the limo and thought I had been stitched up! I didn’t actually see a long black car with blacked out windows on the opposite side of the road!
So, we have the obligatory photo alongside the long car, get in, open the champagne and toast our honeymoon before making our way to our 5* hotel!
The hotel was lovely, albeit with miserable staff! we were on Lexington Avenue which is about a 10-15 minute walk from all the big shops on 5th Avenue! Heaven! However, we didn’t actually find this out until 2 days into our holiday!!!
Once we arrived at the hotel we dumped our cases and went off to explore the Big Apple! Immediately I started taking photos!

The first place we went to was Grand Central Station. There are so many iconic photographs of GCS with the light streaming through the windows at the top of the station however I couldn’t re-create that so I did my own photos!

I love the second shot here…I like the way the guy with the red rucksack is standing still staring up at the American flag whilst everyone around him just carry on with their business. For anyone interested these shots were all taken on my fantastic Canon G10 compact camera and the two GSC shots were shot at ISO200, 1/6th at f5.0 handheld.

So, from Grand Central Station we walked around for a few hours, stopping at one of the many Starbucks which can be found on virtually every street!! We bought a few souvenirs and headed back to the hotel for a shower and some sleep!

The next day, our first day in NYC and it was Nicky’s birthday so I surprised him with a great card that I had made which was a mock up of a newspaper sports page with his football photos on it. We were awake quite early because of the time difference so we decided to head of to the Statue of Liberty. We were really early so we went and had pancakes for breakfast!! Eventually we were in the line for the Liberty Island ferry and it was FREEZING cold! We were not appropriately dressed for the weather because when we arrived the afternoon before we felt Ok dressed in just a jumper, jeans and a coat! By the River Hudson – FREEZING!!!! Eyes were streaming, wind beating against us! The security levels there were so strict and once inside the ‘hut’ as we approach the ferry we had to take our coats, belts, boots etc off for the airport type scans! I understand why they do this but for goodness sake they could of turned up the heating!!!! It was so cold!

Anyway, on board the ferry we make our way to Liberty island. I have to say that the weather was great to us, it was really sunny and bright whilst we were there which was fantastic for the views. As we approach the green lady I think this was the point when we realised we were actually in NYC! I jumped outside on the deck to grab a photo as we passed.

I was so lucky as we were the first trip of the day so the island was empty. As we made our way back after our visit I took a similar shot and it was heaving with people!
Again, more strict security checks, airport style! However it was all worth it. It was amazing. unfortuantely after 9/11 your no longer allowed to climb to the observation deck inside her ‘crown’, and after seeing the very narrow, spiral staircase I’m not sure that I would want to, so we climbed 160 or so steps and reached the bottom of her skirt. Apparently the copper coating that the statue is made with is no thicker than a 2 pence piece!

We stayed on the Island for a while, took lots of photos and then headed back however a photograph that I desperatly wanted was the Manhatten skyline. So I took 5 different shots and handstitched them in photoshop to create this…

As we passed Ellis Island…

So, after that we then make our way to Ground Zero which was quite moving in a weird kind of way. There is lots of building work going on to create the light tower so it was full of builders, security, cranes and lots of other machines so although you knew what had happened there over 8 years ago it was almost as if it’d been somehow forgoteen because building work was  continuing! However, directly opposite – which we didn’t know – was the fire department and on the wall outside there is a large, long plaque with the names of the fire fighters who lost their lives trying to save others. That was very moving!!

From there we made our way along 5th Avenue, stopping to look in shops and stopping for lunch in the diner where Big Daddy was filmed!
From there we wanted to go and visit a street that was named after us…

OK, so maybe not named after us but as we were on our honeymoon we had to go and visit it!! We did have a photographs taken of us underneath the sign however after 5 attempts at asking complete strangers if they could take a shot we gave up as the shots that were taken (2) were not very good!

So, from there we got in a yellow cab and headed back to near where we were staying. We eventually made our way to the Rockefeller Centre and stopped for a well earned sit down in guess what….Starbucks! We decided after about an hour of people watching that we wanted to go to St. Patricks Cathedral directly opposite the Rockefeller centre. As we stepped inside it was breath taking. There was a service going on and a quoir singing which made the hairs on the back of my neck stand up! We both lit a candle each in memory of Nicky’s parents, took this photo and headed back to the Rockefeller where we made our way to the very Top of the Rock for some amazing views over the NYC skyline at night.

Both shots were taken handheld, ISO800 at 1/6th of a second.

The folowing days we visited the Empire State Buiding, had a New York cheesecake from the New York Cheescake Factory, went to Central Park where we did a horse and carriage ride and went to Times Square which was crazy!!!!!

Here’s the view from the outside observation deck at the top of the Empire State…and King Kong wasn’t in sight! You can see the shadow of the Empire State here.

The Flatiron building..

Infamous Macys – where all non citizen visitors receive an 11% discount! I loved it here…better than Saks. Bloomingdales was OK but more for women than for men.

Nicky being 2nd generation Irish loved this on the outside of an Irish bar!! I’ve always wanted a shot of the zig-zag fire escapes you see in the movies and tv programmes!

We also saw an Angelina Jolie film being shot at St. Barts Church just a black away from our hotel….we didn’t actually see Ange – just her entourage and lots of paps all waiting to get their shot! Apparently the film is called Salt but we’re not sure when it’s realeased. We found this out when we nearly got arrested for taking photos next to what was meant to be the Presidents limo!!!
Oh, and we walked past Stephen Fry!!!

So…we say goodbye to NYC and hello to Las Vegas!! What a place! It’s pure craziness!!!!

Our, massive hotel at night!!! We stayed in suite 14274 which gives you an idea of how big this hotel is!

We had a breakfast in the MGM – for $14pp eat as much as you like buffett…inc ice cream!!
After breakfast we went to see the lion enclosure inside the hotel!!! Madness!

One of the ‘nicer’ wedding chapels! All of the hotels have a wedding chapel inside however the nicest one we found and would get married in if we had too (which of course we can’t) was the chapel at Mandalay Bay hotel. Very slick and classy!  Also, inside the Mandalay Bay hotel is an aquarium/shark reef!! What else would there be!

The dancing fountains at the Bellagio which were fantastic! we also had dinner there too which was one of the best dinners we had whilst we were there.

We did a trip the Grand Canyon which was simply breath taking!!!
This was the view from the helicopter on the way into the Canyon. The islands on the left of the shot they have caled Australia and New Zealand because of their shapes.

Once we had landed and were getting into the wagon to take us for lunch at the ranch…

Spirit Mountain

We went for a horseride around the ranch at the Canyon which was brilliant, the views were incredible.

On our last day in Vegas we had lunch at the top of the Stratosphere tower in the revolving restaurant which was brilliant. The restaurant revolves 360 degrees giving you great views of vegas and ‘the strip’.
We weren’t brave enough to try out the three rides at the top, I think you have to be mad to try them!!! I couldn’t even look up at them from the observation deck…because I have reverse vertigo! Yep, that’s right, reverse vertigo! I can look down from any height and it doesn’t bother me but if I look up from any height – and from where we were standing it was 866 feet high – I start to feel wobbly and a bit shaky, which my new husband found highly ammusing!!!

We left Vegas, with more money than we thought we’d have because we didn’t really play in the casino’s. We had a bit of a flutter but that was enough for us. So, tired and shattered with sore feet but with some fantastic memorieswe we start to make our way home! We were due to fly to Dallas from Vegas to then go onto the Heathrow but we were sat in Vegas airport for 13 hours as there was a problem with our plane. Eventually we got to Dallas and had to spend one night in there courtesy of our airline, at least it was on the way home!!
Eventually arrived home somewhat 48 hours later than expected only to find that we had a water leak coming through our bathroom ceiling!!! It’s so good to be home!!!!

Until next time….

Claire x