New York City: So from us.. goodnight

Well, here it is.. the final entry in Kara's Big Fat American Journey.

Over two months we have made our winding way across this great country.

Our last stop... NYC.

Our bus from Boston arrived right in time for rush hour - lovely. Thankfully, Nick's parents had treated us to two nights right in the centre of town on the corner of 52nd and 8th so it wasn't such a huge schlep from the bus stop.

The place was lovely, and expensive, friendly and very central to everything.

With only one day left in the Big Apple we planned to take on everything we'd missed the first time round.

First stop, last minute souvenir shopping - the tackier the better.

Next, to the icon of icons the Empire State Building.

Because of all the skyscrapers in the city you can hardly spot the ESB in close quarters.

With our CityPasses we skip most of the queues and in no time we're whizzing up the giant tower. The inside is just as beautiful as out - there was even a real life 'King-Kong' (read: guy in cool gorilla costume) posing for pictures.

For once I took up the offer of the free audio guide and it paid off as an old dude with the best Noo Yourk accent ever gave a great overview of the city sights.

With the temperature rising on what was set to be a scorching day we escaped the midday sun in a near by pizza joint - cheap and cheerful.

Heading uptown we took a walk around the man-lake in Central Park.

It's remarkable just how quiet a park in the middle of a buzzing city can be. The park is huge and we only managed to see a fraction of the greenery.

Back downtown I still hadn't seen the famous 30 Rock statue - you know, the one that opens the show - I can hear the music now!

A few photos later I noticed a crowded gathering around the NBC store. Filming was going on.... could it be... is it she?  YES! It was the awesomeness herself - TINA FEY!

OMG it's Liz Lemon! I made Nick take multiple photos on his super zoom - I love you Ms Lemon!

What other way to finish the perfect day than soak up the bright lights of Times Square one more time.

We gave into the easy option and had dinner at Olive Garden - complete with cocktails!

And that was that - two months have come to and end. Back to the hotel and off to bed, hopefully to get a good night sleep before our big flight to London.

More photos of our NYC adventure here

More NYC

What does one do on a sunny August day in NYC? Go to the Statue of Liberty of course.

That was also the plan for thousands of other tourists, but thanks to our city passes we managed to skip our way to the front of the lines - VIP style.

After being packed onto our ferry we were taken to our first stop, the lovely lady herself.



Liberty isn't as tall as I'd expected but no less impressive - the perfect weather was a plus.



Fun fact of the day: the Statue of Liberty is actually coloured bronze, but the sea air turns it green - I think it suits her!

Much walking and photograph taking followed and once again we were packed onto our ferry for a short trip to Ellis Island.

The experience of being shepherded and crammed onto a ferry helped get us in the mood for Ellis Island - once the main point of entry for immigrants to the US.

You'd need a whole lot of time to really get anything out of Ellis Island and since we were running around we didn't get to see much at all.



Back in Manhattan we took a short walk uptown to Ground Zero.

Now a large construction site the city is looking to the future. But a memorial museum near by will make sure no one will forget the attack or the victims.



A timeline traces the events leading up to the morning of September 11, 2001 with remains of the towers on display.

The most moving part of the exhibit is the display of photos and mementos belonging to each person who was killed put together by the victims' families.

Since the loss of the Towers the Rockefeller Building has reopened its glitzy, art deco observation decks to the public and that's where we headed next.

Part of the Rockefeller Plaza (were 30 Rock is set), we arrived at the Top of the Rock just before dusk - and the place was insanely crowded.

There are three separate decks - each slightly higher than the last.

And, well, the views of the city speak for themselves....

More pics from NYC here

Shipping up to Boston - from the cheap seats

The just passed, and gone too quickly, long weekend was a most productive one.

We've booked into some lovely accommodation through the wonder of expedia.co.nz and our credit cards are struggling under the weight!

Except for our final two nights in NYC (we're looking for something totally P.I.M.P - any suggestions?), we now have a roof over our heads for the first two weeks and last seven days of our trip.

In New York, we're staying in QUEENS (just like The Nanny!) at the Country Inn & Suites By Carlson. We've managed to score a rather nice room with free breakfast, wifi and - most importantly - city views!

Like us you might have thought of our whole trip NYC would be the most expensive place to lay your head - but how wrong were we.

That title has so far been awarded to the lovely city of Boston.

A boyfriend in love with the Dropkick Murphys is the reason behind our two day detour north & of course there is a lot of history in the area so I'm sure we'll love the city.

But, DAMN, the only reasonably priced places to stay are at least 30mins drive from the city, so with us relying on public transport we've caved to a nice place in the centre of town, the Radisson Hotel Boston.

So in celebration of the most expensive city in the USA, here is a rousing tune from the DKMs, Shipping Up To Boston.