On The Map: New York 14/15 (Part 3)

Another early start, and fuelling ourselves on grilled cheese sandwiches, we made our way to Grand Central Terminal. Now, I had heard a lot about this station and just how gorgeous it was but it didn't really hit me until we got into it. 

After that we took the subway to the north entrance of Central Park and swung by the cathedral of St. John the Divine. We trekked more than half way through the park before deciding to branch off and visit the American Museum of Natural History.

The museum had a mass amount of exhibits ranging from biodiversity to American history. We weaved along with other people taking in the massive whale and all the dinosaur bones, soaking up all the information. It's surprising just how many hours you can while away there!

We stopped at Tiffany's wanting to revel in a shop that is known around the world for the iconic blue colour and high class jewellery. They still had their tree up, decorated in lights and little blue boxes and every member of staff was very helpful and friendly. Sai and I both decided to buy something small knowing we probably weren't going to get another chance to visit. 

We waited until later that night before going up to the Top of the Rock. Surprisingly it was nowhere near as cold as the statue and ESB but the view, in my opinion, was ten times better. New York is often called the city that doesn't sleep and yet we had yet to really see that. Up on the observation deck the was no doubting why it had the nickname. The entire city stays lit up and the movement doesn't stop. If I had it my way, I don't think I would have left the deck. 

The next day we found ourselves back at Central Park and decided to take a short carriage ride around the bottom half. The guy who drove the carriage was lovely and pointed out different places including the ice rink and Lady Gaga's apartment. As we went around it began to snow which was unbelievable. He told us we were lucky and we knew that we were!

Later on that that night we went to watch Les Miserables at the Imperial theatre. It was an absolutely fantastic show with Ramin Karimloo giving an amazing performance!

With our last day in New York we couldn't call ourselves book bloggers without heading out to The Strand, boasting 18 miles of books, we always knew we would visit. I was so excited when I saw the red banner. I have never seen so many books tucked away in a shop. We spent a couple of hours browsing the aisles and heading upstairs to look at the rare books before making a couple of purchases and then heading over to IHOP for lunch. 

The week in New York was probably one of the most amazing weeks I've had in my life. Even though we didn't cross everything off the list we definitely packed a lot in for the week. Plus it give an excuse to go back and visit again!

Me And Mr J - Rachel McIntyre

Title: Me And Mr J - Rachel McIntyre
Publisher: Electric Monkey
Series: N/A
Service: NetGalley
Release Date: 05/02/2015
Pages: 309
Format: E book

Rating: ★★★

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Fifteen year old Lara finds her soulmate. There's just one problem - he's her teacher.

Lara's life has changed radically since her father lost his job. As the eldest, Lara tries to keep upbeat, and the one outlet for all her problems is her diary where she can be open about how dire everything is at home, and worse, the fact that she's being horrifically bullied at school.

And then a shining light comes out of the darkness - the new young MALE teacher, Mr Jagger. The one person who takes Lara seriously and notices her potential. The one person who is kind to her. The one person who she falls madly and hopelessly in love with. The one person who cannot reciprocate her feelings… can he?

Give us a few words…

Why do you say that?

The diary of 15 year old Lara Titliss explains her world to us pretty clearly. Her father has lost his job and after her mother refused to move them, so Lara could continue at her school, they have hit on hard times. If that wasn't bad enough Lara gets bullied at school for various reasons including her red hair, her scholarship position and her surname. When her English teacher goes on maternity leave she, along with the rest of the school, can't believe their eyes when the replacement is the young and gorgeous Mr Jagger.

I wanted to pick up this book to see how the student/teacher relationship was approached and I think Rachel McIntyre did a superb job!

My heart goes out to Lara throughout the entire book. She works a paper round in order to lessen her family's financial burden and keeps her head down at school to get good grades and yet the bullying is relentless and at times causes her to despair. When Mr Jagger turns up and asks for her help on a talent show she is more than happy to oblige as a way to get away from the bullies at lunch and break time, plus he is gorgeous.

The progression of their relationship was perfect for me. The fact that he stepped away from Lara after the talent show due to a quiet word from the headmistress was realistic and this showed a teacher trying to be just that, a teacher.

I thoroughly enjoyed the end of this book, when Lara writes a letter to Ben, updating us all on her life a year or so after the aftermath of their relationship. My only issue with this book was how young Lara could seem at times, younger that 15, but the epilogue made her sound more mature and like she had grown from the events that had occurred in her life.

I highly recommend this book to anyone who wants a contemporary novel that pulls at your heart before breaking it with a dramatic ending.

On The Map: New York 14/15 (Part 2)

We made the decision to miss Times Square for the ball drop not wanting to get crushed by the hoards of people and ignoring the ever growing call for the bathroom. Instead we decided to head up to the Empire State Building. Another round of security and we snaked through a short history of the building before getting into a lift and rocketing up several floors.

Heading out onto the deck I was hit by just how cold it was and I kept my hands firmly in my pocket for the most part as we jostled around taking in the view of the city. I knew the New York was packed with buildings but I don't think I really appreciated just how much until I was up there. I used the binoculars to look out over the city and was shocked to see just how far off the Statue of Liberty was having just visited the day before!

We dived through the gift shop and picked up a few things for family and friends before hitting the streets of New York again. 

Being massive Avengers fans we decided to visit Discovery Times Square that had a current Avengers exhibition. You are inducted into S.H.I.E.L.D and go through various stations that revolve around a specific member of the Avengers. We tested our strength against Captain America, checked our DNA against the Hulk and got to control Iron Man's arm. 

We curled back up at the hotel and brought in the new year with a lot of food and cake and being able to hear the roar from Times Square from outside the window. 

The next day we got out early to visit Madame Tussaurds and I am still baffled by why we were so enthralled by wax figures!

We spent the rest of the afternoon wandering the floors of Macy's and trying on various items of clothing before picking up a few bits. 

A day on our feet pretending to know celebrities and shopping led to two very tired sisters and we decided to call an end to the day early and rest up for the last few days we had for the trip.