I’m no Meg Ryan and he’s no Tom Hanks, yet despite this, we managed to fall in love and have a sleepless time in the city that never sleeps.



Red-eyed from the flight we made our way from JFK to The Gershwin, a 
boutique hotel on 27th and 5th. 

After checking in we walked ten blocks to the Empire State and ascended 102 floors to the top. The city twinkled before us in the cold clear night sky. Behind us the park was quiet. Ahead of us Fifth Avenue looked alive with lights as it carved it’s way down the island dissecting it in two before losing itself in a mish mash of streets heralding the start 
of Greenwich which beckoned us to descend, hail a cab and make our way to The Blue Note in the heart of The Village. 



Jazz courtesy of Ben E King, daiquiris and our hearts aglow we hailed 
another cab down to the waterfront and watched the sun come up and the boats busy themselves under Brooklyn Bridge.



Practising our very best John Travolta struts we walked to the middle 
of the Bridge before returning to pose for pictures in Battery Park with 
the plastic Liberties.



Too busy to sleep we walked Wall Street and paid our respects at the 
gaping hole plunged through the heart of New York.



A day of shopping, hot coffee and cold toes followed before we 
collapsed for a late afternoon snooze and spooned on our Queen sized bed in our cosy room.



With shows, concerts, Radio City, Madison Square Garden and Soho to 
choose from we plumped for comedy off Broadway followed by a stroll 
around Hell’s Kitchen, singing and twirling our way round lampposts in 
homage to the original West Side Story.



Too cold to go barefoot in the park we doubled our sock count and walked through the park. With the sun squinting through the trees we welcomed in our last day in Manhattan. I swear we passed Annie Hall or did I just Imagine her in John Lennon’s garden? 



We asked for breakfast at Tiffany’s but all they could offer was 
delicious gems that neither of us could afford. We plumped instead for 
pastrami on rye at a nearby deli. As we munched we watched would-be 
Carrie’s hop in and out of every other cab.



We walked to 34th street to see if we could witness a miracle but all we
found was the Subway. We spun a coin and took the train to Brooklyn 
where we fell in love with the brownstones and dreamt of our double 
lives here living next door to Hannah and her sisters.



The subway ride back to the island afforded a quick shut-eye. A sugar 
fix combined with a need for tea led us to the Astoria for afternoon 
tea. As we munched we watched the ladies do late lunch marvelling at 
the Charlotte look-a-like’s as they swapped tales of sex and their City.



With the clock spinning round we walked to Time’s Square and down 42nd Street. A walk through Grand Central Station and we were at the foot of the Chrysler throwing down tall shadows in the late afternoon sun. And it was then that we realised we heart New York – we really did.



A love affair had begun and we knew we’d have to return again and 
again. In the meantime, in our heads at home, we’d replay the movie we 
made that weekend in the city that never allowed us to sleep.

**This short Travel Story was submitted as part of the Holiday Travel Writing Competition. All short-listed entries such as this one are published in our online Travel Guide**

Story written by Vicki Rimmer | Photo Credit: dbking | Since 2006 Holiday Velvet offers New York accommodation.