A new series of photographs from Boston.com – I’m a big fan of this site & will continue to bring you updates.

More at: http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/04/human_landscapes_from_above.html

Well, perhaps… judge for yourself! We stumbled across this tree stump in the Lake District on the way to Aire Force waterfall. I presume it is an art piece; a nice idea actually but it must have taken ages to hammer in all those coins! As you can see my sister was delighted…

Taken by myself from the Greenway last week.

Photograph taken by me on 2 February 2009. China Town.

Just amazing. That’s all I can sum it up as. What an experience I’ve had this morning – I’ve never seen anything like it!.

I walked straight down the centre of Oxford Street at rush hour. There were no cars about apart from the odd taxi. Then down Regent Street to Piccadilly Circus where there were a few more people milling about. The Victoria Line is the only tube running due to it being the only line to run underground for its entirety.  Then walked down Whitehall, to Horse Guards and St. James Park, followed by Parliament Square and then back up The Mall and Green Park on the way home.

I’ve captured some awesome photos considering the heavy snow that was falling and the temperate:

 

Heard on the news that there hasn’t been this much snow in the capital for 20 years.

Here are a collection of the best photographs which I took on my recent trip to NYC.

 

       

  

Extraordinary. Never thought I'd sit in a Starbucks on Christmas Day! Not as bad as it sounds - the city is alive and buzzing - totally different to what I was expecting.

After opening the pressies we went for a long walk in Central Park. Lovely scene. People playing and families chatting, skaters skating and me photographing :P. Beautiful day, not too cold and wonderful blue skies yet again. Later on we headed down to 5th Avenue which was totally packed full of people again, quite amazing; would never see that back in the UK. Went to Starbucks for a coffee (or in my case a Hot Chocolate – how can you beat that, surely?)

Oh, I must mention my present. My parents gave me a real gold chain – a very expensive one looking at it – which I already love. Have always wanted one and will keep it on as much as possible now. I’m a lucky boy… will give me something to sell if the Credit Crunch gets much worse. ;-)

  

Myself and my sister in the Waldolf=Astoria, and below a photo of a man about to fall over in Central Park…

*teeth trembling*
COOOOLLLLDDDD!! is how I would describe today... I think my toes are still defrosting. Blue skies again in NYC today however the temperature took a nose-dive to -12C; perhaps the coldest I've witnessed in my 19 years on this Earth...

…What then better to take an open-top bus tour!! It was kinda pre-planned but we should have changed it into retrospect. Anyway! Today we took the bus tour down to Lower Manhattan which was delightful. Through Greenwich Village and SoHo – very nice to see the New Yorkian versions; nice and edgy.

Finally we arrived in the financial district and had a look around the Ground Zero. A bit too frozen to appreciate it I think so hopefully will go back some time in a warmer climate! However we did go into the little old church next door which miraculously survived pretty much in tact. Some very moving accounts of 9/11 inside.

Also discovered a bell that the Lord Mayor of London had presented to New York as an act of friendship; very honourable.

Later on we took a look around Wall Street – a wonderful little district in my opinion – reminds me very much of The City in London. Here’s the photo to prove my visit:

Hey all! Just at the end of my second full day here in NYC. What can I say? Just wow. I can certainly see why this and London are considered world cities. They have a totally international culture and have a special wow-factor.

Today was a lovely day with beautiful blue skies and not too chilly. Snow seems to have all gone. With this in mind we decided to take the opportunity to ascend the Empire State Building.

Luckily I had decided to pre-book tickets online because when we arrived there was a 4 hour queue! So definitely recommended as we got to skip every single queue all the way up the tower.

I found the elevators particularly impressive; they rose 80 stories in the same time as the one in my halls does (only 15 stories), and with less rattle. To be honest, if you were blind you wouldn’t realise that you are moving. The Art Deco original interior is also impressive – glad they have kept it all! We went in late afternoon and stayed until sunset, which again I recommend. It was stunning!