My Memorable Day by Julia Ka-Wai Turner
Bored, uncomfortable and wishing that the gruelling seven hour plane journey was over and that we were there, I stared at the cotton wool clouds outside. The journey just went on and on and on as though it would never end. When we finally got off the plane, I was relieved that it was over. We walked into Immigration and all I could see was a sea of people seemingly stretching for miles, all going through Immigration like us. Great. My heart sank because although we were actually there in America, the queue would take at least two hours! My family and I were visiting New York City for a week and I had been excitedlyplanning what I wanted to do. First on my list was to go up the Empire State Building; second, was to go to the main Abercrombie & Fitch store; third, visit the Statue of Liberty because we had been studying Immigration into America in History so it was interesting to see the monument. My list went on and on of things I wanted to see and do.
Finally, when we had beaten the long immigration queues and collected our luggage, I caught sight of my first yellow New York taxi! I was very excited! However, when we were in the yellow taxi I was a bit disconcerted because it was quite shabby and unclean. The journey from Newark airport was a bit depressing because the outer city landscape was so run down and grey. But when we arrived at the hotel in Upper East Side it was all so cool and modern. Strolling through city streets was like being at the bottom of a canyon. The skyscrapers made me feel a bit small and lost. It was quite dark too as the massive buildings blocked a lot of sunlight. We decided that we would use the subwayand go up the Empire State Building. The subway was crowded and very noisy. As we approached the Empire State Building we could see the queue. In the lift to the main floor where you bought tickets and had your photograph taken, so later you could buy it, my ears started popping. Whizzing up in a lift with the floor numbers flashing so quickly you couldn’t really catch them was odd and a bit stomach churning. Several lifts led you to different stages. At one point we were filed out of the lift and were asked into a queue. For some reason no one knew why we were put in this queue and we later found out and regretted being in that lift. It was the queue which led to the long flights of steps to the top of the Empire State Building!It was an effort just to keep going. But you had to keep going and couldn’t stop because there was a whole flow of people going up this narrow twisting staircase. At the top it was all worth the trouble of walking up some 200 steps, twirling round and round this spiral staircase. The view was amazing. You could see virtually the whole of Manhatten and all the stunning landmarks. I could see the Flat Iron shaped building and the Rockafeller Centre. I felt on top of the world! When it was time to go down I knew that I probably would never experience that sight and feeling for a long time, if ever again. It made me realise that I was the luckiest girl in the world to go on such a great trip with my family. All this and it wasn’t even lunch time!
Our next stop was the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The view from the harbour was good of the Statue of Liberty because there was not too much mist. Boarding the boat after a long time queuing was very exciting and it was just a very short journey till I was stepping onto the landmark that we had been talking about in History. On the island I felt overawed because the Statue of Liberty was so tall. It a lot taller than I imagined it would be. It was massive whereas in all the pictures it looks smaller and in proportion. The boat trip then took us to Ellis Island. We all found the stories of the immigrants and display cases of their meagre possessions quite moving. It brought the history alive.
Later in the day, Mum and I visitedAbercrombie or as my dad put it we worshipped at the shrine of Abercrombie & Fitch. My dad wanted to write his diary so he stayed behind in the hotel room. As we approached Abercrombie & Fitch, the queue to go in was round the corner of the building! You could smell the distinctive, heady Abercrombie perfume. Across the road, the Gucci assistants inside their shop were staring out of their window at all of us waiting to go in. Of course, they had no one waiting to go into their shop. Bare-chested models greeted shoppers at the door. It was crowded and quite dark with loud, pumping music. All the stock was selling really fast. There was no time to dither. So Mum and I raided Abercrombie to find me some much prized new clothes.
It was very late when we arrived back at our hotel in the centre of Manhatten so we found somewhere local to eat. Just down the road there was this stylish American grill. It served really good quality food. I had a huge steak!All the food portions seemed gigantic! In the bathrooms I washed my hands and instead of having paper towels to dry your hands the woman handed me all these individual towels that were fluffy and white. It was very luxurious.
That was just the first memorable day of an excellent trip and I thoroughly enjoyed myself! It was one of the best holidays and we all loved New York City. Finally, I felt so sad to be going back to my school routine. Bored, uncomfortable, and wishing that the long seven hour journey was over, here I was on the plane again and we were there, home.
