Sunday 7 January - New York

Up relatively late and off to Ground Zero at the site of the World Trade Centres. It really is just one big hole in the ground. As I never saw the buildings when they stood, it's hard to fully appreciate the contrast between now and then. Libe, however, had stood at the top of one of the towers with her brother Mick just a few months before the famous day. There's not a massive amount of material on the site dedicated to the events, although it does have a gallery on its south side which is very good and well worth the $10 'recommended' donation to have a look at it (it reminds me of a minature version of the Australian War Memorial in Canberra, which is one of the best places I've ever been to (the Memorial that is, not Canberra)). I wonder if anyone has ever not paid the 'donation' - perhaps like uncle Mick when he cleverly got into the BFL Grand Final for free by saying, legally correct, that he was going in to use the public toilets?

Something you can appreciate is how big these buildings must have been, because the size of the hole would equate probably 3 to 4 blocks in the Melbourne CBD.

Some of the buildings bordering the area are still yet to be repaired, nearly 6 and a quarter years on.

The nearby Battery Park was next, which is on the western side of Manhattan Island, looking over the Hudson River to New Jersey, and providing good views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

Lunch (a late one - 4pm) was at Hard Rock Cafe in Times Square, including a free birthday Sunday. Although I'd been in Times Square earlier when heading to the Cafe, it's not until the sun goes down that this Square can be appreciated, with its amazing array of screens and neon lights. Truly able to excite the senses. We drifted into the Toys 'R' Us store here, and certainly weren't the only adults to do so. I could have spent all day in there if I was a kid (Libe will argue I'm a big one). The store even has its own ferris wheel indoors.

I was on a bus back to Boston by 7:00pm, which, after a brief stop, was due to arrive in Boston at 11.30. Now, I've since been badly hungover, but this was undoubtedly the biggest battle of the trip. Unfortunately, the bloke who decided to sit next to me could have been from Corio, and I'm deadly serious in saying this, probably had the most putrid odour I've ever smelt on a person. He just stunk like a concoction of stale urine, BO, smoke and booze, and the funny thing was he was freely admitting it. I hardly talked to him and his mate who was in another seat a metre way, which was a relief because these blokes were as rough as guts, especially in the swearing department (dropping every known word). Instead, they bailed up this Irish couple who talked to them for the whole trip, I'm pretty sure out of politeness.

We were making good time until about 9.30, when we ran smack bang into a traffic jam, at about the only point in the road between NY and Boston that is not in a built-up area. We crawled along for the next hour in this jam. Meanwhile, I couldn't breathe through my nose when I was sitting straight, and for as long as my neck would allow it, I had my head against the window, breathing in fresh air which must have been coming through a small gap in the window pane. But for this crack, I'm couldn't have sat there, but someone had to as the bus was full. If I'd had one more beer on Saturday night and given myself a hangover, I doubt I could have held my stomach down. Quite often I was battling anyway, and certainly left the bus with bit of headache due to this smell. I didn't want to leave my seat because I'd be worried about leaving my carry on luggage next to this bloke, so luckily I didn't receive a call from nature. Anyway, fair to say I couldn't sleep on the bus at all.

When these blokes jumped off the bus before everyone else around them, the faces on everyone else just told the story, and quite a few of us expressed our relief and disbelief.