4th of July in New York 🇺🇸 The Greatest City In The World ? And that's coming from an Australian

After three days discovering the neighbourhoods and people of New York, our final day showed us a completely different side of this incredible city. 🇺🇸🗽 And it just happened to be the 4th of July. In Part 1, we deliberately stepped away from the traditional tourist checklist. We explored Brooklyn, wandered the East and West Villages, walked the High Line, ate at Katz's Deli, met chess legend Marty Anderson in Washington Square Park and discovered a New York filled with incredibly friendly, kind and helpful people. But there were still a few places we knew we couldn't leave New York without experiencing. And we weren't quite prepared for how they would make us feel. In Part 2, we visit the 9/11 Memorial and its Reflecting Pools, standing on the footprints where the Twin Towers once stood. For Jodie in particular, this became one of the most emotional moments of our entire trip. We then head high above Manhattan to the top of One World Trade Center — the Freedom Tower — and look out over the enormous city we'd spent the previous few days exploring at street level. Seeing New York from up there hits differently after standing at the memorial below. But this is New York... and our day was about to change completely. Because it's July 4th! 🇺🇸🎆 As evening arrives, we head onto the water for a Fourth of July harbour cruise, joining the celebrations and watching New York's famous fireworks light up the night sky. From quiet reflection in the morning to thousands of people celebrating together that night, it was an extraordinary way to spend our final full day in New York. And somewhere amongst all of that, we finally realised what had surprised us most about this city. It wasn't Times Square. It wasn't the skyscrapers. It wasn't even the famous landmarks. It was New Yorkers themselves. Everywhere we went, people were friendly, welcoming, funny and incredibly willing to help two Australians trying to find their way around one of the biggest cities we'd ever experienced. And after Brooklyn, the Villages, Central Park, Broadway, Washington Square Park, the High Line, countless slices of pizza, the 9/11 Memorial, Freedom Tower and finally watching fireworks explode over New York Harbor... we had one question left to answer: Is New York City still the place where dreams come true? You'll have to watch until the end to hear our answer. ❤️ Thanks for exploring New York with us. And if you've watched both parts, we'd love to know in the comments: What is the ONE thing about New York that keeps bringing you back? Graham & Jodie Travel Two Aussies exploring the world one adventure — and usually one drink — at a time. 🍻🌎 #NewYorkCity #FourthOfJuly #NYC #911Memorial #OneWorldTradeCenter #FreedomTower #NYCFireworks #NewYorkTravel #NewYorkVlog #TravelCouple #GrahamAndJodieTravel Chapters 0:00 The Last Day 1:12 The 9 11 Memorial 2:30 Reflection Pools 5:35 Freedom Tower 8:30 Chinatown Food Tour 10:00 4th July Harbor Cruise 11:37 Fireworks and Final Thoughts