Harbour Cruise

Thursday we went on the Midtown Harbour Cruise, this left from lower Westside which was a vastly different area than those where we had ventured previously.
The cruise travelled down the westside of New York, around Battery Park and up the Eastside of New York. The enormity of the buildings is evident from the water and they are packed closely together. We travelled under the Manhattan, Brooklyn & Williamsburgh bridges and then headed out past Ellis Island to the Statue of Liberty.
We had secured good seats and had good views of all of the sites. The boat stopped at Statue of Liberty so we could take plenty of photos, it is amazing how big she is when you are up close, as she is distanced from the city and appears small from the land.

After the cruise Di and I went up to the Empire State Building  , visibility was poor so we secured our ticket fo another day and went for a ride on the Skyride , a virtual ride through and around New York buildings and streets. This was hysterical and I was glad that I hadn't eaten prior to the ride and by the time it finished my hands were wet and legs were shaky. Di had a great time and she laughed or squealed most of the way around.

A Grand Flower Day

Weather clear today and we started with breakfast at Grand Central Terminal. It was exciting to see this terminal after so many previous views in movies and ads.

I had been told it wasn't so grand but have to disagree here. As well as food areas, shops, markets, bars, waiting areas and main area there is even a tennis club. We had a bit of a wait for the train but enjoyed wandering through the area and enjoying the busy atmosphere. The train ride to the New York Botanical Gardens, located in the Bronx, didn't take long with some of the ride via underground as well as aboveground.

The Claude Monet exhibit was located here with the display of 2 of his paintings in the library and in the Conservatory gardens had been replicated as Monets garden.
We also caught the tram ride around the rest of the Botanical Gardens which had displays of various trees and gardens, including a children's garden.

After returning to the city I wandered through Bryant Park, had lunch and then found the famous Macy's. This department store was a hive of activity on each of the levels with great bargains on offer. Not being one to shop - haha - I had to force myself to stay for the next 3 hours until the others let me know where they were heading for dinner.
Times Square was rocking with the lights flashing, music blaring and people jostling along the pavements to enjoy this exciting part of town.

I thought I should pack in some more exercise and walked from 37th St to 79th St and joined em in time for dessert. Not sure what we will be up to tomorrow but running out of time to use our New York pass and Di is off to Niagara Falls Friday so tomorrow may be busy.

Rainy Day in New York

Today started out with an other early start heading downtown ready for our visit to the 9/11 Memorial site

We had breakfast at a Vegan restaurant close to the site and then followed the rigorous entry with bag scans and herding onto the site. This has been a momentous task in the time they have been working on the construction and it isn't until you are here that you realise the enormity of this disaster. The mere size of the  site is daunting and then when you venture to the pools edge the names of each of these victims is engraved into the marble. 

The museum is not yet complete, there is a sole tree from the original site which survived the disaster and which has been brought back to a healthy state and repositioned. A "One of a kind tree" planted amongst other types. 

Following this we ventrued to downtown Century 21 and then were caught in the downpour of rain as we travelled back to 42nd St. Here we had lunch and then went to Madame Toussards where we caught up with a few famous friends. It was still pouring when we came out so caught the subway home. 

Loop the loop in New York

Today we had an early start on the first of the City Loops. After catching the subway from 72nd St to 42nd St we joined the bus for the Downtown loop. We stayed on this to Battery Park -Near the 9/11 Memorial, where we then joined the Brooklyn loop. This was a surprise and not what I expected for Brooklyn, upon our return we rejoined the Downtown Loop to go back to town.
We grabbed lunch at a deli then joined the Uptown Loop. This was the most interesting loop with lots of museums and galleries, Harlem and of course Central Park. We walked back home through the park and planned the sites to visit tomorrow.

Went to a seafood restaurant tonight which was very good, now home planning again for another early start tomorrow.

Weekend in New York

Weekend in New York.
Saturday we worked our way towards Midtown, had lunch on the way and called into Century 21 a discount clothing shop.

Central Park had crowds of people when we walking further south, lots of guys trying to entice us to go for bike rides or horse and carriage rides through the park. Had to move aside for a dignitary walking along the pathway, we thought it was Hilary Clinton, only to find out after he had passed that it was the President of Israel - we think it was anyway. We had a good laugh at this, he was waving to everyone and obviously no one had a clue who we were.

Following this we walked to Times Square which was packed and lots of traffic, people lining up for cheap tickets to Broadway shows. Not sure that we will be doing this, someone suggested we go to the box office just prior to the shows as also cheaper prices.

In the night time we found an Australian Bar - purely by accident - barman was also Australian. We had food, drinks and lots of laughs.
Slow day today as the travel and fast paced life caught up with us, collected tickets for our hop on hop off bus and entry to sites. We had dinner at a cafe/restaurant across the road, very querky setup. It is above a market, the health area of the store is also upstairs, it has an industrial type of look with an open kitchen off the restaurant.

We are having an early night as we have an early start in the morning, we are planning on staying on the bus for the 3 loops - Uptown, Downtown & Brooklyn. This way you see where you need to be for  further exploring. We will post more after we have been on our next step of our adventure.