The Last couple of days...

Sunday was an easy day as we were all a bit jet lagged. Late morning we headed into Manhattan and toured around upper eastside Manhattan areas and ended up in Harlem. It was another perfect day and we had lunch near Central Park on Madison Av. We headed back toward central NY, checked out Grand Central Station and ended up at Maceys, hmmm.

After a bit of shopping we headed home. Early evening we had some dinner in a local Diner and headed into Manhatten to see the city lights. The city z never stops. On the way back to the apartment we had dessert at Neptune Diner (I'll do a separate blog post about the food). It ended up a big day as we didn't get home 'till midnight.

Monday morning we headed over to Straten Island. You travel to the Island on a ferry from Manhatten, also an island. We are staying in Queens and it is on an island too. The ferry to Straten Island is free, and the you get to pass the Statue of Liberty on the way over and back. After that great little freebie, we had some lunch near the site of World Trade Centre.

The Ground Zero site is still under massive reconstruction. There is a temorary building set for visitors commemorating the tradgedy, the victims, the police department, fire brigades efforts to rescue and the recovery teams post the collapse. It is very moving. After that we moved onto to the site of the World Trade Towers where there are two magnificent Memorial Pools in memory of the victims from each site. I hope the photo does justice to them. The names of those murdered are inscribed in the stone top surrounding each pool.

We then headed over to the Empire State building. We've already got a great orientation of NYC, but the view from the top is fantastic. It really gives a birds eye of how big the city is. This building was constructed in 14 months.

Z After that little highlight Linda and Sophie, headed of for some shopping. Luckily Tony and I spotted an Irish bar for a little bit of reflection and respite. Nothing like spending early evening in Jack Demsey's bar in the centre of Manhattan having a chat. Tony likes margaritas! Back in Queens we had some burgers; still didn't get in until 11pm.

It's Tuesday morning here and actually raining! Thunderstorms are forecast so we are thinking of jumping on a bus and heading up to New Jersey for the day. Tony and I are told the shopping is better there, hmmmmm.

 

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