Saturday, July 14, 2012

Day 2 New York...what a blast !

New York – New York
Day 2
Our day began early with a walk to check out this amazing city, after a good night’s sleep in our very comfy hotel room, ( I originally woke at 3 am and thought about taking off then, fortunately I managed to fall asleep for a couple more hours !) We stopped in at Pot Belly for brekky and some free wi-fi and time to catch up on the news from home. Our most wonderful news is that Bonnie is going to be fine, the lump she had removed is benign. Taletha says she is missing us, but Kailee is giving her lots of gentle cuddles. Pot Belly was OK, not outstanding but fine for what we needed they are at the corner of 7th Ave and West 37th Street.
Having fueled up we headed off to find a shop my Grandfathers cousin George Alfred LeJuge had many years ago at 210 West 14th Street, it is no longer the fish shop it once was, but a trendy manicure salon ! It was quite a trek to get there, but I was pleased to be able to give mum a report.
Off to explore the subway at the corner of West 14th and 7th Avenue to check out Central Park at West 59th, the subway is quick clean and efficient and also at $2.50 quite cheap.
Central Park is just fabulous ! It covers 843 acres and 6 percent of Manhattan Island, its current value is 26 billion dollars…….hmmmmmmmm ! We hired a horse and carriage and spent half an hour checking out this wonderful park, our driver was very informative and our horse (Bobby) was pretty good too !!
Then a little time exploring the park on foot, had a look at a carousel that’s over 100 years old then we took Jackie Over to visit where her apartment is. We saw a penthouse purchased by a Russian man for his daughter, just a cool $88 mill ! Also where John Lennon lived and sadly also was murdered, Bonos shack, Tony Bennet’s place, just to name a few celebs who call New York home.
On then by taxi to pier 83 to catch our Circle Line Statue of Liberty Cruise (75 minutes) the boat was packed to the rafters, but we snagged a good possy ! The statue is 300 foot high, its made of copper, the base is in the shape of a star, in her left hand she holds the declaration of Independence, he right hand the torch for freedom and Liberty and her crown 7 points representing the 7 continents. Fairly takes your breath away to see this amazing landmark for yourself !! Then off for a walk along the waterfront to see where the Titanic was to have berthed, and found a really great watering hole, busy busy and fabulous atmosphere, it was on Lackawanna Railway barge, we sat for a good while watching all the comings and goings on the Hudson River. The Carnival Disney was in port (Carol and Bob we thought of you guys !)
Next stop was the Blarney Stone pub, what an eye opener for this nanna and pop, drug deals going down, the bar was “bent” in the middle, it was only about 3 meters wide, if that, and full of very loud Americans, but as seedy as it was, we did enjoy our visit, the publican was a really nice lady. As you do in New York, you go to the next pub, The Twins Irish bar, where we watched with our mouths wide open as a bloke who was fairly well cut managed to remain on his bar stool, even when he had a 30 degree list..good work mate !!
Off to the Alpha Bar on West 34th Street where we met 2 lovely young girls from France and had a bit of a refuel of delicious vegetarian spring rolls, and sat curb side watching this amazing city do what it does best, honk horns, and drive those 14000 yellow cabs at a mad pace, it’s a fair dinkum sea of yellow cabs here !!
By now I have blisters the size of saucers on my feet, but as much as we have walked, not one shoe store have I found..Macys where are you ??? Deb, I am sure you found the shops a whole lot easier than I am now. Madison Square Gardens and TGIF for a squiz at east 34th and 8th Ave, it really is an easy city to navigate (having said that I am very pleased to have my navigator with me !)
I know this sounds like a pub crawl, but in between all this we do a whole lot of walking, and I also purchased a sim/data card that will give me free phone calls and data for a month. Happy Jan !!
Last stop before we crashed was Pig and Whistle; it was a lovely pub, great friendly staff.
Yes, I do love New York, and I am really looking forward to the time we will spend here.
3 day Hop on Hop off tour begins today.

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