We wanted to see (among other things) the Empire State building (from somewhere near the top...oops, that isn't seeing the building so much as looking OUT from the building. The building itself has an interesting history, and was in competition for the title of Tallest building in NY, but I don't have time to tell you all that right now...see here....(I copied this text)....
***The Empire State Building is a 102-level building in New York, NY. It endured as the planet’s tallest building for greater than 40 yrs, from its building in 1931 right up until the building of the World Trade Center North Tower in 1972, and is actually currently once more the highest structure in New York following the devastation of the World Trade Center in the Sept 11, 2001 strikes.The Empire State Building soars to 381 m (1,250 ft) to the 102nd level, and its complete architectural elevation (which includes transmit antenna) gets to 443 meters (1,453 feet and 8 9/16th in). The Empire State Building features eighty-five stories of business and workplace room (200,465 m²/ 2,158,000 sq. ft.) The structure weighs in at about 330,000 Mg (370,000 tons).
It features a complete level area of about 254,000 m² (2,768,591 sq. ft.). The foundation of the Empire State Building is around 0.8 ha (2 acres), and the entrance hall is 5 stories high. The structure homes 1,000 companies, and possesses its personal zip code. Currently, the Empire State Building possesses seventy three lifts in all, which includes services lifts.***
...also the Statue of Liberty (SOL), Ground Zero Memorial, Hyde Park (Which we didn't get to see) and Ellis Island (which we didn't get off the Ferry at because our tour didn't stop there).
We met the bus, after a 30 min walk from Grand Central Station to the top of Times Square. Broadway and 57th street. The bus was full (Waz counted 40 people), but we were blessed with a nice group of people from all over the USA and UK, as well as we kiwis:).
The driver deserved a Gold medal, driving through the traffic all day, beginning at 8.30am. Not too many people out and about at that time, which surprised us. It was nice, actually...no crowds...yet!
We were herded, security screened (4 times) and herded, boarded, disembarked, sloshed, trampled etc, but were patient, as was everyone else, in the crowds getting into the various attractions. We paid to get to the front of the line! It was in the price of the ticket!
There is always one person, or in our case three people, who were tardy getting back to the bus, or on the ferry or in the lift etc. They kept us waiting in the rain...
There were places we just all walked to, stood outside in the drizzle and listened to our tour leader spout information, and then there were the places we actually went into.
Grand Central Station was one of those walk to, stand and listen and walk back to the bus, places...This is the OUTSIDE...
At least we went inside the Empire State building, but the security was amazing...They yelled at me when I attempted to take a photo (oops, I forgot!) of the security area!
Our tour guide held up his umbrella for us to follow...but it was never high enough...and it made me giggle, coz we used to do this when leading tours in Europe, when I worked for a tour company there:)
There were exhibits in one of the halls, which were quite well done, but we didn't have much time to look there, and preferred to go to the observation deck poste haste.
The view from the Empire State Building was amazing! We were on the observation deck with a gazillion other people, and it was hazy and a little wet, now and then, but despite all the negatives, we were able to see plenty and photograph the same. We enjoyed helping others take group photos, and talking to the various nationalities doing the same as us:)
Let me return to our beginnings of the day....
Grand Central Station. It is a magnificent building. The stars on the ceiling (and Zodiac signs) are upside down...the artist finished the project, after two years of painting, to find he had made a mistake! oops! They kept it that way!. It is a lovely vaulted ceiling, and all the architectural details are gorgeous. So glad they thought to clean it up and make like new. All the amenities are clean and tidy.
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The faces of this clock are pure Aussie Opal, carved thin enough to show the light through them. It has been valued recently at 30 million dollars, US!
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Grand Central Station at 7.30am...not too many people about...where are they all???
Yellow Cab rank....
Chrysler Building, which I think is still one of the prettiest!:)
Corner fruit stand! on every other corner...
Still so few people around at 7.55am!
CitiBikes. (sorry for blurry pic...was on the bus at this stage)...You puts your card in, and takes the bike out, bike away and park it somewhere else with a Citibike stack. Fantastic!!
Food Carts like this are everywhere! Sometimes three or four on one corner.
Times Square at 8am on a Thursday.
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Our bus picked us up here, on Broadway, at the Theatre District and Times Square.
Now...back to the Empire State building...
These photos were taken from the observation deck at the Empire State Building. This one looks back down the Hudson to the apex of Manhattan Island (which we are now on) to where the Hudson and the East River go their sep. ways....Hudson on the right, East River on the left.
The tallest building in the distance is the new One World Trade Center. It is currently unoccupied, and looks over the 9/11 Memorial site. We are on the 86th floor!
I wanted to take photos of where we had come the day before, in the boat. Yes, we motored up the Hudson, on the right, past all these buildings!
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...and we motored in amongst these fast ferries, which we stayed away from, as much as possible...they have horrid wakes, as you can see!
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Don't ask me to name all the buildings...I just don't remember them! But I can appreciate their architectural qualities.
The building on the right is actually in New Jersey. That side of the Hudson is all New Jersey.
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New Jersey on the far shore, Manhattan Island on this one.
The relatively narrow observation deck of the Empire State building. It was an excellent way to view the city as far as our fog bound eyes could see:)
I always like the faces on these viewing machines...$1.50 please!
Looking up the Hudson going north..
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My favorite building in context. Chrysler building.
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Mr and Mrs Brown in front of the East River view.
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Our next stop, after the Empire State Building was Little Italy where we had lunch at a pre-arranged restaurant (Paysano, or Peasant) with a $15 menu with 5 choices . We didn't enjoy the meal in particular..Waz had Chicken Parmigano and I had the Lasagne...which repeated on me all day!, but we had food in our tums, which we desperately needed, after such a small breakfast, and such a long time ago.
We had been up since 4am when the rain woke us and we went scurrying upstairs to put the tarp over the upholstery. I couldn't go back to sleep after that, so I felt kind of spacey all day:)
Waz and I had about 10 mins to walk around the area in Little Italy where we had eaten, and came across Ferrara, one of the Pastry shops...I hope your mouth waters just as ours did, over all these lovelies!.
I snuck a few Little Italy photos in here too...
Inside our lunch restaurant!
See I made you wait for the goodies:) This is Ferrara, the Pastry shop.
No, we didn't buy or eat any...just looked. We couldn't take any back to the bus, as there was no food allowed on the bus, of course, so we just enjoyed the beauty of them.
After lunch we headed to the SOL, parking at Battery Park at the pointy end of Manhattan Island, looking south. We boarded the vessel that was to take us to the Island...it rocked and rolled at it's dock, which made it rather treacherous to get on and off, but there was so much wave action around the vessel (we know, we have been there on our boat!) that there was no way it could be still against the pilings it was tied to.
Oh..I forgot to tell you that we drove past the Wall Street Bull and Bear...I didn't photograph the Bear...well, why would you? Bad luck!
Many people believe that by touching the Bulls manly parts, it will bring them good luck! go figger!
The bus stopped at Battery Park and Castle Clinton, for us to get the Ferry to the SOL .
Along the path was this vegetable Garden which is a project to teach children where their food comes from! Imagine!
Castle Clinton...nothing to do with Bill!
Construction began in 1808 and was completed in 1811. The fort, known as West Battery (sometimes South-west Battery), was designed by architects John McComb Jr. and Jonathan Williams. It was built on a small artificial island just off shore.
West Battery was intended to complement the three-tiered Castle Williams on Governors Island, which was East Battery, to defend New York City from British forces in the tensions that marked the run-up to the War of 1812, but never saw action in that or any war. Subsequent landfill expanded Battery Park, and incorporated the fort into the mainland of Manhattan Island.
As with all historic areas administered by the National Park Service, Castle Clinton National Monument was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 15, 1966.***
There must have been 300 people at least on the ferry and we felt a little like sardines. We all disembarked on the Statue Island and were herded to a meeting point and given directions and instructions. We had about and hour to view the statue, climb inside her and get to the observation deck. Waz and I had to buy more water, and it was raining at this stage. We were glad of our raincoats! Many didn't have them. The whole thing is very commercial, with gift and souvenir shop, café et al...and very expensive, of course. The Parks Service run this site, as they run so many.
Statue of Liberty up close and personal....
She looks quite small next to her tall skyscraper neighbors, but you can see that she isn't at all, when you see that those are people, all around her base!!
The dings in the hull of the ferry tell you a lot about the rocky rolly nature of the waters around here...she heaved and hawed all the time we were embarking and again disembarking. You sure had to hold onto the railing for both.
The mass of humanity waiting to board the ferry. Just about every nationality possible!
She literally crashed into the pilings. It was rather nerve wracking to watch it!
We approached Miss Liberty from her back side. Apparently you have to book 6 months in advance to go to the top! Too many stairs!
Once on liberty Island, the rain started again and off to Security in order to get to the observation deck. Again, we didn't have much time.
Waz, waiting for me to finish taking photos, no doubt:)
WHen you are at the bottom of this sculpture, you can not get the whole of her in the photo. However, I rather like the parts! I hope you do too:)
The copper sheet is very thin, I might add!.
This is the bottom of the sleeve with the arm coming out to the left, holding the book.
The folds of the robe
Climbing down and out of the base, into the basement and security area again.
We were herded back to the Ferry and told to stay on board when it got to Ellis Island, as this was not a stop on our tour!:(
I cant say we minded...we were pretty worn out by now.
One World Trade Center....the new building. Rather lovely. The low building in the foreground is the 9/11 museum.
I will have to find the photos of the 9/11 Memorial Site...they have gone AWOL...
Times Square at 6pm.
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We are now in the Theatre District....Just one of the theatres.
The electronic ticker tape outside the Morgan Stanley Building in Times Square.
New Yorks Finest...Fire Department of NY.
Pretzels and hot dogs!
More Times Square.
I couldn't go up and take a full frontal of this fella, but this is Chris Noth, the actor who plays Mr Big on Sex and the City, and husband Peter Florick on The Good Wife, TV program. Waz went back to take a look, when I told him who it was:) He needs a better barber, this haircut is horrid!
Tikes Square at 6.15pm...it was buzzing! The theatres all open for 7pm performances, so the place was full of well dressed people going into restaurants which have pre-performance dinner menus advertised. It was also full of LOTS of tourists and locals doing interesting things...see below.
One of the many large digital screens in the Square.
Lots of Road Works everywhere, which slowed us down a lot. I think we probably spent almost half our tour time sitting in traffic!
...and as the sun is going down, the 'interesting people' come out. These folks were advertising the Naked Cowgirls Club. Yes, he did have more on than his guitar!:)
I caught Batman getting dressed outside a phone booth...and dared to look inside....
...where I found his breastplate!! The look he gave me after I spied this, was priceless...had me chuckling all the way down the road.
These folks in costume want you to want to have your photo taken with them...then they put their hand out for dollars! They are a little pushy.
Mario, Hello Kitty and Ironman.
We made our way out of Times Square back to Grand Central Station. We found a Starbucks which didn't have long lines in it, just out of the square and were very grateful for the Frappucino we bought...our water was finished and we needed food also, so the milky drink was a good stop gap.
Today was the 19th of June, and our one year anniversary of the day we came aboard to live on our boat, in Houston. We wanted to mark the day as something special, so we chose to eat dinner at Grand Central Station, at the Oyster Bar. It had come highly recommended. We would recommend it to others, as an institution, an education in fast service, and excellent food.
The waiters all lined up waiting for their food, at the server. We are sitting at a 'bar' where the waitress was in the middle of the horseshoe shaped eating bar.
That is the Oyster Bar with the blue sign above. The sign advertises the different oysters available...they come from boutique farms all over....even from Seattle, apparently. I have been to such an oyster bar there...with disastrous results...for the rest of the night. We didn't participate in this one.
The Oyster menu..including NZ oysters from Clevedon Cove!!
I enjoyed the Trout Armandine...something I haven't eaten or made, for years. Simple and tasty.
It came with a plate of vegetables, which were tasty, though they didn't look so great.
Waz had the fish and chips, as he usually does:) which were declared excellent.
Time to go home to the boat. The train is an express at 7.53pm. It took just under an hour to get us back to Croton -on-Hudson, it's first stop. The last being Poughkeepsie.
That was our full day...and much more. It has taken me a long time to get all this down...it is now the 23rd, June. I have much Catching up to do! We are using a new camera...point and shoot, to replace the Canon Elf which broke, and Waz has the editing program on his computer, so he has to give me all the photos....It is so much easier for me to do it on may computer, but this new camera is his!..you get the picture:)
Tomorrow...or not.
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