NEW YORK Nights of May 30 to Jun 6 2013

New York was just as grand as Washington, the same but then different. We stayed at Liberty Harbor Marina which also caters for RV's and is right on the water across from Manhattan in Jersey City. We could even see the Statue of Liberty from Dude’s front door.

We caught the nearby subway the short distance under the Hudson River over to Manhattan Island each day and again walked everywhere.

One of the two 9/11 memorials at the site of the old World Trade Center

We eventually saw the new 9/11 memorial after a 40 minute queue and airport type security checks. The memorial consists of two sunken waterfalls in the holes left by the two towers. In typical American still no expense had been spared and it was very grand and well done.

New York by day

We spent 4 hours walking the entire 2.5 mile length of Central Park. It was amazing how quiet and peaceful it was even though we were right in the middle of Manhattan. We had to keep reminding ourselves where we were.

Central Park looking out over Gotham Hall

We walked through SOHO, Little Italy, Uptown, Downtown, Midtown and lower Manhattan. We passed the icon institutions of Wall St and the NY Stock Exchange, the Chrysler building, Broadway and ended up in Times Square. It was amazing the number and size of all the TV screens crammed into what is such a tiny space.

Times Square

Crowd entertainment in Times Square

Sandra managed to join in the crowd entertainment by playing drums along with about 50 others who were led by a drum master. It was a real hoot, although she did end up with bruised fingers.

We walked along the up market stores of 5^th Avenue which each trying to beat the other in who has the grandest or most lavish shop front. At one point we got caught in a huge downpour and sought shelter under some building scaffold. Moments later all the storm water drain covers starting rattling from the trapped air pressure reminiscent of scenes from Godzilla. That night we went to the top of the Empire State building to watch the sunset, how romantic is that. Unfortunately, hundreds of others had the same idea and it was packed but we did stay till it got dark around 11pm.

New York sunset from the top of the Empire State building

For a change we walked across the Brooklyn Bridge and then caught the subway out through Brooklyn to the Brighton Beach boardwalk. As we wandered inland through little Russia we quickly realized this was the scene of all those famous movie scenes where cars are chased underneath the overhead railway lines.

The Rockefeller Center

After our week in New York we had come to really like it. Manhattan was nowhere near the congested, busy city with everyone rushing everywhere that we had expected. Instead it had a certain quiet charm with nice housing neighborhoods and plenty of quiet parks. One thing it does have is a memorial to just about everything including the Irish Potato Famine!

Wall St Subway Station

The best deal in New York is the Staten Island Ferry which is free so we did the half hour ride across and then immediately back again. This gave us our best view of the Statue of Liberty which was closed for repair.

The drive out of New York around Manhattan and through the Bronx, which really did look as bad as its reputation, was murder. It took over 2 hours to drive the 40 miles into Connecticut even though we were on the Interstates the whole way and it was mid day.