New York day one

New York day 1

We had the most amazingly full day today.  Decided to take a tour to get oriented to the city. We bought a 4 bus ticket that lasts 48 hours and to 3 tours! 

But first we walked around our neighborhood. Before we knew it the Chrysler building came into view. It is truly every bit as beautiful as you would expect.

Further down 42 nd street and we landed at grand central station. What a stunning piece of architecture. We found the apple store which needs a visit later on and then purchased our city explorer pass.

Walked further down  42nd past the new york city library   and found Bryant park. What a lovely park this is. Tables and chairs around for the use of anyone. People playing table tennis and recreating on the grass.  Dappled light through the trees and a soft breeze. It was a lovely oasis in the middle of the big smoke. I can see why New Yorkers love it so much.

oasis on 42nd street

table tennis in Bryant park anyone?

Then we boarded our tour bus for the midtown explore. This took us from 42 nd street down towards the south end of the island. We passed Macy's,

11 stories of retail

Madison square garden, Empire State Building ,

Empire state building from the bus

Chrysler building, New York public  library, ( scene of the marriage  debacle in the sex in the city movie ) through Chelsea Greenwich village, soho, noho, nolita and the flatiron district.

Flatiron building

Our tour guide was a feisty New York woman who was full of tidbits of information and  great company. At one stage we got stuck in a traffic jam. Fire trucks had blocked the other end of the street and we were going nowhere. She got it of the bus and directed traffic, making trucks and buses back out of the set so we could reverse back ut of the street and go back down 6 th ave to continue our tour.

We got off down near the twin towers memorial and went into St. Paul's chapel. We made it just in time for the free Monday concert.

concert program

 All I can say is wow! In the middle of this bustling bright city we walked into a beautiful chapel with a chamber orchestra and choir performing 2 Bach cantatas and the back Gloria. Sing unto The Lord a new song ( bwv 190) and bwv 192 nun danket alle gott.  One of the parts was performed by a very talented counter tenor.

We drifted out after an hour of bliss to find some lunch. Walked into a local deli for half sandwich and soup of the day. Monica had a delicious tomato and basil soup heavily laced with garlic and a sandwich with rocket, capsicum, eggplant and chèvre and I had chicken and barley soup with roast beef, capsicum and lettuce sandwich. Thanks to Liz for the suggestion of the half sandwich. It was really quite a large and satisfying meal. The soup was wonderful. Clearly home made and delicious. 

We then got back on the bus and travelled up the east side of the island past the south street sea port, east village and past the hospital mile and realized we would not make it to the cruise we wanted to catch so quickly off and a taxi across town to pier 78 on the west side of the island. We were almost the last on board! Our cruise took us around the lower half of the islands and it was so wonderful to see the city from the river.

Battery park

 We went past Greenwich village, Chelsea pier, lower manhattan including the new freedom tower which has pipped the Empire State as the tallest building in the city.  We continued around and under the Brooklyn bridge, manhattan bridge and up to the Williamsburg bridge. Oh those bridges are lovely! Lots of wonderful photo opportunities.

Manhattan bridge

Under the Brooklyn bridge

Our return journey took us past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis island with more photo opportunities. We stood the whole way for the 90 minute cruise! But it was worth it.

After the cruise we walked back up 42 nd street from 12 th avenue to Times Square. Stopped at a Starbucks for a reasonable approximation of a cappuccino, lovely coffee cake and free wifi! We passed a theatre that had a play with Sam shepherd performing in it. What a pity it closed the might before. I just kept thinking of my girls and how much they would enjoy seeing all this. Can't wait to share it with them. 

Phone service was next on the agenda. We found the AT&T store in Times Square. Our agent angel was true to his name. He supplied a micro sim and hooked me up with data and calls and all the text I could want for the very reasonable $50. I am now connected and very happy.

First glimpse of Times Square

We wandered back down to find the city lights tour. Had a little trouble but eventually found our starting point. Our tour guide this time was a little Jewish man from Harlem called Ammi. He would have to be the best true guide I have ever had. So enthusiastic and knowledgable. He had done so much research for his tour in the archives of the unlicensed library and had really interesting information to share and opinions about the history and education in his town. This tour took us back down past a lot of the midtown places we had seen earlier but now with the lights. It was quite entertaining to be able to see into the apartments of so many new yorkers. they must realise people can see in but dont close their curtains. a whole different life above street level.

snooping

 

Then we went across the manhattan bridge. Our driver stopped in the middle of the bridge to allow photos. Can you believe it? The commuters around us were pretty unhappy but we got good photos.

 Into Brooklyn and by the Brooklyn bridge for more hoots and then a drive along the shore so that we could see the lights of manhattan. Another stop for photos . Then back into town. We disembarked at 10.30 and realized we hadn't had dinner. A deli inn7th avenue open 24 hours served us spinach pie to fill the gap. We walked home which was quite a decent walk and found a grocery store open 24 hours so picked up a few snacks and some breakfast at 11.30 pm before getting into the hotel and almost straight to bed.

The weather today was glorious. Couldn't have asked for better. Tomorrow is predicted to be overcast and rainy. We will see.