New York-New York

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New York-New York
I was not looking forward to riding into downtown Manhattan but with our local lad,Craig,as our leader I became a little more relaxed until he missed the huge sign that directed us to turn right towards Manhattan....Bugger. Between Miss Muppet with her cel phone directions and Strings and my GPS we made it in a round about way to downtown and our hotel that Bones and Petal had secured for us. After unloading our gear we then rode up the road about 50 metres to the parking building that I had researched. After a bit of argy bargy we finally agreed to pay the US$50 per day per bike, lucky we were only staying two nights!!
After a shower and change of clothes the girls took us off on a sight seeing bus tour of the city.
I must admit it is a pulsating and vibrant city. We finished the evening with a chicken dinner and a walk to Times Square.
The next day we were up and about with our get on get off bus tickets but decided to walk to The Rockefeller Centre where I was denied entry because I had my small 'Dakar' pocket knife in my man bag. String and Petal went up and we waited for them to return,gave Petal my pocket knife and then we went up and that was the last we saw of them for the day.
After our Rockefeller experience we caught the bus until the Harley shop,where we had coffee a pee and bought a T shirt as you do. We then made our way to the 911 Memorial site and walked down to catch the Staton Island ferry, so we could get a close up of the Statue of Liberty.
Returning to Manhattan, we made our way back uptown to meet our friends, sisters,Linda and Susan, that we travelled with in Turkey a few years ago, unfortunately Susan couldn't make it but we had a great meal and catch up with Linda. We walked back to our hotel around 11.00pm so we couldn't fit much more into that day.
The next morning we went to retrieve our bikes after paying our $100 each we went back to the hotel and loaded our gear as the girls took a shuttle to the airport to pick up their car.
We said our goodbyes to Craig and tackled the traffic to get outa town.
I was a bit concerned about finding our way out, but with our maps, GPS and good roadside directions we made it onto the New Jersey Turnpike and headed south.
Somewhere along this Turnpike String lost his tank bag, but nothing was retrievable as so many cars and trucks ran over it before Trevor and Kim could help.
Lucky he never had his passport or camera in it. We made it to Baltimore that night and made plans to visit Washington and the Smithsonian museum the following day.
I just loved the Smithsonian Museum of flight and transportation, we really didn't allow enough time here.
It was good to see the White House and the City of Washington along with the history and monuments.
Next blog will be from Florida.
Cheers. Rosco.

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Photos

Welcome to New York
The Statue of Liberty

Linda
We met Linda and her sister Susan a few years ago in Turkey. Was great to see Linda again.

The first skyscraper in NY.
The Flat Iron Building

The White House
Petal, String and Bones