New York, New York so good they named it twice!

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Well this is the last blog of our 2015 trot round the globe and what a year it has been but before I go into meltdown it's a new destination, The Big Apple. We arrived in one piece, just a short 1hr 2 min flight from Toronto but when we landed at JFK it looked more like Manchester airport, thick cloud and pouring with rain!! Anyway we jumped on an airport bus which took us for half the price of a taxi to downtown. We could have jumped off here and got on another bus but the driver said it would be quicker for us if we walked. New York traffic can be very slow going! Our hotel is on 34th Street which is about a 5-10 minute walk from the Empire State Building. Dropped the bags and headed out to orientate ourselves, found Broadway and the theatres, Macys, and a great Irish bar just down the road as it started to hoof it down again. thought we would have an early night so that we would be fresh the next day but New York never stops and I think it all went on outside our hotel all night.

Little jaded this morning but still we are up and out for 8am. It's 9/11 and we wanted to go to Ground Zero to pay our respects. The memorial and museum and all the roads around the area are closed to the general public until 3pm to allow friends and families to go and pay their respects and hold a service in which every name is read out. Knowing this we still set off to see how near we could get and as soon as we got off the subway there were people just stood on the pavements looking at the skyline remembering what happened. Huge security on the streets today, I have never seen to many Police and Fire Fighters, many were taking part in the memorial service but the Police, snipers, helicopters etc were all on high alert. There were a lot of fire trucks lined up and Baz went to speak to some of the guys to pay his respects and they were impressed with his T Shirt and the fact that he had made the effort to mark the occasion in a small way. We walked around the area and went into Trinity church to light a candle and say a prayer. It was very emotional so we decided to take some time out and return later in the day when it opened to the public. As we were down that end of the city we walked along the Esplanade, through Battery Park and over to the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. It was a lovely walk just ambling along the Hudson River, the gardens were beautiful and the waterfront immaculate. I don't really know what we were expecting but it definitely wasn't to see so much green space, not a piece of litter or graffiti anywhere. It was great. Going across to Staten Island is free on the ferry and takes about half an hour to cross, you have to run the gauntlet of the ticket touts all selling tickets for cruises etc but you get a great view of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. When we jumped off at the other end we walked down the steps and went to the Staten Island 9/11 memorial which was for the first responders. A lovely tribute and you looked through two arches to the skyline across the water. Of course there were wreathes and for each person who had lost there life there were flowers on the wall by their names. Back over the water and time for a much needed coffee stop. feeling refreshed we set off for Wall Street, we saw The statue of the famous charging Bull which stands at the head of the financial district, at the front of the NY stock exchange and then we had to have a New York hot dog. We sat and ate them on the big golden shaped nuggets that line Wall Street, it was well tasty, we had them with ketchup and onions!! We then ventured into Federal Hall on Wall Street which was a fantastic building. It has a large statue of George Washington outside at the top of the steps and he has a commanding position keeping his eye on all the comings and goings of the traders. Inside the building was a stone slab that the said Mr Washington stood on when he was sworn in as the very first president of the USA. Anyway it was now getting to 3pm so we made our way back to the 9/11 memorial but before getting to ground zero we visited the Fire House and next door is the memorial centre. When the girls in there saw Baz in his T Shirt they let us in for free and took us downstairs where there were people giving little talks about their own personal experiences of the day. One lady spoke about the horrors she saw, the smells of death and devastation but also of the friends made, the endurance of the human spirit and the compassion shown by everyday people wanting to help in whatever way they could. It was harrowing and heartwarming at the same time. There are photos of the people who lost their lives and notes that families had originally passed to the authorities giving the names and descriptions of their loved ones, even down to the height and weight. Unfortunately many many people never got there loved ones back in any way as so many were just completely incinerated. One chap spoke of how he watched a sea of people jumping to their deaths

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