Day 14 A quick trip around Lady Liberty

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Geo: 40.7488, -73.9911

This turned out to be a day of false starts. But who cares, that's the luxury of holidays.

The bonus was, without being whipped into action by our relentless Whistler tour guides, it was a leisurely start to the day....we didn't actually leave the hotel until noon after a very late sleep in. I commented whimsically to Mac that this was the life and it was a luxury to have such a slow start. He was very quick to retort, with the appropriate smug grin "This is what I do every day." I do believe it was another subtle attempt to highlight the multitude of benefits of retirement, (Nice try, tempting, but still no bananas.)

@Dawnee (JPC) had recommended the New York City Pass to us. It gives great value savings for the major attractions and gives express access to certain queues. There is only one down side...there are so many people in New York (busiest time of the year, APPARENTLY) that we are having trouble accessing any of the venues that are included as part of the City Pass.

We started our adventures by visiting the Empire State Building, just a few blocks from our accommodation, only to be told that the wait was two and a half hours. Not willing to give up that much time in a line so walked to the head of the line just for fun and moved to plan B. A false start but still fun

Back into the streets to enjoy the icons that have been made "familiar" from movies. We enjoyed Macys' Christmas windows, admired Victoria's Secret from outside of the building and wove our way through the avenues.

With no luck at the Empire State Building we jumped on the bus again and made the slow journey towards the piers to take a trip to Ellis Island and The Lady. In a totally innocent move, we were lined up at the back of the queue and the hop on hop off staffer came and told us that because we had the City Pass lanyard on, we needed to go to the head of the queue. Was a little bit embarrassing because all the buses were full and only a handful of "waiters" were able to get on. Guess that's the luck of the draw - so we took it!

Silly us! People everywhere. Lines longer that you can conjure in your imagination. No chance of getting on the "last" boat of the day - there is an estimated 3 hour wait to get on the ferry.

And absolutely freezing cold and overcast. And despite another false start the constant grey pall of the sky which had not changed all day, could not dampen our enthusiasm. Just needed to be flexible.

We made the moment count by taking a stroll around the foreshore and mingling with the thousands of other tourists who had converged at Battery Point on the Hudson River. Following the crowds, it was possible to find some food and an alternate cruising option that was included in our City Pass.

Mac had a wide grin because we were VIPs AGAIN and were herded to the front of the line for the "next" Statue Cruise that was a one hour "circle" of Ellis Island. Snuggled up in two seats inside, we found ourselves knee to knee with a couple of fellow Aussie travellers. We enjoyed our first "sort of" close up view of the Statue of Liberty through gales of laughter as we shared stories and exchanged tips.

It was a guided tour and the commentary included the history of Ellis Island and the Statue, some insights about the boroughs of Manhattan and New Jersey, a reference to Sully's amazing landing on the Hudson, a fly by of the ventilation towers of the commuter tunnels, fantastic views of the Manhattan skyline and the triple treat of the bridges.

I do keep forgetting how "brave" Mac is to be on the water! Given that he is not a fan of "anything that floats" I take it for granted that he might be feeling queasy. After all, the bay was a little choppy today. But he guarded the seats and stayed indoors as I took in all the delights of the top deck, the "relatively"close up views of the statue and the fun of the cold wind whipping up a frenzy in my hair.

We got close - but will need to be at Battery Point much earlier if we want to get to the island. Don't think a high noon start will cut it.

Of course the light was fading when we left the boat and Mac had to call on all his navigation skills to take us through the back streets to finally meet up with the hop-on-hop-off bus for a cold and windy top deck trip back towards home. Hustle and bustle again - yellow cabs, lights, people, horns blaring - it was the usual cacophony of sound that is the constant backdrop of New York. Despite encouragement from the conductor (who was also the commentator - a Brooklyn local) to seek shelter downstairs, we were determined to "suck up the cold" and soak in the night time frenzy of New York. It was totally and predictably, gobsmackingly crazy!

Go figure. With hundreds of restaurants and diners and street eateries dinner tonight was LEFTOVERS from last night....topped up with another tub from a local Japanese takeaway tonight.

We rounded out the evening with a rendevous at home with Michael and updates from Canada - from both Whistler and Toronto.

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