New York Adventure - Day 2

---

Geo: 40.7614, -73.9861

Just woke up, now 07:20, quickly checked outside the window and yes it's a very bleak day, -2 degrees and snowing so the kids will be very excited again when they finally wake up. Will obviously put a dampener on our tourist activities and restrict our views from the tall buildings we were planning to attempt today! Any way it's a holiday so let's just enjoy whatever we can..

Breakfast this morning is on the cheap, cereal from a local deli, bowls from the little shop downstairs ( they were very kind) and spoons from Celina's handbag collection. This will be our breakfast for the rest of New York followed up with a Starbucks Coffee.

It took us over an hour to find our hop on, hop off bus this morning after getting redirected I don't know how many times. After 4000 steps we ended up 100 m from where we started and commenced our tour for the day.

We only have a three day bus pass so need to make the most of it. It seems that there is a lot of competition between tour operators impact customer sentiment feedback on Trip Adviser, so games are played....we won't be mucked around tomorrow let me tell you. Additionally if anyone reading this is planning a holiday anywhere and using a hop on, hop off facility our recommendation is the use The Big Bus, they have the best Trip Adviser record. We used Grayline but never again!

We finally picked up our bus on 7th and 42nd and headed Downtown. Weather was still cold, a bit blowy but snow had settled. First stop Empire State Building.....wow! To start we took the NY SKYRIDE which was a simulation of a helicopter ride over the island of Manhattan NY. Very exciting, picturesque and informative, good start to the day.

Next stop Level 86 observatory, albeit that the attendant suggested we wouldn't see anything because of the weather, we took a chance.....It was absolutely freezing, and super windy but the sky was blue and we could see for miles. The views were spectacular, check the photos out as our proof! This was great and much better than I can recall from my first encounter 20 years ago. This was Celina's first time up the Empire State Building and she and the kids really enjoyed it.

Back to the next bus and onward to lower Manhattan, through the fashion district and NoHo then SOHO before getting off the bus at City Hall Park and walking to the World Trade Centre site and the Memorial Ponds, very moving indeed. We then visited the World Trade Centre Tribute adjacent to the FDNY Engine Co.10. Kids were very interested reading all the displays.

It's now 15:30 so back to the bus for the return journey along East River and the Seaport Historic District, as we need to get dinner and then board the Night Tour. On the way back we stopped off at The Rockefeller Centre watched the people ice skating in the forecourt and then took a quick look around the Lego store inside.

Had dinner in a local cafe for just $24.00 (cheapest dinner yet) then caught the 18:30 bus at 7th and 42nd and off we went through Downtown over the Manhattan Bridge into Brooklyn, Brooklyn Heights, along the waterfront (they have built covered jetties that are used as sports fields for soccer and basketball) before returning across the Brooklyn Bridge via Dumbo. Once back on Manhattan Island we drove through Chinatown and Little Italy before leaving our bus where we started at Times Square.

Getting really cold again now, so back to the hotel for a hot shower and another attempt at United Airlines to recover Emma's missing bag......finally connected with United and hopefully we will have Emma,s bag back by Monday before we leave for San Francisco on Tuesday.

11.2kms today and temperature upon return to hotel was -3 (-9.9)

The plan tomorrow is to get up early and get started on our touring by 08:30 so we make the most of the last day on the bus pass.

Good night from the "Rudkin Travelling Forest 2087 Billies" from Times Square,

---