Day 75 - Yankee stadium

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We both slept in this morning - the alarm went off at 5am as we had plans to go into Times Square to watch Good Morning America being filmed but we just couldn't get up - sometimes you just need to sleep in. We slept in till 9am and didn't leave the hostel until 11am but we still ended up with 8.5 hour touring day.

Caught the train to 161st street to the Yankees stadium. On the train we could see the condition of the stations change past Central Park 110th Street. Once we arrived at 161st we were walking towards the exit when we spotted our first NY rat! There it was running madly past us in the middle of the day! The guy walking beside us said "don't worry lady you will see them everywhere around here". That certainly didn't make me feel better - my eyes were constantly scanning the walkways around the Bronx for the rest of the visit.

Yankees stadium is just across from the subway station and tours are held most days at the Yankee Stadium. Tickets are $25 each and the tour goes for around 45 minutes. This stadium was opened in 2009 - the previous stadium was across the road and has been made into a park for the locals.

Having recently been on a similar tour in Minnesota I wasn't that impressed with this tour. The group was large and you were shuffled around from place to place and the security guards were constantly watching every move you made.

Stops were made at monument park, the press room, the museum and finally down by the dug out. The Yankees are a famous major league team and they have won 27 World Series - much more than any other team in major league.

After the tour we had a brief walk around the surrounding area of the stadium - as we don't know the area we were hesitant to go too far. Although the Bronx has been cleaned up a lot - you still need to be wary - wouldn't advise a visit after dark. At one point we were walking up a set of stairs in the park - Geoff was a little ahead of me - he reached the top and turned around and said "let's go". When we got back down the stairs Geoff said there were some "not so nice" looking people at the top of the stairs.

Back on the train we headed to Brooklyn to walk over the famous bridge. This bridge in New York City is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States. The bridge was completed in 1883 and connects the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn by spanning the East River. The main span of the bridge is 1.595 ft in length and it was the longest suspension bridge in world until 1903.

There is a lot of road work bring done on the bridge so we managed to walk around in circles for half an hour or so before finding the entrance - Walking past City Hall and the Court house - magnificent looking buildings. Once on the bridge you get a different view of the city - well worth a visit you watch out for the cyclists though - they ride madly across the Bridge and will have no hesitation in running you over if you happen to be on the cyclist side of the walkway.

After we walked across the bridge we headed down to the Brooklyn Bridge Park where we bought an icecream sandwich from the Brooklyn Icecream Factory - very yummy - one sandwich was plenty for both of us. The weather has decided to become very cold today - and under the bridge it was extremely windy and freezing cold so we didnt hang around to explore too much.

Got the East River Ferry service back over to East 34th Street and then a free shuttle bus down to 7th Avenue where we walked to the market to buy dinner and top up our grocery needs.

This evening the bus driver was telling us about life here in NYC. He has lived in Brooklyn for 38 years and he loves it here. He was telling us that 5 million people live in this city and over 700 languages are spoken here. He has visited many countries when he was in the marines but says New York is one of a kind - the only city in the world where you can have or do anything at any hour of the day or night.

I have to say that we have found the New Yorkers to be very friendly and we respect the fact that they share this city with over 20 million visitors every year - I'm sure most New Yorkers would be asked to help a lost or bewildered tourist every day!

Home at the hostel around 8.30pm - both of feeling a little more energised and ready for another big day tomorrow - tour of the lower east side with "Free tours on foot".

Back at the hostel we have met some great people from different countries - sharing travel stories - learning about their countries and sharing information about our home country - Australia.

Travel certainly opens our minds to a wealth of new and exciting experiences.

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Photos

Yankee stadium

Hard Rock Yankee Stadium

Outside the stadium

Sir Jackie Robinson retired number

Monument park

Retired number 8

Number retired throughout baseball Mariano Rivera

Monument Park

World Series rings on display in the museum

The stadium playing field

Near the field

The old stadium now a park for the locals

City hall

The courthouse

The Brooklyn bridge

Bridge arches

View of Brooklyn park

On the bridge

Brooklyn icecream factory

The bridge from the park

At the East River overlooking lower manhattan

Freedom tower

East river ferry

The lady in the distance

Manhattan bridge