New York, NY

Yesterday and today was spent exploring Manhattan with temps in the low to mid 30's and high humidity.

Yesterday it was use the Hop On Hop Off bus to get to some of the places we wanted to see. First bus was a loop around the upper east side; locals call it "old money" as the likes of the Kennedy's lived there. The upper part of 5th Avenue was swanky! This is where Trump Tower is; where he used to live before the White House.

Back at the start we change buses and head down town, first stop the Empire State Building. We didn't go up last trip to NY so this was a first that we were looking forward to. Most of the building is apartments I believe. The lobby area is impressive but we had to go around the corner to actually go up to the observation area which gave you great views of all the boroughs that make up NY. The Rockefeller Centre blocks the view of Central Park which is why we went up the "Rock" last time.

From the ESB it was down to Wall Street, lunch and a photo with the bull before getting on the Staten Island Ferry for a quick trip across the harbour and back to see the Statue of Liberty and get looked at by the Coast Guard.

Once back we thought a quick wait at the bus stop would see us back in the hotel by 3.00pm; boy were we wrong! The first bus came through and was chocker then we waited and waited and waited only to be told that the west side was in grid lock and the buses were having difficulty getting through: a long story short we got back just in time to freshen up and meet the others for dinner at 6.00pm. A very long day.

Today things ran like clockwork for us. It was up and have breakfast and be at the Rockefeller at around 9.00am. We went by Bryant Park, which seconds as a skating rink during the winter months, with Judy, Woody and me checking out the toilets which are billed as the best public toilets in Manhattan - Judy thought so but Woody and I thought otherwise; Judy is a noted expert on public toilets so we had to relent. On the eastern end of the park is NY's public library which houses 53 Million books and other items such as news papers in rows that total 70 miles; it has 3000 employees. The library is the second largest in the United States behind the Library of Congress, and the third largest in the world.

The Rockefeller Centre was reasonably quiet so it was pretty much straight through, as we didn't need to buy tickets, into the lifts and up to the first of the three observation levels we had access to. The day was hazy but still offered some great views.

Once back at the bottom we had a coffee then Judy needed to stop off at the Nike store where I took the opportunity to buy a pair of shorts. This was the gift shopping out of the way which was a relief. We headed on up 5th Ave past all the well known clothing and jewellery brands to Central Park where we shouted ourselves an hour cycle tour with a guide; it was good but not that great. By this time it was around 2.00pm and a temp upwards of low to mid 30's so I thought it a great chance to take Woody on the underground; we paid our $3 each and within 10 minutes we had gone from W58th Street to W40th Street leaving us a 5 minute walk to a real NY bar for a beer and some bar tender humour before heading back to the hotel for a freshen up and rest.

Memorial to John Lennon 

Tonight we all met for the last time as some of us are to the airport very early in the morning; Judy and I are catching a lift to pick up a rental car. We have updated numbers, added new ones and hugged saying our goodbyes and off to bed to watch the Macy's fireworks display and well worth the waiting up for; what a spectacular event it is: Loved it.

Well off to see a mate in Tennessee tomorrow for a couple of days then on down to Birmingham, New Orleans and Houston before flying out to Hawaii for some RnR. 

From here it will be Facebook posts so a big thank you for reading these: I have really enjoyed putting them together for your entertainment. Au revoir.