The previous day is
HERE
Due to total photo overload I will split today into
Part 1 : Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island
Part 2: Wall Street, Brooklyn Bridge and Julianas
Here is part 1 ...
Sunday 3 July
It was a bit of a restless night for me with the noisy aircon and a totally annoying cough that kept waking me up
Its also true when they say its the City never Sleeps
It was so noisy
We live in the country there is no road noise so we always have to adjust to some noise when we go away but this really was a city alive all night mainly sirens !
The bed was very comfy. I fell asleep last night around 10pm and woke up at 1am.
Ugh
I thought it was like breakfast time.
I dozed off and woke at 4 and at 4.30 gave up
Andy went to get a coffee from the breakfast service area .
We sat and watched the news in bed Good morning New York took on a whole new aspect so different when you are there
At just before 7 we went back to the breakfast area and just grabbed a couple of pastries and some juice on our way to meet the boys
Who were almost ready so not bad going.
We were out the hotel at 0715 and walked a few minutes to 28th Street to get the R train to Whitehall Street
An engineer was fixing the metro card machine and we learned that you can only buy 2 cards with one credit card oh dear, we need 5 and only have one card plus cash on us but he was fixing the cash machine.
He showed us how to get the first two cards ( 7 day unlimited) and then allowed the teens through with no card we just bought them at the other end.
I read this beginners guide on the subway in fact I studied it several times.
It really helped. I felt pretty confident that I could get us around.
My only hiccup was the next day on the bank holiday timetable.
I do recommend it
nycsubwayguide/subway/
A bit blurry they were rat spotting
We didnt see one , anywhere
Some of the stations had beautiful mosaic tiling
We arrived at 0745 and were helpfully directed around the corner head for the flag basically is what we were told.
We passed this on the way
WE walked along Battery Park only to be directed back to the end of the very long line that we had walked passed
We wrongly assumed these people were queuing for tickets
No
They were queuing for security
So I was a bit twitchy as it was around 0800 now and our booking was for 0830 and the line did not appear to be moving with pace
Past the naval memorial
Omg , queuing faces
We carried shuffling along around past the old castle
As we had a timed ticket we did get separated out near the end which propelled us to the front of the security line all airport style and we just made the second 0830 boat.
Let the amazing views begin
The teens had their sea legs on
Views as we pulled away
The building right at the front looks like a lego model next to the others
The Staten Island Ferry
Coming in to Liberty Island
See how I got the statue parked on top of the boat complete fluke !
Its definitely worth being on the early boat to get up onto the viewing areas before it gets busy . It was bad enough as it was !
We had pedestal tickets only the 195 steps then
OMG
My knees hurt
My calves hurt
My toes hurt
And I go up and down the escalators on the Tube all the time
This was something else
And poor Nick only just came out of hospital !
Just the 45 still to go and no oxygen or a St Bernard with brandy in sight
It was great at the top very narrow to pass though