First ones on the motel shuttle, 1st ferry across the Hudson and 1st ones on the bus to uptown! In and out of Trump Tower and his wall of falling waters, in and out of St Patrick’s Cathedral, over to Rockefeller Center to see the Today Show hosts, Lester and Natalie as they broadcast out on the mall, and we listened momentarily to the American Idol guys performing. The crowds were building so we moved on and went inside 30 Rockefeller Plaza where we met up with Alex and Tina Fey!! They begged us to let them have their pictures taken with us! How could we resist? We broke away from them and headed for Central Park but H saw his next car sitting in front of some big fancy hotel - - a HUGE black shiny 4 door Rolls Royce. Back on the free Ferry shuttle bus and off again on Broadway at Times Square. Several blocks are now closed to vehicle traffic and opened to just pedestrians. Pedestrians and bikes and folks in lawn chairs! The “square” is walled in by building high LED screens, blazing advertisings and TV shows.
And the people? At 8am the people and the traffic were minimal – at noon - - NOT! We fought our way in and out of the world famous Macy’s and then tried to escape up the 86 floors of the Empire State Building to survey the city from that perch in the sky. No such luck - the struggle to get up to the observation deck and then to get back down resembled more of a cattle stock yard with all of us being pushed and prodded from one long windy path to another over crowded elevator. Enough of that- it was time to try the subway. Train #1’s last stop on its route was Battery Park and the Staten Island Ferry. The crowds were there in front of us – all herded together, waiting for the free big orange ferry that crossed in front of the Statue of Liberty as she stood tall in the harbor. Too bad we were on the wrong side of the boat. Once on Staten Island, we had to exit the boat, go out and around the ferry terminal and get in line to get back on the boat to return to lower Manhattan. This time we knew which side of the boat to head to - - - bottom center back! All the local travelers were inside reading or trying to catch a short nap and all the tourists were on the top deck trying to get the best pictures. NOBODY was on the lower back deck! This time, as we passed by Lady Liberty, H kept the camera clicking. Train #1 was waiting for us down in her slot in the tunnel and took up back uptown to await the shuttle bus back to the ferry terminal to cross the Hudson River once more. Back on the 10th floor of the Sheridan, we finally got to kick off our shoes and let our hot tire feet a break.
Tuesday will find us back on the road, heading for home. Till the next time. . . . . . .
