The Big Apple - NYC 5/23 - 5/26/14

Saturday - first metro into NYC, walked and walked some more.  Rode the Hop on Hop off bus around city.  First stop was Top of the Rock, a great overview of the city, 86th floor view.

View from Top of the Rock

Central Park is huge

I got the NYC Day Pass for 2 days and you could use it for entry into just about any attraction. It was a good deal. We didn't think the Hop on Hop off worked well for us and we wouldn't get it again. We walked and walked and took cabs as needed.

Sunday went by Cake Boss Cafe early (yesterday afternoon there were 150 people in the bakery), got 2 cannolis.

So hard to pick

Circled Manhattan Island by boat (went under 21 bridges). Life dream of seeing the Statute of Liberty accomplished. There was a huge line around her and it looked like hours of waiting -- so I'm glad we saw it by boat. I always felt you needed to be on island, but I just can't take all the lines and was satisfied boating by her.

Our beautiful lady

Went to the Museum of Sex, that was different, Madame Tussaud's Museum, saw Sky Ride in Empire State Building.  At least two hour line to go up in Empire State Building, line wrapped around building at 7:30 p.m  I will say for any main attraction there will be a big wait.  Met three nice ladies from the South of France where we ate a good dinner.

Ladies urinal art piece

Museum of Sex

I thought he was the most realistic figure

Dalai Lama

John's part time job

selling hot dogs

This lady with the camera is a wax figure.  It is a walk through area and we stopped so she could "take a picture".  We stood there for quite a while and then noticed she wasn't real.  It was so funny.  We then stood and watched a few other people wait for her to take a picture.

The "photographer"

We had a reservation Monday to see the brand new 9/11 museum (opened to public 5/21/14).  It was well done and very moving.  I had to move through some part quickly as they were pretty intense and brought back lots of feeling about that day and the days to come.  We saw the 9/11 memorial.

I love the rainbow in the waterfall

Took a cab to St. John's Cathedral, It is mammoth, and the architecture is Gothic revival.  This place is truly a wonder.  There are many huge churches on this street and I wish I'd had time to see more of them.  I took pictures, but the inside is a bit on the darker side so they didn't come out really good.  If you go to NYC, I recommend seeing this cathedral.  It is one of a kind.

Impossible to photograph because it is so huge

Cab to Tavern on the Green and had a drink (worst margarita John ever had and my tequila sunrise was nothing to write home about).

Tavern on the Green chandelier 

We strolled around a bit and then sat and did people watching and took pictures. It was Memorial Day weekend so the park was filled with friends and families having a great day off. Central Park is People Watching Heaven.

Carriage rides

Modern Rickshaw

$7.75 a minute is price we saw!!!

Walk, roller skate, bike

Dog Wood tree blooming

Dinner we decided would be Nathan's hot dogs instead of Tavern on the Green (not impressed) and these hot dogs are NYC. This day was a perfect ending to our time in NYC.

Our delicious dinner

The sunset this evening was beyond belief. We were in our hotel van coming back from the Metro Station. We were up on a small bridge and I looked over toward the city and the sun was hitting all the windows and it literally looked like gold fire on all the windows. I was never in a position to capture it. When we got to our hotel I hopped out of the van and went to the 9th Floor to see if I could get the picture, but just missed it. I looked through Google images and didn't see anything that even compared to what we saw. Guess that's the one I missed and I will have to keep it in my memory.  Oh how I would love for you to see that sunset.

A glorious sunset, but I missed it coming

off the windows as gold fire.

I was surprised by this huge city because I was not expecting to like it much.  It was just a place I had to go to see what I wanted to see (9/11 memorial and statute of liberty).  We met only nice people, had great food, saw wonderful sights. It is nothing like the stereo type that I felt it would be.  Lives up to its name as a great city.

In June I took over 1,600 photographs which is even a stretch for me.  Next we're headed for somewhere (we're losing track) and I'll continue the blog from there.