NYC: Day 3 - new years day

Happy New YEAR!

We had a bit of a sleep-in, as today was going to be a slightly relaxing day. Not a lot of things will be open, so we need to find our own entertainment.

The first stop was the subway, and a ride downtown.
Our impressions of the New York subways have improved now, although still markedly different to the Canadian trains.
As we passed through ground zero, the outside became light as the subterranean tunnel was momentarily in the open air; then back into the dimness.

When we got off, we walked back to the world trade centre site, and stood in quiet respect as we tried to imagine what it must have been like with those massive towering buildings standing there.



The area was mostly tourists, so we carried on southwards to the bottom of Manhattan. As we passed tunnels and bridges, we realised that the Americans seem to always want to build a city on an island or on a river, just so that they can come up with ways to get over or under it. There are so many bridges and tunnels going onto Manhattan.

We soon came across Battery park, and the long line of tourists wanting to get onto Liberty Island.
We looked at the line, and spoke to a guide who said it was about 30 minutes to get tickets, and another hour to get onto the boat.



As the day was quickly moving on, we took a photo in front of an artwork that was in one of the collapsed towers and moved on.



The next stop was the port where the ferry leaves to Statten Island.
Again with time limited, and wanting to have a good look around if we did go there, we watched one of the ferries unload it's mass of people, and continued walking up the eastern edge of Manhattan.

We found Wall st, and the NYSE before heading back to the South Street Seaport.
Kind of like Auckland's waterfront bar area, there were some 100 shops in here and a large foodcourt. We found a restaurant to have dinner at and for the first time in a long time, Aimee was asked for ID when ordering a drink with her meal!



After a photo of Aimee and the famous Brooklyn bridge, we were on our way back to Wall st, and the Wall St subway stop.
While studying the map as I regularly do, we actually met a real New Yorker! He kindly asked if we were ok, as he had also been lost in other cities of the world.
We got talking to him, and sadly he didn't actually work on Wall st but back up in Times Square.
We caught an express train back to times square, and decided to walk around a bit more.

We went to the Rockerfeller centre a few blocks east, and saw the big christmas tree and the ice skating rink.



Again the lines were over an hour long and skates $18 to hire, plus paying for ice time so photos were enough.

After a quick walk back, and a nosy in through the M&M gift shop, we were soundly asleep.