Onboard New York

Thursday, October 10, 2013
New York, New York, United States
Traffic is non stop - so after we had caught up with a bit of sleep, we were wide awake at 3 am - which meant that we had an early scrambled egg breakfast ( compliments of Iben) before heading to the local Super Grocery Store, about 1 km away. We managed to get some basics and some beer and wine at a local bottle store in the same vicinity.

The 20 seater bus , took 10 minutes and $3 each to drive us within cooee of Times Square .

Talk about country kids in the big smoke. That was us - we walked around with our mouths open as we tried to read and look at all the plasma screens, lights and live people dressed as all kinds of things - all in the name of advertising. With no chance of reading it all we were mightily frustrated. - and this was before 10am, so the streets were relatively empty, as we were to find out later in the day.

The saving grace is that, the tourists (all 56 million of them this year - A record) appear to be the norm - so you don't stick out a like a sore thumb when taking non stop photos.

We chose to stop for a coffee and a focaccia ($31 later - mind you) before meeting our pre booked tour of Manhattan

The company was Onboard and our guide was Altovis - an actress - a delight - and very knowledgable.
Nearly 6 hours later we bade her and our tour mates goodbye, after having a thoroughly informative and fun tour of everything from Strawberry Fields to Fulton street market - including Libby, Rockefeller, empire state, 911 site and a myriad of famous people stories .

We navigated the Jeepney home to pleasant ave and settled down to write this with a a glass of red and some cheeses from the Filton Market.

For future reference, when our minds are dim, here is a detailed account of the Tour:
Start at Wintergarden Theatre back entrance 8th ave
Drive north up 7 th ave past Central Park Entrance to Strawberry Fields and the Dakota Bldg where John Lennon was shot and Yoko still lives. It Overlooks the park, and she commissioned the 1million dollar memorial - Strawberry Fields - comprising gardens and the large mosaic medallion titled "Imagine" - a nice touch was a busker singing it at close range.
Back down town, through central park, past the zoo the the Rockerfeller plaza, the ice rink was being setup and it it was nearly frozen.
Next stop was Fulton Markets, where they sell everything by weight - everything means a myriad of pre prepared meals like pork spare ribs, roasted Brussels sprouts, fish wrapped around feta and spinach, myriads of salads and veggie dishes - it has to be seen to be believed.
A short walk to pier 17 and the zephyr for a harbour cruise and a the chance to see the Statue of Liberty. - very impressive.
Back on the bus to wall street and our final stop the 911 site, we viewed it from the financial trade centre.
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