30 sept - the big blue bus!
I think given how exciting the place looked the previous evening we all got up early to start exploring This great big city. I think we all appreciated the extra space of having a suite which contained a bedroom plus lounge/ dining room.*
We didn't have a tariff that included breakfast ( we were paying about $440aud per night) *and I worked on the knowledge that there wouldn't be a shortage of available cafes and restaurants close by. Even maccas was 2 doors up ( I am also very proud we didn't go to a maccas once whilst away).
My mission early on was to head to the ticket office at the near by planet Hollywood to exchange our voucher for our all day hop on / off bus for tickets. Well I arrived and was 2 nd in line . Unfortunately the ticket machine was broken and was directed to Madame tussauds ticket office. Bitnofna hassle but I guess going myself at least avoided dragging the kids around the city. I got to tussauds and the line was about 20 long . Oh boy here we go. This is going to take forever. The line progressed well and before too long was collecting in exchange for our voucher , that I purchased with *a 10% off coupon online, for real tickets for the blue hop on/off bus. I choose this company ( although I found out the rival red bus is the same company anyway) as we got 10% off, 3 days for price of 2 plus tickets to top of rock, statue of liberty boat trip plus tickets to a museum. I am notmsurenif I could have brokered a better deal with the plethora of bus ticket sellers on every corner who accosted us every time we walked pass but I am glad we had it all sorts by 830.*
I had spotted a really nice cafe called Europa cafe z( I think it's a chain) opposite the hard rock cafe in broadway. I went pass as I got lost going back to the hotel!! Sometimes it's good to get lost as I brought the Melbourne 5 back for breakfast and enjoyed bacon and egg bagels, fresh juice and coffees for $25 all up. Very clean, freshly made and good service ( its not table service though and always full).
The pickup spot for the 'downtown bus ' was just 1 street back so before long we were on our first tour of the day. The buses are all upstairs seating and open air. The weather was kind. I reckon 19-24c during our stay. Our plan was to take the bus and get off at wall st for a quick look and then go to the newly opened 9/11 memorial that had been opened by president Obama only 3 weeks previous.
The bus trip was fun. Bless digital cameras as we took far to many shots of dubious quality. However there were plenty of gems amongst them for our video. We saw the original Macy's , the empire state building, Madison square garden and penn station and finally the wall st district. We got genuine new York commentary from a guide the whole way which was really good without being overbearing.*
We hopped off at wall st and headed to the 9/11 memorial. We had tickets in a 30 minute window from 11-1130 entry ( they are free and I got them before we left online). When we turned the corner to the street the memorial and building work is in we were greeted with a sea of people . Very orderly but jam packed none the less. We were early , and I heard there were no toilet facilities inside the memorial area so we made a quick trip to the closest facilities. In this case a subway takeout a few doors down from the wtc area. It was a tiny subway shop, we grabbed some water and cookies and as a kind gesture got to use their toilet. All good if you don't count the baked bread rolls perched above the wash basin and next to the mop and bucket ( yuk yuk yuk)....
We were directed to the express line for entry as our *time window had opened. There were 3-4 lines of the next 30 minute windows all waiting patiently. For a minute I thought we were back at WDW. We went through 3 security checks, one of which was the X-ray airport style and seemed to walk forever until we were there. It's very surreal, very sad and very American. Lots of flags, lots of security,lots of people. It must be remembered this is a building site as they are building the new version of the towers but the memorial area is very tasteful. It has two massive square waterfall features that occupy the exact dimensions and spot that the wtc towers once stood. Each feature has the names of all the people who died during the attack and I sawa some people with a link somehow tracing over the names of some of them. There were lots of groups getting photos. It as all very sombre without being depressing and there was very little speaking. A real shrine and a place now and in the future for reflection. Our kids handled it well and i am not sure if it all sunk in but I just couldn't imagine 10'years and a few weeks before at around the same time how things unfolded for everyone that day. I was glad we did it and later that night I asked the kids and they did too!
We walked along the road heading down to battery park as we had planned to go on the statue of liberty boat tour. We walked about 15 m and were there. We then saw the line up for the cruise and nearly passed out. The queue was at least 400m long and the vendors selling food and drink , and clearly queuing experts , told us 1.5 hrs wait time. We quickly skipped that idea and instead walked along the foreshore area that has great ,but distant views, of the SOL, and came across our stop for lunch. It was called battery park beer garden and was the relaxed and casual version of the absolute waterfront restoraunt which is its big brother. So here we stopped for hot dogs, lemonade and a beer ( well it was a beer garden!!) . It was a beautiful sunny day by now and next to the beer garden was a small kids park which amused the kids for a while.
All finished we walked just a few hundred meters ( just in front of the staten island ferry terminal) and waited about 10m for a blue bus to pull up. Happily on board we went past the helicopter terminal, seaport, united nations building, the Brooklyn bridge area before heading back up towards times square.
A we hadn't done the boat tour we decided to hop off at the Rockefeller centre and do the viewing from the 'top of the rock' deck. It's a bit hard to navigate the 30 rock,as it's called, its above ground , underground and interconnected but eventually we found the entrance. You do have to exchange the coupons ( that I had exchanged this morning) for even more coupons and you may have guessed but 2 more security checks before lining up to go to the top in a lift. To help manage the crowds there are staging areas showing videos etc ( these were compulsory viewing, and reasonably I formative. We got to the lifts eventually and it took a few moments to go up the 85 stories or so.
The view was awesome and the two big ones for me was looking uptown at central park ( and seeing the stage for the concert that night featuring the black eyed peas) and downtown looking at the empire state building. Words can't describe the views . We spent about 30 m up there *and better for the experience grabbed some Ben and Jerry's for after noon tea down in the 30 rock shops. *We decided to walk back ( about 10-15m) *and got all of 100m before having to go to the
Lego flagship store... $100 later and 1 x cars 2 & *1 x star wars in the bag for ds2&3 off we went..the shop had some great Lego creations including a statue of liberty and layout of 30rock and surrounds. Very impressive.
We had a little down time before dinner . We went walking to find something close to the theatre that DW was going tonight and we settled on Applebee's . This was a kid friendly place and to be honest wasn't the best meal we had in our time away. Service was average, prices high for this kind of place and food ok without being stunning. I wouldn't rush back.*
Afterwards we walked DW to her theatre. Her night off was a ticket in the second row to see Chicago . She has seen before but said it was much better with an all American cast. ( there was someone famous in it but don't ask me who it was as I can't remember).*
I took the kids the slow way home to our hotel via m&m's world..a 3 ( or was it 4?) story edifice to chocolate. It has so much chocolate in so many different ways that I got a headache watching the kids decide. They choose some star wars themed stuff and that was ok by me ( we had a 5% off voucher we used to save a little) and a few pics with some life size m&m dolls ( John travolta and statue of liberty ) and we were off.
A nice relax in front of the new Lego, some candy from m&m's and off to bed for all. DW arrived home about 1130 very happy with her show and night off from the DK's.
Next up a trip on the Hudson to see the lady and then 3 more from oz!