We traveled in style for the day and then walked again at night.
In the morning, we got on a bus (coach) for a tour of the Bronx. It was amazing the places the bus driver could get! Anyway, we saw lots of houses, buildings, geographic features, etc. Parts of Harlem, a park, and famous places (Edgar Allen Poe's house, the last 18th century farmhouse in Manhattan, etc).
We had lunch in Little Italy (pizza magherita and then gelato) and then more driving tour until dinner.
After dinner we walked the High Line for about 1.5 miles. Were in the oldest subway station in NYC and then came through the newest on our way home. Both looked the part.
When we got home, we drank our bottle of wine purchased for the occasion and finished off our box of wine. Then it was time for bed.
Today we have wrap up and then check out by noon.We will either walk the one mile to Penn Station or take the subway.
The Highline is an old raised railroad track built around 1900 for railroad delivery straight to the meat packing plants and factories. In 1980 it was abandoned and fenced in as semi trucks were more efficient. It was slated to be torn down starting in lat 2001, but after 9/11, the priorities changed. 2009 two guys met at a meeting about the next slated destruction and worked on getting a way for it to be a park. It has already brought $2 billion in re-investments. The place is packed with people, diners, bars, new buildings, etc. There is yearly artwork--you need a special permit if it stays more than a year.
Benches made from reclaimed wood from Coney Island after Hurricane Sandy.
New building by female architect Zaha Hadid.
Car storage.
Episcopal Church framing the Empire State building.
Four story golf driving range. (And bowling and other recreational sports.)
Viewing area of 10th Ave. People watch the traffic and the people in the windows are the billboards.
DEA building, where they hold seized assets. Also walked past one of the buildings that started the Manhattan Project (but wasn't sure which building).
Oldest subway station.
The elevators (both of them) were out of commission when we got back in the afternoon). Mom and I only had 7 flights. Joanie and Joan, 10. They were fixed by 9 PM when we got back. The Swiss Air flight crew stays here. The hotel staff had to bring all their suitcases down for them...and they were BIG bags.
Vintage motorized bicycle.
Modern housing building with a courtyard in the middle.
The ferries used to go under these arches. The Hudson River is about 200 yards in the opposite direction from this picture.
Had the Titanic made it across the Atlantic, it would have docked at this gate.
The silver is our bus. I could have opened the window and touched the beer truck.
Private school in Riverdale. A very expensive area of the Bronx. On the Highline we walked past the school where Suri Cruse (and others) go. It is $46K per year.
Park that is preserved in Riverdale.
Pre-fab houses brought in as an experiment in the 1940s after the war. Some of the few free standing houses in the heart of the Bronx.
Another one of our guides houses. This was Molly's. She and her husband occupy the bottom two floors. She rents the top two as two apartments. It is on a quiet street in Harlem. They paid $1.8 million about 4 years ago. One is for sale on the street for $3. They have parking in the back.
Molly's street.
Free standing McDonald's. The prize of the land is not to the point where they have eliminated the parking and drive through. This is in Harlem.
We had an early breakfast and lined up to go at 8:30 AM. Took the R train to Whitehall and then the Staten Island Ferry to Staten Island. The ferry ride was 20 minutes, very smooth and a very big boat.
On the island we visited a historic building, then had tour of the National Lighthouse Museum. This was the depot that supplied all domestic lighthouses for about 50 years.
After a delivered box lunch, we took the ferry back for a walk around Battery Park, Wall Street, and then the 9/11 Memorial Pools.
We had 3:30 PM tickets for the view from the top of the One World Trade Center tower. A spectacular view.
Then we found the bike/pedestrian path to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge (very impressive). We took the subway home.
After some wine and nuts, crackers, and fruit, Joanie and Joan went to their room. Mom and I decided to walk to the NYC public library and Grand Central Terminal. Along the way we found a wine store and got a screw-top (no openers in our rooms) and a pork sandwich from a place, that every time we walk past, there is a line. Their noodles were supposed to be the bomb, but I didn't want that much food. (Anthony Bourdain's picture was on the wall trying their noodles.) I didn't get the 'spicy' but apparently, it is very spicy (mine wasn't).
Today will be a bus to the Bronx and Harlem with lunch in Little Italy.
Pauline at Grand Central Terminal Clock--the most famous meeting place in NYC (so they say). The building was saved from the wrecking ball and restored, principally through Jackie Kennedy signing on that it should be restored.
The stairs coming down from the Central Library.
Water fountain in the library, we couldn't get it to work.
On the Brooklyn Bridge. It was quite busy. It was a beautiful day.
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It is Fleet Week, so lots of ships coming into the harbor!
Calatrava designed building (the white one).
This is what plays in the 49 second elevator ride to the top.
A white rose would have been the person's birthday. Red flowers are the person's wedding anniversary.
In 1920 some terrorists tried to blow up JP Morgan and his bank. The pock marks are still in the building.
Trinity Church. The third one on the site. This is from 1700s. They rent some land for $150M. per year.
George Washington and our first capital.
The Wall Street Bull, which isn't on Wall Street, but is near.
Celebrating some Canadian warships coming in for Fleet Week.
A very ugly fish. The fisherman said he would only eat the tail or throw it back.
The fish had side fins the size of your hand.
A small Frensel lens. Large ones were a ton or more.
This is a fog horn. One time on a light house, the fog horn sounded, every 30 seconds for 42 days in a row.
