Somewhere in Midtown Manhattan

After a week in the US and having stayed in Washington and Manhattan, it was the day we were heading over the river to experience a bit more of Brooklyn, but as seems to always be the case in the heart of New York, there is always something else to do before you leave.

It was sad to leave a room with such an awesome view. Even the legally required tall building water tanks looked pretty from our window.

But we pulled ourselves away, checked out and left our bags to collect later then ventured out to have lunch in Grand Central Terminal. I wasn't impressed with the food at Juniors but I was with the closer look at what is a really grand building. 

We even had a go at whispering in the whispering gallery which was good fun and did our own 'printed off the internet' walking tour.

What wasn't so fun was visiting the public toilets to take a leak. I was met by what can only be described as a naked old dude. The US sure has a major homeless problem, and amongst the business men and tourists were folks who seemingly have to go through the indignity of washing in the sinks of public conveniences. 

Norngirl has a much more detailed report of this half a day if you'd like to know the ins and outs but suffice to say that we fitted plenty into a few hours.

After we'd searched for some hard to find candy for a present, we admired the Chrysler Building a bit as it's Norngirls favourite skyscraper and rather pretty.

The top of it especially as it does tend to hide behind the other buildings somewhat.

Next we had a look around the museum part of the New York Public Library which was full of all sorts of random artefacts from recent history.

After that it was the trek back to the hotel via Bryant Park and it's tall neighbours.

Though we were still to do plenty of subway riding back and fourth, with bags collected and in hand, we set off to the next hotel. Next stop, Brooklyn.

Floating Around Manhattan on a Circle Line Tour

You know us by now right? - I like to take photos and I'm a nerd for pretty much all things geographical. My wife likes her urban comforts and the sight of a coffee shop in a big city. We both also like taking random tours and seeing places from a different perspective.

So it came as no surprise that we ended up taking a guided boat tour around the island of Manhattan. It turns out that even in February we were not alone. We were just 2 of a couple of hundred others who had bought tickets to spend 3 hours on the Circle Line Full Island Cruise that day.

 Being February, we were again very lucky that the weather was dry and sunny with bright blue skies (though still cold and by the end of the tour were very glad we'd still dressed up warm for the occasion). To begin the tour we waited in a very long line at the time we'd been told to. The wait was for the other passengers from the previous tour to disembark the boat. Eventually we boarded the ship but not before they'd made everyone wait for people to have their photo taken in front of the boat which would be attempted to be sold to them later. We're not ones for having our photos taken, especially when it's not our own camera, so when we eventually got to the point where they were calling us forward we asked to skip it and instead made our way onto the ship and up to the open top deck.

With the sun there and in our warm coats it was rather pleasant. Once everyone was on-board and the guide on the boat had introduced himself, the tour and the safety stuff, we set off into the Hudson River. The tour went around Manhattan anti-clockwise so first up were scenes of the lower west side of the island - with the Empire State Building poking up from the urban jungle.

As we passed by the Chelsea piers there were sights like Pier 54 - the former Cunard White Star Line Pier where some of the survivors from the Titanic disaster were brought after their rescue and as far as I understand, it's where the Titanic would have docked had it made it across the Atlantic safely (though what is there now is the tiniest symbolic piece of a large complex that existed at the time).

Then we saw the financial district of lower Manhattan and the scenes here became familiar from our trip on the Staten Island Ferry from our previous time in New York.

The main difference to the skyline being the construction of One World Trade Center. Before we motored around the point of the island and into the East River, there was a detour into the bay where we saw Ellis Island

And the Statue of Liberty a bit closer up than last time on the Staten Island Ferry - this wasn't the closest pass of the Statue, we did get closer but everyone's seen a million photos of that landmark... this is what it looks like with people taking photos of it.

 The financial district loomed over head as we were passing by.

 As did the tall ship at South Sea Port

Before long we we were approaching the famous Brooklyn Bridge which we walked across last time.

 This time we got a different perspective from underneath the bridge.

 Here are some of the other highlights of the cityscape and scenery along the way:

As Norngirl pointed out in her post about this tour and the shape of Manhattan, I too was intrigued to discover how far up from Central Park Manhattan actually extends. Most surprising was this part of the tour... the Harlem River. As you leave the East River, you find many bridges. Such as Ward's Island Bridge.

 Yankee Stadium

 The High Bridge Water Tower

Did I mention bridges? Here are some more!

 And some rather striking buildings and man made creations...

 Not to mention the place where all the subway trains are taken.

The most pleasantly surprising part of the whole tour for me was waiting for us where the Harlem meets the Hudson River. For just a mile from one of the most densely populated urban areas in the world there is an almost picturesque setting.

Almost amazed at the scenery only a stones throw from one of the most populated places on earth, we passed under the Washington Bridge along the upper West side.

At this point the sun was beginning to set and most folks headed inside. Norngirl and me and the competitive couple behind us braved the cold as we'd all come prepared. I can happily say I may have not been able to feel my hands or legs afterwards but I made it the whole way around above deck (#thingsIprobablyshouldntbeproudofbutreallyreallyam) It was worth staying out there for the sunset and the reflection of red and orange bouncing off the glass windows of the buildings in the Manhattan skyline.

 And the more relaxed view of New Jersey.

 As I was just about loosing the feeling in my camera holding hand we made it back past the Intrepid

 And docked by the other Circle Line boats.

The trip was certainly worth doing, we got a perspective of the size and shape of Manhattan that I think would be very hard to visualise in any other way. Our guide for the day was very good and very diplomatic in his history... and was very kind to us Brits even though if I do say so myself, we have a somewhat pesky past in some parts of the world. For the length of the trip and the distance travelled I'd say it was actually pretty good value though I'd had maybe been in two minds had it of been terrible weather. I got a lot out of it on the day we went though as with most sightseeing trips, a lot of the enjoyment probably boils down to the weather that day. We were happy with our trip and I know this sight will stick in my memory for a long time:

Certainly well worth a few hours if you want to experience it for yourself. Personally, if we ever make it back to New York again, we want to go in a warmer month when the speed boat might be running... that looked like awesome fun too!

Just an in-between post about NYC

This might prove to be one of the shortest posts I've ever written but I just wanted to include it for continuity and I'm sure I can find a photo or two... *finds a photo or two*

Norngirl managed to write up the day after we had our own adventures so well that I don't think there is much more I can add to our next day in New York City. Here is her post about the day. This is the day when, amongst over things, we visited the financial district, the 9/11 memorial, had lunch at Nobu, saw the Ladder 8 'Ghostbusters' fire station and Newsical the Musical. As you do.

And that lack of need to add much more goes for our visit to the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum too which we visited the next morning. I thought was a brilliant museum and well worth visiting.

I especially liked the space exhibits and walking through the aircraft carrier itself. I learnt lots. Clambering through the small doorways in the submarine was something I hadn't considered that I'd be doing that morning when I woke up.

The afternoon of Day 6 (as you might have already read in Norngirls post) we took a full Circle Line Tour around Manhattan, and it's there I'll head to in the next post about our trip last month... in a much longer - more photo heavy - post than this one. It turns out packing to move house still sucks time and energy no matter how many times you do it... the joy of renting! I'll catch up the dedication of Norngirls trip reports yet (give or take a month or two) just you wait and see.

A Giant Morning in New York

If you had the best part of 9 hours of spare time by yourself in New York City, what would you choose to do? To start my day off I went along to a Giant party.

I have to admit, much to Norngirls annoyance sometimes, I do like to wing it. Norngirl was going on a shopping/food spree and had meticulously planned her day alone for weeks before.

To be honest, I'd only ever planned to maybe think about planning it some more and yeah, I never quite got around to doing that planning - so all that I had decided for the day was that I wanted to go to a beach at some point. I was at the mercy of New York and whatever it wanted to show me.

It turns out that not planning is sometimes the best plan, for this morning was the morning of the 7th February 2012 and as luck would have it, this was the day the Vince Lombardi Trophy was coming to town with a million happy American Football fans. As I mentioned in my Monuments and Memorials at Night post, the New York Giants had just won the Super Bowl - the Champions League final of American Football and I happened to have nothing to do... the gods TV had spoken - I was going to the homecoming to see what all the fuss was about.

Before I gate crashed my first ticker tape parade, I had to get there. With plenty of time to spare, I decided to see a bit more of this bustling city and went for a walk... a 3 and 1/2 mile walk. Along the way I found out the gutting reality that the deli that served the best BLT sandwich I'd ever eaten had become some chain restaurant. I was displeased.

It's hard to feel disheartened for long in a city like New York though. Every street has the possibility to spring a surprise so I kept walking and before long I found myself at Washington Square with a mini-Arc de Triomphe.

I kept walking and the number of people wearing Giants shirts increased. Before I knew it I was in a sea of American Football fans being directed by police to walk down a street that led to Thomas Paine Park.

And that's where I stood for the next couple of hours with an ever increasingly excited crowd. It was all in good spirit though, the nutters climbing up the trees and being shouted at by the police were maybe taking things a bit far.

Though this guy needs an award for finding what must have been the most uncomfortable spot.

There were also some people were dressed up more for the occasion than others.

Not as far as the guy who decided to climb up to the window of the 1st floor of the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation building and promptly fell the moment the people in the room opened the window. That got a big 'Oooooooo' followed by laughter. Some folks were determined to get a good view of the rest of us ants, going as far as perching precariously on the roof of their building.

Also out of the windows, some people threw their toilet roll, ran out then took to throwing kitchen roll... it didn't work so well and a short time before the real parade began, we had a parade of street cleaning vehicles clearing a path.

The fans around me were eager to see their heroes and eventually, in a very sporadic manner they came past us to the delight of the crowd and the people in the surrounding buildings.

Once the parade floats and trucks had passed us, people began to dissipate into the rest of the city. Overhearing conversations, some were heading to New Jersey to the stadium for more celebrations, others heading home or to a bar. Who was working that day?

Me, well I was heading to the beach, more on that in my next post but before I could get the subway there, I needed to find my way back. Easier said then done with literally a million people trying to vacate a small area of an densely populated island. I thought it best to just take in the atmosphere a bit to let things quieten down.

I've never seen this sort of thing on this scale. Sadly, Leeds haven't had any such success whilst I've been old enough to attend such events and Crusaders have had success but in a city something like 20 times smaller than New York and as one of 6 or more sides in the area, our fan base isn't quite a million strong for a weekday parade.

This parade was quite a sight in terms of people on the streets, the actual parade of a few bands and a few trucks was quite low key in comparison but I really got the feeling of what a proud and passionate bunch of supporters the New York Giants have.

Eventually, after following the path of least resistance (I was now totalling 5 miles walked for the day according to my route on Google Earth) I found my way to a subway station somewhere on 6th Avenue for a ride to Coney Island.