"The sea, once it casts its spell, holds one in
its net of wonder forever."—Jacques Cousteau

June 11 - Jersey City, NJ

New York City Highlights
Liberty Landing Marina

Today was a whirlwind tour day...we only had one day to see the highlights of New York. I think we did a pretty good job. We rode our bikes to the PATH and arrived at the World Trade Center around 9:30, we walked over to the 911 Memorial check in and got our tickets. The memorial is free, but you have to reserve tickets for a certain time. Security getting in is very heavy...they screen you like the airport. We enjoyed the memorial, being here and thinking about what it was like that day for everyone is unbelievable. I'm sure the people who experienced it have those images burned into their memory and thank God they survived. From there we walked to Wall Street and took pictures of the Stock Exchange. The buildings along Wall Street are amazing. Our next stop was the Seaport Historic District. It is on the East River near the Brooklyn Bridge. They've made it into a park area, where you can sit and watch the action on the river. There are quite a few historic boats to see, places to eat and of course lots of stores. After relaxing there, we walked to China Town. I think this is one of the largest we've seen...not sure if it's bigger than San Francisco, but it seems like it. We enjoy taking in all the sites, sounds and smells of these places. Right next to China Town is Little Italy...wonderful smells in this neighborhood. We stopped at Pomodoro for a slice of pizza...some of the best pizza we've ever had. The crust and the cheese were amazing.

I have no idea how many miles we walked in our tour of lower Manhattan, but the next places we wanted to visit were in Midtown, so we took a train (subway) to Grand Central Station. We walked by Madison Avenue, Broadway, and Bryant Park on our way to Time Square. There were hundreds of people in Bryant Park enjoying the sunshine and a beautiful summer day as they ate their lunch. The park is lined with food carts so the office workers just pick something up and sit at one of the tables or find a chair in the park. What a great break from their busy day. Time Square is a real overload to the senses...so many things to see, noises from everywhere and wonderful smells coming from all the food carts. It was fun taking it all in. Our next stop was Rockefeller Center...it's a beautiful area. From here we took a train to SoHo, which is in lower Manhattan. SoHo is known for having lots of art galleries and a wide variety of shops...you can find anything you could dream of here. It's also part of the Cast Iron Historic District. We walked through SoHo and back to the World Trade Center where we boarded the PATH and returned to New Jersey. It was a long, but fun day. It felt wonderful to be back on the boat with our feet up. Tomorrow we will head up the Hudson to Croton on Hudson.

The New York Stock Exchange
Seaport Historic District
China Town
Little Italy
Yum...very good pizza
Bryant Park
Time Square
Radio City Music Hall
Lego store in Rockefeller Center - our boys loved Legos when they were younger
SoHo

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