The Good Ship Magnum: New York - On Top of the City

Cycling in New York is scary! We only had to cycle from the hire shop to Central Park which was only a few blocks away but still quite an experience when you have not cycled on busy roads for the last couple of years! Seeing Central Park on bikes is great, you get to see so much more, but it is quite odd cycling along with the rickshaws, cars and horse and carriage. We enjoyed another trip to the boating lake to see 2 fantastic statues, one of Hans Christian Anderson and the other of Alice and Wonderland.

Amanda being read a story

Alice in Wonderland

Next stop was the Jackie Onassis reservoir which covers 106 acres which did originally provide water for the city and was named after Jackie Onassis as she used to run around it, as do many others on a daily basis. The Belvedere Castle provides some good views over the Park although we did not venture inside the castle.

Belvedere Castle

View from Castle

View over the reservoir

At the northern end of the park there are various wooded areas and it is worth taking some time of the bike to explore a little as it is much quieter at this end of the Park.

Amanda and here lovely little bike

It really can be quiet in Central Park

Our afternoon was spent in Times Square queuing for tickets for a show that evening, as Mark is not a big fan of musicals we decided on a play, Perfect Crime has been running in NY for 26 years and the lead female character has played the role for all but 4 shows! It was easy to get tickets for this show as not hugely popular and managed to save a little on the standard price by buying in this way. The theatre was small and we were in the second row, so great seats. The play was entertaining, a little funny, quite odd but it did keep us guessing. We finished the night off with a visit to the busy night time Times Square.

Waiting for the queueing to begin in Times Square

Next day and on route to Empire State Building by 8am, although we had booked tickets online we wanted to ensure we did all we could to miss the crowds. The excitement builds even as you enter the building.

Entrance to Empire State Building

Luckily there was no queue for ticket pickup and just a couple of people ahead of us through the security. It is like a maze to make it up to the top and I can only imagine how busy it can get. The views from the 86th floor were amazing, we were lucky that it was not too busy and we could get close to the edge to make the most of the experience. We also purchased an audio tour which we would very rarely do but worth it as it was actually very informative. Every direction of the view was amazing and each time you looked you saw something new, from the significant sights like the World Trade Centre, the Chrysler Building, Central Park to the roof top gardens and the grid layout of the streets lined with taxis it was spectacular. We had also spent the extra to visit the 102nd Floor, which is a small enclosed viewing platform 200ft higher which does mean you can see more but not sure it is worth the extra money but still a great view.

FlatIron Building - was the original skyscraper in NY

Central Manhattan with Lower Manhattan in the distance

Brooklyn Bridge and Manhattan Bridge

Chrysler Building - once the tallest building in NY

Mark engrossed in his audio tour

Spot Macys

Amanda hanging on the edge on 86th floor

Amanda admiring the view from 102nd floor

Even higher up!

Saying goodbye to the Empire State

Next day and we make our way to Lower Manhattan, we pick up our pre-booked tickets for the 911 Memorial - not really worth pre-booking if you need to pick these up as you join the same queue as people without pre-booked tickets. The surrounding area is still very much a building site, the 1 World Trade Centre which stands 1776 feet tall (the tallest building in US) looks complete and the 2 commemorative pools are complete but due to surrounding development you are still required to go through security to enter the area. The pools stand on the footprints of the original Twin Towers and bronze surround are engraved with the names for the 2983 victims. Whilst picking up the tickets there were various photos from the scene of the attacks which were very moving but with the volume of people and the noise close to the reflection pools some of the ambience was lost although saying that you still can’t help think back to that awful day.

Reflection Pool

1 World Trade Centre

Wow it is tall!

We were then onto the Staten Ferry for a free view of the Statue of Liberty, funny that this is actually a public ferry but there were lots of tourists doing the same as us rather than paying for a specific boat trip. The Battery Park is also a nice place to watch the world go by and the mayhem of all the boat trips.

Mark with Manhattan in the distance

Ellis Island

Statue of Liberty and queues of visitors

Windswept Amanda on the ferry

We had enjoyed our stay at 79^th yacht basin as such a great location but shame that it is quite so dilapidated, each day when we would leave our dingy in the marina we would run the gauntlet of the rickety hurricane damaged pontoons and be relieved to make it onto dry land. As the tides turns there is debris everywhere both in the marina and floating up and down the river, quite scary when you see a full size railway sleeper floating towards the boat! Even getting in the dingy to go ashore with the super strong tide running in the river.