New York August 2013




Today we went on a boat tour, they run every hour, we got there just as one was leaving which was annoying but good in the end as we got first pick of the next boats' seats. The boat tour is for 90 minutes and covers the Statue of Liberty, views of downtown New York, Financial District, Brooklyn, Brooklyn Bridge, New Jersey and Manhattan Bridge. It was a beautiful day for a boat ride as it was really sunny so I got some good pictures.
Next we made it back to Times Square to get the tour bus to the 9/11 Memorial stop. The memorial is free but donations are expected of between $5-10/£3-6, if you donate $10 you receive a wrist band but its not really anything to write home about. There is a gift shop at the same place you buy your ticket with books, mugs, pens, shirts etc. The memorial is about 3 blocks from where you get your ticket, there is security like at an airport when you enter the memorial. 

The memorial is really peaceful but I also felt really sad, there are 2 memorial pools at the places where the twin towers used to be. There is water flowing down the holes and inscriptions of names of the people that perished around the pool. The sound of the water is quite therapeutic.

Next we took the last tour bus of the day to Brooklyn, this tour guide was way better than the other lady. He was American, born and bred in Brooklyn so it was perfect. The guide told us several things about Brooklyn, including the population, house prices, trivia and popular culture. The tour was 90 minutes also, we went across the Brooklyn Bridge and saw Manhattan from across the water, a pop up pool, seaport, Barclays Shopping Centre, Brooklyn Library and Prospect Park. The front of the Brooklyn Public Library is beautiful, there are grand columns and gold hieroglyphics type images on the door. We then went back across the Manhattan Bridge so we could get views of both bridges.
We then made our way back to our hotel and quickly got changed before we headed back out to do the night tour. We got the bus at Times Square and ventured along some of the same places as before but it looked better as it was at night. A few places we passed were the Empire State, Brooklyn Bridge, Brooklyn and Union Square. This tour about an hour long and this tour guide was terrible again, he was very quiet, missing landmarks and generally didn't know what he was doing so I switched my earphones to Spanish.

On the way home we went to Grand Central Station which has incredible architecture inside and out. It is also the setting for several films so I had to see it.




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