Day 67 New York

July 25

Tell hubby the news, I'm shopping today. My credit card will take a hit, New York, New York.

After seven days at sea in cold and foggy conditions, we have arrived. I was so excited that I had the breakfast in the buffet that nobody ever eats, fruit loops. I certainly got some strange looks.

This was the first time that we went ashore without a tour, so we were lined up ready to go before the port authority gave us permission to leave. Good thing we were so keen, if we waited just one hour more then we would have been stuck in wait until midday before being allowed to get off. There were many passengers that waited hours, and rightly so, they were angry that they lost half the day that would have been spent exploring the city. The ship had no control over this process, the reason it was so slow was because each passenger had their fingerprints of both hands taken along with a photo.

In total, we spent about 8 hours walking. We visited Central Park, however only saw a small section of the park itself, followed by shopping (Apple store, FAO Schwarz, Tiffany's, Swatch, Coach) after which we walked to Time Square with visits to various stores (Disney, Toys R Us). Then we had lunch at Pie Face of all places. There are Pie Face stores all about the place in Australia, yet I never eat at them, come to New York and I eat at Pie Face. Not far from Pie Face is Macy's, we just had a wander around in there. Afterwards we walked to Grand Central Station and spotted the Chrysler Building and Empire State Building.

New York would be hard to get lost in, the street layout is so simple and straight forward. There was a lot of traffic, and after 10am, a lot of people.

Trump Tower. Even has its own Trump icecream parlour........

Underground Apple Store.

Central Park is comprised of more than 800 acres of meadows, ponds and woods. There is also a Zoo, pool, and a ice-skating rink. We only had time to see a tiny section.

Central Park

Central Park.

Central Park.

Central Park.

FAO Schwarz.

FAO Schwarz.

M&M Store.

I wonder how many different types of shrimp they do. Fried Shrimp, Boiled Shrimp.

Time Square.

Disney Store.

Disney Store.

The Toys R Us has a ferris wheel inside for kids to have a ride.

 Grand Central Terminal.

Chrysler Building. Designed by William Van Allen in 1930. It is topped with a 185ft spire

Built in 1943, the aircraft carrier USS Intrepid and her crew served tours of duty through World War II and Vietnam.

The USS Intrepid made seven trips around the globe, surviving five kamikaze attacks and one torpedo strike. She then served as a NASA astronaut recovery vessel before being retired in 1974. It now serves as a museum

British Airways Concorde.

Growler Submarine.

In this picture you can see the Empire State Building, the tallest building in New York, standing at 1,250 feet tall with 102 floors.

Lower Manhattan 

Statue of Liberty, a gift given to the U.S. from France in 1886. This landmark has become an international symbol of freedom. Made of Copper, she stands 305 feet tall.

New Jersey on the left, Manhattan in the middle, and Brooklyn in to the right (just out of the shot and in the distance).

I think this is the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge connecting Brooklyn with Staten Island.

Meet Boo, we picked him up in NY. He sits in our room and brings a smile to our face. We have already started talking to him. I guess being at sea does strange things to people.