Day Seven ... exploring Downtown

Today was our last day in NY and our plans involved exploring the south part of the island ... Lower Manhattan or Downtown. First though, we grabbed a quick Ad Lab in Times Square as we walked to the bus stop.

We purchased our tickets for the Big Bus Tour (again with our trusty NY City Sightseeing Pass) which would take us on a guided tour from Times Square all the way down to Battery Park and back with stops along the way. Ian grabbed a pretzel for us to share for breakfast which we ate on the bus.

We sat up the top (it was a double decker bus with an open air section) enjoying the views and the commentary, making sure to duck beneath low hanging branches and traffic lights. It was lovely to drive past some places that we had seen before and many that we had not. This was the first day we had ventured downtown and it was great. We got off the bus near Wall St, walked through the cemetery at Trinity Church (yes … smack bang in the middle of NY), stopped for pictures at the Bull statue which has been moved from its original location as it was causing traffic chaos and headed down to Battery Park … the very bottom of Manhattan Island.

There were two Ad Labs along the way that we completed, one which took us to several memorials, particularly War Memorials and another that took us to places of interest in Battery Park. We stopped at Battery Park to watch the ferry going to the Statue of Liberty - watching the people lining up, having to go through security, and waiting for what seems like 15 or 20 minutes in the queue in the sun before they were able to get on board and head off to the statue. Ian had decided that we wouldn’t go to the statue, itself or to Ellis Island, but rather spend our time soaking in the humanity of New York. We were both really happy with our decision.

We wandered through the Castle Clinton National Memorial which was built as a fortification in 1812 to help stop the British Invasion.  It was an interesting round brick building with cannons … and is now used as a ticketing office for the ferries to Liberty Island. Once again Ian hit up a street vendor and purchased a Churro for us to share … yummy, hot and sugary! He also posed with Lady Liberty.

We wandered along the Empire Trail which stretches from Battery Park all the way to Niagara Falls (no … we are not walking it all!) until we reached the 9/11 Memorial and Museum. Whilst we did not go into the museum (I’m not sure how I feel about a museum for such an event … but then I suppose the same could be said for Holocaust or War Museums), however we spent time wandering the space where the Twin Towers stood. There is a small elevated park (Liberty Park) overlooking the Memorial Pools which has the remains of the Koenig Sphere, a large sculpture that once stood between the two towers and was found amongst the rubble. It bears the scars of the destruction felt on that day and sitting proudly in the midst of green parkland, near a newly opened Saint Nicholas Greek Orthodox Church and National Shrine … which had also been destroyed in the attacks and now stands proudly as a “house of prayer for all people”. There is also a single tree  that withstood the desolation, and peculiar animal statues that you can pose with.

The memorial pools are sobering oases of tranquility. It is hard to imagine that two massive buildings once stood tall, towering above this green parkland. The names etched into the granite fill you with sadness but the raised names of the organisations that assisted with the emergency remind you that even when there is evil in the world … there is always hope and resilience. New York has rebuilt. There are many who are still suffering trauma, both mental and physical as a result of that day. We should never forget and instead we must strive to find goodness and peace.

We headed out of the parkland to the One World Trade Centre, built following the events of 9/11 and originally called the Freedom Tower, it is the tallest tower in North America and the Western Hemisphere. It stands at 1,776 ft and has an observatory on the 102nd floor. We used our NYC Sightseeing Pass to take us to the top, paying a little extra for immediate entry and in doing so gaining vouchers for our lunch and an interactive tablet that gave you more details of sights you could see from the observatory. This has to be the best of the three towers we ascended … the height means you can see for massive distances, the windows are kept exceptionally clean (remember how high up this building is), the windows are huge, and the information provided is detailed but doesn’t require you to stand and read a plaque for ages. We purchased some lunch … a Reuben Sandwich … and sat watching the view and the people taking and posing for photos.

Heading down the tower we somehow managed to end up inside the Occulus - a massive train station and shopping mall. It was very white, large, stark … futuristic. We wandered through as we needed to get to the other end to find the exit that would return us to a stop for our Big Bus so we could rejoin the tour. 

Hopping back on the bus, having missed only a couple of stops, we travelled back to Times Square. Along the way we travelled along beside the Hudson River, past the various piers we had seen yesterday on our Landmarks cruise. The ride took longer than expected as we were stuck in a massive NY traffic jam and also managed to get caught up in the descending yellow school buses as they lined up to wait for their students to board at the end of the school day.

Arriving back in Times Square we popped into the M & M’s store for a quick look … OMG … who knew that you could have a store over three levels dedicated to everything M & M! Crazy! We headed down to 42nd street to Madame Tussauds and spent over an hour wandering through. They had rooms across 4 levels with 100s of wax models including movie stars, sporting heroes, TV characters, singers and musicians, politicians or world leaders. I’ve never been to a wax museum before and was a little sceptical going in but it was honestly very good. Ian and I had fun trying to identify the “person” before reading the plaques. We did ok in most cases but some we had no idea who they were! It is amazing though how much detail is in the models and how incredibly lifelike some of them looked.

And now on to the best bit of the day … Jacqui being better at something than Ian. (Ian … Pfft. This woman is a marvel at many things). Now in saying this I will admit that 10 Pin Bowling is pretty darn hard when your right wrist is fused and your right ankle is fused … but hey I’m taking my score as a win for me! I’ve never played a game before so really had no idea what I was doing but somehow I seem to have had a knack for it. We only played one game but we had a ball. We had “Chippys and Dippy’s” while we bowled … warm crispy corn chips served with salsa and queso. It was great fun!

Back to our room we headed … and an earlier end to our day … except that we headed back out when it got dark and the madness of Times Square began in full force. Our plan throughout today was to eat street food or food linked to a venue (hence the snack at Bowlero) and so for dinner we ate hot dogs sitting on the staircase in Times Square watching the world go by. Fascinating to see people posing for photos  … hello Instagram!

And so ends today. We have spent just over 72 hrs in New York and have loved every single minute of it! Tomorrow we leave and head north to New England for the next phase of our journey. Stay tuned for autumn leaves, a car (please pray for us) and places that look very different to the first week of our adventure.

Todays tally …

Photos - 734

Steps - 16,350

Kms walked - 12.52 kms 

Ad Labs completed - 4

PS … sorry that some of the photos are a bit out of order! I’m too tired to re-order them tonight 🤣