So where did we go today? We came out of the hotel about 10 am & onto the subway which is right outside the hotel. We were planning on going right down to the southern tip of Manhattan on it but because of the damage that was done by hurricane Sandy the south ferry station is closed for the foreseeable future, no worries we had a plan B. Hopped on another train & went to City Hall station, we were planning on having a look round Chinatown but it didn't look the best of neighbourhood's round there so we walked around by City Hall to a small plaza area where there where some snack stalls. Jane got a chicken & noodle soup that was lovely & only a couple of dollars from a Korean kiosk, I just had a coffee. We dropped back down into the subway then & went to Wall Street & had a walk past the New York stock exchange. Next on the list was the police museum that's only a short walk from there. I thought I'd just nip round there first to make sure it was open as that part of lower Manhattan was badly
damaged during the hurricane a couple of weeks before, even though it looked unscathed it was closed because of it, shame they didn't put it on the website that it was closed. It was amazing to see how much work was going on around there to clear up the mess & repair the damage so soon afterwards. Only a short walk from there was something I've always want to see The Brooklyn Bridge. What an incredible sight it really is. I must have spent an hour or so taking photos round there while we waited for the ferry to arrive to cross the East River to a place called Dumbo where a lot of movie scenes have been filmed just below the bridge. Incredible to see how close to the apartments it is & even goes over some of the buildings. The odd thing was it was really cold when we were in Wall Street but once we were out on the pier & the river it felt about 10 degrees warmer. Once you are away from the tall buildings you do get some direct sunlight on your bones plus there was a nice park to sit in with views across to the Statute of Liberty. I took some more photos of the bridge from the east side as the sun was getting low, incredible how red & golden it looks in the low light. Then a short walk up onto the bridge to take some more photo’s. We were starting to get a bit hungry now so it was time to look for somewhere to
eat but a lot of places where closed over that side due to the flooding & it's a bit off the beaten track for tourist, still you can always find somewhere to eat without too much of a problem, today we got lucky. We came across an Italian pizza place called Grimaldi's coal brick oven pizzeria so dived inside to feed. I don't think either of us had seen a pizza that big before except on TV & for $14 plus $2 a topping it was a great value. We opted for medium size pizza which was about 2 foot across, that's a lot of pizza when it's sat in front of you & the best bit is the kitchen is in the bar area so you get to watch your pizza being made there & then. It took some eating between us & we couldn't finish all it but only left 2 slices, all this for $27 including drinks, tax & tip. The bloke who severed us seemed a bit put out that we didn't want to take the rest with us in a doggie bag, not that there was anything wrong with it but neither of us like cold pizza. We could barely move when we got up to go, this is one place we will be going back to on our next visit. With that over with it was time to start thinking about making a move back towards the hotel as it had been a long day & Jane's leg was starting to hurt. The journey back was a bit of a pain because you have to go down fairly deep into the subway at High Street station Brooklyn so that it can get under the river, that was a lot of steps for Jane to get down with no lifts at this station, there was an escalator but they go a bit quick for her to get on, then we had to change trains at a place called Chambers station that's really large & all underground so that was a lot of walking with lots of steps to go up & down but eventually got to the Number 1 line that would drop us off right back near the hotel by around 8:30pm after getting some things from the local shop to eat. I nipped out for a bit on my own tonight to take some photos in the dark of all the lights in Time square & got the free Wi-fi they have there to work on my phone & tablet computer so I could upload some photos to Facebook. Got back to the hotel & even though it's November you have to have the window open it’s so warm in the room, not got the heating on either. It's funny listening to all of the sounds with the window open, cars, sirens & everybody hooting their horns, which they do all the time here day & night. Don't think anyone knows who's hooting at who most of the time I think so, time for some tins of beer & a bit of TV before bed.
