New York, New York

After a "red eye" flight from Las Vegas to JFK, we arrived safe and sound at our hotel on Times Square. I think nearly everyone was able to sleep on the plane, I even dowsed off for a minute or two. After breakfast at the Brooklyn Cafe, we jumped on to a City Sights bus and headed out on the town. Our first stop was the Empire State Building. Of course it is so surrounded by other buildings that the opportunity to photograph it is pretty limited while you are there in its shadow, but we did pay the stiff fee and ride/walk to the observation platform (along with several hundred other tourists). The photo above was taken from that deck. I don't remember which direction I was facing (kind of hard to tell without mountains or a map) but its a view looking one direction or another.

We jumped back on the tour bus and headed to Ground Zero. There isn't much to see, except a furious amount of construction activity behind a big fence, but it was sobering to think about what had occurred there and how it has changed all of our lives. Those acts of terrorism not only changed the Manhattan skyline, they serve as a constant reminder of how vulnerable our nation is to this kind of attack.

Following our quick tour of Ground Zero, we wandered around until we found the Brooklyn bridge. It was originally designed as a walking bridge, so walk we did. It was fun to stretch our legs a little and, except for the hordes of people, it was a pleasant stroll. Really an interesting landmark with a great story.

We saw it again from below when after we caught our tour bus and headed to South Port. This was an important stop on our tour of the city because there is a 1/2 price play ticket outlet there and we were able to get tickets to see the "Phantom" later that night. We found a river tour and killed a little time waiting for an opportunity to go our on the East River sight-seeing.

Our tour guide on the river was extremely enthusiastic and had developed his schtick to the point that there were several rap stanzas contained in it. I was able to catch him rappin' and tour guidin' in this video. It really was fun and he was workin' "hard for the money". He also took the photo below.

It is inspiring to be in the shadow of Lady Liberty, and Bubby started a spontaneous applause for her when we got close enough for photos. It was a touching moment. The river tour was one of the really fun things we did yesterday. That one I would pay to do again.

Once our bus tour had come full circle to Times Square, we cleaned up and went to dinner at Carmine's. Of course this is what our "foody" readers have been waiting for. It was very authentic, New York, Italian. Our host is not very adventurous, so we had to settle for spaghetti as our pasta, but it was good (although New York prices are high). We had a nice salad garnished with roasted red peppers and sun-dried tomatoes, a stuffed artichoke appetizer, chicken scallapini, veal parmesean, and our pasta. For desert, all ordered something different and ours was a chocolate bread pudding. This is what it looked like AFTER Bubby and I had had our fill. What a huge dessert. Enough for six. After the shock of paying our bill, we headed to the Majestic Theater to see the "Phantom". It has been playing there for over 20 years, and although Andrew Lloyd Weber is not my cup of tea, the production was amazing. Bubby's comment was, having seen this production she never wants to see it done by St. George Musical Theater. It was really breath taking and the whole experience worth the price of admission. After the all night flight and full day of sight seeing I am amazed we were able to stay awake through the play.

When the play ended, I told Bubby to "stick a fork in me, I am done". However, we couldn't go to bed without looking at Times Square at night. Quite a sight. We did get to bed about 11:00 PM and didn't even roll over until after 8:00 AM. Lots more fun planned for today. Stay tuned.

Buboppy