Our first two days in New York were filled with some serious sightseeing! We took a hop on-hop off open-top bus tour and went on a trip round Downtown Manhattan, past Wall Street, and the Brooklyn Bridge at the south and then heading into Midtown Manhattan to see the Rockerfeller Centre, Radio City Music Hall, and then Central Park.   Post lunch in a small Irish bar, it was time for a spot of shopping on 5th Avenue, which has some of the most fabulous shops, including the original Tiffany's - very cool!!

 One World Trade Centre - the new tower under construction

 The Chrysler Building

 By the fountain in Central Park

As it was a very hot day, we headed down to Central Park, for an early evening stroll - the Park was packed with people enjoying the sunshine, as Monday was a Bank Holiday here for Memorial Day.  Our second bus tour on Tuesday took us up to the Upper West Side of Manhattan, into the more residential areas, and past the Dakota apartment block where John Lennon was shot and up into Harlem. 

Whilst in New York, it is essential to see a show on Broadway, so on Wednesday night we went to see the Lion King, which was amazing!! The show was fabulous and a definite 'must-see'. There was so much to look at during the show that you almost feel as though you have missed some and need to see it again!

One of the nicest meals we have had whilst here was oddly enough at Central Station - the terminal building is fabulous with huge chandeliers, you almost feel as though you are in a posh hotel rather than a train station. Under the main station area there is an oyster bar which has been there practically since the station was built, and which serves gorgeous seafood - the list of oysters is about 30 types long! As well as oysters they serve lobster from Maine practically any way you want it - real lobster with claws, not the crayfish type lobster you get in the Caribbean - the claws are the best bit. Seafood is a huge here as New York is on the coast and almost all restaurants and bars have a 'Raw Bar' selection of oysters and clams, as well as other seafood. 

 John about to do battle with bouillabaisse - the waiter brought the bib 'just in case'!

On Thursday we visited the 9/11 Memorial site.  The memorial is a garden built around the footprints of the two towers in each of which there is a waterfall. It is a really restful and peaceful place to visit.  At the moment, you have to book in advance to get in and, as there is a lot of building going on nearby, there are a lot of security checks.  Once everything is finished it will just be an open park.  The new tower, One World Trade Centre, is under construction, and will be the tallest building in New York at about 96 stories high.  The lower half is already in use as office space while the top half is under construction.  

For a good view of the Manhattan Skyline, nothing beats height, so last night we headed to the 'Top of the Rock'.  This is the observatory at the top of the Rockerfeller Centre. The Rockerfeller Centre is not the tallest building in New York, but from here you get a great view of the Empire State Building which is. It was a fairly quick visit at the top as it was freezing last night, but you get a really good idea of the size of everything.  Central Park is over 2 miles long, and you can see out across the water to Brooklyn, and the Statue of Liberty.  It is also quite difficult to see the ground as the buildings are so high and close together.  

 One of the waterfalls at the 911 Memorial - a wonderfully peaceful and serene oasis in the centre of Downtown Manhattan

 The view from the Top of the Rock over the Empire State Building - having had glorious sunny evenings every day this week we managed to book the only cloudy cold day to go up to the top!!

As we have been staying in a marina on the Jersey City side of the Hudson River, it seemed a shame to not visit it and see what it was like.  There is a totally different vibe here, it is much more of a local neighbourhood, and the streets are all filled with smaller individual shops and bars rather than the big franchises that you see in most of the bigger cities.  After a lengthy stroll along the waterfront, which has a great view of Manhattan, we headed into a bar for a glass of wine to fortify us for the walk home.  After a tasting selection of wine each plus an exceedingly generous tapas of a meat and cheese platter, and 3 hours, we headed home - it was one of those superb 'finds' of a bar, great wine, great food and a seat in the evening sun - perfect!

According to our map, there is a bike trail which takes you round most of the island of Manhattan, so on Sunday we set off to follow it - it was heaving with cyclists, runners and walkers no doubt in part due to the fab weather.  Having followed the riverside trail to the end we ended up at 184th street. The original plan was to cycle to Central Park area and stop for a picnic, we were about 60 streets north of that, but fortunately, it was largely downhill with cycle lanes on most of the roads.  The Washington Heights area was certainly colourful, with a large amount of Spanish speakers, and the biggest crowds outside the churches I have ever seen, the crowds even attracted hot dog and ice cream sellers they were so large! After a picnic in Central Park,which ended rather hurriedly when it started to rain we set off again.  As the rain eased we decided to try and get to the cycle path down the east river - a bit more difficult as this meant cycling through Uptown Manhattan and doing battle with all the traffic, this got a bit hairy at times but we eventually made it in one piece to the cycle track and headed back home.

 New York traffic! Thank goodness we attempted this on a Sunday and not in a midweek rush hour!!

New York has been fabulous, we have had such an amazing time while we have been here, we are exhausted from walking round everywhere!  We have a couple more days to go and then we will be heading out into Long Island Sound and visiting the Hamptons where the posh folk from NY have their summer homes.