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We caught the Amtrak train from Washington to New York which was pretty good but not a patch on the European trains; arrived at Penn Station but had to sit in the dining car as no room in the regular cars; then a yellow cab to hotel, walked to Times Square now pedestrianised, (lots of people sitting in deck chairs looking at the neon signs!!!) then to MOMA - as it was free on Fridays and so busy, so much fantastic contemporary art.
Our hotel was on 42nd & 10th ie on the corner of 42 Street & 10 Avenue, close to the bus station and Times Square. One end of 42nd overlooking the East River is 1stAve, the United Nations headquarters is at there; the other end, the bay area on the Hudson River, is where the de-commissioned aircraft carrier,Independence is moored . The Independence has an aircraft museum on deck, including land based stealth bomber.
New York has been cleaned up so much in the last 10 years, not so many loonies even near the bus station. It's so varied - cheap clothing at Canal Street, then Macy's down town and the exclusive shops along5thAve. Wonderful museums ie the Metropolitan, which has an out of town collection at the Cloisters way out in a park north of Central Park, on the border of the Bronx and overlooking the Hudson River. The rail to the Cloisters is through some very ordinary areas but the museum is worth the effort - mediaeval reconstruction of an Italian style hill town with some wonderful pieces in the collection - the unicorn series of tapestries !
We met up with Dan's friend, Janet, who gave us a tour of Columbia University - the chapel, designed by the nephew of 2 spinster sisters who stipulated that their nephew be the architect as they were paying for it!! , the Avery Library and a sense of the original plan for the University (originally King's College but changed to Columbia after the Independence War). This was Barack Obama's undergraduate university!
We again did the Hop On Hop Off Bus which took us around the whole area so we went down to Ground Zero - not muchto see there as they are rebuilding, but very moving tributes in the little Church nearby which was a haven during the clean up, and then on to the waterfront at Battery Point where we caught the ferry across to Straten Island, photographing the Statue of Liberty as we passed. We went across to Brooklyn via the Manhatten Bridge and on our return we stopped at the area on the waterfront under the Brooklyn Bridge which is very similar to Darling Harbour.
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