We had a relaxing first couple of days here at Bushkill, as we knew what was to come. Kids participated in the many activities organised by the resort - make a bat, lolly bingo,mini golf and loads more. Took a drive to the Bushkill Falls and went on a gorgeous hike, taking in about 6 different waterfalls and lots of nature, the walk covered about 3 miles (5ks). Plenty of relaxing.
Bushkill 1 day, New York the next. The drive in was to take 1 1/2 hrs, add an extra 1 for traffic. We arrived in NYC at 8.30am via New Jersey, state #46 and the Lincoln tunnel. Parked trusty Neville at a car park (no parking at the motel we were staying at) and lodged our bags and away we went. We had a 7 block walk to pick up our tickets for the tours of NYC we had booked. After turning the corner, we waited for a break in traffic, people that is and away we went, with the crowd, heading our way at a million miles an hour. No time to pause at shop windows for a look or you got knocked over in the stamped that was NYC. It was like the end of a football game and everybody was in a rush to get to their cars.
New York City (8.3 million residence) is made up of 5 Boroughs. Manhattan, Brooklyn, Queens, Bronx and Staten Island.
Manhattan itself has 1.5 million residence, which swells to 3 million during the work day. Add another 1 million tourists per week to that and you are dealing with 4 million people trying to navigate their way around just Manhattan!
New York City is not just what you can see at street level. There's the underground - Subway. The bridges don't just have 6 or 8 lanes going across, they have 6 to 8 lanes going each way and then times that by 3 LAYERS of traffic and a railway track! When we parked the car in the parking garage. It was 8 stories BELOW an office high rise and the attendants parked them for you, stacked 2 cars on top of each other per level - up on car hoists!
We stayed on West 35th Street - just a few blocks from Times Square and 42nd street were it all happens, apart from Broadway. We had booked in to do bus tours and a river cruise of NYC. The bus was a hop on- hop off, when ever you liked, so day 1 we covered downtown NY, which took in - Times Square, Empire State bldg, Madison Sq. garden,Macy's,first glimpse of the Statue,Carnegie Hall and Rockefeller Centre. We also took a tour of Brooklyn and went back at night and did the whole thing again, to take in all the lights.
Day 2 saw us go Uptown, visiting the Lincoln centre,Harlem,Cathedral of St. John,Guggenheim Museum,Central Park Zoo and Central Park. We took time out of the hectic schedule to take an hour bike ride around Central Park. Yes, good, on we go, as we had a tour of the 9/11 memorial site booked in for 2pm.
Only a few hundred people are allowed through the recently opened memorial site each day. We had to reserve a time slot on the internet the day before to be able to go through. It was an extremely beautiful area. Where the north and south towers once stood, are now reflection ponds, edged with 3000 names of the victims who lost their life that day. Construction continues to go on around the site of the new replacement towers. With our tour clock still ticking away, we felt like we were on 'The Amazing Race'! We needed to get from one end of Manhattan up to the other to make the last river cruise of the day. Hailed a Taxi Cab and off we went.
Out on the Hudson River, on a Ferry, to get an up close view of the Statue of Liberty, and more photo ops of the New York skyline.
Couldn't possibly fit any more into our time in New York City. Needed a week here (or more) to do everything at a normal pace.
Not at Team Connor Super Speed Sightseeing Tours! The Family is now totally exhausted from this fast paced pulsating city!
If you stopped for a breath it will eat you alive! Back to Bushkill, Pennsylvania for a day of well earned rest.......Phew!
To be continued......
Team Connor USA.
XOXO
