New York City (2)

For 2011 our daughter Joyce made big plans to have a vacation of a lifetime in Australia. She graduated as a bachelor in Forensic Science and before starting her real first job in this area, she wanted to explore Australia. She used the internet as a source for her plans, found out all the places she wanted to visit and the things to do and the plans became more solid by the day. As it turned out, with all the things to do and see, she would need at least 6-7 weeks to realize them all. One of the ideas was to drive the Great Ocean Road and watch the Twelve Apostels, but there was only one major issue: although she has got her drivers licence, she does not drive, let alone on the left side of the road!! So I offered (being generous as I am *lol*) to accompany her on this dream vacation. My DH was not able to take 7 weeks off at work, so to compensate him for my being away for 7 weeks, we booked a full week vacation in New York City. It would become my second stay in the Big Apple and his first. Again we booked the Pennsylvania Hotel, across Penn Station and I was able to show him the best spots in the city. I love this place, New York is the city that never sleeps! There are so many things to see and do!!

Every morning we ate breakfast at a little bread-to-go store across the street. The employee that helped us already recognized us on the third day, so we didn't even have to place our order, because he knew exactly what we wanted for breakfast, isn't that great? Most of the tourist attractions in Manhattan we visited by foot, sometimes we took the subway e.g. to get to the Statue of Liberty. Also we took the Staten Island Ferry (free of charge) at the statue to get across. NYC has a simple street plan, all avenues run from North to South, all streets are numbered and run from East to West, so it is easy to find your way around. You just have to find out on the subway map which station is the nearest to get in or out the subway. We visited Rockefeller Plaza and went up the Empire State Building at night (it was a foggy night, so the visibility was zero), went to Central station and took a walk on the Brooklyn Bridge. I cannot get enough of New York, so yes, one day I'll be back again!