I Beat a Bum

My first morning waking up in chilly and drizzly New York we had a breakfast of bagels and cereal. We were pleasantly surprised with the quality considering that we are staying in a hostel near Times Square sharing a double bunk room. Thankfully that means we are not having to share with any other weirdos. 

Leaving the hostel to head to Times Square for the first excursion of the day was fairly eventful. I spotted a dodgy guy walking too close to Amy and I knew something was suspicious. I grabbed his arm as it was attempting to pickpocket from her handbag. I shouted at him to tell me what he had taken, but his hands were empty. We walked away losing nothing, but learned a valuable lesson about keeping an eye on our stuff at all times. Nothing like an attempted pickpocketing first thing in the morning to get the adrenalin pumping.

Reaching our destination, Times Square, it was smaller than I had imagined, but very bright and overstimulating with the florescent lights even at 10am in the morning. We spent a bit of time getting photos before heading off to the next stop, 9/11 Memorial at Ground Zero. As it so happened we ended up getting sidetracked by shoe shopping at Century 21, bad coffee at Pret a Manger and sim card purchases on the way.

Security was pretty tight as you would expect, but once we were in the sight of the two huge water features positioned where the two towers previously stood was breathtaking. There is still a lot of construction going on around the site, but we could imagine a time when people would be able to walk amongst the monuments as part of the city landscape.

New World Trade Centre Building Under Construction - To be the Tallest Building in Manhattan

 

South Pool - Covers the Foot Print of the Former South Tower

We ate a cheap and cheerful lunch at a mexican fast food place on the way to see 1 Wall Street. This is where the head office for BNY Mellon, the bank where I used to work is. We had an obligatory look through Tiffany and Co on Wall Street on the way to walk over Brooklyn Bridge. The blustery wind was a bit annoying on the walk over Brooklyn Bridge, but the views of Manhattan from the bridge are amazing. By this time of the day we were quite cold and tired, so hot drinks were in order, we found a cafe in Brooklyn for a hot cuppa. For dinner we caught the subway to China Town for an early meal. We ended up ordering way too much food, but had a pleasant meal and headed home for an early night after a huge day of sightseeing.

Written by Vickie

Beer of the Day:
Blue Moon Belgium White - $7 off tap in plastic cup river side on Wall St. Pale orange colour with a fluffy head, light citrus and wheat notes. Fairly crisp and definitely easy drinking, not enough hop or flavour to be truly good.