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Another fabulous day as far as the weather is concerned—bright blue skies,warm & sunny. We had breakfast in the hotel today & it was delicious, the best so far. We actually had fruit, yoghurt & granola together with coffee that tasted good, a rare treat. 

After that we negotiated the subway again & got ourselves downtown to Ground Zero & the memorial to the victims of 9/11. After the towers had been removed they have used the vast holes in the ground to create waterfalls. So if you can imagine a huge deep square with water cascading down each side. The water then continues down a deeper central square well to disappear from view. Around each side of the square are metal panels with all the names of those who died. These are very easily seen & can be touched too. It is really a most impressive memorial, simply done but very effective. Some photos of the buildings & memorial to follow.

We then used the subway to go to Greenwich village taking in Washington Sq & Union Sq before heading back to pack ready for leaving tomorrow. There is a photo of the archway in Washington Sq. 

Tonight we are going on a river cruise/dinner–more of that later.

some shots from Central Park & then the High Line 

             

I forgot to mention yesterday about our Japanese meal with Yuka & Shige. It was a succession of small amounts of lovely food, all eaten with chopsticks. Doug only resorted to a fork to eat the fish. The final course was pork which just melted in your mouth. A great experience.

Today we got up earlier & walked along 5th Ave to the edge of Central Park. We had a recommendation to have breakfast at Sarabeth’s. It was ok & is obviously an very ‘in’ place to go. As always we are divided by a common language & grenola turned out to be porridge —- but at least the fruit was good.  American coffee doesn’t seem to have improved much over the years, they can drink so much of it ‘cos they forgot to put any coffee in it in my opinion. Not sure that we will rush back.  

After that we went into the park & had an hour’s tour on a bike. We went for the easy option though, someone else was doing the pedalling! He was a character but succeeded in pointing out the main landmarks, properties & film sets. We saw the Strawberry Fields memorial to John Lennon together with the Dakota Building doorway where he died. The park is vast & at times it is hard to believe that you are in the middle of New York as some of the photos will demonstrate. The weather today is fabulous, very warm & sunny, so hats & suncream a must but coats not required. 

After a snack in the Plaza food hall, we mastered the subway & got ourselves downtown to the start of the High Line walk. This is an above ground railway that has been rescued from demolition & turned into an urban walkway. Some of the tracks remain but the whole thing has been done really well. There are trees & plants along its length at either side of a dedicated pathway. It winds through some industrial areas but at the same time it has spawned regeneration of districts, with housing, shopping, bars & food the result. All the time you can see the Hudson River & New Jersey on the other side. 

We came back to Bryant Sq, which is a lovely outdoor area a couple of blocks from our hotel. Everyone is benefitting from the sun & the bars were doing a busy trade. We will probably go there to eat tonight.

    

We walked down towards the river to meet up with Yuka & her family. She & her 2 daughters were waiting for us in the foyer of their apartment block. The girls (Aki 5yrs & Kaho 3yrs) were wearing their special party dresses & looked just like princesses. They have a lovely apartment overlooking the river & we were also lucky enough to meet Yuka’s Mum & Dad who are here on a visit from Japan. 

We left the girls with their grandparents & walked a few blocks to meet Yuka’s husband Shige at the restaurant. We had a lovely meal with them & it was great to catch up with Yuka & also meet Shige. They have been here about 9 months & hope to spend another couple of years here before being posted elsewhere. 

After leaving them we walked back to our hotel & had a drink up on the roof terrace like last night. Sara, the Irish waitress was working again & surprised us both by buying us a drink—-surely it’s normally the other way round!! It is 26 yrs since we were last in NY & boy has this city changed. People are friendly, you can walk everywhere, the traffic is less manic & aggressive— it seems an altogether nicer place.

I forgot to mention that this afternoon we walked back via Bryant Park & tripped across a game of Pétanque in progress. And they were good! It is a lovely park on 6th Ave with a board game area—chess & backgammon were being played— & a dance band was just setting up for an evening of Waltz music with dance lessons between 6 & 7pm & general dancing afterwards. Clearly, New York has changed since we were last here 26 years ago!