Day 2 in New York

Welcome to Manhattan New York. We were on the bus for our city and harbour tour by 7.45am and didn't finish until 2.30pm.....there is so much to see. I am going to overload the system with photos and sadly the information is a little scarce. It is hard to take photos and notes at the same time especially as the bus is often travelling fast....so here goes!  The Juilliard School is one of the leading institutions in dance, music and drama training......

I took so many photos so quickly and can't recall what many of them are! So I will try my best at some of them.

 The Dakota building entrance below is where John Lennon was murdered and Yoko Ono still lives there..........

The following photos were taken on Central Park West where many famous people reside ...not sure which building belongs to which person though! Among the celebrities that we can remember are: Catherine Zeta Jones, Michael Douglas, Glen Close, Bono, Steven Speilberg, Barbra Streisand, Tom Hanks and many more! Some of them may be on 5th Avenue as well!

Now I zoomed in on the above building because I think Jackie Onassis lived here........

A few designer labels on 5th Avenue...........

 Our guide gave us a treat - we stopped and viewed the sensational Grand Central Station.........

Jackie Onassis lobbied for many years for the station to be cleaned up and sadly she died before she saw that completed. If you look very closely in the centre of the photo below there is a very tiny rectangle of black....you will find it at the base of the long line that runs through the crab (about centre of photo). They left this to show the colour before it was cleaned with soap and water. The grime was analysed and most of it was nicotine and carbon........

 Now I think Katherine Hepburn lived here.....

and Bette Davis here.......

 More from my bus window.......

United Nations and there was an ice rink in the centre of the park.....not a good view from my seat though!

Our first view of the Empire State Building........

And my memory fails me on this one..........

Our guide also gave us an extensive commentary of the tragic September 11 event with many personal antidotes. Very moving and I won't repeat the devestating statistics except to say I am going to buy this book on his recommendation......102 Minutes. My heartfelt sympathy to all those affected by this dreadful event - both then and now. Here were where the towers stood and there is an incredible amount of work going on to get the new Freedom Tower completed by next year. You can see progress here - our views are from the World Financial Centre.......

This walkway bridge in this building which is next door, was unaffected apart from some minor outside damage.....

 The area is monitored 24/7 by these cameras..........

This round sculpture was at the base of one of the towers and remained virtually intact. It has been moved to a park here......

 The two memory pools are behind the trees - we did plan to go later but felt so moved that thought we would leave it for now. There are many stories and pictures on the internet including this one here.

On the right of this photo is the progress of one of the new towers........

and to the left another.......

I am not going to bore you with the 30 odd pictures I took of the New York skyline from our harbour cruise...instead just a few with the most important photo at the end.........

 You can clearly see the progress of the new towers from the harbour view below. The twin towers used to stand between the two. The new Freedom Tower is to be 1,776 feet tall - the figure reflects the 1776 Declaration of Independence....very fitting.

Back on shore is the Iceberg Building - a very clever architectural building which reflects the sinking of the Titanic. It is almost across the road from Pier 59 where the Titanic was supposed to have docked........

I will finish tonight with a couple of photos that reflect my next few days......sewing! We are being picked up by Jo Ann from Garden State Quilters tomorrow for a couple of events. I am a little nervous but know it will be fun once the nerves settle.

And a gorgeous design from a building and some heavenly flowers.......

See you later!