Day, 26, July 10: New York City

After some very intense driving yesterday, the four of us (Patti, Dick and friends Betty and Gere) had breakfast and then were ready to head off to The City (otherwise known as New York City.) The Airbnb is going to be a great base for us; in Newark NJ, a 20 minute train drive to NYC Penn Station. This was Patti’s first time in NYC, exciting!

The train ride was easy and we quickly came out of the station with a view of The Empire State Building. Iconic! We quickly decided that we should go up to the observation deck. They did a terrific job with the museum, giving the long history of The Empire State Building. This includes historical facts, photographs, interviews, and plenty of photo opportunities. Patti’s favorite was being held in King Kong’s hand as he tried to peer into the window.

Eventually, we got in the elevator and went to the 80th and then the 86th floor. We all had fun, identifying buildings and looking over the Manhattan landscape. The view was stunning, and it was fun seeing buildings we all recognized.

For lunch, we got some iconic New York street food, including Nathan‘s hotdogs. Delicious!

We walked over to the New York Public Library Central Library; a huge and wonderful building. All of us have a very warm spots in our hearts for libraries.

We also walked along a wonderful street near the library which had engraved plaques with provocative and interesting literary quotes. We all enjoyed reading and pondering their meanings.

Just around the corner for the quotes and a cool library themed hotel that Gere and Betty had stayed at, was another New York treat: Grand Central Station. We walked around in there and thought of all of the movies that had featured scenes in on this epic train station. Beautiful!

We found a great statue of a giant button and needle and thread.  This was in the garment district.  Our friend Betty is a master quilter, so she was very amused at the size of this art piece.

We walked back to our train station and back to our apartment. After a little bit of rest, we were all starving and we were  glad to walk over to a local Italian restaurant. Perfect end to a long and beautiful day. We all figured we walked between eight and 9 miles. A lot of walking. We would all sleep well.