The Big Apple is: An Island (mostly... sorta...)

One thing the Man and I decided to do during our day in New York City was to take the 2 1/2 hour Circle Line Cruise around Manhattan.  And what a good decision it was!

The cruise is a great overview of sights from the waterfront. It takes you down the Hudson to the harbor where it gives you a close up view of the Statue of Liberty, then its all the way up the East River to the northern tip of the island, before heading back down the Hudson.  You see Manhattan from every angle.

Although the tour guide was difficult to hear at times, I did enjoy the parts of the commentary I was able to understand.

This was probably my favorite part of our whirlwind day on the Big Apple. (Other than maybe the food.  We'll get to that later!)

The Big Apple is: Sensory Overload

I know, I know... I am taking far too long to get through this whole "our day in New York City" story.  Sorry.  Other things keep coming along for me to post about, and well...  But, let's get back to it - shall we?

After leaving Central Park, we headed down Broadway to Times Square.

Talk about sensory overload!  Between all the billboards, the people,  the costumed characters, etc - it was almost more than one person can manage to absorb!

If you look really close - that's the New Year's Ball up there

I'm glad I got the chance to see and experience Times Square.  But there are many other parts of New York I much preferred over this.  We did get to see "Mickey Mouse" eating lunch with his head in the chair next to him, Buzz Lightyear and Woody, no less than 3 Elmos, and that dude with the guitar who wears only his tighty-whiteys.  So, there's that.

The Big Apple is: A Great Place to Start

Here we go y'all!  Time to get into the nitty gritty of our day in New York City.

We did SO much in just one day!!  Being our first trip to the city, and having only one day for sight seeing - there were many things we wanted to be sure we saw.  Just to be able to say we had at least seen it.  Hopefully, soon we will go back and spend more time exploring landmarks, visiting museums, seeing a show, etc.

I am not exaggerating when I say we covered a LOT of ground.  Because there's just so much, I feel compelled to break it up into bite sized pieces for blogs sake.  So...  let's get started!

The morning was cloudy, with the promise of clearing into a beautiful day, as we caught an early train from Ronkonkoma to Penn Station.  As soon as we emerged from the station, we were able to check one thing off our sightseeing wish list - Madison Square Garden.  From there it was an easy stroll over to the Empire State Building, passing THE Macy's (as we having been referring to it) along the way.

We got ourselves acclimated to city traffic habits by walking north along 5th Avenue. Along the way I paused outside the New York City Public Library.  Yes, I wanted to go in.  No, we did not.

We turned off 5th Avenue just south of St Patrick's Cathedral; heading west toward Rockefeller Plaza.

I have to say, it was smaller than I thought it would be.  And of course, being the beginning of June - no ice skating.  (duh...)

From there, we walked around 30 Rock, down past Radio City Music Hall toward Central Park.

I loved the park!  It was clean, green, and very pretty.  A little piece of country right there. It was easy to forget you're in the city until you look up just past the treetops and see all those buildings poking up everywhere!

I also marked off what I considered a touristy New York "must experience" thing - I got a big ol' pretzel from a guy with a cart.

I also wanted to be brave and get a sidewalk cart hot dog, but that one will have to wait until our next visit.

We emerged from Central Park at Columbus Circle.  (Yes, right there at Trump International Hotel and Tower - if you're interested)   Then it was time to walk down Broadway to Times Square.

And that's where we'll pick up in the next post...

by the way: my youngest sister tried to convince me to entitle this "Beckey bites the Big Apple".  So, you're welcome for not going that route.