Tuesday - Day 4 NYC

Today we were woken up by Minty's mobile phone going off at 8.30am. We lazed about and watched a bit of morning TV American style...... mainly local stuff, hardly any international. One story that made us howl with laughter was a cable TV installation company offering a "free gun" with every order for Cable TV. Turns out that the State that this offer is being made in, has an average number of 24 guns in every household!!! Nearly as much as Glasgow.



The Beeb outside Chelsea Hotel

So, the day started with breakfast, again at Bread & Butter and then we took a walk down to 23rd street and into Chelsea, to see the Chelsea Hotel where Sid & Nancy stayed.

We spotted a guitar shop nearby and The Beeb had a browse. He did ask if he could have a go on one of the guitars but the owner (Dan) wouldn't let him, citing the fact that the guitars are old and fragile. How he expects to sell a guitar without letting anyone play the thing first, we have no idea!!!!

It was mid-day now, and we went back to 5th Avenue and met Beat Rat, Frank for lunch. We ate in Desmonds and had a couple of beers. It was fab to catch up with Frank again.

The plan for the afternoon was a trip to Brooklyn on the Subway, and then a walk back to Manhattan across the mile long Brooklyn Bridge. A trip to Ground Zero and then pizza in Little Italy. And that's exactly what we did.

Getting a metro card was odd - we walked up to Penn Station and got only one card between the 2 of us. However, it did work, letting both of us through the turnstile, and the trip across to Brooklyn on the "A" express subway was quick. We got out at High Street Brooklyn Bridge and found the steps up to the bridge with no problem.



The Beeb on Brooklyn Bridge - Empire State in the backdrop

The Bridge is quite impressive. It is a mile long and you can walk / cylce in the middle of it. In the middle you are in the open (it was a mite windy today) with the opportunity to have your picture taken with a fantastic back drop of the Manhattan skyline. How Posh and Becks managed to conceive a baby here with so many people around is a mystery!






Minty on The Bridge

Next up (after a coffee in Starbucks and a lengthy queue for the loo) was a visit to Ground Zero. The guidebooks warned there is not much to see, and indeed it is a large construction site, bordered off as the City builds the memorial to 9/11 which is due to be unveiled on the 10th anniversary this year. We did go into the memorial centre on Vassey Street which has the vision of the memorial being built and a tribute to the victims. It's amazing the amount of books and videos they have all about 9/11 there. Very moving.

Then we walked up Broadway, all the way through Tribeca and Soho and across to Little Italy, where we found ourselves in Lombardis - a really busy Pizza place (which only took cash!). We were advised by the guidebook that "Pizza doesn't come much better than at this unpretentious old timer that turns out delectable thin crust pies"



There is a table under there!

The waiter was actually really sensible and suggested that we have a large pizza between us rather than a small one each. We were quite glad of his suggestion when the meal arrived...... the pizza was as big as the table! The waiter saw the look on our faces and said "Welcome to New York"!!!!


Stuffed, we climbed into a cab (did you know that it's against the law to enter / leave a cab from any side other than at the kerb?) and headed back to the hotel..........

Minty's feet are really sore at this point! (at THIS point?..The Beeb)