Lancaster Amtrak Station
We left Lancaster at 9:30 on a snowy morning heading for NYC for our 30th Anniversary Trip. The trip was uneventful and we were looking forward to our stay in one of our favorite cities!
We checked into the Hotel and had a wonderful room with a great view of the 8th Avenue below us. Since we did not arrive in NYC until shortly before noon, we decided not to try to fit too much into the day and opted for for a tour of the lower part of Manhattan. We bought a 48 hour pass for the tours and we could hop on and hop off or stay on the tour. It was, we agreed, the best option for us.
We hopped on the bus at Times Square and began our tour with a great, informative tour guide, and hopped off at Pier 17 for a tour of the New York skyline by boat, which was included in our package. Good Choice! The views were awesome as pictured below:
After a swing by the Manhattan side, we turned left and headed towards Jersey and got some beautiful views at twilight.
The Central Railroad of New Jersey Train Terminal
This terminal was the first place many of the immigrants saw when they left Ellis Island. From here they boarded trains and headed to locations west. My father-in-law was one of them, and my grandfather as a child another one.
Lady Liberty at Twilight
After a picture opt stop in the water off of Liberty Island the boat continued on it’s journey over towards the Brooklyn side where I got pictures of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. According to the tour guide (very, very knowledgeable in the history of the area) The three bridges in a row, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg are referred to as the BMW bridges. Easy to remember. . .
Manhattan Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge & a View of Manhattan
The tour ended and we headed back to Times Square to take the next tour ~ the Night Time Tour of Brooklyn! This one started at 6:30 and went through lower Manhattan and over the Manhattan Bridge into Brooklyn. From there we had an awesome view of the NYC skyline. The bad part about this tour (one of the bad parts) was the bus didn’t stop so we could take pictures of it.
The other bad part was the tour guide. He was a loud mouth, insulting New Yorker. He evidently lost his job in the Garment Center when yard goods became cheaper overseas and was bitter about this. The Asian couple sitting in front of us bore the brunt of his hostility and I felt sorry for them.
The tour ended at Times Square where it had started. We decided to go to the Cosmic Diner, across the street from the Hampton Inn for a hot bowl of soup. We called it dinner. The soup hit the spot and was just enough after a long day of sightseeing. Perfect way to end a full day!
Tuesday, after all, would be another day!
