A Walking Tour

Andy with Wall Street Bull
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Today we took a suggestion of our guidebook, and took the subway over to Brooklyn.  From there, we walked back to Manhattan, across the Brooklyn Bridge.  At first we weren't sure we wanted to do so because it is just so cold here, but I am glad we did!  We had great views of the city and the Statue of Liberty, plus it was really neat to walk across a bridge that was made so long ago.  While we were walking across the bridge, once we got to the second tower, we were stopped and asked (politely) to wait by a film crew - they were filming a scene right there!  It was neat to see the director yell "action!" and see the clapboard be snapped before the scene.  All they filmed was some guy walking on the bridge, it wasn't a long wait!  Jubie saw someone in the crew wearing a "Law and Order" hat so we think it was that.

A self-portrait of Andy and Jubie on the Staten Island Ferry, with the Statue of Liberty in the background.
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Once we were back on the Manhattan side of the bridge we had fun walking by the many interesting buildings, such as St. Paul's.  It is odd to see such an old, beautiful church amid such massive buildings - it was built in 1766!  St. Paul's is directly next to Ground Zero, where the World Trade Center used to be.  It is also odd to see such an empty area of space there, between tightly packed buildings.  There are some touching pictures and so forth up on the fence that surrounds all of Ground Zero - not much to see but just seeing the empty space where the towers used to be is touching enough, I think.

Andy at Ruby Foo's Times Square with dessert, banana chocolate spring rolls.
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We also saw the Trinity Church and the National Museum of the American Indian (free!) on our way down to catch the Staten Island Ferry.  The ferry is free and takes about 1/2 hour each way - great views of the Statue of Liberty!  After the ferry ride we stopped in McDonalds on Wall Street to warm up - it is the fanciest McDonald's I've ever been to, complete with flowers, live piano music, two floors, rooms with names such as "The Orchid Room"...sorta odd!

Once we were done with the downtown area we took the subway up to the Empire State Building.  We came at just the right time of day, to see the sunset.  There is both indoor and outdoor areas to view the city from the top, so you don't have to get too cold outside if you don't want to.  However, the indoor area is also a touristy shop complete with many pointless and needless souvenirs (though I was tempted to buy a heavily frosted cookie in the shape of a smiling Empire State Building).  Though packed with tourists, everyone was pretty good about giving others a chance to get a view from the outside.  Sunset over the city was gorgeous, I don't think my pictures will do it justice!  After seeing that, we stopped at a restaurant called Ruby Foo's in Times Square that our book recommended.  I'm glad we decided to go!  It was crowded but we only had a 10 minute or so wait - things move fast in New York!