May 14, 2019 - Tuesday
New York, New York

Sydney had an appointment in Manhattan today and we rode in with her, to see their Manhattan apartment and begin our adventure.  The drive into Manhattan was crazy, Bumper to Bumper traffic, horns honking, sirens going, abrupt lane changing. Phew...we made it to the apartment.  Never been in a Manhattan Penthouse apartment, Sydney (the designer), has made this apartment very comfortable for being located in such a busy city.  Sydney provided us with some tips in getting around the city and showed us the Subway entrance.  Bob was very kind in letting us use his Metro Card for the day on the Subway.

First stop, Wall Street to the New York Stock Exchange, George Washington statue at the Federal Hall where he took the oath as the first President of the USA, Trinity Church.  There was so much scaffolding that it was hard to take good pictures. 

After a short walk from Wall Street, we visited the 911 Memorial Wall, Freedom Tower and Oculus.  As we were entering this area, Engine 10 was coming out of the station, which is located right at the old Twin Towers and the first on scene of 911.  These men and women make heroic sacrifices to keeping us safe.  There were over 300 Service men and women who lost there lives during 911. 

We were also able to find our friends son's, Mark Bingham's name on the Memorial Wall. 

The Freedom Tower has an elevator that will take you to the top.  During the ride up to the 102 floor, there is an animated video that shows New York skyline from the 1500s to now. 

We noticed the fire truck returning to the station and they sell their New York Engine 10 T-Shirts.  Gotta get Johnny one.  They were so nice, they let us take our pictures with there rig. But, I was pushing it when I asked if Johnny could sit in the rig, we were told there Captain would not allow him to do that.  Oh well, it was cool to see the engine, Johnny talked with the guys a bit and we moved on. 

The Oculus(the eye) is something different and I still haven't figured out the meaning relating to 911.  It's a 335 foot long skylight that opens in the middle.  There are several shops and is where the #1 Subway station is located. 

We then took the Subway to Grand Central Station.  What a magnificent building.  It was also time for lunch.  There is a downstairs food court with several choices.  But, before we went down to the food court I spotted a restaurant that serves Oysters...Yummy and ironically it is named Oyster Restaurant.  We decided to check out the food court first.  Well, nothing was making our taste buds water so we headed back up to the Oyster Restaurant and we are so glad we did.  It was delicious and was glad to hear Bob say we made a good choice.  

With full tummies, we buzzed over to the Empire State Building and took the elevator to the top floor.  This was impressive to see the city from a birds eye view.  

We had made arrangements to meet up with Bob at Penn Station after he got off work.  We had time to spare and JUST to make sure we were on time and didn't get ourselves lost we headed in that direction..  Bob told us to meet him under the "FUSE" sign.  Well we got to 32nd & 7th (Madison Square Garden), we looked for at least 10 minutes for this "FUSE" sign.  Getting frustrated I asked a gentlemen where is the "FUSE" sign, he chuckled and said it's now the "MSG Networks" sign. HA HA we started laughing.  So we texted Bob letting him know this sign change.  He was so apologetic and didn't realize the name was changed.

We are both feeling a bit tired and I needed my Starbucks so we tracked one down, sat inside and people watched.  It's time now to meet up with Bob, which we did and took the Long Island Railroad from Penn Station to Manhasset where Bob parks his car and drives another 1/2 hour to get home.  

We had a fantastic day in the city and you have heard the phrase: Your in good hands with Allstate. Well, we say; We were in good hands with Sydney and Bob.  They were both checking in on us making sure we were getting around the city and finding our destinations.