3rd July

I's 6.30am in mid Manhattan and I'm having a coffee and watching the world go by. This really is the city that never sleeps. We all got up early yesterday, had breakfast and then walked up to Madam Tussauds in Times Square to pick up the 'hoho' bus tickets. It really is a good way to see the city. We started on the downtown tour, got off at the stop for Ground Zero, I believe most New Yorkers don't like to call it that, they call it the WTC the World Trade Center, which is what it is I suppose. The re-building work has really come on it looks about halfway built, last year all we saw was the foundations. We then walked through the Financial district and over to Battery Park and on to the Statten Island Ferry Terminal. This in mho is the best way to see the Statue of Liberty as long as you don't want to get off and walk round it and it's completely free. When we returned from Statten Island we got back on the downtown loop bus and continued with the site-seeing. We got off at 50th and 8th ave and went for a drink and then back to the hotel for a siesta. We all came back out about 7pm and had a bit of a walk, but we were all to tired so Nic, and Neeta got a pizza and Aimee got a Mackie D's and went back to the hotel. Sheila and I went to Dunkin Donuts for a coffee, oh yes we also finished off a box of 6 donuts between us, then went back to the hotel. New York is definitly not a restfull vacation, but it is one of the best places in the world........