Canyons of Power

I think that heading has been used to describe the area of Lower Manhatten, but it really sums up the place so beautifully I thought I'd steal it^^

My breakfast...!

Tony is now safely here, so it's on to the stuff that we can both see together! First off was a HUGE breakfast in an honest-to-goodness diner, which filled us up for the entire day.  All together now;"CALORIES!!!"
After eating this kind of breakfast often, you'd probably then need some kind of medication. However, all the ads on TV for medication here go into grisly and complete detail of the all the horrible side effects that could befall you should you dare to take this medicine. "Gravelon, your only choice for indigestion. Take as directed. See your doctor immediately if you notice hair loss, green tinge to skin, tendency to mug little old ladies walking past, or brain infarction leading to death...."

Brooklyn Bridge

Then it was onto a walking tour of Lower Manhatten, starting from the Brooklyn Bridge. We took the subway over to Brooklyn and then walked back into Manhatten over the bridge. Great views of Manhatten through all the wires.  Tony remarked on the rust, however; there is patchy bits which have been painted, but it's pretty poorly maintained, at least on the walkway sides.

Forests of skyscrapers

Then we were over the bridge, and were swallowed up in the forest of skyscrapers that make up Lower Manhatten, the area first settled by the Dutch way back in the 17th Century.  Skyscrapers notwithstanding however, we still found plenty of places to sit down. As Tony says, this city always has seats just when you need them. This is true - there are dozens of little mini-parks, chairs and tables, benches and perches all over the place.  It's made for people, this city.  Unlike the modern glass encased cities, this place remembers that people are going to be wandering around its streets, and will get tired and will want to sit down and watch the world go by.

Ground Zero building site

We 'did' all the requisite sightseeing spots, including Trinity Church, Wall St (and the Bull), Battery Park (which was delightfully shady and cool; yet another place that shows NY is people friendly), City Hall, and then we came to 'Ground Zero', former site of the World Trade Centre towers.  It's a huge building site, supposedly being readied for a grand opening by this September.  It looked a very long way from being finished, so I don't know if this will actually happen.  We visited the memorial centre also.

By this time I was searching desperately for restrooms, and my feet were telling me in no uncertain terms that ENOUGH IS ENOUGH already! So we found a subway and got back to the hotel, and promptly collapsed in sweaty and tired heaps on the hotel room floor.  Anyway, now out for something to eat. Last night was Tony's first night here, and we sat on chairs on Broadway and ate fabulously fresh and healthy sandwiches from a deli, and looked at the world going by.  Tonight I don't care, as long as we don't have to walk too far!

Photos from the day can be seen if you click this link.

*Noted: NY is a great 'people' place, but there really needs to be more public restrooms around.  Also, if they want to cut down on plastic, have more places where people could re-fill their water bottles, even if they charged you for it.  I've had to throw away so many water bottles because, once you've used them, there's nowhere to get water from to re-fill them.  Just a thought...