We started by walking down by the Hudson from our 72nd Street digs to Pier 79 at 39th Street to catch a water taxi. This was a hop on, hop off deal, so we took it down to Battery Park, entertained and informed by the excellent on-board guide.
Although bright it was a bloomin' parky morning so we were wrapped up against the chill wind.
Once downtown we grabbed a coffee and pastries from an excellent deli, then spent an hour cueing for tickets and security to get on a ferry out to Liberty and Ellis islands.
Did the audio tour around the former...
..but not inside as tickets for that sell out ages in advance, and didn't get off at Ellis Island as we felt it might be a bit dry for the kids, and we needed to move on.
Back to the deli for lunch sandwiches and more coffee, then to the 9/11 Memorial.
Extremely moving, and very interesting to see the regeneration of the area, and One World Trade Center is a suitable monument, now the tallest skyscraper in the Western Hemisphere.
We then spent a bit of time in the 9/11 Tribute Center, a series of galleries established by survivors and families of victims of the attacks, and again, a very moving experience. Finley in particular was shocked and appalled. I don't think he really knew much about the detail of what had happened, and seeing actual bits of the buildings and planes, and reading and hearing words from the people involved really brought it home.
From there we walked across to the Brooklyn Bridge, and fought the crowds to cross it. Worth the effort, as the bridge itself is great...
..and the view is cool of some really nice buildings, many of which once held the record as world's tallest.
The Woolworth Building achieved the accolade in 1913...
..then the Bank of Manhattan Trust Building held it briefly in 1930 before the Chrysler Building took it, only to be topped by the Empire State Building. All three are in this photo, plus the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company Tower, which preceded the Woolworth Building.
Also in the photo (on the right) is a brand-new building known as 432 Park Avenue, the tallest residential building in the Western Hemisphere, topped out on 10 October, with a rooftop higher than One World Trade Center.
Good to set foot in another burough, and we really liked the look of DUMBO, from where we got the water taxi back to Pier 79.
Stopped for a beer in Hell's Kitchen on the way back to the apartment, and were then diverted around a demonstration at the Lincoln Center over the performance of The Death of Klinghoffer...although at the time we didn't realise this and thought it interesting that there was a demonstration "about the opera" (as we were told by a police officer) and that one needed tickets to attend (the demo as well as the opera).
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