New York by the sea

Today the sun was shining, wind was blowing and the lady of the torch was waiting! Silly us decided to chance it and get to the ferry for the Statue of Liberty early. Well, so did every other tourist in NY! Dave once again managed to get us on the subway and off at the park where the ferries go from - didn't see many people and thought great! However then we saw them .... we hadn't pre-booked tickets (dumb) so got tickets and then in the normal line. The tickets to the crown (her crown viewing platform in her head) had all gone so it was around the outside only. 45 mins. later we had gone through the security (once again very serious stuff) and onto the ferry. The reserved ticket people zoomed pass us! Anyway it was well organised on the island.

You got a audio guide and that helped understand the history, how she was built etc. That took nearly an hour to get around the island  - the crowds weren't too bad except for the best photo shots and the Asians were their usual rude pushy selves. Anyway she was on my bucket list to see and didn't disappoint. Wasn't even upset about not going up to the top either. the statue itself is on a very tall pedastal which adds to the height.
Did you know she is made of copper sheets, and it took 30 years for the copper to oxidize and turn green. That is why she is green - app. she had her 100 year annivesary and people talking about cleaning her up to shiny copper again but decided she was better green! And did you know that the French designer got Effiel (as in Effiel tower engineer) to design steel beams to hold her up straight inside! Fascinating. From the island you could see the bridge going out to sea and she is the first thing you past coming in.

Coming back you could get off at Ellis Island (where the immigrants were processed) but we chose to stay on board - things to do and things to see!

Wall St and the bull!
I said to Dave that Richie and Judi mentioned  that Wall St was close by so we walked a block or so and there was the bull and the girl at the start of Wall St! Lots of tourists taking photos including me! Wall St had the great stock exchange and the  federal hall  where
All very historic.

Manhattan Cruise
It was suggested to us to take a cruise around the harbour up both rivers (Hudson and East) so we could get a view of the place from the water. I am glad we did. After another subway ride and lots of walking (cause we got off too early) we got onto our boat and braved the wind and the cold for a hour and half cruise.

 This is a golf driving range!

this was as close as we were allowed to the UN buildings. Apparently boats have to keep away for security reasons.
Maddison Square Gardens
this was our excitement for the night - MSG (as the locals call it) is opp. our hotel on the corner so I suggested we find out what was going on there while we were here. so tonght was the opening night of the basketball season it was the first game for the NY Knicks against Atlanta Hawks. so we managed to get tickets! Yes expensive but what an experience! We arrived an hour early as Dave was not sure what to expect. 21,000 people were going so ..... lots of people, security, all dressed up in Knicks colours etc. We had to keep asking where our seats were as we kept on going up escalators! and up and up! My god - anyway  we weren't too bad high up but every seat had a free Knicks tee shirt draped over it so you could wear it if you wanted too! We had hotdog and beer (just like you see in the movies!). It was surreal - a big blimp balloon sailed around with a camera taking photos of the crowd, the court was way down below full of players and the same number of officials. There were two lots of television commentators on court talking to cameras (and this was before the game!)
At the start the national anthem was sung by a boy who had been on Ellen show (he was pretty good) sang it without music and people cheered and clapped when he hit the high notes - never heard people cheering and clapping during a national anthem before!

When it started it was amazing - music plays while they play - racy fast music when the hometown has the ball, and jaws do,do ,do ,do type music when the other team have the ball. When NY scored all bedlam broke loose, but when the other team scored not a sound - not even a clap! they had 7 time outs each - however during the time outs there is dancers or a dunking competition or catch the celebrity sitting in the front rows (up on the big screen) or shoot tee shirts or balls out into the audience. they had cheerleaders dancing, young kids dancing ..... and this is all in time out! My god ... the 12 minute quarters took half and hour each with all the stoppages. Fascinating! Half time they had an acrobat who was great. And yes this is supposed to be a basketball game! We sat next to a big black guy who was hilarious! He knew all the rules, and kept yelling out telling them what to do! Everything was 'yeah baby!' Anyway another unreal adventure and a first for us. We told him that and he laughed a deep chuckle and said 'welcome to our home". they must go to every game - he said he used to play (he was in his 70's) on that very court so I guess he was a good player in his day.

Another big day - by the way the Empire State building was decked out in the Knicks colours (it is just up the road and very visible!) A lovely sight when walking back to our hotel.