Day 33 - New York City

This morning we had a later start to the day which was nice. We took the subway down to Battery Park and had a short walk around before picking up some bikes.

There is a two bridge bike track that takes approximately 2 hours. So we headed across to the Manhattan Bridge and rode across it into Brooklyn. We decided to have a slightly early lunch in Brooklyn and had a quick walk around. We then made our way on the bikes back across the Brooklyn Bridge which was quite cool because the bike and pedestrian walkway is in the middle of the bridge and raised up above the cars so you can look down and see them flying across the bridge.

Once we returned our bikes, David and I went and got admission tickets to go to the 9/11 Memorial. Unfortunately the museum was closed due to damage from Hurricane Sandy. They have constructed a park covering maybe the size of a block around the foot prints of the two towers. Each of the

footprints for the towers they have dug out to create a waterfall into a pool and then within that is a hole that the water flows into which you can not see the bottom of this is to represent infinity. Around each of the pools they have the names of the people that died in the tower that each pool represents. It is a nice memorial and would be a good place for the families to go and reflect and remember their loved one that passed. I was surprised at what a large area the twin towers covered. The footprint was probably a bit smaller than I would have thought but the space between them was larger than I imagined.

After this we all made our way to Trump Tower which we noticed earlier in the week had Trump's Ice Cream Parlor. I got myself a Trump Banana Split. We then headed back to apartment to rest up and find somewhere to have some tea.

After tea I headed off to see the Lion King. When I was coming to New York there were three shows I definitely wanted to see, they were: Phantom of the Opera, Wicked and the Lion King. I was planning to go to a show every night. So after tonight I have seen my three main shows. The Lion King is more about the bright colors and costumes which are a combination of puppets and clothing. The lions, Timon and Pumbaa all look fantastic. The set was simple but effective and there were numerous times where 'animals' ran down the aisles. This was my first time sitting down in the orchestra and I

don't think there is anything special about that in fact I would probably say being on the mezzanine is a bit better. There have been two or three songs added for the stage version and I have to say they didn't have the same fun nature to them as the classics from the movie. I guess they are trying to appeal to a larger audience. I still really enjoyed it and thought it was worth seeing but so far I would say that about all of the shows I have been to to date. Except perhaps Chicago, after seeing a few more shows I have to say that the simplicity of the set and whole production did not live up to what I expect from broadway. Since that was my first show I thought maybe my expectations were too high, but now I know it was just that show.

After the show I met Dave and Amy and we went up to the 86th floor of the Empire State Building. We decided to do this at night as we had already been up to the top of the Rockefeller Centre during the day so this would give a different view. Inside the building it is very nicely decorated and outside it has some great views. You can even see how bright time square is.

Anytime time for some sleep so check in tomorrow!