Day 8 - June 12

An early start this morning to beat the crowds at the Empire State Building. Luckily we were through the lines in about 10 minutes and were heading skywards in a matter of minutes. Stepping out onto the observation desk the enormity of New York is laid before your eyes. The views are breathtaking and it's a wonder the island of Manhattan doesn't sink under the amount of concrete.

Afterwards we took an unintentional detour to Harlem before returning to the Upper West Side. We stocked up at the local deli (and Starbucks for Dad) before spending the remainder of the early afternoon in Central Park. Liam and Isabel spent a couple of hours playing with the local kids, even finding a couple of water pistols to partake in all out water war. I returned to Central Park later in the afternoon to run the six mile perimeter circuit. The first quarter was hard work as it was Puerto Rican parade day and I can't even begin to put the colourful parade of humanity into words. Some was pleasant to look at and well .....

Liam found the Titanic Memorial Lighthouse

Fireworks over Manhattan

St Paul's Church - Ground Zero

The Lady

View of Manhattan from the Staten Island Ferry

Rockefeller Centre

Jerry Sienfelds House

Dinosaur Bones - Museum of Natural History

Strawberry Fields - Central Park

Day 7 - June 11

Today was organised tour day - see as much of New York in six hours that is humanly possible. We wandered up to Times Square and joined our tour bus and our guide Tom for what was a pretty comprehensive, information overload and where did the time go type of tour.

"Dakota House (where John Lennon was murdered), Strawberry Fields in Central Park, Museum of Natural History, Rockefeller Centre, St Patricks cathedral, Madison Square Garden, China Town, Little (disappearing) Italy, WTC, South Street Seaport, etc etc etc."

Also did the Staten Island Ferry and achieved Liam's greatest wishwhen we saw the Brooklyn Bridge and Titanic Memorial. An exhausting day, however learnt a lot of history and also much about present day NY. The most tiring day so far