Finally...the trip to The Big Apple - 2011

Friday, December 2, Bob and I took a NJ Transit train from  Dover into NY Penn Station.  I was really looking forward to the train ride, and wasn't disappointed at all.   Penn Station is right next to Madison Square Garden.  We used a map my cousin Carol had loaned us to navigate the city, and started  down 34th Street towards the Empire State Building.  Just as I had told Bob, he almost fell over looking up at the buildings, but I was the one who made a hit on Broadway, or rather 34th Street, by tripping over a police barricade (a photo of one is below)  and landing flat on my face on the sidewalks of  New York.  The "miracle on 34th" was that I didn't break any bones or my camera.  I had bad scrapes on both  knees, a sore wrist and back, and was shaken up, but I was determined to continue.  We turned up 5th Ave, past Macy's and on to NY Public Library, where I cleaned my cuts in the ladies' room.  From there, we passed St Patrick's Cathedral, which is undergoing renovations, and walked to Rockefeller Center.  No one was skating at the rink because a Zamboni machine was clearing the ice!  The tree didn't look as impressive as we expected.  We continued up to 7th Ave and made our way to Central Park South, passing landmarks like Radio City Music Hall, Carnegie Hall (also under renovation), Lindy's Famous Cheesecake,  and human and non human Statues of Liberty.  We were planning on taking a carriage ride around Central Park, but at the sight of the old Dobbins, we didn't have the heart to do so.  We headed back down the other side of 7th Ave, and on to Times Square, which was a "movie-able feast" for the eyes...projection screens everywhere advertising just about  everything.  Easily a thousand people were standing in lines at the TKTS office.  Thankfully, there were tables and chairs for public seating in the square, where we could rest a bit and take in the people and sights at the crossroads of Broadway and Times Square.  A statute of George M. Cohan stands there...one of my favorite all time movies is Yankee Doodle Dandy with James Cagney as George M.  We had walked over 6 miles, and were pretty tired by then, and ready to head back.  The Dover Express was due to leave Penn Station within 20 minutes of our getting there, so we took that home.  In some ways, we were disappointed with the visit.  It was not as Christmas-y as we thought it would be, and it was hard to take everything in because you had to watch where you were walking while dodging people, cars, taxis, and buses (and police barricades).  But, overall, we both enjoyed the adventure and would like to go back again another time.  Hope you enjoy the tour, too.