After leaving Washington we headed to Philadelphia, not for any sightseeing but to go to a motorcycle accessories shop that Greg has been checking out on line for the last few months. RevZilla was on the north side of the city and really easy to find.
After trying on several jackets, we both walked out with new ones as well as a bracket to hold the phone on the bike. We drove back to New Jersey to drop off the car.

We caught the train into Manhattan and walked the 10 blocks from Penn Station to our hotel in Times Square. We have already decided that we will take the Hyatt's shuttle back to the airport when we leave on Friday.
As it was about 5pm when we finished checking in we set off for a walk and to find some dinner. Our dentist in Oxenford had told us of a great hamburger place called The Burger Joint that was in a hotel not far from ours. This restaurant is tiny but full of atmosphere and the burgers and beer were delicious. Thanks Brendan the dentist. We wandered around Times Square for a while soaking up the atmosphere of the city.


We are on the 6th floor of our hotel with floor to ceiling windows and views to some of the tall buildings that surround us. Times Square is about 200 m from our hotel. We are on 45th Street which is right in the middle of Midtown Manhattan, couldn't have chosen a better spot.

Our first full day exploring was on foot. We walked up 7th Avenue towards Central Park stopping on the way for breakfast and to buy tickets to go and see "Jersey Boys" tomorrow night. We walked beside the park until we hit 5th Avenue. Of course, Kerrie had a look around Louis Vuitton and then she ventured into Tiffany. Greg was about to send out a search party when Kerrie emerged with a little blue bag, with a pretty blue box inside! A new silver bracelet has been added to her jewellery collection.



We continued down 5th Avenue towards the Trump Building. We didn't see Donald, he was in Florida campaigning, but the entrance to the building was very busy with protesters, supporters and even a guitar playing cowboy with the word TRUMP emblazoned on his tighty-whities. His song went like this: "If you want to see America great again, vote for the man on my rear end"; very entertaining. We saw the same guy later in Times Square, after he changed his underwear and became the naked cowboy.
Further down 5th Avenue we found The Rockefeller Centre. People were ice skating on the rink in front of the building. Greg had a rest while Kerrie checked out the Lego Shop. Next photo opportunity was St Patrick's Cathedral, we almost felt like we were back in Europe! The New York Public Library was just a little further down the street.

By now we were close to the Empire State Building. We procrastinated about whether to go up or not and in the end, decided to give it a miss, been there done that! We headed towards the Hudson River. Our walk took us passed Macys so we spent a while checking out this iconic shopping complex.

We continued towards the river hoping to get a cruise around Manhattan. On our way we passed the Jacob Javits Convention Centre HUGE! We arrived at Pier 83 just as the last boat for the day was pulling away, we might get to do it tomorrow! We did however, get a good view of USS Intrepid which is moored beside Pier 86. We remembered that we had been on this aircraft carrier for a tour when it had been in Perth in 1992 and was still in service.













By now are feet were very sore and we were quite weary. We headed back to our hotel for a rest before meeting our niece, Casey Bateup and her partner, Tom for drinks at our hotel at 6pm. We didn't know they were in New York until a few days ago, so we were looking forward to meeting them and sharing some of their adventures.

Casey and Tom joined us for dinner in an Irish Bar near our hotel. Greg and Tom talked motorbikes as they both have a Daytona. Casey and I caught up with family news and what our plans were for the rest of our time in New York, we have 2 more nights, they have almost 2 weeks. After dinner we wandered around Times Square and ventured in to the M&M shop - great fun.