Day 13

We woke up very, very early this morning and where right back on the bus over the Verrazno Bridge to the WTC Memorial at Ground Zero. Mark dropped us off there and then continued on his way into work. We decided not to have a close look at Ground Zero or take any pictures as it didn't feel appropriate and unfortunately it is still nothing more than a big hole in the ground.

We got a map from a nearby hotel and then stopped into Jambo Juice for a NY style smoothie in an effort to get the proverbial juices flowin'.

We then got the subway to Christopher Street and set off walking down Bleecker Street. We stopped in a cool little cafe called the Bus Stop Cafe for breakfast and then resumed our walk down Bleecker. We went all the way down to Bowery, taking in the sites and sounds.

Unfortunately none of the shops were open yet but we made a note of the ones that we would come back to.

Turning right on to Bowery we passed all of the shops selling industrial kitchen equipment - there must have been about a dozen or more.

During our walk we saw The Bitter End pub, numerous coffee stands and the Corner Deli.







Next we turned on to Spring Street and entered Soho. We had a peek in a few shops and then decided it was time for a quick boost so we called into Balthazer Cafe. My $3.30 cappaccino and Paulo's $3.00 lemonade were a bit prizy but they both hit the spot and the atmosphere inside the cafe was OK. Except for the fact that there were 2 or 3 staff members for every customer. After a while of the OTT service we started feeling a bit edgy and decided to leave.





We headed back to Bleecker Street to visit two legendary shops - Bleecker Street Records and Rebel Rebel. I bought Al Green's second album Gets Next To You mostly for his killer cover of The Doors 'Light My Fire' but also because it was pretty cheap and is so damn funky.



After spending far too much time in Rebel Rebel (mostly due to Paulo's endless searching), we had to leg it to the subway station in an effort to get the 1:30 ferry back to Staten Island. We made it with about five minutes to spare.





Once again the views of the city and of the Statue of Liberty were amazing.







We then hopped on another train and had a fifteen minute walk back to Mark's gaff to collect our stuff and begin our drive to Allentown to see my aunt and uncle.

We arrived to their house at about 7:30 and had a lovely steak dinner along with several of the local Yeungling's finest bottles of lager. We chatted for hours about our trip and got caught up on all the gos. It was a really relaxing evening and we thoroughly enjoyed their company.

Day 12

The morning after the long day before...

I woke up and decided to go for a run. Partly because I am trying to get into shape and partly because I am trying not to gain a stone from all the beer that I am drinking.

I went out to the Traction Line Park / Trail again and then did a small loop on the way back to the house for 55 minutes in total. I ran half a mile at 6:20 pace on the way out and then a mile at 6:50 pace on the way back. Both efforts hurt and my pulse was quite high throughout. It's going to take a good while until I can get back into the 'swing' of running again.

We didn't do much today except to chill out with Ronan and Kara. Paulo and Ronan went for another drive in the 911 while I worked on getting this blog updated.

Later in the afternoon we went back to Long John's for lunch. This time I had the Belly Buster and it did not disappoint - I was stuffed. We packed up the car, said our goodbyes and headed off to Staten Island to meet Mark.

Traffic wasn't too bad until we got to the Verrazano Bridge. There was a parade earlier in the day and we got stuck in the aftermath but with some map reading and creative driving we made it to Mark's place around 7:00 or so.

We got the quick tour of his gaff, dumped the bags and then set off into the city. We got the bus into Manhattan, getting off right next to Ground Zero. We walked through the Financial District down to the South Street Seaport, had a look at the Brooklyn Bridge and then found a pub to retire in for a few relaxers.



I can't remember the name of the place right now (the downside to waiting too long to write about a night's activities) but it was a cool little spot. They had their own brews and I opted for the Red Rooster Ale. It was going down very nicely and the conversation was great but since Mark had work the next day and we had a busy day of sightseeing, we sensibly left for the 11:00 ferry.



The views of Manhattan and the Statue Of Liberty were absolutely amazing. I took some photos but they unfortunately did not come out very well. So we had another beer and just soaked up the views of the city.

Once we got back to Mark's we rustled up some dogs and then went straight to bed as we were going to have an early start on Monday and desperately needed the kip.