9.9.15. Day 5. Cycle Central Park, Circle Line Cruise, Basketball

Well up and out today for our Central Park Bike Tour, all part of the New York Pass.

The kids are off to school today, in the typical yellow bus. Spotted on our way to our subway stop.

The building on the corner near the bike hire place...a good shot of the old and new.

Bikes out and ready to be matched to us.

Our guide was Bryan, there were about 20 of us, a few Aussies from Alice Springs, some Scots, South Africans. The tour was three hours, bikes and baskets for us, no helmets and at 9.00 we were off. First part of ride was with traffic, then after that it was much quieter. Great riding really, we saw heaps of the 880 acres of the park.

Bryan our guide at The Mall, our first stop and opportunity to have a wander around.

Here we are at The Mall.

A squirrel in Central Park

A typical New York looking dog...at least at my view of what it would look like.

A busker playing in the beautiful underpass at The Mall in CP.

Fountain.

Harp lady with an appreciative dog and owner. It seems she is there every day.

After The Mall we rode further, stopped to look at various views around the park. As we were all prompt and keeping up, Bryan offered an extension to Belvedere Castle, as we were 15 minutes ahead of time.

The Boathouse.

Lyn spinning in to one of the stops.

Sandra. Sorry it's not a great shot, trying to ride and take pics with the big camera wasn't so successful.

And there is Kathy too.

View across to buildings on West Side.

West Side through the trees of Central Park

One of 'the best views of the Park' from Belvedere Castle.

Belvedere Castle

There were some lovely gardens on the walk to and from the Castle. I was very excited to 'briefly' see a hummingbird flit by. Hopefully there will be time to revisit the park and sit and watch, as it is evidently hummingbird season. Funny, I had no idea that such a petite, fine bird would be seen in centre of the Big Apple.

Just some of the gardens, just after this shot I saw the hummingbird.

Our last stop was at the famous "Strawberry Fields," an area of Central Park that pays tribute to John Lennon. It is just over the road from the Dakota Building where he was shot and where Yoko still lives today.

The sign says it all really.

The tribute to John Lennon, there was a busker singing here too.

From Central Park, Sandra hailed a cab to take us to the Circle Line 3 hours Island Cruise, which left at 12.00pm. An $8.50 cab ride was pretty impressive.

Here they are in back of cab, a tad hot and sweaty after bike ride, but it is mainly just the heat and humidity.

At Pier 83, home of Circle Line Cruises.

Our Ship.

Another fabulous guide providing way more information than this brain can recall.

We passed under 7 MAJOR bridges, but there were many more...Brooklyn, Manhattan, George Washington, Williamsburg, Rooselvelt Island, Robert F Kennedy, Wards Island and High to name some.

Great views of the various Skylines - Manhattan, Brooklyn, The Bronx, Jersey. Plus Statue of Liberty again - the sky was great today, some clouds to add interest. Also cruised past - The Bronx, Yankee Stadium, The Cloisters, UN Buildings, Jersey, Gracie Mansion, Columbia University, Grants Tomb, Little Red Lighthouse...it was a great day, happy to sit and let it slide by as we had seen some of it, but then the sky was so good and we cruised much further up and around Manhattan than on the watertaxi.

Governor's Island? I can't recall.

Here she is again..sorry bout that.

Manhattan Skyline.

One of the piers....where boats leave from

Brooklyn Bridge

Manhattan Bridge, maybe?

Some factory along the East River.

Another bridge and I.

Empire State.

New York City Skyline. ESB to the left, Chrysler building between the two right stacks.

Chrysler Building.

Water tanks.

On the way round down the Hudson on the West Side our guide pointed out the water tanks that had already caught our fancy from day one. A great story here...the Upper West Side has the most roof top tanks. They are prevalent on the top of pre 1947 buildings. Up until then it was building code that all buildings needed a minimum 10 000 gallon tank on top, which must be visible to the public and safe from freezing. (newer building codes, now allow buildings to hide their tanks, but they are all required by law to have them) These tanks are for fire prevention and connect to standpipes for fire fighters to hook into. At least I think that's the gist of the story, great to hear though. So any building with visible tanks is pre 1947.

Chrysler building again.

Just a cool row of tall buildings with little ones in between.

Pepsi Cola sign again...can't resist, given I am a Pepsi drinker. No Pepsi Max here in the states tho.

Roosevelt Island maybe.

Just a cool beacon atop a building, possibly around the Bronx - this is NOT the little Red lighthouse.

Nother bridge.

and again.

Columbia Uni.

This bridge opened to let us through. I think he said it was a rail bridge.

When we disembarked it started to rain. Lyn and I headed for a small diner, for a drink - it had been in the family on this spot since 1937. Nice milkshake.
Kathy and Sandra are off to do the Whitney Museum.

Lyn and I came across an amazing doggy day care, lots of dogs - the business was large, offering, grooming, walking, training etc. Saw several walkers taking dogs out, and a room of about 20 dogs playing around, all inside.

We then went to B&H Photography to have a look. I wish I needed something - totally overwhelming, with stuff everywhere, checked out tripods, but don't want to add to the weight coming home. I did purchase a couple of replacement filters, it was then we learnt about the conveyor system running around the place. Purchased are 'called' up from the basement, and arrive under the counter on a conveyor, Max - my sales guy, then attached documentation and sent it down via conveyor and little lifts to the collection point. Lyn got a new camera case, and I also purchased a rain cover for the camera, given todays change in weather.

not a great shot, but this is the inside of B&H Photography, looking at the conveyor belt, the green box up there is one delivery.

From there it was off toward Madison Square Gardens (MSG) in readiness for basketball tonight.

Double up parking in action. The parking attendant had moved a car from under the red one. This pic sees the black one at rear lowering down to be driven off by the owner standing here. Real estate is prime around this place.

Then off for something to eat a - Quesadilla at Al's Deli, then off to MSG for the kick off at 7.00pm.
New York Liberty vs Connecticut Suns. We got a free t-shirt as part of 'fan appreciation' night.

All the usual and expected fanfare of basketball. Good to see.