(11) PA: A trip to the pier - don't want to miss the boat!

Today we take a trip to the edge of the pier where we will board the Zephyr for a tour of the city along the banks of the river, and right to the feet of Lady Liberty herself. For some reason I thought the water in the skyline images of New York City was the ocean, but no, it's the great Hudson river. Join me, why don't you?

The Flat Iron Building was completed in 1902 and is seated on a triangular island formed by 5th Avenue, Broadway and East 22nd Street in Manhattan, New York. From looking at it, it must have been a very spectacular structure more than a century ago - impressive, wow! It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1989.

A very typical pretzel stand - a common sight on the streets of New York. This is by the entrance of Madison Square Park.

These parks are beautiful. A pity that we didn't get to walk through them.

A peek down one of the streets in Little Italy.

You have three guesses... YES! Chinatown!

While we were driving through here the tour guide asked us if anyone can tell him where the largest Chinatown is in the world? I heard one or two answers before almost sarcastically saying under my breath, 'China'. The next moment the tour guide interrups everyone and says, "Wait, who said China?"... Turns out it was the right answer! How about that?! I bet I'll never forget that *wide grin*

We're on our way to the pier - Cannon's Walk. I loved the cobblestone.

This picture is from the opposite side of Cannon's Walk. I loved how they did this pedestrian crossing with railway sleepers. 

Pier 17, NYC. 

I like the masts. I wonder what it looks like when sails are hanging down. It puts things in a bit of perspective when you see it up close and personal.

More boats in the harbor.

The Brooklyn bridge from Pier 17 - pretty spectacular at night! Can you believe it that this bridge was completed in 1883 - 128 YEARS AGO!! Magnificent! One of the oldest suspension bridges in the US, connecting the NYC boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

For the first 20 years after it was built it was the longest suspension bridge in the world. Very well deserving of being designated a National Historic Landmark (1964) and a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark (1972) - an iconic part of the New York City skyline.    

As mentioned before, the bridge in the front is Brooklyn Bridge. The one in the back is the Manhattan Bridge, completed in 1909 - 102 YEARS AGO!! This one is pretty amazing in some ways: it has two levels - the upper level carrying four lanes of car traffic (two in each direction), the lower carrying three lanes (one way in peak hour traffic), four subway lanes, a walkway and a bike way. I'm impressed!

In its 100th year (2009) the bridge was also designated as a National Historic Civil Engineering Landmark by the Society of Civil Engineers - and with good reason! 

In this store it is Christmas a-l-l   y-e-a-r   l-o-n-g.

We had only about half an hour to grab a quick something to eat but the food court had quite a few options to choose from. It had to be quite quick, very yummy and have 'New York' written all over it! That's not a tall order, is it?

I liked this concept, and the cook was quite the sport, giving me a quick super hero pose. Tan-ta-daaaa! (Unfortunately we didn't have enough time.)

The Asians found a phrase that seem to have served them well. "Yum-yum! Yum-yum! That's all they said the whole time as we passed by. haha Some of the samples were pretty darn nice, but I still wanted to have something a little more traditionally New York.

I wouldn't sit down here - that little golden cat is a little eerie. Besides, we had to eat quickly or miss the boat. 

We decided on Nathan's Hot Dogs. Those chips (fries) were the BEST ones that I've ever had in the United States!! (Not quite as good as mine, but I didn't let a single one go to waste!)

We almost did miss the boat, but thankfully we didn't! Wheeeeeeuw! We wouldn't want to disappoint Lady Liberty - no way! So in the next post we set sail to snap away like a bunch of shameless, curious tourists. You don't want to miss it!