Girly Thirties: Day 38 - City Tour on the big red bus !

Very excited today because it was my first day using my New York City Pass. Which overall it was a great value however you can’t use it to access the crown of the statue liberty.

Leigh this one is for you : the Ferris Wheel in the Toys R US store

So made my way to the Hard Rock Café at Times Square with a stop along the way at Toys R Us which had a massive internal ferris wheel which was kind of cool.

Times Square with Sun Haze

I wandered through the store which also has a large selection of souvenirs while it has some unique stuff the other stores are slightly better priced.

the M&M store with every type of M&M imaginable - Heaven!

So got on the bus for the tour and just enjoyed the sights and sounds of times square, but they took ages to take off and then the microphone wouldn’t work properly with no solution it appeared in sight.

Kerry and Carmy this one is just for you ... giggle

While I choose to do the downtown tour which meant I was recovering some areas that I had already seen but great orientation and made it easier being on the outside and seeing it all to work out how to get back there and what to see again.

some of the awesome billboards up close !

We went through the Diamond Area, Shopping Area then onto the Flatiron district when we learnt all about the different architecture and how they used to the different styles of building in order to deal with the different materials.

Shopping heaven !

Whatever the building methods are they buildings are beautiful and unique and I loved it. The soho area seemed to have more character because I think from memory that is when a lot of the buildings changed the construction style.

The amazing buildings and textures

We travelled around the downtown area past the Wall Street bull which isn’t actually on wall street. Then onto the federal court area which is near canal street so just channel Law and Order here.

the Bull on Wall Street

Also past the first park in New York which was founded by the Dutch colonists at Battery Park and they created what is now known as Bowling green.

Apparently one of the first buildings built by the Dutch settlers

Along with passing past the trinity church and the amazing burial grounds it is somewhere that I want to come back to.

One of the Many Trump buildings

We came back through the pier area and under the Iconic Brooklyn bridge … I was so excited… I can’t wait to walk it just not sure when I was going to fit into the schedule.

The Brooklyn Bridge

As we made it back through the lower east side through the old tenement area and you can definitely see this is an area that still needs to grow and prosper. In some respects this is the real Chinatown but it is somewhere that I wouldn’t go at night.

The Brooklyn Bridge

We drove past the United Nations which faces onto the east river. It is definitely a awe inspiring building with all the countries of the world represented.

United Nations

Then headed past the back of the waldorf Astoria which apparently had Michelle Obama staying there that day because there was a lot of security around.

Waldorf Astoria

We got dropped off at Rockefeller centre but I decided to walk down 5^th Ave for a bit and ended up coming to the Flatiron building past some groovy spots in NYC.

Empire State Building - from 5th Avenue

Some 25 blocks later I discovered Madison Square Park which had really funky with an awesome light installation which seemed totally random. Also a fantastic craft market which I got some really cool funky polaroid photos with watercolour paper effect.

a funky hotel on the way

The girl that sold them was so sweet as well and made awesome chocolate … A little triple stacked chocolate cake all solid chocolate! yummy yummy

Madison Square Park

Found a toilet then continued on down Broadway to find some more shops! There were some expensive stuff but yet some pretty fashion. I really liked this area and would have liked more time but like anything I have to realistic in wanting to cover as much area as possible.

Madison Square Park

I walked back along Broadway through the jewellery district and past Korea town (which I didn’t realise what it was) and found myself back again at Broadway and 34^th… surprise surprise!

Madison Square Markets

Toilet stop required and then some more shopping which I happened to find myself at JC Penny and Macys. Damm shame about that one.

Empire State from Broadway at Madison Square Park

I love shopping late at night not as many people and you actually get service! While the service admittedly is still shocking I got a cute skirt! I highly recommend JC Penny for underwear … great prices and practical well fitting.