Day 8 - New York Cruise, Intrepid Museum

Julian slept through the night - yay - and woke us at 6:50am.  We did the usual routine and were out of the apartment at 9am.  We decided to get Subway for our take-on lunch for the cruise which is on the corner of our block and then we caught a cab to Circle line cruises on the corner of 12ave and 42nd st.  The temperatures was already in the mid-twenties and climbing fast - it was 31degC by lunchtime!

We had decided on the 3hour around Manhattan cruise and grabbed a seat in the airconditioned section. Julian was a bit fidgity but it was better than the plane!

 This is the best family shot of us and the Stature!

Notice the lack of thunderstorms - we are still waiting for the rain and it is 8:30pm.

 Claire, Julian and downtown Manhattan

The Brooklyn bridge and the Freedom Tower under construction (One World Trade Centre).

The boat trip was quite good and we got to see a lot of the top end of Manhattan and there is a lot of greenery up that end.  I wish there was some of it around here!

After the cruise, we walked to the next pier which is the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum all located on a decommissioned Aircraft Carrier.

 The Flight Deck

The original Space Shuttle is coming here but the exhibition hadn't opened yet :(  Julian sat this experience out and managed to sleep despite the searing heat on the flight deck.  This was a really good museum except for the gift shop which was extremely overpriced - $16 for a coffee mug!

Because of the heat and the lack of public transport over this side of the island, we caught a cab to B&H - the world's largest camera and video superstore on 9ave and 34th st.  And it was HUGE.  And surprising for me was that all of the attendants were orthodox Jews - I wonder who runs the place on Fridays?

Steve bought a flash (part of his birthday present) to go with his new camera (also a birthday present). 

This is the product pickup area.  You may be able to see the conveyor system above left and the glass elevator box on the right.  The items purchased are whisked from points of sale all over the shop using this system to this location for pickup.  You pay for them at the checkout on the left, outside of this photo.  Very efficient and very cool!

(LIVE update - the rain has arrived!)

We then walked down 34th st and caught the subway home.  It was too hot to do much so we bummed around playing with Julian and Steves new flash:

Using new flash - Julian pretending to talk to someone on my phone! (He is hot, hence the red cheeks).

After Julians dinner we walked once again to Union Square.  We had given up the idea of going to Miss Lily's, a creole restaurant in Soho, so we headed to Taco Bell instead! I had no idea that Taco Bell was so low market - $2.19 for a chicken burrito, the drinks were nearly as expensive!.  I didn't take a photo as the clientelle didn't look that friendly.  It definitely was an experience!!!!

Then I tried to do some shopping:
Nordstrom Rack - sales outlet of Nordstrom department store, lots of crappy clothes for woman and awesome suits for men - Ted Baker suits for $190!, no kiddies stuff, didn't buy anything;
The Strand Bookstore - 18 miles of books apparently, "very overwhelming" says Steve, didn't buy books bought little things like an iphone case and some cards (Thank you Ilana for the recommendation).

That was all.  It is our last night in NY and truthfully we have no idea how people live here, well not with toddlers anyway!  We are very sick of lugging the stroller up and down the stairs to our Brownstone and the subway steps.  Most shops have steps in them, a lot do have lifts but you can't rely on it.  Also the parks I checked out on Google maps before we arrived looked good but in reality, all the grassed areas are out of bounds.  Julian is rightly sick of the stroller!

Tomorrow morning we are going to Soho to check out the Frye boots Flagship store (Sam - we shall see about only one pair!) and purlsoho (fabric shop) and then that is it for New York.  We have organised a rental car from Avis a couple of blocks away for 1pm and then we are off to New Haven, Connecticut (home of Yale University).

Wish Steve luck for the drive...