Thursday 29 March 2012

Downtown & Brooklyn ~Day Three~

We have sore, tired legs after all our walking so we decided to use the get-on/get-off bus.  It was the right decision.  We still have so much of the city to explore and we can only push the kids so far.  They have been absolutely perfect on the trip however we know exactly where their limits are and we don’t want to go over it as we still have a lot of travel and adventures ahead of us.
The bus took us to downtown Manhattan – Chelsea, Greenwich Village, Soho, Battery Park and the place where we really wanted to head today, Brooklyn.  When we lived here we didn’t spend a lot of time in the bohemian borough of Brooklyn so we wanted to explore it some more.   As we meandered through the different areas we couldn’t help but notice how few people were about compared to Manhattan but there was still the constant blaring of car horns and the clattering of subways across the bridges.  Brooklyn is the most populous out all the boroughs but is only the second largest in area.  There is such a huge difference between the suburbs and the housing.  We saw the magnificent “brownstones” in suburbs like Park Slopes and Brooklyn Heights and then the polar opposite in the public housing tenements and projects.

I could quite easily live in either Brooklyn or Manhattan.  They are incredibly different areas but both have their own positives and negatives.  I asked the kids if they ever had to live here where they would choose and it was a consensus – Manhattan.  I think their decision is tainted with the accessibility of the Lego and American Girl Store at their doorstep.
A few snap shots of our day…
Getting Grace and the newest member of our family, McKenna ready to head out for the day.
Writing the obligatory postcards.
 
Grand Central Terminal. 

The kids wanted to see the celestial ceiling and the four sided clock.
Walking and freezing in Soho.  As much as the bus was good, walking is well and truly the best way to see the city.     
                          
     After all of our photos from the top of the Empire State Building being deleted we decided to go to the top of the Rockefeller Centre.  It didn’t disappoint at all.  We had uninterrupted views of the city in all directions.  The only negative was it was FREEZING!  For a weather wimp like me, I couldn’t get outside to enjoy the view as much as I would have liked.  I ended up staying inside with Grace and enjoying the view through the glass.  Martin and Paddy braved the cold…brrr!
I got to the Purl Bee.  What an inspirational shop.  I have so much to share with you about the store but I will save it for a separate post when I get home.  It deserves a post of its very own.  Loved it.

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