HAPPY BIRTHDAY ROISION

Going back to Sunday afternoon "Billy Elliott" was great.  I loved all the tap dancing.  We all really enjoyed it.  After the theatre we headed off to Times Square looking for an Italian restaurant - we found "Tony's" Di Napoli - made us think of Peggy's husband Tony Naples.  We ordered 2 pasta dishes, one penne with broccoli and rigatoni with vodka and mushrooms - delicious!!!!!!!  After dinner Hannah went off to get the subway home to her apartment and Roision, Terry and I went off to the Rockefellar Centre.
We took the elevator ride to the "Top of the Rock" for wonderful views of Manhattan (I still prefer the view from The Empire State Building.  It was certainly a lovely time to see Manhattan from above.  The sun was setting and the city looked beautiful.  After this we head home.

Monday, we walked to the Grey Line bus station and bought our tickets for the "Hop on hop off" bus. We start with the lower loop.  The bus drives around most of lower Manhattan.  Roision and I have seen most of that on our own so we stay on the bus until we get to the South Street Seaport.  It is a lovely spot right on the water with a very nice boardwalk.  We buy some lunch and decide to eat outside looking at the boats and ferries going by.  After lunch we "hop" back on the bus and continue the tour of lower Manhattan until we return to Times Square.  We then "hop" on the bus to do the "upper loop" This loop starts by going north on 8th Ave towards Central Park.  We stay on the bus and admire the architecture of the beautiful buildings of the Upper West Side.  We get off the bus at "The Cathedral of St. John The Divine" It might just be my favorite church on the earth.  It is an Episcopalian  Cathedral and so big.  It is so beautiful.  The stained glass windows are unbelievable.  It truly is worth a visit if you are ever in the city.  After this we go looking for an ice cream - we don't find any but I do fine a book about the cathedral.  I have been looking to buy a book about the cathedral for about 3 years.   I am SO happy to find it.  We get back on the bus and continue the upper tour through Harlem and down 5th Avenue with Central Park on our right.  We pass by many of the famous museums.  This area is called museum mile - the Guggenheim, the Frick, the Museum of the City of New York and of course the Metropolitan Museum are all there.  We get off the bus at the Plaza - get our ice cream - and walk through Central Park.  We walk up to 78th street and leave the park at this point.   We head home for a well deserved rest but feel that Roision has managed to get a good look at the city.

Tuesday - this morning is a big day -  ROISION'S BIRTHDAY!!!!! HAPPY BIRTHDAY .....

We get ourselves out into the city early.  We find a post office and Roision posts her postcards.  We walk to Grand Central Terminal at  42nd Street.  We have a look around and this beautiful building and then have a coffee and muffin from Magnolia Bakery - a pretty famous bakery here in Manhattan.  We then take the subway to Brooklyn. We get off at the first stop in Brooklyn and make our way to the Brooklyn Bridge which we will walk over to return to Manhattan.  The upper level of the two tier bridge is for bikes and pedestrians. It is something else you must so if you visit Manhattan.  I prefer to walk towards Manhattan than walking towards Brooklyn - just because you get a beautiful view of the Manhattan skyline. The sun is shinning, it is hot but there is a lovely breeze from the water.  It takes us half an hour to walk across the bridge.  We make our way to Broadway and walk up to Canal Street.  We decide to spend some money. We each buy some designer sunglasses - on Canal Street so you know we only paid $8.  We each buy a canvas bag with NEW YORK written on it.  Roision buys some trinkets to take home with her.  We continue walking north until we reach Houston Street where we find the subway to take us home.   We rest up this afternoon.  Hannah and Franky will join us tonight for dinner.  We are taking Roision out to celebrate her birthday.  We will go back to The East River Cafe - the place we had lunch with our friends the Knutsons.
Well, enough for now - more tomorrow......