We’ve just arrived back at the hotel after journeying a bit further afield today, visiting Brooklyn and the Financial District.

We decided to visit the Brooklyn Bridge today, which required a trip downtown on the NY Subway… which was as rough around the edges as a mass transit system could be. The stations we passed through were dark and sinister, and the trains were a bone-rattling white-knuckle ride compared to some of the asian underground train networks (or even London’s tube system). It literally felt like metal was falling off the trains as we pelted through the subway tunnels at breakneck speed.

Getting off at the Brooklyn Bridge station, we decided to pop into a local diner for a quick drink before we head off back into Manhattan over the bridge itself. This was an experience exactly like you see in imported US TV shows; sitting at the counter, we were warmly greeted by an very friendly and enthusiastic waitress, who proceeded to take down Emma’s order for a “very, very, very thick milkshake” whilst busying herself with a number of other orders simultaneously. Downing a much needed ice tea, we were engaged in conversation by our bar-neighbour, a middle-aged Italian guy who appeared to be a “part of the furniture” regular (he was obviously well known by the staff). He asked us about the weather in England, it’s landmarks and our trip before wishing us well on our travels.

A visit to the Brooklyn Bridge is on the itinerary of every NY visitor who’s ever seen “Sex In The City”, and we were no exception. Built in the late 1800’s, it’s one of the oldest cable-suspension bridges in America and connects Brooklyn to downtown Manhattan over the east river. Nowadays it’s a major access point for traffic, cyclists and pedestrians but was also used by streetcars and trains up until the late 1950’s. On a day like today with fantastic weather, it makes for an extremely pleasant walk with fantastic views of the city.

By the time we had walked the length of the bridge, it was lunchtime and we stopped at Bits, Bytes and Baguettes, a custom sandwich and salad bar frequented by business types and money-makers. There was plenty of choice here, running the full gamut of lunch options from salads, baguettes, baked potatoes etc… and was reasonably priced for this part of the world.

No visit to New York would be complete without visiting Ground Zero; construction of the new “Freedom Tower” was well underway as we walked past, so there wasn’t really much to see but we did happen into St. Paul’s Chapel, a small church very near to where the towers were that amazingly survived the event unscathed. There was a very interesting (but harrowing) permanent exhibition inside documenting the timeline of events, and a dedication to the city and emergency services workers who died.

We continued up through Wall Street towards the docks, Liberty and Ellis Island’s being next on our list of places to go; unfortunately, you have to get up extremely early or book in advance on the website as even in outside of tourist peak season it’s practically impossible to do anything other than get a boat out walk around the base of Liberty Island. Deciding to write it off as bad planning on our part, we hit the subway again and made our way back to the hotel, stopping off along the way to pick up tickets to see Patrick Stewart this evening in MacBeth along the way.