We got up in the morning and went out to breakfast. We found a nice restaurant across the street from us that wasn’t too expensive.
After breakfast we boarded a tour bus which gave us a great overview of the city. Yesterday was great but there was WAY TOO MUCH walking. We were exhausted, therefore, we decided on a tour bus that could do all the work for us. It was worth it.
One of the places we drove by was the Dakota Apartment House where John Lennon was shot. So sad. 
The tour guide told us that Yoko Ono, John’s wife, owned six apartments on the top floor, just above the balcony shown in this picture..
One of the apartments below here’s just sold for $75 million dollars! Expensive real estate. The Dakota was bought by a Mr. Clarke who was booed because the area was very down trodden and low income and he wanted to build a fancy, high end apartment building. They told him that it was never going to be rented and that it was as stupid as building in the lo-end Dakota area of the city. Well, need less to say, it was a huge success and in fact, it was the start of many more high end apartments in that area. Mr. Clarke got the last laugh by naming the apartment The Dakota after the lo-end area that his ‘friends’ laughed about.
This is the Strawberry field tribute to John Lennon which is located in Central Park. The city planted a field of strawberrys but the birds ate the whole field in a week – so that didn’t work, therefore, they put up a memorial area in the park.
Central Park is beautiful, but I hear you don’t want to walk through it at night.
While on the bus we passed Trump
Tower. I love watching Celebrity Apprentice.
We wanted to tour St Patrick’s Cathedral, but it was being renovated – gosh, we saw renovations all over the city. Elder Kunz said he could make a fortune if he owned the company that makes those steel bars they use when working on buildings. 
We visited the Rockefeller Center. 
In the winter it is frozen over to make a skating rink. The huge Christmas tree is also put up there. In the summer an out door restaurant is put up. It is very fun and exciting and full of color and life.
In Times Square we saw where the ABC and NBC shows were filmed – exciting. Because NBC unceremoniously dumped Ann Curry – which she is doing interviews about – the ratings for Today on NBC dropped. Matt Lauer is in jeopardy of losing his job also. Ahh, the politics of entertainment.
This is the Flat Iron Building.
It is seen in many commercials and movies because it is so unusual. It is named the Flat Iron building and area because the building looks like a flat iron – funny.
We drove through the SoHo District – very expensive also. Jennifer Lopez, boyfriend and children live there, plus other celebrities.
One of the wildest places was Little Italy and the Five Points area. In the early 1900s this area was filled with Irish and Italian gangs – and the fighting was all over the place.
We took another boat ride, this time on a cruise like vessal - 
. We passed the Brooklyn Bridge. A lot of history there.
On the cruise we passed the Hudson where that Captain (can’t remember his name) landed the passenger plane in the water. Kind of hard to see in this picture, especially since it won’t turn right. Just tilt your head and you’ll see it 
. 
We also saw the place, what’s left of it, where the Titanic set sail. There is not much left of it, but what a memorial. This is one of the areas damaged by Hurricane Sandy. It used to be a bustling shopping center but now most of the buildings are closed. Our guide said they may never come back to life.
The little guy in the picture with the long gray hair may look like a little knome but he sure had a lot of knowledge about the city. Very interesting. We learned more from him than we ever would have learned by ourselves.
Oh yeah, we had to look at the shops on 5th Avenue. Wish we had more time to go through them. Our daughter Jennifer wants to see NYC. Maybe she and I can go through them with Sister Richards and Josie . . .
We ate at TGI Fridays – all I can say is everything is more expensive in NYC!
In the evening we went up in The Empire State Building 
was the tallest building from 1931 until 1973 when the World Trade Center was built. We went clear to the 102nd floor. Unbelievable. The pictures don’t do it justice. We had to be in an enclosed area because of the high altitude. Yep, it was that high.
The crowds were unbelieveable, but we paid extra to go first in line and to see the 102nd floor. WELL WORTH THE EXTRA MONEY.
We started off on the 86th floor – then onto the 102nd.
