NY Trip Post Day 2

Ow our feet hurt from all day walking the previous day.  Thursday the 26th was Thanksgiving day and a day to go see the Macy's Parade.  We were told the previous night by the concierge that we should be up by 6:00am and be at 57th street by 7:00 to get a good position from where to see the parade.  Offcourse we didn't get up till 7:30 and we headed out by 8:15 to see the parade.
We took the subway to 57th street (A, C, E) and got off and followed the crowds - well we should have gotten there earlier as we could hear the parade but there was no chance of seeing anything other than the balloons floating through the sky.

After some finagling we got through a bit of the crowd past the police car and about 6-7 rows from the street at this point we hung around say 5-6  balloons and decided this was not a great time - also before this horde of people headed out we wanted to get places. We saw the sky clearing and headed for the Empire State building.  Again woohoo - there was absolutely no line at the Empire state everyone was at the parade and the sky wans't completely clear there was 5-6 miles visibility - not great but good enough.

One picture is that of the Chrysler building and another of downtown Manhattan.  We also looked down on the parade from the Empire State building with our zoom lens.  

  

After roaming around the observation deck it was 10:00am and we had a boat to catch at Pier 83. The weather was clearing and there was a 3hr boat tour around Manhattan by Circle Line Tours. The cruise was leaving at 12:30.  We left Empire State and decided we would walk  - hmm wrong decision many streets were closed off and we kept walking and got really really hungry.  We now were stuck at Times Square and time was running out it was 11:40.  We got into a restaurant and said lets atleast feed outselves - I don't recall the name - it was a store downstairs along with a counter serving sandwiches - the biggest chicken parmagiana sandwich I've ever had (we split it) and by the time we left the restaurant 12:05 the parade was over and we could cross the street - at this point we ran to pier 83.

Circle line cruise was worth it - again as it was paid for due to NYCity Pass.   Circle line takes you close to the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge, and all around the island.  the southern part is interesting the north part - no so much. Was surprised to see all the trees and the low level of development in the northern part of Manhattan.  Also you get a mini history lesson on various parts of the island.  While the 3 hr tour is slightly too long (as I said the Northern part gets boring) - the 2 hr 1/2 island tour might be the perfect length.

After a few hrs of crusising and getting cold we got back and since we were in midtown we decided to go see the Rockefeller center - offcourse we wanted to go see 'Top Of the Rock' - since our NYCity pass gave us free admission. Top of the Rock is the observation deck on top of the Rockefeller center.  The views from here are much better than the Empire state - why? cause you see the lit up empire state!

FYI: a lot of people go to Top of the Rock to see sunrise and sunset - you can buy a dual ticket. We thought we would use City Pass twice but never made it at dawn.  You can spend quite a bit of time up on top as there's an enclosed area and open area. There's also a cool room where you can move around and the room responds by doing different lights...   After an hr on top we headed back down to grab some food - we were too tired and hungry to venture anyplace and do research so we grabbed some food in the mall below Rockfeller center and ate by the ice rink.  Yes the famous ice rink by which the christmas tree is lit up ... it was a great site - sooo many movies have that particular scene.  We visited the NBC store and found out that you can tour the studios - we decided we'd do this another day - it had been a long day and we were hungry again - where does one eat outside on Thanksgiving day and on Christmas day??? At a Chinese restaurant offcourse and where do you go for a Chinese restaurant in NYC? CHINA TOWN!  This deserves its whole independent post.  We visited China town twice day 2 and day 3.  FYi: things in China Town close early on Thanksgiving day they start to close around 7:30pm.