Back on the road

After our days in New York we got a message to head down to Gloucester city, New Jersey for a load of melons for Toronto,as normal at del monte we have to wait for hours to get loaded to the fustration off Lady Pen, and me for trying to explain why we are still sitting there waiting for them to load us even though our delivery is due for 7am next morning.Well we didnt make that time it was 14.30 when we eventually got to our delivery point and surprisingly we got tipped within 20 mins as they were going home at 3pm nice result. Our reload was out of Brampton we arrived at 4pm friday dropped our trailer there and was told they would give me a ring when it was loaded,we headed up to the truckstop up the road for a shower etc.We got the call and soon we were heading East.The Welsh wizard (Gramps) joined us at Napanee,this being his last trip with Bulk as he was moving to pastures new made it a little sad for me,hopefully we can keep in touch facebook etc make this so much more possible now, i will miss his Welsh Rants and talk about Sheep Lol, i wish him all the best.We got back to the Island late monday afternoon which gave us just under 2 days before Lady Pen headed back home to England.Well it certainly went quick but has been fantastic, now im looking forward to May when i head back to England.

Empire State of Mind

After the previous days excursion our legs were definately feeling it,we had walked from Battery Park to 47th street taking in the Brooklyn Bridge and Little Italy where we stopped for a couple of hours for a very nice meal and other various sites along the way a good few miles were covered so we felt a little rest and a few bus rides around the northern part of Manhattan taking in Harlem would be good.So we enjoyed a little guided tour sat upon a red double decker bus letting someone else doing the driving lol.This is the first time ive been into the northern part there are loads of museums along this route and plenty to take in.We passed the Famous Dakota Building (where John Lennon lived and Yoko still does)on 72nd street,this is really nice way to see the place and we could hop off then back on when ever we wanted.We decided to stay on and just take in the sites from 20ft up.The tour lasted for about 2 hrs then we were back to Times Square where we hopped onto another bus down to 34th street and the Famous Macys for some retail theraphy.We had planned to be down in this area for the afternoon because we wanted to go up the Empire State Building an hour before dark so we could get the best of both,well it was bloody windy up there you could feel the building moving a little scary a first but moving around to the otherside felt a little better (i really don't like heights).This was definately a good move it was really good to see Manhattan at night from this most beautiful building,unfortuanately Lady Pen has most of the night pictures on her Camera but i think the one i took looks pretty nice.Well we headed back down to terra firma and off to catch another bus,the one we were going on was little tour down to lower Manhattan then over The Manhattan bridge over to Brooklyn, again something i wanted to do in the day but didn't have time,it was really a nice way to see New York and our guide certainly helped.,this little tour ended back at Times Square,so off we went for some well earn't Dinner before we finally called it a night.

Lady Pen in New York

We had reserve tickets to go into the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty (this is to go to the base not to the crown)unfortunately crown tickets are sold out months and months in advance.So we had to be up early and get down to Battery Park where we get the Ferry over to Liberty island,thank god we had reserve these tickets there must off been a queue at least a mile long just to purchase tickets never mind the ones queuing up for the ferry after that.Here we came just strolled right to the front 35 mins later we have cleared security and were on the boat,(if you are thinking off visiting the Statue my advice book your tickets in advance unless you like to queue for 2/3 hours plus)and this isn't even tourist season yet how lucky we were last time.The tickets allowed us to go into the Liberty museum and inside the pedestal, what great views you get of Manhattan when you come out into the open,look at the new World Trade Centre (North Tower its the one with the crane on it to the left off the picture)appearing into the skyline this was only about 9 storeys high when we came just before christmas.The new towers are going to supersede the old ones by 10 floors making them a staggering 125 floors, definately a big shout to the world saying we will always come back bigger and better no matter what you do to us, a true testament to the city and people who live there.How fortunate we were when we visited the souvenir shop we came across a Statue look alike standing a massive 4'10" tall so i thought it would be rude not to get a photo of her lol.
Ater visiting Ellis Island last time i wasnt really up for doing it again after a little persausion we both agreed to go straight back to the mainland, up to this point it had taken us over 3 hours and us wanting to take in some many other things time was of the essence.This is where our little legs were made to work we headed off to the Beautiful Brooklyn Bridge i wanted to walk over it last time but we didnt have the chance, i wasnt about to pass this opportunity up in a

hurry.We took a little detour towards Wall Street and the Famous Bull, Lady Pen decided she couldn't pass on having a look to see if the Bull was in proportion (i'll leave that to you to decide, maybe the big smile from her will give you a clue lol)after fianally managing to drag her away from the Bull we headed to the site of the World Trade Centre, you can see how much progress has been made.We eventually got on to Brooklyn Bridge and what Fabulous views you get off The Manhattan Bridge, Downtown Manhattan and the harbour with The Statue of Liberty in the background and lucky for us we had a beautiful sunset to cap of another brilliant day.

The Arrival of Lady Pen And a Trip to New York (Part 1)

Well if there is one thing to come out of this whole experience two words sums it up NEW YORK.When i came just before christmas with the fresh prince it opened a new can of worms for me and ever since then i've been itching to get back.So what better way to go to the greatest city in the World than share it with the greatest wife in the world (oh how cheesy is that lol).I wangled another load down to Newark then off we set for 3 days of pure site seeing and how lucky we were with the weather, the sun was belting down and spring was materialising rapidly.Taking advantage of this we decided to go for a stroll around the beautiful Central Park ( i wanted to don on some running gear and join the many joggers enjoying this lovely day)Maybe a New York Marathon could be on the cards.We stumbled upon the beautiful Bethesda Fountain and Terrace (this is where John Lennon used to go and Yoko Ono still pays for the up keep of this beautiful place).You can see why so many New Yorkers head for the park it feels so Tranquil you would never guess your only a couple of minutes from such caoticness.We decided to head for 5th avenue taking in the Famous Plaza hotel on our way (we even got brave and had a look inside) before heading for Tiffanys, isn't it funny how us men are told how good that item of jewelery would look good on them HUMMM Lol. Lady Pen decided she wanted of piccy taken with a NYPD Cop so after a little chat one kindly obliged to the laughter of his colleague.Time started to catch up with us so off we headed down to The Rockafellar Centre for some well earned Tea,then a little sight seeing and shopping around Times Square,we had alot planned for the next couple of days so we decided to call it a night,(it was 11pm)where had all the time gone, this city never sleeps infact i think there are more people about in the late evening then in the day (are they nocturnal) lol.