New York City, and the NBA all in one day

This morning we woke up reasonably early this morning in order to see the sunrise, as well as make the most of our only full day in the city. We took an Uber at 6:30am to the Staten island ferry terminal. We thought this would be a pretty common place to catch an Uber to, however our driver had no idea how to get there. He ended up taking a wrong turn, and we got stuck on a toll road to Brooklyn. The 13-minute trip ended up taking 28 minutes! Oh well, we didn’t have to pay extra for the wrong turn. We saw the sun was rising nicely over Brooklyn Bridge, so we went up to a pier to get a better view. It looked almost even prettier than last night.



We then went into the ferry terminal, and got a quick breakfast from one of the cafés in it. The Stratton Island ferry is a free ferry that transports passengers over to Staten Island. Staten Island itself is of no significance to us, however the ferry goes straight past the Statue of Liberty, and offers great views of the whole city.






It was a great thing to do, and much cheaper than doing the whole Statue of Liberty tour. We then walked over to the 9/11 memorial via Wall Street, and lower Broadway.



It is just so hard to put into word, and fathom why and how the whole thing happened. We decided not to go into the museum, as it was quite expensive, however the whole memorial is really well set out. There are two large fountains placed in the footings of the two buildings, with the names of the victims around each of the fountains.



There are just so many names! We walked around a little bit before heading back to our hotel via the subway.

We had tickets to the Knicks vs. Hawks NBA game at Madison Square Gardens this afternoon. We had to get rid of a few things that we wouldn’t be allowed to take into the stadium. We dropped these at our hotel the walked down to Madison Square Gardens. It was only about a 20-minute walk down to Madison Square, so not very far. The stadium is so big and spectacular, and is also right in the middle of the city! We had only bought the cheap tickets, however our seats were really good. We were in the second row, in the 2nd tier. The seats were so comfortable, and the way the stadium was designed, meant everyone had a great view.



The game was really good. The led changed all the time, and it was close the whole way. With 1 minute to go in the last quarter the scores were tied. The New York Knicks then scored a 2 pointer (everyone was excited). With 15 seconds to go, the Atlanta Hawks sunk a 3 pointer. This then put them up by one point! New York took a time out, meaning they gained possession from the sideline. The passed the ball in, took a shot, it missed. They got the rebound and took another shot, it again missed. Again, they got the rebound, and missed the shot!! Three try’s and missed them all. The hawks then gained possession, and held it till the buzzer went off. The Knicks had lost! The whole crowd was disappointed and quiet! It was quite an anti climax, however the game was great. It was such a great atmosphere and experience! We then walked back to our hotel to pick this stuff up again, and got a few pieces of pizza from the same place across the road. It was now early evening, so we walked down to Time Square to see the lights. It was again, not a very long walk. Time Square is HUGE.






There are so many people, and so many lights. It was quite spectacular. There were also a lot of homeless people, and a lot of scammers, which was quite annoying. We stayed and had a look at the lights for a little while, then walked up to look at the main part of Broadway. It was now only 6:30pm, so we thought it was a little too early for bed, however we were quite tired, and had seen a lot today. We found a little restaurant we could get some fires and a drink, and just sit for a little while. We then went back to our hotel, and said goodbye to Freya, as she was leaving in the morning the next day.

It was such a nice day today, and such a great city. We saw so much today, and it really helps that everything is so close and easy to get too.