We managed to get to a sandwich/deli place just in time to get a breakfast sandwich and then we were off to do a bus tour of New York. We had decided to do a hop on hop off tour and when we went to validate our tickets it was pointed out to us that we could do a 48 hour hop on hop off rather than just a 24 hour one which we had originally planned on. We started with a tour of the South end of New York, this included the East Side, SoHo, The village, Chelsey and a portion of Time Square. While we learned a lot about the different places we drove by it was less 'The Dutch arrived in 1700...zzzzzzzz' and more of a 'If you want to go and see the 9-11 memorial, you get off at the next stop, watch out for the pigeons pooping, do not go to this hospital unless you really like to read. He pointed out several of the different and gorgeous architecture. Noted when things were built, how long it took to build them and the architects name, amount of employees, but then was also able to throw in little snippets like the best pizza is a Johns Pizza off of Bleeker St. If you like pot stickers to go to Mott Street which is the first China Town when New York came to be. He was born and raised in New York, his parents were also born and raised here, his grandparents immigrated from Sicily. We drove by where he grew up in the East End when it was not a nice place to be at the time, it was a bit dangerous but is now quite a bit safer. His mom was born in 1926, and lived in one apartment her whole life. The tour operator also lives in the same apartment since the 70's, he talked about rent for a bit, while not coming our and saying we figured out that he must pay about $160-$170/month in rent, the same as what he paid back in the 70's. His parents were on rent control and paid /$67.22. His neighbours in the East End that has gone through gentrification pay $3,800/month on one side of him and $4,200/month on the other. They pay in one month what he pays in two years. He pointed out what I thought were the projects at the time but were actually apartments that were built to house the men and women coming back from WW2, these apartments are now full of yuppies apparently and rent can be upwards of $10,000/month. Although steal of a deal if you try to by a townhouse off of Central Park for $72 mill.
After the tour dropped us off at Rockefellar Centre we took a train back down to the East End to see if we could find a Chinese restaurant on Mott Street. After some searching we did and we were not disappointed. We had a noodle and wonton soup that was to die for, sesame chicken and a pork chow mien with crispy noodles, it was absolutely amazing. From there it was only about a 10 minute walk to go over the Brooklyn Bridge. The bridge was packed with lots of people taking pictures, sometimes that included us and looking back at our phones we took way more pictures than we had thought. Once over the bridge we stopped for a quick ice tea and bathroom break and took the train back up to Time Square and our Hotel, a quick rinse off shower and a nap. We were still pretty full from lunch but we were getting a bit munchie, we decided we could eat and thought back to our tour operator, he said the best place to get cheesecake was at a place called juniors, warned it was expensive but good. We went out for our one last walk tonight and got a slice each of cheesecake. Wasn't the best, but still really good, and one more thing we checked off the list. We had a Mid-Manhattan in mid-Manhattan a pretzel and hot dog from a food truck and now a slice of New York cheesecake in Time Square.
We have a pretty big day planned tomorrow, our final bus tour, a museum, some shopping some eating and maybe a show later tomorrow night. As well some packing, we will need to be checked out of the hotel by 11am on Thursday. Tonight will be a quiet night, some tv and lots of water to rehydrate and replenish
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