austin nana: Manhattan Marathon on Father's Day weekend/ Part 1 of 3

Tamera, Dad and I visited NYC June 12-16. I picked this weekend partly because it was Father's Day weekend and wanted to spend time with my great Dad! For not knowing a THING about NYC, I was amazed at how well the place we picked to stay, tours we took and transportation worked out.

I'm calling this post Manhattan Marathon because according to my pedometer we WALKED at least 26 miles in 3 days! Wahoooooo. NOT part of the original plan, but still worth mentioning!

DAY 1: Rain and the pizza tour

We got up fairly early to a downpour on Friday am. Armed with umbrellas and rain jackets we made our way via ferry from our Jersey City condo to lower Manhattan World Financial Center. Tamera was our navigator as we headed up Broadway, ducking into a coffee shop for coffee, hot chocolate and muffins to get out of the rain for a bit. After walking about a mile up Broadway to Spring Street, we determined where our 'Pizza Tour' would begin at 11, then took another 'sit and rest' break at the Whole Foods store around the corner.

The 'Pizza Tour'

After the tour was over (3 pizza tastings and many steps later!) we headed back down West Broadway to the ferry. We explored a small memorial dedicated to the Irish immigrants who came to America due to the potato famine.

The rain had cleared up, but another storm was coming in... We rested for a bit, then went out to dinner near the condo. We discovered that this little Jersey City neighborhood was a great spot to return to after all the sights and noises of NYC! Quiet, clean mixed business and residential apartments with small bistros and bars scattered over a few streets. Great service and food to end the day on. I loved the view of the World Trade Center building #1 from the streets on Jersey side.

The day ended with a firework display about 10 pm that we could see from our condo window!

Day 2 NYC 'see it all tour' with Onboard Tours

This morning we went to a little breakfast place down the street called Sam I AM.

Fortified with breakfast, we took the ferry back over and this time we caught a cab up to Central Park. This is definitely the 'heart and lungs' of the city.