29th Oct day 16 school run and sightseeing part 1

Anwen and I took the Q train to Ave U and then walked to school. It's wonderful for me to have quality time with these gorgeous girls who I hardly ever see. She is extremely articulate so is a good travel companion. Having got her to school on time I then went into New York until it was time to pick her up.

The Subway was absolutely packed as it was rush hour, I admire people who do that every day of their lives it must take its toll as after a few stops everyone was jammed in like sardines. Once in Times Sq I was ready for coffee so headed to the Hard Rock Cafe - would you believe it had finished serving breakfast and was closed til 11 to get ready for lunch! Thankfully there is no shortage of eateries there so I went to the Europa where I had a scrumptious fruit/yoghurt/granola dish with steaming coffee. Then it was onto the open-top Big Bus for the downtown tour. It was a beautiful, sunny morning and itwas refreshing to be out in the sunshine. I took lots of pictures but my main priority was to see what they had done with the twin towers site since I was in NY in 2010 for Claire and George's wedding. 

This is the Freedom tower built on the site of one of them and here are the memorial falls on the other site. This one really show how small the plot was for such tall buildings.

The tour guide was a hoot and told us all sorts of interesting info but I was struck by this story about a B25-Mitchell bomber which flew into the Empire State Building in 1945. It was a freak accident for this US military plane that hit the 79th floor in thick fog killing 14 and injuring others, among them Betty Lou Oliver who was an elevator operator. She returned to work later and unfortunately one day the main cable snapped when on floor 79 and Betty Lou was plunged to the ground. Miraculously she survived and still holds the record for the longest elevator survivor in the Guinness Book of Records. That's some story to tell her grandkids eh? She only died in 2012.