Day Two

After a great grub up with Steve/Jen in the morning, Steve, Eric, Peter and I motored to Manhattan and the southern end of the island to Battery Park. The plan was to travel to Liberty Island via ferry and spend part of the day, then return and head for Uniondale, Long Island, to catch the Islanders vs. Sabres match up. By good fortune, our day twisted just perfectly, with a great cruise, respectable weather and no hitch driving.

• Day 2
  • Battery Park / Circle Line Sightseeing - After an uneventful trip in handled smoothly by Steve, we landed at a parkade in the south end. Viewed ground zero on the way in, with the business of cranes and construction in that area. My head hung with the sight of what must have been a km line-up around the park for tours to the Statue of Liberty. We definitely weren't going to last that, so we sauntered along the docks to just take in the view (cruise ships, sail boats, warm breeze). Along the route we stopped at a ticket booth and inquired about tours... low and behold there was a guided harbour tour leaving in 25 minutes, with no line-up at $15 bucks a head. We snapped up tickets and boarded after a concession stop and a short wait. The tour was awesome, with the breeze from the water, no bustle and some very informative banter as the guide pointed out landmarks and related their history. We had an awesome view of the Manhattan skyline, Ellis Island, the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg Bridges as well as other harbour landmarks. It was easy to tell that part of New York's economic success is due to the geographic advantages of such a deep but sheltered harbour. I'd highly recommend this tour, as it really gives a great overview of the area in the relaxing upper deck seats of a ferry. Clean bathrooms and canteen too! Eric made a concession stop at the park gates to grab a hat... great deals.
  • Queens-Midtown Tunnel - We departed, happy with our decision change and the harbour tour, realizing we had better start making our way to Long Island. After a brief whip by MSG, we headed east for the Queens-Midtown Tunnel. Cool... hadn't been under a river in a tunnel since my last trip through Quebec many years ago. Eric took some video here which makes it look like we flew through! Built in the 1940's, the history of the tunnel cites it's importance as a transportation link, and I can't help but think that the original $53 Million it cost to construct would have made it one of the world's most ambitious projects of the era. We dumped out of the tunnel into Queens and the I-495 which we followed across Long Island, passing between the regions two major Airports and sports landmarks such as Shea Stadium and the National Tennis Centre.
  • Nassau Coliseum / New York Islanders - A key part of our trip was to take in several sports events. First major stop was Islanders/Sabres game. Now the Islanders were on top of the league in my early days as a hockey fan, I was 12 years old in 1980 when they won their first of 4 Stanley Cups. I remember the greats... Trottier, Bossy, Smith, Potvin and of course good old Butch Goring. It was cool to be in the same confines, jerseys and banners hanging. On our way in we admired the tail-gaters (didn't know that happened for hockey) and Peter took part in some kids events in the esplanade in front. Steve was gracious enough to purchase a DiPietro jersey for Peter on the way in and it really set the tone for him. Inside, we caught the warm-up, anthem and were treated to an excellent hockey game which the home team won in 3-2 fashion. Peter was pumped (not sure if it was from the crowd noise or Super sized Pepsi) and chanted with a vibrant crowd at every break. DiPietro stood out in goal and was a major reason for the win. We paid $66 bucks a ticket... worth every cent to have the experience.

Evening Planning: We passed north over Long Island over the Throgs Neck Bridge to the Bronx on our way home to Connecticut. At Steve's we sat back and had an ale before collapsing and looking forward to Sunday.