title The Liberty Cruise and One World Trade Center, New York, United States - 23rd October 2018 intro It's day three of our trip to New Jersey and New York and we're back on the open-top bus, this time heading downtown to the financial centre. The traffic's heaving so we get off and walk the final stretch to the ferry port, where we take up the boat cruise that's part of the bus ticket. This turns out to be an extensive, well-narrated trip up to Liberty Island and then all the way up the East River to Brooklyn Bridge. After that, we head up the 1,776 feet to the top of One World Trade Center - formerly known as Freedom Tower - to admire the dizzying views of Manhattan. In the evening we meet up with Phil and Tania at the Serendipity restaurant/café for some more classic American eats, before we get a psycho Uber back to New Jersey. imgp5581 Millburn railway station imgp5583 Another view of Millburn imgp5584 A classic American loco imgp5586 Harry puts a picture up to the train window imgp5590 The gang on the train imgp5593 The boys look out at the industrial wastelands imgp5594 New Jersey pylons and the skyscrapers of New York imgp5595 The brutalist joys of Penn Station imgp5599 Macy's on 51st Street imgp5601 The Empire State building imgp5606 A busy crosswalk imgp5607 A closed-off café street imgp5614 A nice view of the Empire State imgp5624 A giant statue which looks like a pair of buttocks imgp5625 The Flatiron building from the side imgp5627 A nice old building, with groovy fire escapes imgp5628 Graffiti street imgp5629 The First National City Bank, from 1812 imgp5631 A painted wall advert on the side of a building imgp5633 Iconic shoes-on-a-wire imgp5635 The impressive Bernard Semel building imgp5636 Tantalising remains of an old painted business sign imgp5637 The boys look for a lunch snack imgp5638 Harry and Fred in a Deli somewhere imgp5643 The WTC memorial imgp5645 One World Trade Centre imgp5647 A major contrast in buildings imgp5650 A vanishing-point view of 1WTC imgp5651 The new view of the financial district from the ferry imgp5655 Empire State in the distance imgp5667 The gang on the back of the ferry imgp5671 Looking back to Manhattan imgp5672 Ellis Island imgp5674 The Empire State peeks out imgp5692 Fred gets tangled up in a flag imgp5699 Selfies are taken imgp5712 At least there are enough lifebelts to go around imgp5713 The Staten Island ferry imgp5715 A floating navigation buoy imgp5719 The Royal Navy's R08 HMS Elizabeth is in town imgp5733 Derelict warehouses in Brooklyn imgp5735 More Brooklyn dereliction imgp5737 A Fire Department boat speeds past imgp5739 More derelict buildings imgp5741 A statue keyring, and the real thing imgp5746 Curious constructions imgp5751 A view of NYC behind Governors' Island imgp5754 Wall art on a dockside building imgp5760 Dockyard cranes imgp5762 The tour guide does his thing imgp5764 The Empire State again imgp5765 Part of the old Queen Mary dock imgp5779 Boat tourists look out at the view imgp5787 A nice old ferry port imgp5799 1WTC and the Battery imgp5808 The boys run around imgp5815 Harry hangs off a railing imgp5816 Fred's tiny key ring trinket imgp5819 Fred pretends to be a squirrel imgp5820 A squirrel imgp5823 Inside the bottom of 1WTC imgp5827 Part of the prelude to visiting the top deck imgp5828 A view from the top looking towards midtown imgp5832 The boys at the top of the tower imgp5835 Looking up the Hudson River imgp5841 The whole of Manhattan is spread out below imgp5842 Looking down on building work imgp5852 Looking out east over the Brooklyn Bridge imgp5857 Liberty Island imgp5859 The boys roam around at the top of 1WTC imgp5860 Fred and Harry imgp5861 The gang roams around the observation deck imgp5863 Isobel walks around imgp5865 The new subway/PATH interconnect station imgp5866 People mill around in the subway station imgp5867 The Occulus is like a big rib cage imgp5868 The Occulus imgp5870 A huge candy store on 61st Street imgp5872 Pigeon explosion, as a woman hails a cab imgp5874 Serendipity Three imgp5877 Fred, Harry and Tania imgp5879 Funky decor in Serendipity imgp5881 Phil scopes the menu imgp5882 Harry nearly knocks everything off the mantlepiece imgp5884 The boys' puddings turn up imgp5891 The Cutter Building imgp5894 A jumble of signs and windows on Madison Avenue imgp5901 Shiny buildings and cars imgp5906 An Amish market imgp5907 Rubbish on the streets imgp5909 In the Lincoln Tunnel on the way to New Jersey imgp5912 A picture in lights of Manhattan at night