Perfect day in New York City

The weather today was stone perfect, about 78 degrees and sunny, and we woke up early, and managed to catch an earlier than planned train into the city, the 0643-  so that got me in at 803- I had planned a meeting downtown with some other Stamp Club members, so I decided to head on over to E 23rd street to the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace NM so I could see if I could get the 25th stamp.  Actually got there a bit early, so I sat down at a nice restaurant and had another coffee and a blueberry muffin for breakfast, then hit the VC right at 9 am. 

Did find the 25th.   Walked down to 14th street, and caught the train down to the South Ferry area, and walked over to Castle Clinton, and managed to pick up the 25 th stamp that I missed earlier this trip there too!!!  Score. 

Then I headed over to the Governor's Island Ferry, and met up with Neil, a club member, and we had a wonderful 2 hour chat sitting on benches over in the park near the Ferry, and got to know each other a bit-  He is a fascinating guy, a real New Yorker-  Then, we headed over to Sophie's  for lunch, which is a little Cuban restaurant way downtown on New Street....

We got there just in time, as when we first started, the place was amost empty, and by the time we finished, there was a line outside and we were literally hustled from the table for 5.. 

Left to right is me, Jak55, NorthEast, Neil, and Messy-  what a fabulous group of guys!!  We had a great lunch, talking about club stuff, and trips we had made, etc, and then we headed uptown walking over to the Federal Hall site, a short walk, and we got stamps there-  a revisit for me.

While we were walking up Broadway, there were many views of the new World Trade Center, and it was awesome.   They are moving right along with the complex. 

There were also long range views from down at Battery Park-

Then, we walked a bit uptown to the African American Burial NMem, which was a very hallowed place to visit, I had not been here before. 

 

Then, I walked three blocks over and one down, and caught a series of trains uptown to 137th street so I could make an original visit to the Hamilton Grange House, which just reopened last year-  Got the site stamp here and a pin. 

  

 

 

Then, I made an executive decision that I would not head back down to Gen Grant, since I already had a visit here, and got back to Penn Station in time to catch a 354 train back to Hamilton and got into the station at 504. 

 

Lots of walking, bit tired, but a great day.  Not sure what we will do tomorrow, we're a bit afraid of local traffic with it being a holiday weekend, so we may just take the train in again and just do Ellis Island or the Statue of Liberty.  May drive up to Jersey and leave from Liberty Park-  shorter lines there.  

 

Think that's what we'll do-  we may even go to  Gateway if time works out. 

 

Still on for at least the Ballgame on Sat evening, may not do much else that day so we can rest, and not fight traffic, not sure what to do on Sunday.  Now also not sure if we should leave Monday as planned for Maryland, due to traffic.   Decisions Decisions......