Gray Day in NYC: Part 2

After grabbing the bull by the horns, we hurried on down to catch the free ferry to Governors Island. Since it was an island the wind was whipping pretty hard. Due to the poor weather the place was pretty empty though which was nice. 

Governor's Island

Defensive works were raised on the island in 1776 by Continental Army troops during the American Revolutionary War, and fired upon British ships before they were taken. From 1783 to 1966, the island was a United States Army post. From 1966 to 1996 the island served as a major United States Coast Guard installation. We took refuge in Castle Williams where we got a guided tour. 

Casemate

The best part was a trip up to the roof where there is an amazing view of the Manhattan skyline. You can also see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island (currently closed because of Hurricane Sandy). Fort Jay is also on the island and it was kind of odd because it was in the traditional shape of a fort but the interior was filled with fancy houses. In the 1930’s, the WPA did a complete renovation of the barracks for family housing.

Fort Jay homes

We were pretty wind burned at this point so we hopped back on the ferry to seek refuge among the skyscrapers. We walked by Wall Street, Federal Hall and the New York Stock Exchange. 

NYSE

Our last National Park Site of the day was the Lower East Side Tenement Museum.

Tenement from the outside

It started raining pretty hard so as we arrived we noticed a group of people heading inside so we followed. Then a guide started talking and we realized that we had inadvertently joined a tour. We listened to the spiel but as he headed into the tenements he asked for our tickets and we had to confess so he kicked us out.

We were pretty tired, hungry, cold and wet at this point so we sought refuge in a pizza place where we had some delicious NYC style pizza.  Our last stop of the day was at FAO Schwartz because Ma wanted to see the big piano. It costs money to stomp around on it and is filled with children so we just checked out the Barbie section and left. 

Barbie

Big piano

As we were about to step back on the subway I noticed Dylan’s Candy Bar so I popped in, in search of sour candy and I hit the jackpot! I love Warheads and I got a few different varieties as well as the appropriately named “Toxic Waste”. We collapsed in exhaustion at our hotel after walking nearly 30,000 steps in one day!