It was an early start on Sunday, Day 2 in New York.  Complimentary breakfast was waiting on the 2nd floor.  Breakfast consisted of Orange Juice, criossants, pastries, cereal, all the usual stuff you'd expect.  With that over it was back to the 10th floor and the free internet access to figure out which city bus tour we would take.

The Bus tour was the main thing Sandra wanted to do on this trip.  On previous trips we've done pleanty of tourist things but getting around New York on the subway makes it hard to comprehend where everything is.  The open top double decker tours allow you to see the big picture.

We settled on the Grey Line and did a bit of price checking online.  The starting point for the various tours is in or around Times Square so we didn't have far to go.  We opted to avoid the guys trying to sell tickets to passers by on the street and head for the guys actually loading people on to buses.

Getting a ticket was easy, and getting a seat upstairs wasn't to difficult.  The buses have air conditioned seats downstairs but you really can't see anything as we were about to find out.

We are seated comfortably and ready to go when our guide "Sean" steps up to the microphone and immediately we sense something is wrong.  He's talking like a stoned Elmer Fudd.  On the rare occasion that he gets out a coherant sentence it's a repeat of the last sentance.  I don't like to be mean, but we were paying good money for these tours and I really can't do justice to just how bad this guy was.  Within 30 seconds I had decided that I was getting off at the next stop and catching the next bus that came along.  For the first time I truly appreciated the phrase Hop on Hop off.

The ride to the first stop outside Macy's seemed to last forever.  The last thing I remember hearing was the bit of news that there are 250,000 Starbucks in New York City, and instructions on how to get free coffee.  I think the real number is less than 500.  (that's a 3 digit number as opposed to a six digit number).

We get off the bus at Macy's, one other guy does the same.  I'm amazed there isn't a mass evacuation.  Now we've got a problem.  The buses coming from Times Square are full.  Unless people are getting off at Macy's they won't be stopping to pick anyone up.  And the only reason anyone would be getting off at the first stop is if they have a guide as bad as ours.

The next stop is the Empire State Building.  I have a hunch some people will be getting out there.  Yes we could have stayed on the bus and got off one stop later, but believe me walking was a better idea.

We bought some bottles of water and got in line to catch the next bus.  The way it works is that if the upstairs is full you get to ride downstairs until some seats on the top deck open up.  It didn't take too long.  The good news is that our new guide was much better.  So much better.  Like how a bar of chocolate is better than a headache.  That kind of better.  He knew New York, he looked and sounded like a New Yorker.  He had stories, he was interesting, he was funny, and I could understand what he was saying.

Our experience with our first guide left us not wanting to let go of the good guide we had.  We might have jumped out at Greenwich Village, or SOHO,  but doing that might mean getting on a later bus with a guide like Sean.  We couldn't bare the thought.  We stuck it out and enjoyed the rest of the tour.  We'll have pleanty of time in the future to come back to these places.

The part of 7th avenue where the tour normally ends was closed for a fair.  We got out at Broadway and walked over to 7th avenue through the fair which looked remarkably like the rest of Times Square does under normal circumstances.  We picked up some snacks and headed back to the Hotel.

The thing that struck me most about New York on this trip is that the number of guys selling fake designer handbags has gotten completely out of control.  They are everywhere.  Not just on every corner or on every block, and are crammed in side by side.  You can't walk 10 feet without passing one of them.

It's amazing how tired you can get sitting out in the Sun on the top deck of an open top bus.  My feet were happy to find the couch in front of the TV when we got back.  As I've mentioned before we don't have Cable in our place in Florida, so trips to hotels let us see TV shows that would wouldn't otherwise see.  It adds to the holiday atmosphere.