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Gray Line New York Manhattan Comprehensive
(Gray Line New York Tour Web Page)
Full Day (9:00 AM – 5:30 PM)
Downtown, Uptown, Harbor Cruise, Top of the Rock
Gray Line Visitors Center
777 Eighth Avenue (btw. 47th and 48th Streets)
New York, NY
1.800.669.0051
Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower
August 31, 2009
(See the Statue by Night Tour)
On a sunny Monday morning, end of August, I had the pleasure of traveling on the enclosed, air-conditioned Gray Line New York Sightseeing Bus, for the "Manhattan Comprehensive" tour, with New York tourists from around the country and around the globe. Our tour guide, Hal, and driver, Clarence, led our group downtown on the West Side of Manhattan from our Times Square departure (conveniently located outside the Eighth Avenue Gray Line New York Sightseeing booths). The guide pointed out various Broadway shows, landmark buildings, shopping centers, and historical high points. We drove through Chelsea, Greenwich Village, and Soho, before our first stop at Battery Park. There we saw the bronze Sphere and eternal flame, that stand as a tribute to the victims of September 11, 2001. Our Gray Line New York enclosed bus then traveled through lower Manhattan, to the East Side as far as Pier 17, where South Street Seaport is located, a busy historical harbor district, with shopping and dining indoors, cruise boat and clipper ship docks, a museum, and event spaces. There’s always an energized crowd at South Street Seaport, and we disembarked for the New York Water Taxi cruise.
Our New York Water Taxi cruise lasted about one hour, with a dynamic guide, who pointed out numerous sights in the skyline, and we also cruised up close to the Statue of Liberty. We saw Clipper Ships, various tour boats, sail boats and ferries, barges and tugs, and helicopters overhead. Following the cruise, we met our Gray Line New York guide and traveled to the construction site at Ground Zero, where the new Freedom Tower will be part of the newly designed One World Trade Center. We looked through expansive windows from the World Financial Center, set near New York Harbor. Our lunch, in an upstairs area of a downtown Mexican restaurant, was a simple choice of chicken, hamburger, cheeseburger, or quesadilla. I understand the lunch venue and menu will be changed in the near future. This was not my favorite stop on the tour (scheduled later in the day). Following lunch, we traveled uptown to Central Park West and 72nd Street, where the historic apartment building, The Dakota, is located, and where the world lost John Lennon in 1980. We stopped at Yoko Ono’s Strawberry Fields Memorial plaque, right across from The Dakota in Central Park.
Further uptown, we drove through historical Harlem, past the Apollo Theater, and past many classically built brownstones. Our next stop was at Grant’s Tomb, where General Grant and his wife, Julia, are entombed. I had never been inside this Memorial before, and the shop has memorabilia for sale about the Civil War. Returning to midtown, via Fifth Avenue, we passed Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis’ former apartment building, where I had placed a peach, long stem rose, when she died in 1994. We also drove through Museum Mile, where our guide mentioned the various art and culture museums. Our final stop, where our guide left the group on its own, was Top of The Rock, my favorite stop on the tour. Just as we were about to enter the Top of the Rock visitor center, we noticed that the television show, “30 Rock” was being filmed on the sidewalk, presumably for a December show, as a few characters wore Santa Claus costumes. Finally, at Top of the Rock, I got to chat with Lisa, a Gray Line tour guest from Texas, and pointed out numerous buildings from the observatory landings at the 65th, 66th, and 67th floors of Rockefeller Center. I also met a couple from Australia, and the Manhattan and River views were phenomenal.
Call 800.669.0051 or click here to reserve your tickets for this fascinating Manhattan Comprehensive Tour. Tell them you saw them on RobertaOnTheArts.com.
Stopping at Battery Park
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Stopping at Battery Park
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
New York Water Taxi Guests
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
New York Water Taxi Dock
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
New York Water Taxi Guide
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Cruising New York Harbor
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Cruising Past Ellis Island
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Cruising New York Harbor
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Cruising New York Harbor
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Statue of Liberty Views
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Statue of Liberty Views
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Statue of Liberty Views
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Statue of Liberty Views
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Cruising New York Harbor
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Cruising New York Harbor
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Cruising New York Harbor
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Cruising Past The Brooklyn Bridge
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Stopping at Ground Zero
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Reflections of Ground Zero
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Our Air-Conditioned Coach
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Passing the Dakota
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Stopping at Strawberry Fields
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Stopping at Grant's Tomb
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Stopping at Grant's Tomb
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Australian Visitors at Top of the Rock
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Views from Top of the Rock
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Views from Top of the Rock
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Views from Top of the Rock
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Views from Top of the Rock
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Views from Top of the Rock
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Views from Top of the Rock
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Views from Top of the Rock
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
Views from Top of the Rock
on Gray Line New York
Manhattan Comprehensive Tour
Courtesy of Roberta E. Zlokower
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