I got up this morning and made my way down to the lobby to see about taking the shuttle to the 7 train station. I was 15 minutes too late and would have to wait 45 minutes but was assured the bus station was just down the block and easy to get to. I took that route and made my way to the train station.
I boarded the train and soon I was arriving at Times Square. As I headed to the street I came to the Gray Line office. I stepped inside and bought my 48-hour, All Loop Tour, Hop On Hop Off bus ticket which got me a cruise also.
I was out on the bus shortly and waiting for it to start the Downtown Loop. I decided I would make my way around to where I could take the Brooklyn Loop.
Our bus was a shuttle bus in the beginning so we went to a few of the hotels to pick up and drop off before we could start the actual tour.
While I was on the Brooklyn Loop my friend, Donna text messaged me to say she had arrived at the hotel. She caught the shuttle and train and purchased her ticket at Times Square also. She made her way over to the South Street/Seaport stop and I made my way back there from Brooklyn.
While I waited I went to buy a jacket. I had failed to bring a jacket with me and the ride on the double decker bus was a bit chilly at times. The temperature was in the 60's.
Donna and I met up and then waited in line to board the Downtown Loop. It took us a couple of buses before there was enough room to board. We were downstairs for a while and then made our way back up on the top to see the rest of the sights before getting off near Times Square. They didn't drop us back where they had picked us up so we walked about six blocks so we could board the train and head back to Queens.
Donna and I were a bit confused once we were downstairs looking for our train but we finally got back on track and made our way to the last stop which is Main Street Flushing. We were in China Town in Queens and as we looked for our bus, the Q48 we decided to have dinner here.
It took a few blocks before we found a restaurant to sit down and eat rather than take out but we found a Vietnamese restaurant and had dinner. The food was good.
When we finished dinner we made our way back to where we had seen the Q48 bus. We boarded the bus and asked the driver to let us know when we were to the Crowne Plaza stop. It was dark and as we all know everything looks different in the dark and by this time my contacts were so gunky my sight was blurred. The driver told us when it was time and he dropped us right across the street from the hotel....Perfect!!
Tomorrow Donna and I will head back down to Manhattan to see some more sights.
Here are some pictures from the Hop On Hop Off today.
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