New York: Day 9 - Staten Island

Whenever I come to New York I always catch up with my cousin Sara and her family over on Staten Island.  We always go over to her house and her mother in law cooks us an amazing Italian meal and they make fun of the Aussies.  It's a tradition.  This time was no exception, and with Marc in tow, there was much more to make fun of!

Marc and I caught the ferry over to Staten Island and tried to jostle the many other tourists out of the way to get a good shot of the Statue of Liberty as we went past.  Unfortunately, those with prams won and we weren't able to get a great view of Miss Liberty.  After the very efficient and always free ferry ride, we had a look around the ferry terminal which had views back to Manhattan.

Trying to shove children out of the way so we can get a decent pic.  Children can be so selfish. 

Looking back at Manhattan from Staten Island

We then made our way to Sara's house where we caught up with the family including Bob, the cutest puppy ever!  Dinner conversation revolved around Fosters beer, how Marc and I were yuppies and the reasons why one should live on Staten Island and not in Manhattan.  There were a few racial slurs thrown in for good measure.  It was the perfect night!

From left to right: Angela, Mike, Leigh, Marc, Louis, Sara, Uncle James

Forcing my love on Bob.  "Why wont you let me love you????"

My super cool cousin Sara

Me and Bob

Manhattan skyline at night.

Thanks Schroeder family for a lovely dinner!

New York: Day 8 - Walking across the Brooklyn Bridge

Marc and I planned a whole day over in Brooklyn.  Eating pizza at Grimaldi's, grabbing an ice cream from the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and then walking over the bridge.  We didn't anticipate any problems with this plan and naively went on our way with empty stomachs.  As we approached Grimaldi's we noticed a line of people snaking down the street.  By this stage it was getting close to 3pm and I was extremely close to moving from hungry to hangry.  We didn't bother lining up so wandered down the street to check out the ice cream situation.  This was just as bad.  We abandoned our plan to eat at either of these places and found an alternative pizzeria with availability.

First sighting of Brooklyn Bridge

The stupidly long line for Grimaldi's

Should have moved to a bigger place

This photo would have been so much better if a dog was peeing on it.

After our delicious cheese pie (don't ask me why Americans call it a pie.  It looks nothing like a pie and everything like a pizza.  Fools.) we walked around the waterfront and at the amazing view of downtown Manhattan.

Checking out the East Ferry Wharf, looking across to Manhattan

Downtown Manhattan

Statue of Liberty

Some Sydney Harbour Bridge rip off 

Still full of "pie" we slowly made our way up to the Brooklyn Bridge to walk back across to Manhattan.

Starting to walk across the bridge

Looking across to the Manhattan Bridge