Friday 14th December 2012
[19:33 EST]
The plan today was to take another bus trip this time Downtown to Ground Zero and Battery Park. Before we left, I had a look at what the ticket conditions were like for the new Hobbit film which was being released today. It seemed that they were available, but their system wouldn't take my UK credit card. So before going to the bus, I went over to the cinema (just over the road from our hotel) and bought my ticket, just the one because Linda had opted out to go shopping instead! I was told to arrive a hour before the show. Indeed, there was already a queue for one of the early shows outside.
On the bus we headed South down past the Flatiron building and on to Ground Zero. This has changed dramatically from when were were last here in 2008. The main 1 World Trade Centre building is almost complete - the 400 foot high spire is being fitted this week. The planned opening is next year I understand.
We walked on from there down to the tip of Manhattan and took some photos in Battery Park. It was a bit misty out, but was still sunny.
Time was running out a little as it had taken a hour just to get to the bottom of the island - the traffic was very heavy. So to get us back near the cinema in time, we took the tube back to the Midtown area. We had time to grab a snack and coffee and return to the hotel room before I needed to get back to the cinema. When I did get there, I was 34th in the line. I guess there was about 100 in the line before we got into the cinema.
Once back out, I returned to the hotel where Linda was waiting after her little shopping trip. Now it's time to start the packing process, sorting how things will go back into the cases. Case four has been split away from case three now.