July 20 New York NY

Finally had our Hop-on Hop-off tickets validated. Took the shuttle bus to Times Square and found the Greyline offices. We had an appointment at the Statue of Liberty Pedestal at 12 noon. The bus would have been too slow to make it so we took the Subway to Battery Park. Went through security before boarding the ferry and were at the base of the Statue of Liberty right on time.

There was a long lineup for the Pedestal Access. Quite a lot of the people were turned away because they didn't have tickets. You are not allowed to take a backpack into the pedestal, so had to put it in a rental locker. It cost $2 and uses fingerprint technology for verification. View of New York from the pedestal of the Liberty Statue.

Took the elevator, which took forever, and a very nice elevator attendant dropped us off at every level. We wouldn't have known there were that many levels to the pedestal. After walking around all the levels we went through the museum, which shows the method of construction for the statue.

Walked around the island and then took the ferry back. We could have got off at Ellis island, but decided to go back to the hotel to freshen up before going to see Cats.

Took the Hop-on Hop-off back to Central Park. The traffic was so bad that we were passing Police cars with their lights flashing and sirens which they turned on once in awhile. I don't know how in a medical emergency, the ambulance would help. You would be better off walking to the hospital if you had a heart attack. It's unbelievable. Watch the video, I took it so nobody could call me a liar.

Walked to Cats which was playing in the Neil Simon theatre on 52nd. Street. We were early so decided to have a light dinner. There is a Russian restaurant right next to the theatre called Russian Samovar. Rita had a salad, I had a Borsht. I have never had Borsht before, and even though I hate beets. I thought I should try it. Well, the last three letters of the soups name, with one letter missing, tells you what it tasted like to me. Ate it anyways.

We were right on time for Cats. I don't know if anyone else noticed, but the Music was canned. At one point the volume dropped for no more than a second and you could see, if you wanted to, that it was prerecorded.

Neither Rita nor I, cared much for the musical. Don't understand why it ran for so long on Broadway. We nearly fell asleep. The only good music is Memories. The rest is just noise, with a bunch of people dressed like Cats, jumping around.

Didn't get any pictures. Forgot to take the memory card out of the computer and put it back in the camera.

Stopped at a wine store on Broadway bought another bottle of Alhambra, went and watched CNN tear a new one for Ted Cruise about his speech at the RNC.