New York

We made it!

We were on the road by 6-30 in the morning and in Omaha by 10-00.  More soya and corn fields, but also more rolling countryside as we approached Nebraska once more.  We tracked the transcontinental railroad once more, with long Union Pacific freight trains.  We travelled along the the Loess hills, an almost unique geological feature paralleled only in one place in China.   A line of hills not unlike the Cotswold escarpment, but glacial caused by deposits then whipped into hills that run alongside the Missouri river.

It felt  as if we were back in Omaha ... and as we crossed over the Missouri we realised we were.

But this time only to say farewell to Tom and Wendy as we thanked them for their wonderful hospitality over the weekend and got on our plane.

A delayed flight meant we arrived in New York and Manhattan at the height of the rush hour.  Quite some experience!

We successfully navigated the subway and arrived in our hotel at much the time we had anticipated!!

The briefest of turn-rounds and we were heading for the subway again.

This time we were going further through Brooklyn to Coney island.

We spotted the world's oldest wooden big dipper - the original dated back to 1864 ... but didn't go on it.

The biggest big wheel you could imagine ... and we didn't go on it!

A brand new roller coaster, the thunderbolt, a parachute jump, dodgems on a scale we hadn't seen before ... and we didn't go on any of them.

We spotted Nathan's, already counting down to the next Hot Dog eating competition on Indpendence Day next year - 361 days to go!

We did the Board Walk

And found our way to the MCU Park, home to the Brooklyn Cyclones.

It was time for our second taste of Baseball.

The first had been according to 1875 rules at the Living History Museum in Des Moines.

This time it was for real - albeit in one of the minor leagues.  Thnk Cheltenham Town!  We felt quite at home.

A great stadium - great company as two in the row in front explained the rules - and great fun.

We caught the start of the second game in a double header with the Hudson Valley Renegades.

With a hot dog combo, a pretzel and ice cream to follow it made for a great evening.

The Base ball was fun too.

We left as the sixth inning came to a close in a seven innings game - the Cyclones went into the lead scoring three runs with the last ball.  They went on to win 3-2: we made it home via a very late night subway and turned in at Midnight.

Quite some introduction to New York.

And now we are going to meet up with Julie who will drive us over Brooklyn Bridge to Greenwich Village for our Dylan Thomas trail.