Anacoco New York and Washington DC 2015: New York City in Depth - Sunday 4th October

We began our first full day of sightseeing with a short drive to Liberty State Park in New Jersey. This was our jumping-off point for the ferry ride across New York harbor to Liberty Island.

Along the way we passed Ellis Island, site of the historic immigration center where millions of Irish, Italian & other immigrants first arrived in America. Ellis Island was later our second stop of the day.

After visiting both islands we took the ferry to Manhattan, met our bus, & headed to Chinatown & Little Italy for lunch & shopping.

Next it was time to visit the 9/11 Memorial & Museum at the former World Trade Center site.

There is still lots of construction taking place but the excellent museum opened earlier this year. Whilst a visit can't be described as enjoyable it was certainly educational & very worthwhile.

From the 9/11 Memorial we began moving 'Uptown', starting with a drive to Chelsea & a walk on 'The High Line', New York City's newest public park - created on top of a disused elevated railway that once served the city's meatpacking district!

Back on board our bus we continued to Times Square where there was a short amount of time for souvenir shopping before dinner.

Dinner tonight was at the famous 'Hurley's Saloon', a well-known Irish Pub in the Theater District, where we had a great 3 course dinner.

Our day ended with a Broadway show performance of Les Miserables, one of the most successful & popular musicals ever. And from the students' & chaperones' reactions it seems as popular as ever & a great way to bid 'Farewell' to the Big Apple.