The Monday of our trip, we decided to take the subway to Brooklynm and walk back over the Brooklyn Bridge. I have done this every visit to NYC and it has always been in hot sunny weather. It's such a great experience.

After the bridge we had a look at the supreme court buildings and then headed towards the Ground Zero site, stopping off at a pretty park with a fountain en route.We visited a wonderful exhibition at St Paul's Chapel - "the little church that stood" on our way to Ground Zero. Located directly across from the World Trade Center site, St. Paul's Chapel, an Episcopal church, was home to an extraordinary eight-month volunteer relief effort after the terrorist attacks of September 11th, 2001. Unwavering Spirit, a new interactive exhibit, honors that ministry and its legacy of love and compassion. I know that we were all terribly moved by this exhibition. It brought home to me that although the terrorist actions that day destroyed lives, broke hearts and changed the face of the world for ever, it did not destroy the human spirit or the essential goodness inside people. I felt very humbled and also very hopeful for the future of humanity.

It was broiling hot and I felt very sorry for the workmen toiling away on the new Freedom Tower site. We went on to the cool of the Winter Garden, a place we'd never seen before, and found a nice sandwich shop called Cosi for lunch. I wish we had the Cosi chain in the UK! Outside the Winter Garden is a lovely riverfront plaza. we then took a look around the Financial District; sadly the brass bull was surrounded by crowds so we couldn't take photos of the girls next to it.

We then took a train to 59th Street and got the Roosevelt Tramway over to Roosevelt Island; another first for us. I really enjoyed the trip but the heat was just too much to explore the island so after a brief rest we got the tram back. Sian wanted to see the Guggenheim so we found a bench just across from it and sat for a while in the shade. A very unfriendly security guard sat right in the middle of the bench while we perched awkwardly on one end - there were no other free benches and we were all hot and exhausted otherwise I would have moved! Whilst there I took a series of shots of the museum that I'm quite happy with! We had ice-creams and decided to walk back to the hotel through the park.

After showers and changing clothes we went to an Italian restaurant called Coppola's for dinner - the food was great and the service really friendly. we then went to Times Square. They have only just started to pedestrianise it and it is cordoned off witrh cones. It is such a fun place; full of colour and life although very brash! We visited the M&M's store and Sian bought an umbrella! I have noticed that in US stores they have started saying "Next guest" instead of "next customer" - I don't know why, it seems overly polite to me!

Then it was home to bed!