Nard's journal of different places and faces: New York

We've had one day to discover New York so we started early by hopping on the 'hop on/hop off' bus and got off at the Empire State Building. We wanted to see NY from the best vantage point and this was it. We endured a sensurround Imax movie of a helicopter flight over the city. I was hoping that whoever was sitting behind me didn't throw up over my shoulder as there was lots of swooping and swerving as we saw the city from above. Then it was up to the 86th floor for the view - it was smoggy so not a good viewing day but at least we could say we had done it. Then back on the bus till we hopped off at Central Park - another of the places we wanted to see before we crossed the road to FAO Swartz Toy Store - mind blowing shop the likes of which I've not seen. Very child friendly and toys which we just don't see in Oz. We had to say we'd walked through Central Park so headed down a track for a short distance before making our way to the bus again to get back to our hotel and drop off our purchases. The last on our checklist was to visit Grand Central Station so we caught a cab which got us there quicker than the bus. The Vanderbilts weren't holding back on finances when they built this. It's awesome! Took heaps of photos which are still on the camera because we had a setback when we returned to the hotel and Paddy discovered that her passport and money which we had with us when we paid the cab had disappeared by the time we got to the hotel room. Whether she left it in the cab or someone pinched it from her backpack/purse we're not sure, but we've done all we can at present and tomorrow will be a busy day as we've got to go to the Aussie Embassy, then the police then back to the embassy where they will hopefully issue her with another passport so we can board the ship for our cruise. Put a damper on what had been a good day.