New York on $0 a day - 21 July 2012

By last night we had used the equivalent of the cost of our 1-week Metro passes in subway and bus rides so all rides from now on were "free".  Our first free ride took us to the start of the High Line park.  The High Line is a fabulous re-use of an old transport link.

When the riverfront here was a major transport hub the freight rail lines were raised to the third floor level to feed freight straight into warehouses while making it safer for pedestrians and vehicles at ground level.  When the wharves closed and freight moved to trucks the line was disused and became a bit of an eyesore as nature slowly reclaimed it.

There were moves to dismantle and remove the tracks but some felt is should be saved and those voices finally won and site was converted to a really attractive elevated long thin park which is a wonderful escape from the hustle and bustle below.

Having walked the High Line from 12th to 30th St we decided we were close enough to finally go and find the Empire State Building close-up.  From there it was only a shortish walk to the Chrysler Building.  While they are impressive to stare up at, the buildings cannot really be appreciated so close so we decided to ride the Metro to Queens to look at the city scape from across the water and thus we chanced upon another piece of park converted from its industrial past. The area had also been part of the old railroad/freight infrastructure and was now an attractive amenity area.

From there we rode the Metro back to Times Square and changed to the line for South Ferry. This time, instead of getting the Statue of Liberty ferry we caught the Staten Island ferry which costs nothing to ride and provides wonderful free views of the Manhattan and New Jersey skylines as well as the Statue of Liberty. Not feeling any particular need to visit Staten Island itself we, like dozens of others, simply caught the next ferry back to Manhattan.

Next door to the Staten Island ferry terminal is the beautiful old Govenor's Island terminal building. Taking a closer look we discovered that the ferry to this National Park is also free so we decided to invstigate further and disovered yet another example of urban renewal as this ex military and coastguard base is being turned into a wonderful park just a 10-minute ride from the city.

After a walk around the main part of the island we returned to Manhattan and rode the Metro to Greenwich for a free self-guided walk through the village to round off our New York on $0 a day.