July 4th, 2024

The only plan we had today was that we had to be at the South Pier between 5:30 and 6pm to board our fireworks cruise. Normally we take the subway down to Canal street and then walk back up Broadway until we get to our hotel. Since we had to be all the way at the trip of Manhattan we decided to start from the hotel and walk to South Pier going down Broadway. It was a little warmer than the last 2 days and In the sun it was hot and walking you could build up a nice sweat.

We had a late start and we stopped at the Strand bookstore to do a little browsing.

We loved how they did the book covers by color to form a rainbow. We assume for pride month and now that it is done it is a lot of work to take it down. Or maybe it is always there.

By the time we got into Soho it was lunch time. We found a nice sandwich place. We then walked around and shopped some. We had a few stops I wanted to make like See eye wear to get some eyeglasses adjusted and Cotton On to pick up some t-shirts I wanted.

Some New York City scenes

After a few hours in Soho we started heading over to South Pier to get checked in for our cruise. The check-in was on the East River and then the boat went around the tip of Manhattan and up the Hudson.

Our boat, the Liberty Belle, pulling in to load us up.

They recommended we get there early and we had purchased general admission tickets which meant we had no seats to use. If you bought a reserved ticket you got a table number and a seat. It was sort of stupid because all the reserved seats were inside and we wanted to be outside and get a good spot for the fireworks show. They also served a buffet dinner and unlimited bar drinks from 7:30 to 10:30. We stood in line for an hour and then got a great spot on the top deck.

The Brooklyn and Verrazano bridge.

The tip of Manhattan

You can see all the people lining up to see the fireworks

The Hudson was packed with everyone waiting for the show to start. There were tons of NYPD boats around making sure everyone behaved and no one got to close to each other.

The 6 bright lights in the middle of the picture are the barges the fireworks will be shot from.

We were unsure what time the fireworks were going to start and around 9:30 there were some great fireworks in front of us by the Statue of Liberty.

Fireworks with the Statue of Liberty watching on.

A little after the fireworks stared in front of us the Macy’s one started behind us.

Some shots of the fireworks

Proof we were there!

We loved the round ones.

At one point they were going off in front of us, behind us and then you could see them all along the shore.

Seems like it went on forever but before we knew it it was over.

Several patriotic buildings in Manhattan.

The lit up building is the return for the Holland tunnel which is below the building. There are 4 return buildings. The Brooklyn bridge lit up on our way home.

Rain started a little before we docked and was a steady drizzle. Kathy had her umbrella but I left mine at the hotel. We had a walk to get to the subway station and made it back to the hotel around midnight.

Friday we board the cruise ship.