First stop directly after pick up at airport is Historic Seaport at Hudson. There are restaurants, shops, museums and a speed boat tour starts from there.

not completely arrived yet

on the boat

Then down the Hudson into the Upper New York Bay with view to the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline

The sister boat approaches and soaks us a little bit.

We go to Liberty State Park in New Jersey and from there to Liberty Island to have a look at the Statue of Liberty

View to the Empire State Building from New Jersey

Statue of Liberty viewed from the ferry

On Liberty Island the Statue of Liberty up close

A forgotton backpack starts a police operation. The ferry stops operation for half an hour

On the way back we see the speed boats again. Beast

and Shark (the one we were one)

Squirrel in a park

Apple Flagship Store

Rockefeller Center - Top of the Rock - Wir have been there

Musical in the evening. This time Lion King. Music from Elton John. Very african.

Mask in foyer

Times Square at night closes the day

We arrive at our Hotel Circus Circus in Las Vegas at about midnight on Friday. The Hotels are basically casinos with stacks of rooms attached to them. Outside and inside a lot of colored lights.

But in general Las Vegas looks like a big construction site.

The Wynn is a big block which just gets a twin

Pirate boat for the pirates show every evening at Treasure Island

The Venezian tries to be venezian. Inside and outside canals and gondolieri

Inside the mall canals and a Marcus Square

Roman flair in the Ceasars Palace. The decoration inside the Mall Forum Shops at Ceasars is very pompous. The escalators is curved

FAO Schwarz has a representation here and shows a big trojan horse

Blue water for the fountains

We watch the huge water show with music from Frank Sinatra at the Bellagio

Paris Las Vegas has an Eifel tower and an Arc de Triomphe (not at the picture)

A Harley Davidson Café

The roller coaster Manhattan Express at New York New York is very good. It is pretty high (about 250 ft) and goes all around the hotel.

The Shark Reef at Mandalay Bay

The Luxor with a Sphinx which is bigger than the original

At the end we get back the whole strip and to the Stratosphere. On top of the Tower (1,149 ft) are some thrill rides. I try Insanity. While riding you have a view 800 ft straight dowm.

Nice view at Las Vegas. You can see the strip and many construction sites.

We go back to the strip for dinner in the evening. The lights are now more prominent and more colorful. Here the Flamingo

Day starts with a bus trip to the west rim of the Grand Canyon. The Skywalk is there. A u shaped bridge out into the canyon with a glass floor.

We cross Hoover dam.

The bus breaks down in the middle of the desert. We need to wait for one hour for a replacement bus

The Skywalk is a tourist rip-off. You are not allowed to take a camera with you. The canyon below the Skywalk is not very deep and it is a side canyon. You can barely see the Colorado river. You are not allowed to go to the edge if you are close to the Skywalk.

The second view point (there is a bus shuttle service in operation) is much better. The view is gorgeous and you are allowed to go wherever you want.

We have been there

On the way back we are surprised by rain in the desert

We go back to the canyon the next day. Now we want to see the bottom of it. We got the guarantee to get wet.

Pickup time is 4 am.

Sunrise in Arizona close to Grand Canyon

We go a bit on historic Route 66 (from Kingman to Peach Springs)

The adventure starts. The rafts are motor operated so we do not need to paddle. Would be a very exhausting and time consuming thing. We will ride for 45 miles on the river.

Everybody is still happy

After passing the first rapids. We are wet and a bit surprised. We really get wet and the water temperature is about 50 F

Riding more rapids

Another raft in the rapids

Break

Nice View

A helicopter lifts us up after the tour

We are ready

Great view from the helicopter

Back on top

We stop at Boulder City at the way back. Wild rams have occupied a city park. The gras tastes probably better than what they find in the mountains. In the background Lake Mead, the lake created by the Hoover Dam

A pedestrian zone is covered with an about 1000 ft long video roof. There are short video shows from time to time and then all casinos and restaurants switch off their outside lights

Air plane with orca paiting

The strip. In the foreground Mandalay Bay and Luxor

Over Grand Canyon

We have another day. So we go to the Palisades Parkway and enjoy the view to Manhattan

Then we visit the Cradle of Aviation museum at Long island. Nice exhibition. The museum attendants have nothing to do and offer taking photographs in front of exhibition pieces.

One out of three planes "Spirit of St. Louis". Charles Lindbergh was in one of the three when crossing the Atlantic Ocean for the very first time.

Another time at Top of the Rock

We have been there