New York, New York!

Flight over from Honolulu to Newark/NY was uneventful, with sparse service, and, long (9.5 hours). Arrived in the morning - not having shut an eye all night - and it took us over two hours to get to Harlem, to our friend Heidi's brownstone house. 

Weather was beautiful, fall-like with great colors.  

(left: view from Gantry Park in Queens towards UN Buildings)

Long Island City with more and more gigantic highrises (above).

Louis Armstrong House - new Visitor Center under construction (below).
 

Socrates Sculpture Park in Astoria (above)

We dropped our luggage, had a cup of coffee, and out we went again for a Queens tour. We met with the Queens tourism rep at noon and he showed us the "secrets" and the known attractions in his borough. Especially interesting: the neighborhoods along train #7 (subway) - pics below -, e.g. the Chinatown in Flushing the Louis Armstrong House (first time visit!) and Long Island City - the up&coming residential area.

 

In the evening, after a nice meal of tacos at Birrieria Landia (photos below), we took the train back to Harlem and were pooped - had been such a long day without sleep.