6th September 2009
An early start this morning so that we can get to the Empire State Building early to avoid the (frankly horrendous) queues we saw yesterday afternoon. Bingo! We managed to get there just before 9 and pretty much went straight through to the lifts and up to the 86th floor. An amazing view right over the island of Manhattan awaited, a bit hazy, but still with a visibility of 20 miles. We took loads of photos (again!). Besides the view, the building itself was pretty amazing inside with gold, silver and bronze marble floors and its art deco style.
After the Empire State, we walked up Broadway to Central Park. We detoured into the M&M Store first, which was so cool! They had a complete wall of M&Ms in all different colours in tubes, so we had a (very) small bag of those, but there was M&M everything from mugs to towels, t-shirts to watches.
We’ve had another wonderfully sunny day, perfect for strolling round the park which was full of runners, cyclists, people playing baseball, volleyball, taking wedding photos, all sorts of people both New Yorkers and tourists just enjoying the park and the sunshine. We started at the bottom corner and walked up through (managing to miss Strawberry Fields! but we did see the building outside which John Lennon was killed and we are going back to find it!). Saw turtles in the lake, then walked up to the castle in Central Park before going out of the park to buy some sandwiches for a picnic - yummy lunch. We then continued to walk up the park towards Harlem, around the Jaqueline Kennedy Onasis reservoir and the formal Conservatory Garden with its lovely fountain.
I’ve decided I really like the financial district where we are staying and the area around Battery Park (except for the South Street Seaport - quite run down and very touristy), love Central Park, but not so fussed on Midtown and Times Square (too many people and too much madness).
Back to the hotel for a quick siesta (this travelling is hard work!) we were woken up by a Jewish wedding taking place outside on the street below our window - weird but true. Then we headed back uptown to go to the top of the Rockefeller Centre - The Top of the Rock. We had a quick meal in TGI’s just down the road from it then headed up to the 67th floor to look out over the city at night. A truly wonderful experience which started even in the lift. We were told to look up and I thought he was joking, but the lift lights dim and the roof goes see-through with images from the Rockefeller centre history and a strip of lights lighting the way to the top. From the top, amazing views over the city with the Empire State Building lit up for Labor Day taking centre stage. A fantastic experience with possibly better views than from the Empire State.
