Monday 14th July - Aerial NYC

At 9am, we attempted the subway, arriving at a relatively short queue for the Empire State Building. An hour shy of our planned arrival we were hungry as a result, but thankful not to be in a massive crowd. Standing in the line (the word ‘queue’ does not seem to compute in the US) we were given a presentation by a very good public speaker telling us all the ways we could spend money in the place (entry, guidebooks, different floor entries, computer simulations) and yet we were still confused by the time we got to parting with our cash.

Of course these places are adept at taking money from tourists and with our will to go as high as possible we paid the extra $15 and headed for the 102nd floor. Nearing the top of the first elevator it started to shudder - an occupant chirped up with: ‘ha ha – Earthquake’. Yeah that is very funny.

Our first stop was the 86th floor from which the views were amazing but a group of kids in football kits were being filmed and it was already pretty busy on top of this. Space was at a premium and the usual pushing and intimidation for the views followed. I could have believed people picking others up and moving them to get some space. We carried on up to the 102nd floor which was brilliant. The floor is much smaller and enclosed but far fewer people seemed to go this high. I managed to panic another woman by saying to Tim I wasn’t enjoying the sway of the building - I guess if you don’t understand structural stability this could be disturbing - and she shot me a cutting glare.

When we had satisfied our need for Aerial New York views, we ear popped our way down to be greeted by queues 10 times longer than when we had gone up. Smugly we left, only to find the coffee shop across the road had sold out of croissants and we were still hungry. Displaying how life can be tough when you are on holiday we settled for muffins before heading on to Bloomingdales. A slight shopping frenzy followed as we snaked along Broome, Prince and Spring Streets. Some shops were affordable and some (like all those with a buzzer to get in) were not, but it was still fun to walk around absorbing the atmosphere.

All shopped out we walked back to the hotel, to find ourselves swept along in rush hour. Prior to our visit I had bought a book called Eat: Shop New York, based on the premise that I liked the way it was presented. We had been studying it for days but a high percentage of the restaurants seemed to be either in Brooklyn or away from where we were whenever we entertained the idea of eating something. As such we were yet to assess the merits of the book, and in an attempt to warrant my purchase we decided to dine at the restaurant closest to our hotel. This happened to be a Greek restaurant maybe 20 blocks away, which had we walked past would not have even tempted us. It wasn’t that it didn’t look appealing more that we would never have noticed it tucked away in a basement. On entering we were met by a packed restaurant and a wait to be seated so we settled down with a Mythos and a little people watching. When we eventually ate, the meal was tasty, the atmosphere great and the couple next to us great conversation.

I think this was 1 – nil for the book.

Walking back we happened upon the black carpet of the Batman premier. Apart from gridlock and the crashing of a taxi into the back of a rubber necking lorry, not much seemed to be happening and we had no interest in hanging around any way in the absence of Heath. Back at the hotel the bar sucked us in yet again although this time only for a night cap.