Well I woke up at 6:40 and couldn't get back to sleep. Yay. This was after taking ages and ages to actually get to sleep. Smallest bed we've been in in weeks, and we're both a bit sick, the sweetie moreso than me. Hrmm.
Had some cheese ball chips for breakfast while waiting for the sweetie to get ready.
When I went to America in 2004 with Mum and Dad, every motel we stayed at had a different way of getting water at the desired temperature/pressure. I should have documented it at the time, it would have made for interesting reading. This hotel's plumbing is typical for American weirdness. Firstly the taps in the bathroom sink operate backwards. Instead of lefty-loosey righty-tighty it's the other way around. So we can turn the water on, but invariably when we go to turn it off we spray water everywhere. In the shower there is exactly one tap. Once the water is flowing by turning the tap to the left, the temperature is controlled by how far you turn the tap. But. There's a big metal circle behind the tap. On the left it says C and on the right it says H. So you'd think that you'd turn it left (anticlockwise) for cold and right (clockwise) for hot. Right? Wrong! Turning to the right goes cold, and then off. You have to turn it to the left to get hot. Americans are so backwards.
Headed out. Went to DeKalb Ave station and took a B train up to 47-50 Rockefeller station.
Had some breakfast at Starbucks at the station.
Then headed up to go up Top of the Rock. It was quite civilised. It was relatively well signposted, and there were humans to help. We had a Sightseeing pass, and got a ticket with that. Then up the lifts. Not really any queuing at all. Except for the silly photograph heh.
Sadly at the top, while it was sunny, it was also very hazy, so didn't get the greatest view ever. Woulda been better when were here back in December, but didn't know what the queues were like then. Stayed up for a while and got a bunch of photos. There's three levels you can take photos on. The first level, where you come in, has windows that let you see down. Outside there's bits of the building in the way of looking down. The very top floor has the view without any glass, but again you can't look down, only out.
View north from Top of the Rock
View north from Top of the Rock
St Patrick's Cathedral from Top of the Rock
General Electric Building from Top of the Rock
Chrysler Building and Metlife Building from Top of the Rock
View north from Top of the Rock
432 Park Avenue Condominiums from Top of the Rock
View south from Top of the Rock
Empire State Building and binoculars at Top of the Rock
Bride and groom at Top of the Rock
Stu and Kaz at Top of the Rock
Photo by Stu
Stu at Top of the Rock
Eventually came back down and walked around Rockefeller Plaza, with a lot less people, which was nice. Even popped into the Lego store.
Golden Prometheus statue and Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza
Golden Prometheus statue in Rockefeller Plaza
Christmas tree in Rockefeller Plaza
Rockefeller Centre
Saks Fifth Avenue
New York Fire Engine
Entrance to 30 Rockefeller Centre
Rockefeller Centre in Lego
Dragon in Lego
Had a wander up to St Patrick's Cathedral, and went in it this time (I walked past in 2000 but didn't go in).
St Patrick's Cathedral
Interior of St Patrick's Cathedral
Interior of St Patrick's Cathedral
Interior of St Patrick's Cathedral
Roof of St Patrick's Cathedral
Interior of St Patrick's Cathedral
Then we looked at the maps and decided we'd walk to Central Park rather than getting the train. So walked the ten or so blocks.
Security and road block outside Trump Tower
Entrance to Trump Tower
Tiffany's
Wandered all around the southern quarter of the park, as far up as the Bethesda Fountain, which I knew wouldn't be fountaining, because it wasn't fountaining in November in 2000. We did have a cheese pretzel there.
William Tecumseh Sherman statue
The Pond and New York skyline
The Pond and New York skyline
Squirrel!
Wollman Rink and New York skyline
Horse drawn carriage
The Mall, Central Park
Cheesy pretzel!
Bethesda Fountain
Bethesda Fountain
Looking south down The Mall
Trees in Central Park
The Lake in Central Park
Bow Bridge
Imagine mosaic, Central Park
Then wandered across to the 72nd St station on Central Park West, and took a B train down to West 4th Street. We were going to stop at 23rd Street to see the Flatiron Building, but that train didn't seem to go there. I don't recall it zooming past the couple of stations we thought it would stop at, but maybe it did. Shrug.
So we got off at West 4th Street and just had a wander around the streets. Came across a pub that looked interesting (JoJo's Philosophy) and had some wheat-free options on the menu so went in there. We ended up having the $28 tasting platter, which had a whole bunch of deep-fried goodies ;)
Jojo's Sampler - 4 chicken wings with choice of sauce, 4 mozzarella sticks, 3 potato skins, 3 chicken tenders, waffle fries and 2 cheese beef jalapeno poppers; served with bbw mayo, black pepper sour cream, marinara sauce and tequila sour cream
Continued wandering the Washington Square because I wanted a photo of the arch.
Washington Square Park
Pianist in Washington Square and Washington Square Arch
Washington Square Arch
Headed over to Astor Place and couldn't get a 4/5 train, so had to get a 6 train to Brooklyn Bridge (which is in Manhattan) and change (which was as easy as walking across the platform to the 4 train which pulled in seconds after ours).
Got off at Borough Hall and wandered down to the Barnes and Noble bookstore so the sweetie could buy a book.
Mosaic in Borough Hall station
Then we looked at a couple of laundromats nearby, as we're going to have to a little more laundry before we go home.
Headed back to the hotel, via the "Brooklyn Deli" for some ice cream for dinner (dinner was at like 14-15:00, sue us ;) ).
It was only about 18:00 by the time we got back to the hotel but it felt a whole lot later.
I filled out a survey for Cunard which took ages, and blogged.
My cold isn't really any worse. Just a bit of a sore throat and a bit of a cough. And tired. Hopefully it doesn't get any worse.
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