Day 12, Friday 11th.
The day dawns bright and sunny so the Planner researches some options for orientating the other 'P's' into this huge humming city. We head up to Times Square about 20 mins away and pick up the Grayline hop on hop off double decker bus which heads uptown. We wheel Grannie on and leave her to navigate downstairs while Stewart and I take in all the sights from the top deck in between ducking to avoid the low branches on the fringe of Central Park and most of the traffic lights which swing precariously over all the intersections. We travel up the West side all the way to Harlem which has recently become the trendy place to live and where all the brownstone houses are gradually being renovated and then across to the East side and down past the Museum mile and Central Park and back to Times Square. We visit the Marriot Marquis on Times Square where Lady Penelope and Flashman in his kilt wooed the patrons on New Years Eve 2008, used their excellent bathroom facilities and then returned to the square for Macdonalds, while we watched the world go by.
We decide to return to our hotel, our Planner taking us this time via the amazing Grand Central Station where we find a bride and groom having their wedding photo's taken right in the middle of the afternoon rush hour! We saunter through Grand Central market and then across to the Chrysler building to view the stunning lobby interior. Not once, but on two seperate occasions the Planner is asked for directions - she obviously looks like a confident tour guide and naturally enough obliges with the appropriate information. We return to the Affinia and relax in our very spacious sixties style suite with very eclectic decor. We are on a corner and the morning sun streams in and we have a nice kitchen with the coffee brew machine so typical of American hotels, one large bedroom and the Pusher has a large pullout sofa in the lounge.
We lock in theatre tickets to the Lion King, booked out for months in advance, but the Planner has contacts from her previous New York travels so she pulls off the deal - the Payer and the Pusher are most impressed. Then we head off to Times Square again for our night tour of Manhatten. Same company and same set up except this time we rug up warmly for our journey downtown through NOHO and SOHO, Little Italy and China town, across the Manhatten Bridge into Brooklyn so we can look back over the lights of the New York skyline. It was a perfect evening and when we left the bus we stopped at the corner shop for a slice of peperoni pizza - this really is New York!
We wandered back through Times Square, glowing with LED signs as if it was broad daylight and this time bumped into a guy who asked us 'why are all the people gathered here?' mmmmm, we felt quite sorry for him but it would have taken a lifetime to explain and so we just kept walking. Back down East 48th St to our NYC crash pad.
The day dawns bright and sunny so the Planner researches some options for orientating the other 'P's' into this huge humming city. We head up to Times Square about 20 mins away and pick up the Grayline hop on hop off double decker bus which heads uptown. We wheel Grannie on and leave her to navigate downstairs while Stewart and I take in all the sights from the top deck in between ducking to avoid the low branches on the fringe of Central Park and most of the traffic lights which swing precariously over all the intersections. We travel up the West side all the way to Harlem which has recently become the trendy place to live and where all the brownstone houses are gradually being renovated and then across to the East side and down past the Museum mile and Central Park and back to Times Square. We visit the Marriot Marquis on Times Square where Lady Penelope and Flashman in his kilt wooed the patrons on New Years Eve 2008, used their excellent bathroom facilities and then returned to the square for Macdonalds, while we watched the world go by.
We decide to return to our hotel, our Planner taking us this time via the amazing Grand Central Station where we find a bride and groom having their wedding photo's taken right in the middle of the afternoon rush hour! We saunter through Grand Central market and then across to the Chrysler building to view the stunning lobby interior. Not once, but on two seperate occasions the Planner is asked for directions - she obviously looks like a confident tour guide and naturally enough obliges with the appropriate information. We return to the Affinia and relax in our very spacious sixties style suite with very eclectic decor. We are on a corner and the morning sun streams in and we have a nice kitchen with the coffee brew machine so typical of American hotels, one large bedroom and the Pusher has a large pullout sofa in the lounge.
We lock in theatre tickets to the Lion King, booked out for months in advance, but the Planner has contacts from her previous New York travels so she pulls off the deal - the Payer and the Pusher are most impressed. Then we head off to Times Square again for our night tour of Manhatten. Same company and same set up except this time we rug up warmly for our journey downtown through NOHO and SOHO, Little Italy and China town, across the Manhatten Bridge into Brooklyn so we can look back over the lights of the New York skyline. It was a perfect evening and when we left the bus we stopped at the corner shop for a slice of peperoni pizza - this really is New York!
We wandered back through Times Square, glowing with LED signs as if it was broad daylight and this time bumped into a guy who asked us 'why are all the people gathered here?' mmmmm, we felt quite sorry for him but it would have taken a lifetime to explain and so we just kept walking. Back down East 48th St to our NYC crash pad.
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