Views across the Big Apple

After another huge breakfast at the hotel, trying to be a bit healthier, with scrambled eggs and toast, rather than doughnut's and waffle's, we headed straight for Rockefeller Plaza to go up to Top of the Rock, hoping that it wasn't as busy as the night before.

We chose Top of the Rock over the Empire State Building, because we wanted to have the Empire State Building in our photos, and didn't feel the need to go up both. Plus, the lines for the Empire State Building are much longer than they ever are at Rockefeller Plaza.

We were extremely lucky with the weather while we were in New York, apart from one day, and we had amazing views across Manhattan.

There are three levels for Top of the Rock, with inside and outside viewing. The lower levels have glass in front. but the higher levels had no glass, so we had an unobstructed view over the city.

Aside from my initial fear of the height of the building, once we were up there I had no problems. It wasn't anything like on top of the Eiffel Tower, it seemed a lot more sturdy!

I took about 300 photos in about an hour, trying to make sure I got some good shots of the skyline since it was a bit hazy.

The view towards Central Park

We took photos for several people, and lots of people offered to take photos of us. It was good to have photo's of both of us together, and much easier than trying to take photo's of ourselves.

After a long time spent in the sky, we headed back down to earth and off towards the Flatiron District.

On the way we passed the Empire State Building, which didn't seem as impressive as Rockefeller Plaza, but it was exciting to be underneath it. It reminded me of Sleepless in Seattle!

We did some shopping on the way, Bradley brought some jeans and cords from Levi's and we had a wander around Macy's. Levi's had some really cool dressing rooms.

We came across the Flatiron Building, and decided it was time for lunch. We had Shake Shack again for the second time in 3 days in a pretty location in Madison Square Park. Such good burgers!

After lunch we jumped on a crosstown bus and headed off to Chelsea. It's very easy to walk uptown or downtown in New York as the streets are very close together, however going crosstown, the streets are much further apart and walking even three of four streets is just too far!

One of the top things on our list for New York, was the High Line in Chelsea. The High Line is an awesome garden that has been built on disused raised rail tracks, and is a really nice place to stroll along, full of places to sit, gardens and a market halfway along.

It would be so amazing to have something similar in London, and it's something that has been in the news recently. Young designers have been trying to come up with similar ideas for London.

Overlooking the High Line

Looking towards the Empire State Building

We came down from the High Line and into Chelsea Market. It's mostly a food market, with some clothing and home stores thrown in.

We picked up a couple of yummy brownies from the Fat Witch Bakery to have later

Lots of amazing art around the High Line

We spent the next couple of hours exploring Chelsea and the West Village. Both neighbourhoods are full of amazing old brownstones and it's a much quieter side of New York.

Washington Square Park

We wandered from the West Village over to the East Village, and through Washington Square Park. We walked past New York University, and stopped at the Mud Coffee truck for a pick me up.

I waited outside in the sunshine with our coffees, while Bradley investigated the neighbourhood comic shops

After the East Village, we found ourselves in the small back streets of Soho. Soho is an amazing place, and we could easily spend several days exploring the connecting streets and the hundreds of independent stores. 

We spent a couple of hours popping in and out of stores, and over the next few days found ourselves coming back to Soho.

Cool Halloween decorations

We wandered along Broadway for a while, stopping at Bloomingdales and Victoria's Secret. There were lots of chain stores, and we stopped at the Converse store for some sneakers. The sandals I was wearing were killing me, and I needed some comfy shoes to wear!

American flag display at the Converse store

Now in my comfy sneakers, we caught the Metro down to the very bottom of Manhattan, and boarded the free Staten Island ferry for some sunset views of the Statue of Liberty.

We really chose a great time for the cruise, the setting sun made the city light up, and made everything really clear. The Staten Island ferries are huge, and could fit heaps of people without feeling crowded.

The trip from Manhattan to Staten Island is about 25 minutes each way, and a great way to get some stunning views of the Statue of Liberty, Brooklyn Bridge and the city.

The Staten Island Ferry

The Statue of Liberty is very small close up. We really did expect it to be much larger, and we managed to get pretty close. It was still really exciting to see up close, a similar feeling to when we first saw the Eiffel Tower and the Leaning Tower of Pisa.

We headed back to Long Island City after disembarking as we were exhausted after such a long day of walking. After so many burgers over the last few days, we decided we needed something healthy, so stopped at a really nice sushi restaurant that our hotel had recommended just down the road.

It was good to be having something that wasn't greasy!