LONG WEEKEND IN NEW YORK
I arrived in New York at 9pm local time (2am British time) and I took a taxi which has a flat fare to anywhere in Manhattan so you know what to expect to pay, plus the toll fee and tip. It was really easy. I arrived at the hotel on West 14th Street on the edge of Greenwich Village at 10.45pm. The staff were really friendly and showed me to my room, which was on the ground floor, Room 115 Sophia Loren. All the rooms had the names of movie stars and the room had posters of the stars films and pictures of that star. I had booked a single room with ensuite. I got a room with a double bed (called a queen-size bed) a separate shower and hand basin and a separate loo (also with a film poster!). There was also a refrigerator and an answering machine. There was an electronic lock on the room and the card also opened the front door. The reception was manned 24 hours, so there was always someone there to help and give you directions.
The breakfast was self-service and served in the kitchen and the conservatory, it was continental style with orange juice, coffee, different teas, herbal, earl grey and normal. There were English muffins, plain, fruit and cinnamon bagels, various doughnuts, cake, fruit and a choice of jams, cream cheese and peanut butter as well as butter. It was served from 8am until 11am, very civilized.
SIGHTSEEING IN NEW YORK
I bought a plastic covered flexi map of New York and planned some of my sightseeing but ended up following where the various sights took me. I walked along W 14th Street into Eighth Avenue and down Bleeker Street wandering into W 10th Street and Christopher Street along the way and back into Bleeker Street, down into the Avenue of the Americas, into W Houston Street to Orchard Street where there was supposed to be lots of discount shops. It was just like Petticoat Lane in London where you bargained for everything, it was mainly clothing and luggage.
Chinatown and the entrance to the Manhattan Bridge at the corner of Canal Street and Chrystie Street.
The following day I decided that I would take a sightseeing tour in a Gray Line open topped double decker bus. I walked from the hotel down to Battery Park through Greenwich Village and West Village and into the World Trade Centre where you can get a wonderful view over New York from the observation deck on the 107th Floor. Unfortunately the day I was there the visibility was not good. I walked on to Battery Park where I got a ticket for the sightseeing tour of New York. The tour is in two halves Uptown and Downtown. You get on and off as you wish and the ticket is valid for two days. There is a guide on the bus who gives a running commentary throughout the journey. You can then decide where you want to get off for a closer look or where you want to come back to after the tour.
I started the downtown tour at Battery Park and the bus went along Wall Street, past the South Street Seaport and the fish market, Chinatown, past Little Italy, through East Village along 1st Avenue.
The Chrysler Building, 405 Lexington Avenue/42nd Street was built in 1930. Art Deco arches of stainless steel surmount the tower. The building looks as good from the air as it does from the ground.
The Uptown tour goes through the Theatre District, along Broadway, past the Museum of Natural History, Grants Tomb, along the west side of Central Park, I went past Columbia University through Harlem and down 5th Avenue past all the museums and back to the bus station to change onto the south tour bus. The downtown tour then went through Times Square past the Empire State Building.
The Empire State Building is visible from many areas of New York and it comes as a surprise when you turn a corner and there it is again.
The Empire State Building from East 34th Street and from Chinatown.
The are such a variety of buildings throughout New York, the old mixed in with the new.
These views show the Statue from the river and from the air, by helicopter.
