NYC At Last!
Woke up this morning to a fantastic view of the sunrise over Lake George & the Adirondacks. Quickly stuffed everything into our bags and then got back on the road. We stopped at a deli nearby for breakfast. The standard coffee and bagels….with cheese, obviously.
The drive to New York City was good, again plenty to see on the way. We needed to drop the hire car off at JFK airport. The views over the bridges of the NYC skyline were very impressive – I believe it was the George Washington and Bronx Whitestone bridges, although apparently the GPS took us a different way to Google maps, so I may be mistaken as some of the signs were confusing…
Dropped the car off and then got a taxi. It’s a flat rate of $45+toll ($4.95 for the Queens Midtown Tunnel) to anywhere in Manhattan; so between 3 of us that was fine. Disappointingly, we didn’t get in a stereotypical NYC taxi; it was a people carrier. We arrived at about 12.30pm.
Hotel is in a great location, about 30 seconds walk off Times Square. The Lobby is flash, but the rooms are less so. Got a free upgrade though, so had more space. Bathroom is nice. Overall it’s fine, in NYC you don’t want to spend much time in a hotel anyway! The Hotel we’re in is the Paramount on 249 West 46th Street. It was the cheapest hotel for 3 nights by £100 so it’s a good saving. Keep a few single dollars in your pocket to tip the guy who insists on carrying your bag. I wasn’t sure how much change I had, so I pretended not to notice that he was clearly waiting for a tip…he gave up rather quickly though. After dumping the bags and tipping the luggage bloke on the way out, it was time for food, so grabbed some pizza at one of the many NYC delis.
Had a good wander around the nearby areas. Went to Grand Central Station for a look around and a quick beer. I’ve also noticed alot of Irish pubs just like in Boston. Must have a good Irish contingent. Then again, a great deal of New Yorkers are from immigrant families, so that would explain things. We planned out what we will be doing tomorrow. Empire State Building is on the cards, and we plan to go at around 4.30 so that we are there for day, sunset and night views and great photo opportunities. There was no queue at all today when we went to check it out, so that’s definitely a plus! We’re also going to a Broadway show (you have to really), Billy Elliot is the winner.
One thing I have noticed already is that you can’t walk far in main tourist areas without people trying to sell you tickets for comedy shows or bus tours! I keep thinking of Thailand, but I am sure the people here are totally trustworthy and the tour people are very helpful even if you don’t want to take a tour there and then.
After all the wandering it was time for food. But not just any food – we had a reservation at Ruth’s Chris Steak House….reputed to be among the finest steakhouses in the world! I went for a Cowboy Rib Eye…incredible. Such a contender for Kobe Beef’s current top spot….I think it may be even better. How they get so much flavour and juiciness I have no idea. Every time I make a steak it comes out overdone on the outside and raw in the middle 
But at least someone can do it right.
So after that we were fairly stuffed, had a few beers – Brooklyn Lager – which tastes exactly the same as Sam Adams, then a wander around Times Square in the dark for a few pictures.
Roll on tomorrow!
