Waking up at 8am we dressed and sorted out our plan for the day. Not arriving to breakfast until 8:50am we found it packed out. Every one of the picnic tables was full and there were a few people milling about nervously looking for somewhere to sit and eat the breakfast items they’d just picked up from the fast disappearing buffet. We picked up a fruit juice and a bagel, or in Matty’s case a doughnut and a sausage sandwich!! Swigging down the juice, we binned the cups and then left to begin another day in Manhattan.
We journeyed back to Manhattan via the metro to Grand Central station. As we passed out of the metro exit and into the main station concourse the decor became a lot more posh. The concrete, metal and lino floor tiles were replaced with chrome handrails, marble floors, stone decor pillars and carefully crafted marble arches. As we entered the main hall of the station I spotted on the East Balcony an Apple Store!! It was bizarre seeing an Apple Store without any walls, doors or any other type of barrier and at a station.
We took a moment to take a look around before moving onwards outside to continue our journey, the Apple Store having been an unscheduled distraction.

Once outside the first major landmark we saw was the Chrysler building. Pausing for a quick look we continued on towards the Empire State Building. As we were walking again past the library ( as we had done the previous day), Liz and I had to laugh because nestled behind one of the buildings just out of view from where we had stood looking at the library was the Empire State Building. We walked into the Empire State Building avoiding the barrage of salesmen all keen to flog us a bus tour, river cruise or some other venture aimed at tourists. The Empire State Building tour was really different from the last time I took it. This time we had an audio accompaniment to the tour which explained everything from how the building was constructed through to how the new eco friendly enhancements have reduced energy consumption by 45%, which has saved so much money it’s unbelievable.

The clear sunny sky allowed us to benefit from some great views which were really interesting. Listening to the commentary saying that the Downtown buildings in front of us were the area in which the original city was located. That was the basis of Manhattan, which grew from there to it present size, transforming farmland and woodland into buildings and skyscrapers. I could go on but will spare you my version of the tour, like I said it was really interesting.

Walking to Murray’s Bagel shop we passed close to the Flatiron. For some reason Liz always remembers the Flatiron, I guess the building’s unusual shape and distinctive decor aid easy identification.

Eventually arriving at Murray’s bagel we pondered the menu which was extensive. Once your poor brain had battled with the endless list of choices, you then had to choose from a list of 8 different bagels. Luke had pastrami, lettuce and Mayo on plain which he loved. Liz and I had classic club on onion which was really tasty. Once again we commented that there was enough meat filling in one of our bagels to make a total of three bagels by splitting the meat between then and just adding a little more lettuce and tomato!

Once we’d eaten our bagels Luke asked if we could pop back into the Nba store again !! He wanted to try on a sweatshirt / hoodie as he was thinking of mail ordering it from the NBA EU store.

After Luke had given the NBA store another one around we left 5th Avenue and walked down the street between 5th and Broadway to avoid roasting ourselves in the sun too much. We popped into the shopping centre at Columbus circle because Luke had spotted a Tesla (electric car). Talking to the
Salesman I discovered that they had a garage at 25th and 10th in the Chelsea area of Manhattan. We prized Luke and Matty out of the Tesla and onwards to the Natural History Museum telling them we’d pop into the Telsa garage later on.
We walked around the museum a little stunned at how totally different the interior of the museum was from the films Night of the Museum. You could see some resemblances but it was clear that that was as far as it went, even Dexter the monkey was different! After marvelling at the size of the blue whale and various different exhibits we left the museum (it was closing time), to catch a metro down to 25th Street, which was quite a little ride away by train considering we were at 8th street it was way quicker than walking.
We spotted (Luke spotted) a Tesla turning into a side road as we approached where we thought the likely location of the Tesla garage would be. As we approached the Tesla garage we could see lots of people with drinks in posh frocks and shirts. Us all in our shorts and T-shirts really looked out of place. The Tesla garage was hosting an art exhibition. I guess it was a way of getting people into the garage to see the cars. I really liked a couple of the paintings but that’s another story. We were offered a test drive which Luke accepted on all our behalves!! Having filled out the little form on the iPad wielded by the salesman, we were shown to the waiting Tesla outside. We were only taken around the block but it was good for everyone to have experienced a Tesla as they’re really different to my BMW i3. e.g the range of a Tesla is about 240 – 350 miles depending upon which battery option you select.
Again we used our parenting skills (and bribery with food, more bribery than skill – lol ) to prise the boys away from the cars and out of the door.

Our next destination was Denny’s which was thankfully pretty close, almost on the Manhattan end of the Brooklyn Bridge. We’d enjoyed it so much in Orlando that we decided to eat there again tonight. After our meal we took another Metro (making use of our multi-day travel card) to 5th Avenue to see Empire State Building lit up against the night sky. It’s much more impressive at night when you’re there, than in the photos we took because of the light pollution making the night sky pale grey instead of the dark charcoal that it actually was. Our last activity on the list was to see Time Square by night. It was packed, racked and stacked. I took Luke by the hand and we barged, mingled and cajoled our way through the crowds until we reached the end. The only time we seemed to have had a breathing space was whilst waiting for the lights to change so we could cross the streets, thankful to have a minute or two’s rest from the crowds surging in the opposite direction. We then caught the Metro back to our hotel, another day done.