First Day in Manhattan

---

---

A good night sleep the night before allowed me to wake up early in the morning.
It was freezing cold but the sun was out and bright and the sky clear.
The breakfast in the morning was the best breakfast at any hotel we’d been to so far; muffins, croissants and cereal on demand with orange juice.
We packed up and left quickly to begin our journey to New York City. We had to drive through Connecticut first. There were many road tolls but it was nice to see no snow or ice on the roads, it was all only on the side of the roads. The temperature had picked up significantly from -8C to 7C by the time we’d arrived in New York City.
We only stopped briefly for lunch at Arby’s, which I didn’t eat because I’d taken more of the breakfast food on-the-go.

The traffic from then through to New York meant our drive took a further 2 hours meaning we arrived in New York City at 2.30pm after leaving at 9am.
We arrived at the hotel, which turned out to be one of the nicest hotel we have been at so far. There was a secure car park, many rooms, a nice bathroom and even a sofa in our room. The main problems were the lack of wireless internet – something we have had at every hotel, the lack of extra facilities – none, and the price, which is the most expensive per night we have paid, despite the fact it is cheaper than any hotel, hostel or motel in the area by far.
The location was very good, in Queens just a block away from the subway and 9 miles from Manhattan. We all discussed what we would do in New York City for the remainder of the day and for most of the week. We settled on visiting the Statue of Liberty during the sunset.
We went to the underground, first impressions told me I preferred London. It was dirty and seemed outdated and certainly not modern.
It took us just over an hour and a half to make it to the statue of liberty, which meant we could catch the sunset. The sunset was beautiful. The sun was glowing red and was bigger than usual.
We caught the sun setting behind the Statue of Liberty down the Hudson River.
We couldn’t go to the Island since all the staff were leaving for the night. We were lucky enough to ask one of the staff from the boating company, so he gave us sound advice; that we should visit early the next morning.

We strolled down Wall Street and saw many tourists around the bull of Wall Street. There were too many people to take any sort of decent photograph. We then decided to go to the Empire State Building, which again was mobbed with tourists with an average wait time of over 2 hours to visit.
We gave up on attractions for the day and went to a pizza place out of town that was recommended to Ace by some people he met in Chicago. The pizza wasn’t especially tasty but was relatively cheap and good value. It was New York style pizza for the first night in New York, similar to our first night in Chicago.
We decided enough was enough, I was tired so we opted to head back to the hotel at 8pm and call it another early night. Carlotta and Jenny weren’t interested in doing that, so decided to wander around New York City.

We finished the pizza and then went to the station. Me, Tom and Ace decided to make one last visit to the Empire State Building before we returned to the hotel.
The queues were significantly smaller and we were just outside, so me and Ace decided to go to the top. The queue was still nearly an hour and a half, and the prices were expensive - $36 for a trip to the 102nd floor! There were richer people paying $8 for the audio, $8 for the map and a further $24 for the express queue avoiding ticket. I certainly couldn’t afford the $76 that would have cost.
We queued for over an hour before coming to the elevator to the 80th floor, only to find that we needed to take a 2nd to the 86th floor.

There was a viewing platform outside, and I was overwhelmed by the view. It was far superior to the Willis Tower in Chicago and the Space Needle in Seattle.
This was one of the best attractions I’d visited since visiting the United States. Manhattan by night was amazing. I was reluctant to leave and took many photographs. We ventured up to the 102nd floor, which was a slightly more exclusive spot and required a 3rd hand operated manual elevator. The man who operated it was very old and it was just me and Ace in the elevator on the way up.
When we got to the 102nd floor, we felt that we should be back on the 82nd floor, because there was nothing more to see, and it was an indoor observation deck. The views were not as interesting and not as breathtaking as the outdoor deck.

We left quickly and returned to the bottom of the Empire State Building quenched with thirst. I went to the bar next door to get some tap water. I never thought I’d get free water in New York and it was amazing as I’d been thirsty all day.
We left to the station at 12 midnight and returned to the hotel at 1am. The early night turned into a late night, and tomorrow, we will have to get up at 6am to see the Statue of Liberty on Liberty Island.

---