The History of The Entire Universe

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What a difference a day makes. At 8°C it was positively tropical in comparison to what it had been the last few days. There was no need to spend 10 minutes putting on layers of coats, gloves and hats, and no need to spend 20 minutes working up the courage to head outside. The snow had also changed to rain and it was pouring so, actually, we did need to work up the courage to head outside after all. In just a few minutes outside we were drenched wet through, but at least we were grateful not to be freezing cold.

Everywhere was a lot more buzzing than it had been at the weekend. There were all the street food vendors with their bagels, giant pretzels, hotdogs and the like. There were lots of people hustling bus tours (although I don't think sitting on an open-top bus getting drenched would be much better than sitting in one getting numb from the cold). There were also the coolest beggars we had ever come across; none of this holding out a cup, but rather "help the homeless, you have a great day y' all".

We managed to increase the credit on our Metro cards, without any help and without messing it up, so we are obviously getting the hang of these things now. That said, we did manage to get on the wrong train, but realised one station down the line and got off quickly before the line split and it went off in the wrong direction.

I went for a general walk round. Grand Central Station is always great to check out and also provided some shelter from the rain. There was also the Chrysler Building, the Flatiron Building (again), Park Avenue and the New York Public Library. We also went to American Museum of Natural History. Sadly the Planetarium was fully booked for the day by the time we got there. The exhibit next to it about the big bang and the evolution of the universe was particularly fascinating, illustrating how we (humans) have only occupied a tiny fraction of the history of the universe.

Our flight was not until 11.00pm, so we went back to Hell's Kitchen for something to eat before heading to the airport. The restaurant was actually called Hell's Kitchen. It was a Mexican, but despite the name, the food was not excessively hot.

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Photos

Flatiron Building
Passing by the Flatiron building whilst walking in the rain.

Grand Central Station
The clock in the middle of Grand Central Station.

New York
Police-cars, big buildings, lots of advertising and a huge flag - New York in one picture!

Subway Sign
Either the signs been doctored or there's a farting problem on the New York subway.