Friday 1st April
Welcome to New York City!
We awoke this morning to see from our bedroom window a cruise ship that had moored on the Hudson at the end of West 49th Street.
So we went somewhere to avoid the crowds! Just off East 42nd after Grand Central Railway Station and the Chrysler Building is Tudor City. This is a 1920s 30s complex of apartments constructed from brick steel and concrete but made with Tudor English influences that does not have the fake black and white timbers of places such as central Chester in the UK. This is a sort of tasteful flashback and an ocean of peace and springtime colour close to the East River and the United Nations headquarters.
Close by is the HQ of the Daily News newspaper with its rotating globe in the public area which helps to summarise our circumnavigation.
After lunch in a typical Manhattan bar/bistro we went to the ‘Top of the Rock’ observation deck at the Rockefeller Centre which actually gives a more intimate view of Manhattan when compared to the Empire State Building and the former World Trade Centre. This is a recent addition to the observation possibilities in midtown and was not available some 30 years ago when we discovered this part of NYC.
Following dinner we explored Times Square at its best when illuminated by neon.
