The events you could really split into three:
1) To start the day it was to be Ice Skating at the Rockefeller Centre and shopping around that area/5th Avenue.
2) Buying some tickets and heading to a show in the evening
3) Heading for a romantic desert buffet in the rotating restaurant looking over Times Square.
Unfortunately weather familiar to Belfast - a blanket of grey clouds - had found it's way to NYC. By the time we had grabbed some breakfast and headed to the Rockefeller Centre there was a fine drizzle of rain turning the sidewalk a darker hue. Skating in the rink was on hold so in the hopes the rain might stop we started on the shopping side of our mornings plans.
The Nintendo Shop was first up - the bad thing being we had all day and I didn't want to buy things there and then that I'd have to carry about most of the day. Instead I got Norn Girl to pledge that we could indeed return later in the week at a more opportune time. Unlike public showers at a leisure centre, the water falling on our heads wasn't stopping of it's own accord shortly after it had begun. By this point I also needed to release some water of my own and we began to look for a Starbucks or some public toilets.
We were going to be heading towards Tiffany's on 5th Avenue anyway so started that trek early. It turned out that there was a distinct lack of toilets or Starbucks along that section of 5th Avenue. Norn Girls radar for coffee thankfully pinned down an outlet... it was hiding on the 1st floor of none other than Trump Towers.
A more gaudy interior to a building you'd be hard pushed to find. It took me back to episodes of hotel inspector I'd seen, except instead of horrible cheap brown and orange wallpaper it was expensive marble but of the same ilk in terms of it's effect. Focusing on the fact I was now busting to go, we made it to the Starbucks stall and whilst being served Norn Girl asked if they had any toilets. The toilets are on the lower ground floor, to get to them you go down the escalator and through a corridor that will have you wondering which hole in some iron-rich clay soil you fell down. Credit to Mr Trump though, his building has decent toilets. Some would say that like his apprentices they were probably designed to handle a lot of crap being thrown at them.
Relieved, we headed on. Next stop was Tiffany's, even as a guy with little regards for most mind numbingly formulaic romantic comedy, I had indeed seen and enjoyed breakfast at Tiffany's. However this was but an atom to the planet that was Norn Girl's glee at being there in person. It was all very sparkly but also like most of 5th Avenue, very expensive, very much too expensive for our poor bank accounts. Randomly most of the gold seemed to have been crafted into it's current form in Spain (going by the labels), it seemed a convoluted way of buying some jewellery made in Spain. As New York City was already proving to be very expensive though, we didn't have all that much money to spare and sadly common sense had to take precedence. Nothing bad ever happens apparently and Norn Girl did leave the shop holding a little blue box in a blue bag. The box contained a cute glass snowman Christmas Tree Decoration.
Pausing for photos outside the shop we headed back to the Rockefeller Centre. We arrived at a bad time, they'd restarted skating but we couldn't wait for the start of the next session.
To be continued... [Part 2]
You know, I have never been to NYC... and the pictures you take make me want to go.
ReplyDeleteCan't wait for part 2. Sounds... adventurous...