Continuing on in our tour of New York neighbourhoods:

Midtown

We stayed just a ten minute walk from Times Square and went to several meetings on streets in the 50s, so Midtown was probably the neighbourhood we spent the most time in. It is also the most overwhelming neighbourhood in Manhattan. When I emerged from the subway at Penn Station and Madison Square Garden to find the Empire State Building looming and taxis blaring, I had to stop for a few moments just to catch my breath.

That breathless feeling never really went away. I found it difficult to walk for constantly looking up. One evening, Peri and I took the kids out, and we spent most of our time wandering around Times Square with our mouths open. There are so many things to see that I completely missed the Disney Store, which the kids will never let me forget.

We also happened to be there right at sunset, which was perfect for learning how to better use Mimi’s Instax, and Guimel and I took some perfectly hideous vertical panoramas.

I also unintentionally did a morning show tour of New York City by appearing in the background of both Good Morning America and the Today Show by accident. Who knew that they filmed at street level?!

I have arrived into Grand Central before, but it was marvelous to visit again and get to show it to my mum and Peri. I also found a building near Bryant Park that says “grace” but doesn’t look like the type of place you’d expect to find it.

Blue Bottle Coffee (Midtown)

We visited Blue Bottle, a small chain of coffee shops, twice. To be completely honest with you, whilst I was glad to see a chain other than Starbucks around, I was also not completely overwhelmed. However, they did give out pins with their logo on, which I now proudly sport on my rucksack. And I enjoyed watching them do several pourovers in a row.

On the down side, neither location had a toilet. Granted, one was in Rockerfeller Center and didn’t need one.

But the other? Just after a meeting that served large filter coffees?

Disaster.

Trump Tower

As a bonus, here are two photographs that I took when we ducked into Trump Tower to use the toilet (because NYC is all about finding the elusive free toilet).