24th September 2017 - Sunday

It was an early start again. We needed to cram all our stuff into our bags and get to the station for our train to New York. My bag was so heavy, it made my back ache but it was only a short walk to the station.

We grabbed some breakfast and lunch to eat later on the train, and made our way to the queue. We were a bit further to the front this time. To board the train had to descend onto the platform and then climb on board. There wasn’t much room for bags at the end but I was able to lift Kathryn’s case above the seats.

The train journey was fairly quiet, the seats are really comfortable and I caught up with some of this blog. We had some nice views, but I had to grab two seats on the left side of the train, and so we didn’t get many views of the sea as we travelled north.

It wasn’t long before the train pulled into New York Penn Station. The heat really hit you as you left the air-conditioned train. The taxi rank was hiding around the corner after leaving the main concourse.. A taxi pulled up straight away and although the taxi driver had a bit of trouble finding our hotel, despite giving him the exact address, we were at the hotel within about 15 minutes.

The hotel has a nice foyer, it’s similar to one we used in Boston. A bit older and slightly tired looking but still clean and comfortable. We dropped our bags as it was too early to check-in and headed downtown to meet Smiti at her apartment in the financial district. After staying there three years ago, it didn’t take as long to find it again. We then walked across a couple of blocks to the World Trade Centre and the Freedom tower. We had got tickets to take the elevator up to the the observation deck. It’s on the 100^th floor!

The whole experience was typically touristy and very shiny and new still. The elevator up was so quick, and also had a video playing on the walls to show the development of New York since it was first settled. After weaving our way through the crowd at the top, we found a bar to have a drink and catch up with Smiti.

We took a few more photos of the skyline, unfortunately the good weather has meant the pollution is quite high at the moment and there was a slight haze to the distant fews. However, the sun gave a nice shimmering effect off the water below.

Not long after, we descended back down to the ground floor and exited onto the World Trade Centre memorial. The whole area is very nice to visit, we had seen it before so just waked through at a leisurely pace. 

We travelled a few streets over to visit a pedestrianised street called Stoane Street which has outside seating for diners to use. We had visited last time in November, but as you can imagine there was nobody to be seen outside in the cold! We chose to have Mexican, I had chilli which was really good. We then popped back to Smiti’s apartment so she could feed her cat Simon, and then back out to a sports bar just over the road.

Smiti’s hometown team, the Washington Redskins were playing a Sunday Night Football. This meant it was televised and we had the added excitement of being able to watch it with her. We had a great time, with some cold drinks and it wasn’t until about midnight that we made it back to the hotel. Even around Grand Central, by this time the streets were fairly deserted.