Saturday 15 October: New York

When we woke up this morning it had stopped raining, but was still very overcast and threatening. We decided to check out one of the famous museums and see if the weather improved later.

The NY Museum of Natural History is close to our hotel, so we walked up 72nd Street past John Lennon's famous Dakota Apartments and through part of Central Park (which was very beautiful).

The museum itself is enormous, but also complex with a lot of different pricing options. We have to say that the woman at the ticket counter was typical of the New York "service" people we have encountered - rude and unhelpful. We bought a general admission ticket and entry to a show at the famous Hayden Planaterium. The exhibits were generally of an excellent (if old fashioned) quality. The planaterium is housed in a sphere 27 metres in diameter, with the main auditorium in the upper half and the "black hole theatre" in the lower half. Wonderful technology is at work here, but the shows are long on style and short on substance. OK for the "gee whizz" brigade, but of limited educational content.

When we got out of the museum the sun had come out and the sky had miraculously turned blue. We headed back to the hotel, grabbed our cameras and headed to Brooklyn.

Brooklyn Bridge. At the time of its construction the Brooklyn Bridge was the longest span in the world, and is one of the engineering icons of the world. We took the subway to Brooklyn then walked down to the East River between the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. We got some good pictures, although we were on the shady side of the Brooklyn Bridge. We then walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, back to Manhattan.

We stopped in at the Virgin Megastore, but didn't end up buying anything. We then headed to Times Square. We had half an idea to have dinner at BB King's blues club. However the queues were already forming by six o'clock, so we gave up on that idea. We bought some food at Fairways market, and Sue whipped up a delicious dinner for us.

Ripped off or pi$$ed off? We wanted to see New York by night from the Empire State Building, so went there after dinner. We got there after nine o'clock, only to be told there was a two hour wait! "However, if you buy a combo ticket to our virtual simulation sky show, you only have to wait 20 minutes." Well that meant the entry fee jumped from US$28 to sixty. Too darn much. Told them what they could do with their combo ticket and headed for home.