What a day

Today we had plans to make the most of the city but we woke to pretty grim New York weather. Sun or rain our first objective was to venture up the Empire State building and as it was early Sunday morning we almost had the place to ourselves. Gemma, Charlotte, Gordon and myself were up for this but the others had done it before and Claire is not a fan of heights or elevators so she stayed at the hotel.

We saw how long the queue could be with all the zigzagging ropes throughout the ground floor but we just walked straight ahead with only 5 people in front of us, we didn't even have to wait for a lift. We shot up to the 86th floor for quite a dramatic view of the city with skyscrapers touching the clouds, I was hoping for good weather but I think the atmosphere of the clouds actually adds to the skyline better than a blue backdrop.

See Extra -----> World Trade One kissing the clouds.

After seeing what we wanted to see we headed back to the others so we could all get ourselves to Central Park. Despite the weather still drizzling we decided to get in Rickshaws and view the park this way, we had an impressive guide who knew a lot and shared his knowledge with us, in particular the owners of the apartments on the edge of central park. We did get to see all the big sights of interest and as the rain eased off we took more time to get off the rickshaw and view stuff.

Extra --------> A beautiful, colourful Indian girl in Central Park.

Central Park done, we all decided to split into groups and do our own thing. Claire, Gem, Charlotte and I opted to walk back to the hotel along 5th Avenue to take in the views and shopping of this strip, I had to pop into the Apple Store, Microsoft store and a few others to satisfy the geek in me.

For the evening we had a table booked for the famous Cafe Wha? The place where the likes of Jimi Hendrix, Bob Dylan and many more cool bands have played over the years. 

On the way I shot a cop, which is my main image.

Claire had been to Cafe Wha? before and recommended we visit.Upon entering the joint, it's dark and seemed quite small, with no music playing as it was early in the evening so I didn't know what to expect. We ordered drinks, some good old Buffalo wings, etc and in no time the house band came on. The place became alive, an 8 piece band plus guest vocalist who seemed to appear every ten minutes had the place rockin' and the bodies moving. The two lead guitarists were phenomenal with every song having an extended solo. Such a varied mix of songs kept everyone entertained, my particular favourite was a really heavy version of a Chilli Peppers song.

Last Extra -------> One of the fantastic guest singers giving it some soul!

I felt like I was twenty years younger as I moshed out to great track after great track.

We headed back to our hotel in a taxi in the very early hours of the morning.

What a day!

Mr Bo Hingles