Notebook and Pen

Today was our last day we had to use our New York pass and we'd saved one of the world's most famous attractions until now, the Empire State building.

As we'd already been to the Top of the Rock at night we wanted a daylight view of the city today and so naturally decided to go at the busiest time possible, at sunset.

Before this though we still had some smaller things on our list, such as taking a view of the city from the water too whilst riding the Beast, a large speedboat, big enough to carry around 75 people up the river Hudson and back while soaking them in the process.

Finally getting the hang of this good timing stuff, we arrived at the ticket office just before the boat was about to set off, and got ourselves seats behind a man who had taken a rather expensive looking camera on board, in the hope of getting some good photos of the skyline.

He may have been a good photographer but he clearly wasn't very sensible, having sat in one of the marked 'extra wet seats'. I'm guessing he spent most of the ride thinking about how expensive his camera was and why he chose a bumpy speedboat to ride whilst desperately trying to shield the camera from the splashes.

Back on dry, and today very hot land, we tried our best not to look like we'd just been caught in a tropical storm (again) and dried off on our walk back to Broadway to buy tickets for the Lion King with our 10% discount that comes on the pass for our last night in a couple of weeks time.

Just around the corner from the theatre is Hearshy's, the place you go if you want to spend four times the normal price on a bar of chocolate, but the free samples and 'factory worker's' hat you are given on the way in makes it a worthwhile detour off the edge of Times Square, as well as M&M world opposite, where we found 6 bags for $3 in one of the offer bins dotted around the shop, before enjoying them while sat on the red steps watching Times Square buzz around us.

When the plastic steps became just a bit too uncomfortable to stay sat on any longer, plus the fear that they might melt and make us part of them if we stayed in the sun much longer made us move to Bryant Park, which has now easily become one of my favourite places in the city.

Here we polished off the last of the M&Ms while talking to a local who had the exact same voice as Bob Monkhouse before walking up to the Empire State to begin our hour long queue to the top, which considering the popular visiting time, wasn't too bad.

Although our passes only allowed us to the 86th floor, it is possible to pay an extra $15 for the additional remaining floors, though I imagine space to stand is even more in demand up there than the 86th and with the same view, only smaller, and so stuck to what we could get for free, a regular motto of the trip, it seems.

If the view from the ground in central Manhattan doesn't allow the height of the buildings to sink in, the view from the Empire State will do. Looking east to Brooklyn and Queens highlights just how flat these areas are in terms of building work, and how Manhattan towers above everything around it.

The west view, overlooking the river and New Jersey is where a good spot needs to be secured in order to watch the sunset, which we were lucky enough to gain, even if it was a bit of a squash.

There seems to be a routine for being up the Empire State Building at sunset: a quick walk around each side before watching the sun go down over the river (and taking many, many photos), before shuffling back to the north side to see the most popular view before it gets fully dark.

How successful you are in completing this routine depends entirely on how polite you are to the people around you.

Despite the friendly atmosphere of the block party yesterday, we were still keen to get back to Fitz's apartment before it got too late, so grabbed a slice of pizza before getting on the subway and went back for a night of discussing American vs English fish and chips.