We made it!

Shortly after 3pm, we arrived at the Distrikt Hotel, just a few blocks from Times Square. It was actually a miracle that we made it as our cab driver seemed to think he was driving a rally car, and not a taxi. 

We chose this hotel due to its proximity to several New York attractions including Broadway. It’s just a shame that some of these places are already closed due to the virus. The view wasn’t too awful.

After an hour or so nap, we decide to visit the Empire State Building; it was only a 15 minute walk from the hotel and given the news was changing every hour, we thought we better make the most of the holiday as we may have to return home sooner rather than later.

The weather was beautiful when we touched down, and that didn’t seem to be changing. It was 19 degrees, so I ventured out with no jacket and sunglasses. I have never been to New York City before, but I was informed that the streets were much quieter than usual. There was no queue when we arrived at the Empire State Building, in fact, we walked straight in. It is super-expensive to get to the top so we thought we would go to the first level; these tickets alone were $42 per person.

There is a museum to wander through before you get to the lifts; this tells you about the history of the building as well as the numerous films and cartoons that the building has appeared in. The best film in my opinion is King Kong.

After wandering through the museum, we arrived at the lifts and again, no queue. We went straight up to the 82nd floor and to some stunning views of the city. Thankfully, we could upgrade our ticket when we got up there as we decided just to spend the other $30 per person to go right to the top. The sun was setting as we took the lift to the 86th floor; this I the floor made famous by Sleepless in Seattle and is the only “outside” area in the building. Although it was a beautiful day, it was incredibly windy as we wandered around taking pictures. Thankfully, it was beautifully sunny and we had fantastic views to the Statue of Liberty and Jersey City, as well central Park and north to Harlem.

We spent a good 20 minutes on this floor before venturing up in the lifts once more to the 102nd floor, and the top of the Empire State Building. There is no outside here, only a small glass area to walk around and photograph the metropolis around us.

It was now 7.30pm, and we met up with a friend who is currently living in Jersey City. We ended up in a bar, drinking the night away. It was a Friday and there were literally 20 of us in a sports bar which was normally full to the gunnels. 

We lasted until 11ish before sauntering back via Times Square. If you have ever seen Times Square on TV or been there yourself, you will know this place is a bouncing thrive of activity from dusk until dawn, not tonight Josephine!

There was no-one around; it was quite disconcerting. It was now we were starting to worry; we were hearing whispers about the UK being added to the “restricted” list. We decided to go back to the hotel and think about it in the morning….

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