Green space in a concrete jungle

We were real commuters this morning. There was a signal failure so we had to take another line and that got stuck. It took us 30 minutes to go three stops heading over the bridge to Manhattan....luckily we had no place to be and a fab Mr Kiwi juice to keep us going until we got in. The Rockefeller had zero visibility (explains why there was no line) so we headed for Pick a Bagel for breakfast to make a new plan of attack.

New York bagels are crazy delicious and depending on what you order almost impossible to fit in your mouth! It took us awhile to get

through brekkie but we decided to risk the weather and head to Central Park for a cycle.

Useful tip from Kellie #3 do not pay full price for bikes in Central Park. We rookies went to the official bike supplier at the park who wouldn’t match the Groupon price but did tell us where to find the place that did! And we found a friendly tout on the way there who gave us a good price (half that of the other place). Pays to know a local.

We spent a joyous couple of hours cycling around the 840 acres of Central Park, past the reservoir, lake, fountains, forest to name but a few. It really made the Friends scene come to life when Phoebe runs in her ‘own style’. You can really be yourself in the city! Michael also found the fountain from Home Alone 2 which pretty much made his day. Lunch in the park was with Al and Craig so plenty of banter was had before we set off back towards the Rockefeller Centre. The weather was definitely clearing and we thought we’d try our luck at a daytime view.

Luckily we managed to hit no lines and got a great view from the top before the drizzle arrived. The history of the Rockefeller Centre is fascinating. John D Rockefeller took out a huge lease on this land from the University to build a new and permanent home for the Metropolitan Opera. The depression hit and the Opera pulled out so John was left with an annual bill of $3 million and no tenant, a huge amount of money in the late 1920's! So he took it upon himself to build an international business complex in a real build it and they will come scenario. Lucky for him, NBC was looking for a new home and moved in downstairs. This became Radio city and really took off. This was even the for at place to broadcast live TV. The Rockefeller centre was also one of the first places to look at international tenants, not just domestic. As such the idea thrived and is now a huge plaza. A whole village awaits inside.

The drizzle set in and we decided we should find a coffee until it blew over. We visited Kellie at her work for a top notch Nespresso and a good chinwag before parting ways and heading out to Williamsburg for a pint.

There's a kind of famous brewery out there called Brooklyn Brewery and it has cool beers in a hip neighbourhood. We enjoyed a few beers and made our way for dinner at a BBQ restaurant recommended by the brewery. Great meat and even a bourbon before an early night. A great way to sign off from NYC.