“Is it time to relax yet?” - New York February 2022 Day 6

[Clarica]

Friday 25th February 2022 - Day 6

We had a little lie in this morning of 8am.
Breakfast was at The Mill, near our hotel. I had scrambled egg and cheese sandwich with a coffee. Dan had a bacon, egg and cheese wrap with an apple snapple. Today was raining quite heavily so glad we picked today to do the museums.
The Met was the first museum of the day.

I was surprised to see how huge it is! We saw Van Gogh, Renior, Monet, Tulouse Lautrec to name a few!

Dan is really interested in ancient pieces, like Greek pottery.

While he was looking at those, I stood in line for the Inspiring Walt Disney exhibition.
Unfortunately for Dan the exhibits he wanted to see were closed.
The Walt Disney exhibition was beautiful. No photographs were allowed unfortunately but they had the stained glass window from opening of Beauty and the Beast, Disneyland original illustrations of attractions and illustrations of Disneyland castles across the world. Stunning exhibit.
Walked up 5th Ave to Guggenheim, the ground was a slushy from the melted snow but there was some icicles on the bare trees.

A few blocks later we walked inside the Guggenheim and came back out. There was no art we wanted to see, mostly just wanted to see the building and the swirly spiral stairs.

Next stop was Museum of the City of New York, via Le Pain Quotidien. I got a apple oat latte with a brownie. Dan got a latte with a pain au chocolat.
The Museum of the City of New York was ok. My favourite part was the music second where it had artists from New York and a bit how Madonna travelled from Detroit to be a performer. I bought a jigsaw from the shop too.
By this point Dan was getting tired so we headed back towards the hotel. We passed Bloomingdale’s so went in to get some Clinique soap for my Nan. I wanted to go to CVS for some teeth whitening but it was quite pricey. Went back into Duane Reade close to the hotel and they had some for buy one, get one 50% off. I also got an eye brow brush, face powder and some setting spray. I dropped these back at the hotel then went back out on my own while Dan rested. I walked up to 5th Avenue and visited Five and Below, what an amazing store! So many things for a fraction of the price in other stores. I bought some gifts for family. I went into Barnes & Noble too and got my Mum a tote, unfortunately they don’t seem to stock many of these anymore but I found a nice one for $2.
Headed back to the hotel to drop off my bags and to get Dan. We got the 6 train to 33rd St and went for a snack at Panera Bread, shared a ‘choose two’ mac n cheese and a grilled cheese and a bag of crisps. I had another agave lemonade while Dan had an iced papaya and passionfruit green tea. I was aiming to get there for sunset, thankfully there wasn’t much of a line to get in but it was a little cloudy this evening so I’m not sure if that put people off heading up.
We got the lift up to the 80th floor and it seems to have changed since I last went up. On the 80th floor, there’s glass panels all around and you need to get another lift up to the 86th floor. Once up there, you can go outside to the observation deck.

Tonight was very windy so there was screams when the icy wind blew. Half of the observation deck was cornered off too due to the ice that was falling from the spire.

Unfortunately this was Central Park and Times Square side so we didn’t see those. However, we had a fantastic view of downtown as it began to get darker.

By 6.15, it was pitched black, except for the sparkling lights of the Manhattan skyline. I was too scared to take photographs because of the wind, Dan was brave and was willing to risk dropping his phone from the blustery wind.

We headed out around 7pm. Dan bought a notebook from the gift shop ($9.99 + tax) to stick some of his bits and bobs from the holiday, like museum tickets.

I quite fancied this just for the tin! But I’m not really a fan of Godiva chocolate.
Dan had his eye on trying one of the Korean restaurants so picked a vegan restaurant called Franchia and my gosh, it was a great choice!

I chose to have thai basil ‘duck’, which came on a sizzling plate with white rice ($21). I stuck with tap water as the drinks were pricey. Dan had a carafe of sake ($15) and crispy Korean chilli tofu ($20) with white rice.

There was the option to have brown rice instead if you wished.
Both dishes were delicious, however a little spicy for me so would ask for it milder in future. Headed back to our hotel and we spotted the Empire State Building was coloured blue and yellow for solidarity with Ukraine.

We got the 6 subway back. When we subway arrived, Dan jumped on and I was right behind him but the doors closed before I could get in! I was so surprised and I ended up screaming. I burst out laughing, thankfully so messaged Dan to tell him to meet me at the station we intended to get off at (51st St, two stops away) but Dan ended up messaged me to say he got off at the next stop (Grand Central) and will meet me on the train I get on. Met back up safe and sound and continued our journey back to the hotel. Started to pack and finally finished around 11pm. My bags felt significantly heavier from the Bath and Bodyworks goodies I bought.
Crawled into bed at 11.40 for my final night at the Benjamin before we head home. 😭

20,745 steps
9.3 miles

Travel day home