Welcome To The Big Apple

I am finally rid of the cursed rental car, for that I am entirely grateful. I hadn't even pulled the thing into the rental return at JFK than a crowd of Hertz staff gathered around me in amazement that I had driven it all the way from Dallas. I gave them the keys and my credit card and was it was no longer my problem. Then it was the ride into New York City.

I booked a town car because for the ride I am taking they are cheaper than a cab and far quicker then Uber. My ride into the Big Apple was everything I hoped it could be. For my driver English was his eleventh language. In one final insult the car was a Chevy Suburban. Basically it was the four wheel drive station wagon version of the Chevy Silverado that had taunted me the entire drive. While dodging in and out of lanes, no wait that's not right, he was never in a lane, taking calls on his cell phone in a language spoken by only two other people from a province near Kathmandu we made our way into the city. The most critical piece of driving equipment was the horn and the hand gesture, normally employed simultaneously. It was great. I had a sensational view of the skyline. My heart rate was pumping. I had a arrived. I was in New York City.

I checked into my room at The Hotel Chandler and was pleasantly surprised to find that I could not touch all four walls from the middle of the bed (the hotel rooms in New York are notorious for being tiny). Mine has a desk, a couple of arm chairs and even a king size bed. So now its 3.00pm and what do you do? Well you hit the streets. So having only had a donut and coffee for breakfast I hit some bar and had pizza and a glass of wine. Back to the hotel now and its time to go exploring. I'm in New York so where do you start?

The hotel is on 31st Street between Madison Avenue and 5th Avenue so it couldn't be more central. I asked for a few dinner recommendations and was given three. The first one was on 47th Street and overlooked Rockefeller Plaza, or as they like to call it here "The Rock". 

It had a cast of thousands so I decided that as Broadway was a few blocks over I would walk down the theatre district, through Times Square and try the second place which was on 41st Street. It was Saturday night in New York and everyone was out. The theatre district was pumping.

I the tried to find the second place and must have got my directions crossed and gave up and headed for the third. It was on 28th and 5th where I had an excellent steak. I finished the meal with a 16 year old Lagavulin on the rocks. My heart raced when he brought it out. My club manager self was going this will mess with the stocktake. My tourist self said this single nip was extremely good value. In the photo below I have already taken a sip. There are three nips in here at least. As a side note the guys sitting next me ordered Remy Martin Louis XIII cognac at $285 a glass (I saw them get three). They were not quite as generous with their measuring for that particular drink.

So tomorrow is another day with absolutely nothing planned. I may try to walk the Brooklyn Bridge.