Well played NY

Today was a great day!

New York did not want us to see it from it's glorious heights. A few attempts at both the western hemisphere's tallest building (One World Trace Centre) and a NYC landmark in stylish Bar65 at the Rainbow Room (Rockefeller Centre) were thwarted by another feature of the city itself - the bloody weather.
However, over the last couple of days we triumphed!
In fairness Bar65's first go was a dress code issue, the second time it was closed for the New Year holiday, and when we did actually make it there on Tuesday evening we might as well have been in the world's most expensive underground bar given the cloud. Nonetheless, it was a super-chic place where the world's rich & famous have been sipping/sniffing/snogging away for decades.

Today, when the clouds blew over we were rewarded with some spectacular views. First, we beat the lines by getting to One World Trade Center real early to get tickets and it was well worth it.

It's a bit of a cliche, but it truly was an experience more than just a view.  The theatric effects were awesome.  For example, on all 4 walls of the lift, there was a high-def digital fly-by from the foundations underground through to the clouds above as you ascend.

While we're on the topic of spectacular views, by pure luck we timed our round trip ferry to Staten Island perfectly; daylight sail-by the Statue of Liberty:

and, Manhattan cityscape by night:

This wasn't the end of our memorable experiences today.  One of the highlights of the trip was a walking tour of SoHo, Little Italy (including the famous mob strip of Mulberry Street) and Chinatown. The guide shared so much "stuff" we have no chance of remembering it all. Some examples included the history of the names for Wall Street (Dutch built an actual wall to keep the British out), and Canal Street (a canal was dug to drain a polluted pond when lower Manhattan was still industrial), and loads of architectural insights.
We had the history of both Italian and Chinese immigration detailed for us, as were the origins of SoHo/NoHo (South and North of Houston Street) and Tribeca (Triangle Below Canal St).

We walked passed Heath Ledger's apartment (where he also died), the old Police Headquarters building which is now luxury apartments (where Leo Dicaprio used to live, and Cher still does).
Tour finished in Chinatown at lunchtime which was ideal as we were starving. The guide warned us that the best fried dumplings in town were served by an asian female version of the soup nazi from Seinfeld. Sure enough, she was a little gruff but we paid the princely sum of $5 for two heaped plates of fare that definitely lived up to the billing.

Prior to today's fun, the weather was pretty miserable for two days so we did as much indoors type stuff as we could. Spent a few hours at MoMA (Museum of Modern Art), walked around Brooklyn in the rain for a while (which did not include the most famous pizzeria in the city, but did confirm the love for queuing up in rain, hail or shine).

The rain was incessant:

So, we scheduled in a few coffee breaks and tried a Brooklyn traditional Whoopie Pie (cookie) :)

Thankfully, both nights' activities were indoors - NBA at the Barclay Centre (Brooklyn Nets v Utah Jazz) in Brooklyn and Ice hockey at Madison Square Garden (Rangers v Sabres).  It is a pity that both home teams lost, because it flattened the atmosphere somewhat, but fun for us nonetheless.  So much entertainment in between play: celebrity onscreen spotting, competitions, dancers etc.  The funniest was a mid-match showcase of little ones (5-10 year olds) playing ice hockey and spending more time trying to stay upright on ice than actually playing.

On reflection, although it feels like we've been really busy doing stuff, we only scratched the surface of this mega city.  It grew on us progressively, and we can see how others have fallen in love with it.  You do need plenty of time to enjoy it.

Tips:

• choose accommodation further out and get a decent place to stay (our apartment was pretty ordinary which made us want to avoid spending time here); the subways are really good and take you anywhere you want to go quickly and cheaply (we had no need to even catch a cab anywhere) 
• good coffee is available, but don't ask for a long black, as you will only get drip...it took a few to work out you ask for an Americano!
• be prepared to be padded down and body scanned a lot 
• Food safety inspections are common and result in each eatery getting a rating that must be displayed in the window for consumers' information.  A = A ok, B =  Be careful, C =  C you later.  These are displayed for the duration between inspections, which might be as long as 3 months before they are changed.  We wish we knew about it earlier, not that we had any problems; and the food surpassed our expectations.

Off to Cuba tomorrow morning.  Last post for a while, pending internet access over there.