Saturday dawned a beautiful sunny day with temperature above the freezing mark with little wind so it made for a great day sight seeing.
We began our day with a trip to the Empire State Building and a tour of the grand old building which was opened in 1931 and built for about $27M while today it is undergoing a $350M reno. In this tour you are taken to the 80th floor where you check out the history of the building and see how it was constructed. From there you are taken to the 86th floor where you can go outside to check out New York from the viewing area around the building. On one end of the building it was quite cold as you were open to the wind. From there you could go the 102nd floor to get a view of New York but this one was from the inside viewing area. An interesting aspect of this was that all the buildings seemed closer from the 102nd floor. There are some photos below.
From there we made our way along 5th Avenue to Eatily which is a high end Italian food market/mall chain which includes inside 7 different restaurants where you can enjoy just about any type of food. We tried out some Italian pasta and pizza for lunch - as well as some wine.
After lunch we visited the NYC Public Library which even though had tons of books, it seem like most people were on computers or using some electronic device. Times have changed. After we left the library we went to NBC Studios for a tour which included the sets of shows of Dr. Oz, Jimmy Fallon and Saturday Night Live. We also got to sit at the News Desk to get our photo taken which we didn't buy and got to check out some other areas of the studio. Unfortunately you weren't allowed to take photos in there.
Having left NBC Studios we were on our way to our hotel to rest before going to see Al Pacino in Glengary Glen Ross on Broadway when I noticed some activity with tv cameras across the street from our hotel. It was at a hotel called the Sofitel so I went to check it out and lo and behold the NHL PA and the owners were in meetings inside to end the strike. I ended up befriending a couple of cameramen - one from TSN and the other from Sportsnet - so I went back regularly for updates. I continued until after midnight. It was settled about 5:00am in the morning so I missed that part.
In the evening we went to see Al Pacino in Glengary Glen Ross on Broadway and he was amazing. He had starred in a movie of the same name in 1992 and was nominated for an Oscar. In the play he played a different role but was great.
After the movie we finished off the evening with Dinner at Frankie and Johnnie's Restaurant. After dinner we made our way back to our hotel through Times Square and Rockefeller Plaza with a detour to the Sofitel to check up on the hockey negotiations.
Enjoy.
Barry
Here we are at the Empire State Building.
Gladys checks out some info on the tour.
Here we are on the 102nd floor.
Greg and Gladys on the windy side! It is cool.
Checking out the history on the 80th floor.
Chrysler Building - one with the pointy top!
View from another side.
Another view of midtown Manhattan.
Central Park in the top left.
Looking out over New Jersey on the other side.
Notice the cage on the waterfront - where the Titanic was supposed to dock!
View from another side.
Too much high rises.
Another view looking uptown Manhattan.
Central Park again top left.
Flat Iron District.
Another photo of the Flatiron District building.
Stunning architecture.
We are on Broadway!
Times Square.
Al Pacino signing autographs outside theater.
Cheryl's closeup of Pacino. He's having fun.
Nice way to increase your parking.
We looked but didn't go in!
Greg and Cheryl at Eatily.
Checking out the rooftop restaurant at Eatily.
Penn Station.
Few of the many Yellow Cabs in New York.
Sofitel. Notice the cameras outside.
Almost midnight at Rockefeller Plaza.
Madison Square Garden
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