New York Day 1: Views, steak and cheesecake!
After 18 hours of solid packing we were pretty tired as we woke for the journey to Gatwick at 04:30 am. Our 7 hour flight to New York was realtively uneventful, but it was a shame that Simon and I didnt manage to get seats next to each other. I noticed that as the food went round those (including the Orthadox Jew 2 rows in front) who had ordered Kosher food got very nice looking dinners that were substantially larger than the regular meals which also arrived 30 mins later than the Kosher food! If you ever have to travel on Continental airlines that might be worth a try!
Once we had checked into our ‘EconoLodge’ - classy hotel that it isn’t - we decided our first meal in New York would be our ‘Blow Out’ meal, we were able to enjoy it because we hadn’t been here long enough for our stomachs to be corrupted with rich American food (I was so ill when we went to Texas for SXSW06). Our chosen venue was Del Frisco’s Double Eagle Steak House, fresh bread was constantly brought to our table, I think we ate two whole loaves, it was lovely! I ordered a Manhattan - corny I know! which I realised I didn’t like all that much after all! For starters I ordered crab cakes in Cajun sauce, which was quite spicy but wonderful. It was the steak though that really stole the show, 8oz of Fillet Mignon (the only 8oz steak on the menu), I didn’t know meat could taste like that!
Full of delicious steak we went to the ‘Top of the Rock’ at the Rockefeller / GE building for a sunset view. We had it on good recommendation that this was better than going up the Empire state building because there are less queues and you get to see the Empire state building, also turns out that it was where the famous photo of the men on the girder was taken. It was wonderful, such an amazing view, well worth a visit if you come to New York. Afterwards we went hunting for cheesecake which I found surprisingly full of sugar and without the lovely crushed biscuits I was expecting. A nice stroll back to the EconoLodge took us via Broadway and Times square