Jimmy In New York : Day 5

The plan was, for the last day that we were going to book a hotel close to the airport because our flight was scheduled to leave at 7am. We really liked staying in Manhattan, and the Pod Hotel was quite comfortable both in location and cleanliness.

I'm really getting hooked on those Ess-A-Bagels so much that we're going to have a hard time finding the equivalent in Tokyo. This morning I had a "Chocolate Chip" cream cheese and she had a "Very Berry". A little bit too sweet, but they were both delicious.

We went to the Met, the Metropolitan Museum of Art. I didn't want to be there too long. It's such a large place we zipped through the places that interested us the most, namely the Roman and Egyptian, and Japanese art exhibits.

From there we went to the Guggenheim Museum.

We didn't go in. We would've been totally burnt out if we did. I took a few photos from outside, then we went into Central Park around the Jackie Kennedy Onassis Reservoir.

One "landmark" I wanted to check out was the Seinfeld diner, Tom's Restaurant. (Also "Tom's Diner", the Suzanne Vega song). From the outside I could see that it looked nothing like the Seinfeld set.

At that moment I thought it'd be cool to go to the "Soup Nazi" Soup Kitchen International, but looks like I'm quite a few years too late. Also was a bit disappointing I didn't get to see the CBGBs facade either.

We walked to the nearby Columbia University where we sat on the library steps where I picked up some free wifi.

I wanted to go to the Rockefeller Center before dusk, so we could go to the "Top of the Rock" observation deck during the day and the lights at night. In my opinion I think the view from here is superior to the Empire State Building.

One highlight of the Manhattan skyline is the Empire State itself and the Rockefeller is in a great mid-Manhattan position which shows off Lower Manhattan to the south and Central Park in the north.
By day..
.. And at night.

We would have stayed there longer, but I thought we'd have one last crack at the cancellation line for "Wicked". Nope, we missed out. I'm happy I still got these panoramas looking really good. I did another for Times Square.
..And one more of the rooftop view from the Pod Hotel.


For the whole trip I'd taken about 466 photos. I managed to squeeze them in a New York Minute (and a half). Don't blink or you'll miss something. Look carefully for that pesky Battery Park squirrel!

Thank You New York for the most interesting experience. Worlds away from Japan, and another world away from where I'm from. It's definitely help me understand the New Yorkers that I've met here in Japan.

I'll be back again someday, for sure. But next time it won't be via San Francisco. It's the longest 6 hour flight you could imagine. Still 'Frisco looked great from the plane. Might be a worthwhile destination to visit.