Our last full day today and it is raining... heavily. We have done and seen so many places that actually our 12 days have not passed too quickly and if I am honest, we are beginning to tire a bit with our long days walking. We have taken the subway quite a bit to cover longer distances but prefer walking then, as we see so much more and often it takes longer walking underground between platforms than simply walking overground.
As we have decided to brave the subway to the airport tomorrow, Colin wanted to check just how feasible that actually is and whether the subway stations have lifts or escalators. We headed to Fulton Street which will be the interchange between lines and were reassured that there are both escalators and lifts so we should be ok with luggage. To make our diversion worth while we walked to the edge of the Hudson and found the memorial to the Titanic which was of course traveling to New York before it sank.
The rain continued all day and we found - at long last - we found a great little independent coffee shop which did a great flat white and cinnamon Danish nearby to the monument. We avoided some of the rain and took the subway to Grand Central again and popped in for one last look at the Grand Concourse. Then we headed to the foyer of the Chrysler building. We have seen it from all angles from on high when we were at the top of the World Trade Centre and Rockefeller building but not actually close up. The foyer, like that in the Empire State Building, was a fantastic version of Art Deco architecture and even the door handles and light fittings are original. The building is privately owned but we were still able to have a good look around.
Another walk in the rain again through Times Square but this time we continued straight along the East 34th to the photography mecca of B&H. I have known about this shop for a number of years and friends from the photo club have visited it but it did not prepare me for two floors of kit and a great system of ceiling attached conveyor belts transporting items around the shop. Despite being tempted with a new 5D Mk4 and a new model of 24-70mm f/2.8... I kept a tight hold on my credit card and instead bought two 77mm and two 58mm lens caps! It was well worth the experience and I have a B&H bag to keep as a memento of our visit!
We finished our day with a final early dinner in our favourite food court - Hudson Place nearby to the World Trade Centre. It was still raining and the cloud was low over the high-rises. I decided to skip the salad and go for my usual delicious brisket on a roll, fries with a pot of broccoli and almonds in almond milk and a pint of Allergash beer - Mmmm!
