This morning we set off to the Empire State Building. We were a little worried as it was still quite cloudy, but was a lot clearer than the previous day.

The Empire State Building tops out at 1250 feet (the later antenna mast rises to 1454 feet) and contains 2,850,000 rentable square feet, making it one of the largest office buildings in the world. The Empire State Building required 57,000 tons of steel, 10 million bricks, 62,000 cubic yards of concrete, 10,000 tons of plaster, 6,514 windows, 6,700 radiators and 70 elevators installed in 7 miles of shafts and 120 miles of hoisting ropes. Pretty impressive if you ask me!

We were warned visibility wasn’t great, and that we wouldn’t be able to see too far but we proceeded all the way to the 80th floor. Thankfully they had a lift! Luckily, we had great views of the Chrysler building and all the other high rise blocks across the city. It was especially great being able to go on the outside viewing platform on the 86th floor. A great photo opportunity.

After this, we went to Central Park. It had really brightened up and we took a horse ride around Central Park. I felt like a real tourist, but it was a great opportunity to see a lot of the park, (as with 840 acres in total, it would take a while) as well as being able to take a break from the exhausting walking!

We saw the bridges, where Elf and Home Alone are filmed, and the fountain where the opening credits of friends was filmed. We also saw the centre point of New York, hence the name Central Park.

We then grabbed a bite to eat, and sat in the park and watched a couple of guys play the drums and saxophone. This was really enjoyable and nice to spend a little time watching the world go by.

It was now time to head to Times Square. We wanted to see it in the daylight, as well as after dark. So we walked here from Central Park and mooched about. We stopped and watched a fun street show, where a group of guys jumped over various members of the audience. This was really fun! We did a spot of shopping, though not too much for my bank balance. If only…

By this time, we had certainly worked up an appetite. We went to Ellen’s Stardust diner. A fun place where your waiters sing and dance on the tables. This was a really good end to the evening, being able to sing, dance and clap away whilst enjoying traditional American diner food and shakes. Over 200 waiters from the diner have gone on to fulfil their dreams and appear on broadway.

We finally caught the subway back to our hotel, after enjoying the hustle and bustle of Times Square after dark, with all the bright lights. A good nights rest, was what we needed after an extremely long day. Ready (or not) to do it all again the following morning.