Arrived Thursday 13th April lunchtime. Flew BA from Manchester to JFK - great flight, good entertainment. Got ourselves nicely confused when we arrived and ended up getting on the Skytrain to nowhere!!! Managed to make our way back to the terminal we arrived at and got the Supershuttle bus to our hotel. Stayed at the Jolly Hotel Madison Towers on the corner of Madison Avenue and 38th Street. Decent hotel, very small room, but didn't complain cos we weren't in the room for much of the time anyway!
One thing I was very pleased about was that I thought each block was going to be a long walk - but it wasn't. We walked to Times Square once we'd unpacked and it only took us 15 minutes - not bad for a first walk!
We were less than 10 minutes away from Grand Central Station and Empire State Building, so we had chosen well.
Friday we went on a 3-hour cruise around Manhattan with Circle Line - very good, got to see a lot. Only downside was it rained! We then had a 17 minute helicopter flight with Liberty, again very good, but it rained! We then ran from the heliport (at the end of 34th Street and 10th Avenue) and sought shelter before heading into Macys to purchase an umbrella. Yes, I know, I should have taken one with me, but this is the first time I've been on holiday without one, and we needed it! We ate out at Michael Jordan's Steak Restaurant at Grand Central that night. Fantastic food, fantastic price too, but we came away very full. Had drinks at Metrazur across the terminal, so a nice evening.
Saturday we did a 3-hour walking food tour of Greenwich Village. We were eating pizza at 10.30am - a first for us, but very enjoyable. We had walked down to GV from the hotel, took us about 45 minutes but we had a very casual stroll, so not bad. After the food tour we walked down to the Financial District, specifically to see Ground Zero. It was the hottest day of the year so far and we did get some sunburn - again, didn't take suncream! The walk took us about 40 minutes. Had a good look round, went to Battery Park and decided to walk back to the hotel
Hubbie thought it wouldn't be too far - it took us over an hour-and-half of brisk walking to get back to the hotel! Oh well, it was something different! We went to Hard Rock for something to eat in the evening. It was packed out, but we weren't in a hurry so just sat at the bar until our table was ready. You know what to expect at Hard Rock, and we're never disappointed, so a good meal again.East Sunday saw us doing a bit of shopping, walking down 5th Avenue for the Easter Parade, then getting on a horse and carriage for a trip round Central Park. I think we needed this after the amount of walking we did the day before. We ate at the Italian Restaurant in Grand Central Station (yes, I know, but it's just round the corner!) and it was lovely. Had drinks back at the hotel for a change but we were in bed for 11.00pm cos we were so tired!
Monday saw us up early to queue for the Empire State. It was OK - reminded me of Blackpool tower! Had breakfast at a diner and then went off to explore some more and do a bit more shopping. We went up to the top of the Rockefeller Centre - now that was more like it. The views from there were incredible - not as high as the Empire State, but I thought it was better. Each to their own though. This was the day that the ice-skating rink was being replaced with plants and trees for the summer. We had seen the ice-rink the other evening and the day before, so were lucky. We went to Bryant Park which is behind the Central Library - they have chairs and tables out for people to use. Hubbie decided that it would be nicer to sit in the bar area of the restaurant there and have a beer (or two!). Weather was superb. That night we ate at a little Mexican restaurant in Times Square. Had drinks at Hard Rock and Planet Hollywood afterwards before getting (our first) a yellow taxi back to the hotel.
Tuesday was our last day so we just walked up Park Avenue and looked at various things before heading back to the hotel for our Supershuttle return to the airport. This took us nearly an hour because of the traffic. No problems checking in but had a long wait on the plane before taking off due to the amount of traffic in front of us. Not that it worried us though. Again, had a great flight back.
We booked the following before leaving Manchester:
Circle Line cruise
Helicopter flight
Food tour of Greenwich Village
Glad we did everything - we saw nearly as much as we could without being too bored. Anyway, hope you enjoy reading this!
Gill
yep I love my food 
I think I need to be like this... 
