We had no plans for today but in the end we’ve done a ton of things after we had a lazy morning. At 10 o’clock we left the hotel walked to the subway station at 47-50 Sts/Rockefeller Ctr from where we took the subway line M towards 5 Av/53 St. After exiting the station it was raining but we were close to our goal, the Museum of Modern Art at 53 Street.

At the museum we watched at all the floors and the most interesting items where from Andy Warhol, Vincent van Gogh and a big part of the contemporary section. Furthermore art museums is not our kind of museum to see and we guess that it was also a bit to crowded, probably because of the weather forecast. After we left the museum we wanted to visit the ‘Rain Room’ a room where it’s not raining when someone stands there. But when we learned that the wait was over 3 hours we decided to do something else.

We walked from there towards the Shops at Columbia Circle at the corner of 8th Avenue and 59th street. The shops were nice and it wasn’t crowded but we didn’t came for shopping, did that surprise you? We came to lunch at Porter House, they had a 3-course Park View lunch for only $25 which included a mushroom soup, a petite filet mignon and a NY cheesecake combined with a nice wine. It was delicious and the price was right. After lunch we went out and took the subway line C at the 59 St/Columbus Circle to get to 14 St.

At 14 St we walked to Chelsea Market. Chelsea Market could be described as a huge food mall with a lot of sweet food. You’ll find lobster, doughnuts, cookies, sushi, freshly brewed beer and more in a very good-looking building. And although we had eaten enough we both got appetite and went for a cupcake at Ruthy’s Bakery which is specialized in 3D baking. Danielle ate Cookie Monster and I went for Big Bird.

Since the weather was still nice we wanted to walk outside and we were near to Highline park so we decided to walk uptown through this park. Highline park is a long park build on top of a former elevated rail line which has a very nice design and gives some nice views at Manhattan.

After we walked from 14th Street uptown to 30th street we walked towards 34 St/Penn Station where we took the subway line C towards 42 St/Port Authority Bus Terminal from where we walked to our hotel over times Square.

In the hotel we partially packed our suitcases and we are still below the maximum weight. We also made a reservation for transportation to the airport for tomorrow since it might be raining and when it rains it’s difficult to get a taxi.

for the evening we had an appointment with Glenn, unfortunately Gina wasn’t able to come since she was ill, but we had still fun at the Irish pub near our hotel. It came to our mind that we’ve seen Glenn on every single US Vacation we’ve had, we’ve seen wedding photos from last year, we ate a burger, drank Irish beer, had a laugh and at about 11 o’clock it was time to say goodbye because we fly back home tomorrow.

Half way down the trip and we were both tired from all experiences we have had so far that Danielle suggested to sleep late on her birthday. I was okay with that although I knew that she would wake up early anyway because I had a surprise for her a breakfast in the room to start her 29th birthday!

Then we made plans for the day, Danielle wanted to do something outdoor in the morning since the sun was shining. We decided to walk to the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space exhibition which is located on a flight-deck ship which was used from 1943 till 1974. Normally the space shuttle Enterprise would be visible but due to damage caused by Sandy the pavilion wasn’t opened yet, I guess we’re just not so lucky this time. But we have seen a Space Shuttle before but it would have been cool since it was the only still existing space shuttle in the world which we haven’t seen in real life yet. After visiting the exhibit we found a geocache which was located nearby the flight-deck ship.

From there we walked back to the room to check or our air conditioning was working again and it wasn’t actually broken but set at 18,5 degrees Celsius it freezes. But it worked again and then Danielle suggested to get a piece of birthday cake since she didn’t had any yet, so we went across the street to Café Un Deux Trois to drink a cocktail and eat a piece of New York Cheesecake with a ‘never ending candle’ brought by the singing staff of the restaurant. I love to mention that Danielle is a birthday girl…

Then we walked to Bryant Park, along the public library and there we took the subway towards 23 Street and we walked a long the Flatiron Building towards the Museum of Sex. According to the website this should be very interesting about the history of sex and more but it wasn’t. But at least is was free admission with our New York pass.

From here we walked to Herald Square to visit the Macy’s the biggest department store of the world. It’s not the nicest looking one and it’s also not the most convenient one but they have a lot to choose from. And again we were successful. First Danielle went to the Sunglass Hut @ Macy’s to use the international visitors saving card to get Sunglass #2 (Danielle says: Thank you Ineke). but Danielle wasn’t really happy with me since I got the whole staff of the department singing Happy Birthday for her, but I can’t leave it to surprise her everywhere and at every possible occasion.

After the show Daniele found a nice shirt and two shorts where I left with a royal blue chino from Tommy Hilfiger for only $49,98. It was almost 5 o’clock but Danielle wanted to have a short look at the Victoria’s Secret since we had seen bags with ‘SALE’ on the street. And there was as ale going on and we decided to leave directly since some ladies were almost fighting each other over panties and bra’s and we didn’t want to mix us in it.

From 34 St/Herald Sq we took the subway back to Times Square and went back to the hotel to dress up for the party at the Dopo Teatro-Trattoria across the street from our hotel. At 7 o’clock Gina and Glenn joined us for a nice italian dinner where Danielle got the last surprise of the day a nice dessert with birthday wishes.

After dinner Gina and Glenn left because they needed to work tomorrow. But we continued the day with a subway ride from Times Square/42nd Street towards 34 Street/Herald Square.

From Herald Square from there we walked to the Empire State Building for a view over the city that never sleeps at night. Up till the 80th floor there was no waiting line but for the last six floors there was a wait from about 30 minutes so we decided to skip and walk the last floors, we were up stairs in no time and there it was windy.

After taking the pictures we’d liked to go downstairs but unfortunately there was a waiting line again so I decided to ask or we could walk downstairs instead of wait and this was possible. After leaving the building we walked uptown over 5 Avenue until we reached West 44th street where we turned left towards our hotel to write this blog and get some sleep after this long end busy day.

Danielle had a wonderful day she told me and I will be honest I had a blast myself too.