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.

For today we had a helicopter flight planned but due to the weather everything went a little bit different today. We woke up early so we would be at the helicopter platform on time. We arrive 45 minutes early but we didn’t knew what to expect from a monday morning rush-hour in the subway.

At 9 o’clock we were allowed to enter the and it already started to rain so I asked or it wasn’t a better idea to reschedule the trip. This wasn’t the necessary we were told, although the weather radar told it would only get worse. At 10 o’clock, our departure time, the group with the departure at 9:30 was still waiting inside the building. I asked again what the changes were and at 10:40 finally someone made a decision: We are not flying today! After waiting for the rescheduling of the flight to next Wednesday it was already 11 o’clock and it was pouring outside.

We walked back to the subway station near the Staten Island Ferry and made new plans for today. When it rains it means you need to stay inside, 😉 So we decided to go…..surprise: SHOPPING!!! First we made a selection of stores we’d like to go to and then figured out how the subway route would be:

1. At Whitehall St/South Ferry: Subway Line R towards 34 St/Heralds Sq
2. Shop at Victoria’s Secrets
3. At 34 St/Heralds Sq: Subway Line M towards 5 Ave/53 St
4. Shop at Tommy Hilfiger
5. At 5 Ave/53 St: Subway Line M towards 47-50 St/Rockefeller Ctr
6. Lunch at T.G.I. Friday
7. Shop at Michael Kors
8. Shop at Sunglass Hut
9. Walked back to the hotel

And there is the big question which sunglasses should Danielle get as a birthday present from my mother?

We stayed almost dry and had a lot of fun, I guess we are becoming New York City Subway Experts or maybe I should be honest there is an App for that (Embark NYC). When Danielle was unpacking her new items she found out that one of the dresses had a stain so we needed to go back to the store which meant we had a second subway adventure today.

1. At Times Sq/42 St: Walk underground to 42 St/Port Authority Bus Terminal
2. At 42 St/Port Authority Bus Terminal: Subway Line E towards 5 Ave/53 St
3. Exchange dress at Tommy Hilfiger
4. Shop for more new items at Tommy Hilfiger
5. Shop at the Apple Store
6. At 5 Ave/59 St: Subway Line R towards Times Sq/42 St

There we bought some fruit and water at the Walgreens before we went back to the hotel. And we were so tired that we went to bed early because the 5th day of our trip is a very special one!