The only bad thing about a trip to NYC is that you need to wake up early every day since there is so much to do and today even more as we actually had in mind, but that means more experiences. We started with a walk towards Penn Station where we would meet our guide and the tour-group for the Food on Foot tour. As usual we were a bit early and need to wait a little bit till it was 10:20 before the tour would start. The group existed of about 30 people with all different nationalities with made the tour even more interesting.

Soon we started and left the station for the first food stop at New York Pizza Suprema. Here we shared a slice of a regular pizza and it was really delicious. From there we walked to the subway station at 34 Street/Penn Station where we took the Subway Line E towards 50 Street.

After a short walk we arrived at a Mexican Deli called Tehuitzingo Deli where we shared a Mexican Chicken Taco and then there was the first sweet stop we went to the Sullivan Street Bakery to have a caramel tart (Danielle), chocolate tart (me) and a chocolate cookie (me) which we ate in a park nearby.

Now we were half way during the tour and we had still 3 stops to go and we felt already full although we shared the food which was inexpensive by now we only spend $ 23,50. The next stop was at City Sandwich a restaurant from a cook born in Naples, raised in NYC and cooked in Lisbon which had the most interesting sandwiches on the menu. Again we shared and we went for the Salvatore sandwich which is a chicken breast sandwich.

From he we walked down a couple blocks to get something sweet a greek bakery called Poseidon, I went for the Apple Strudel. And then it was time for the last stop which was at Shake Shack near our hotel. At this stop we went for the Double Cup with Frozen Custard (Vanilla & Chocolate) and we were stuffed.

It was still a bit to early to go directly to the second experience of the day so we went back to the hotel to give our feet some rest from this close to 4 kilometer walk through Manhattan.

At 3.15 we left to the South Ferry again for the at the helicopter dock. And this time we had more luck the weather was great with almost no wind and clear blue skies. We waited about 50 minutes before the boarding procedure started. We walked over the deck and had a picture taken in front of the helicopter. This picture would be free for us due to the long wait we had on monday.

We got both seated near the window and soon the helicopter took off. We first flew in the direction of Liberty Island to wave at Lady Liberty and then we flew down the Hudson to look at all the highlights of Manhattan. At the Yankee Stadium we turned around and flew back to the Brooklyn bridge before we landed. The tour took about 20 minutes and it was amazing to fly in a helicopter and see all those landmark buildings, I guess we were lucky with this operator since they didn’t fly monday instead of some of the other companies because it’s all about the views. For everyone who wants to know we flew with Zip Aviation.

After this amazing experience we decided to do something we haven’t done during this trip yet, we went shopping. First we took the subway towards 34 Street/Herald Square because I wanted to go Macy’s were I saw a nice vest yesterday but didn’t bought for some reason. A kind salesman helped us when I was searching for the right size. He asked or I would buy it, I said if it fits and the price is right yes. He answered size is no problem and I will make the price right, he gave us 2 discounts which save us 40%.

From the men’s department we went to the women’s department where Danielle was lucky again she found to dresses and had a discount from over 60%. From 34 Street/Herald Square we took the subway line Q towards Lexington Ave/59 St to visit the Victoria’s Secret because the semi-anual sale is just started. After successful hopping here I wanted to have a look at the new Apple Time Capsule because that might become the next Apple item in our apartment.

We both were tired and our feet are not fit anymore after 6 days in New York but we decided to walk back the hotel from there. And as a treat we made a brief stop at the Magnolia Bakery for some cupcakes before we arrived at our hotel.

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.