The travels of Tim and Megan: New York, New York: Part 2

Monday

Monday was another massive day. We got up early and headed for the Empire State building, via Dunkin Donuts for breakfast!!! We had been advised to get to the Empire State building early to avoid queues, and it worked a treat. We went straight in and up the 90-odd floors to the observation deck. The views from the top were breath-taking. Out to the west we could see across the Hudson River to New Jersey, to the east Brooklyn and Queens, to the south the financial district, where the Twin Towers were and the Statue of Liberty off in the distance, and to the north, Central Park and down 5th Ave to the rest of the city. We spent well over an hour up there, listening to "Tony" on the audio guide, pointing out some of the buildings, bridges etc and giving us a little history lesson about each one!

It is unbelievable that such a massive building was put together in a little over one year, and even more so when you consider it is right in the middle of Manhattan. The steel beams that form the frame of the building had to be dropped off by truck at the exact time they were needed to be fitted, as there was obviously no room to store them next to the building site, like they usually do. So it must have been a logistal nightmare. We discovered that only 5 workers were killed during construction, which was a magnificent effort, as they had "budgeted" for one fatality per floor (around 100 in total) which was the norm at the time!

The rest of the morning was spent shopping. Megan shopped up a storm at Macys, Banana Republic, Bloomingdales and various other stores. She bought some really cool clothes, including a pink Rainbow Brite T-shirt! Meanwhile, Tim was searching Manhattan for a New York Yankees jersey with Jeter on the back. He eventually struck it lucky in a store in Times Square, and is now the proud owner of a limited edition Derek Jeter Yankees jersey.

After lunch, we headed over to Greenwich, which is a student area, quite arty and laid back. There were loads of really cool restaurants, bars and cafes and a lot of fun shops selling art, clothing, jewellery, etc. We also sat and rested in George Washington square. It was nice to see some grass for a change! The main reason we had visited Greenwich, however, was to go to the world famous cup cake shop, as featured in Sex and the City! The little corner shop was bursting at the seams, so we bought a couple of cup cakes and escaped while we could, across the road to a little park to eat them. They were very good, quite rich but well worth the journey! Word of warning for anyone planning on going to the cup cake shop: the icing melts very quickly in 30 deg temperatures and has a tendency to explode all over you. Eat with caution. Right around the corner from the cup cake shop is Perry Street, where Carrie Bradshaw supposedly lived in Sex and the City. Megan was proud as punch to get a photo on the steps of what we think was her apartment...

The evening saw us catch a train to Flushing Meadow in Queens to see the opening night of the US Open at Arthur Ashe Stadium. We didn't know until we arrived, but there was an opening ceremony / tribute to Althea Gibson (an African American female tennis player of the past, who struggled against racism and sexism to succeed in tennis and pave the way for future African American players). She passed away a few years ago, but was inducted in to the "Court of Champions" at Arthur Ashe Stadium on Monday night. As part of the ceremony, Aretha Franklin performed what else but R-E-S-P-E-C-T, and various people including New York mayor Michael Bloomberg and former tennis great Billie Jean King spoke. Then in very American fashion, we had a brass band play and some marines marched in with a huge American flag while the anthem played. Then there were some fireworks and finally...some tennis.

Fitting with the tribute to Althea Gibson, Venus Williams and Serena Williams were on centre court for the night session and both demolished their respective opponents with ease. Venus was absolutely brilliant to watch; she is such an amazing athlete, so agile and graceful, while little sis stood behind the baseline and bashed her opponent off the court with sheer power. There was at least one big name celebrity in the crowd, with Janet Jackson appearing on the big screen several times between games. Both girls spoke very well after their matches; they come across as very down to earth and humble, rare in tennis players these days! And especially rare for two who between them have 14 grand slam singles titles and 3 Olympic gold medals!

It appears that the "City that never sleeps" closes just before midnight on a Monday night, as we struggled to get an ice cream on the way home. Disappointing.