Downtown Manhattan

As we knew today was going to be on the warmer side once again, we got up early and trained up towards Central Park. We signed up for a 10am bike tour as we figured it’d been the best way to sightsee around the 10km radius of this beautiful city centrepiece. It’s obviously a big business as we had to swim through a sea of sign-waving men tempting us with their deals for bikes 🚲 but we went with a local company with sub-par reviews 👍🏼
At 10.05am the 16 of us plus our guide Barsha (from Russia....) started our 2 hour venture with praying enthusiasm....until one of the bikes went 💥!!! The dooverwacker on some girls gear thing broke in half, so one urgent Russian phone call to HQ, 5 minutes and a new bike later we were on our way. Until another bike failed, less epically this time. Our tour guide remained optimistic and things went smoothly for the rest of the tour 🙏 To be honest, knowing how untrustworthy the bikes were, I spent most of the time being paranoid and making bee lines for ideal exit routes should MY brakes fail.

Times Square was amazing but an immediate assault on the senses, so we retreated to the M&M shop...big mistake. Who knew there was a land beyond peanut, crispy and mini m&ms?!

We followed the crowds to Rockefeller Centre where we made our way up to the top floor- the view of Manhattan including Central Park offered a far more impressive perspective than from downtown at One World. We loved the gothic style architecture from the brass decals to the tall window frames. The spectacular views were popular for Asian brides, a handful of which were there getting their photos taken while their patient new husbands kept cool by intermittently stepping in and out of the air conditioned viewing spaces.

To finish the afternoon, we had our first whole foods experience. It took every ounce of willpower to prevent us from buying up half the store (the chipotle salsa was amazing!).Läs mer