New York

You get a great view over parts of New York from the High Line. It’s an old raised railway line on the East of Manhattan that has been turned into a park. We were walking along it in the early morning, but I imagine that it is teeming with people on sunny days. In parts they have kept the tracks and planted grass between the sleepers; they’ve also introduced loungers that slide on the rails. You get a great view of NY life. Nancy wondered how you got the cars onto and off of the unique parking solutions. Only one third of the High Line has been opened; it looks like the second third will be ready shortly and the last section may take many years. Recommended.

I’ve always loved Grand Central Station (see pictures). London Waterloo has its own charm and is definitely spruced up from what it used to be, but – alongside the Mayakovskaya metro in Moscow – this is my favourite train station.

We walked across to Times Square shopping from time to time along the way. The children had chosen to see Harry Potter – the Exhibition. I’m not the greatest Harry Potter aficionado. I’ve seen all the films, but still can’t tell my Dumbledores from my Lord Valdemorts. I’ve never wanted to read the books (NB they are children’s books), but I’ve seen every film (after 7 part 1, I vowed I wouldn’t see part 2). Tilly – on the other hand – loves Harry Potter. She has devoured every book… except the last; a function of her age means that she saw the films before she read the books (and she feels this is the natural order).

The exhibition essentially showed the props and costumes from the films. They have added some interactive parts. It is one for the Harry Potter fan who has read the books and seen every film multiple times. My (very) low expectations were exceeded easily, but for the money (shade under hundred bucks) I was expecting some form of personal sexual gratification from Daniel Radcliffe himself.

We then hired bikes to go cycling in Central Park. A trade description-challenged internet advert meant that we had to pick our bikes up 10 blocks away from Central Park, but it was great to cycle through New York. Central Park was great. A couple of years ago we went ice skating and took a horse carriage, but you saw more from a bike. I’d like to explore it more.

We went to American Girl (special blog to come on this!) and then shopping again. Nancy would have never left the DS shop and playing with the new 3D model. Having seen the 4D technology at this year’s Mobile World Congress, I know gaming is going to change again beyond imagination over the next few years.

Tilly chose dinner at a highly rated Thai restaurant (98% liked it on Urbanspoon). It was the worst I have ever been to, and at 1am Nancy was vomiting copious amounts of Thai food onto the bed she shared with her sister.