NY Day 5: Empire State's back

ESB very early in morning - in queue for 7:45am - lashing down with rain and cold with it! Met an Irish family who thought I was from NZ or Oz! Outside of the 86th floor was even colder, wetter and windier. The views were ok but I was kicking myself for missing the fine weather. I'd paid another $12 to see the 102nd floor. There was an old fashioned manual lift driven by the most New York bloke yet quoting 'How you doin?' and 'Let me tell you somethin' all with a friendly attitude but also with an edge (you cross wit' me I take you out! Capiche?).

The persisting rain made us change to Plan B for the Metropolitan Art museum. We were really impressed by the Egyptian temple reconstructed the ancient Asian art and the modern art pieces resulting in the best value for money yet. Our feet and legs gave in to the luxury of a taxi for temporary stop at the hotel but were subjected to a whinging cab driver named Abdul about his stress and blood/sugar levels.

After a quick comfort break we headed downtown to Union Square to find some shops but with only a Diesel store to tease our wallets we headed back uptown to see the Guggenheim. We'd just missed the last admission plus it was scaffolded up because of 2 large concrete cracks. Couldn't even see much inside hoping to see the spiral flooring.

The rain still hadn't lifted and had even got worse. Faced with the comfort of our hotel room with too many adverts US TV, we braved the downfall and ventured into Chinatown for a best Chinese food ever. Although the décor had seen better days, loads of locals were in there enjoying the cheap but decent grub. No change in the weather meant we headed back to the hotel visiting the bar along the way though their prices meant a hefty increase in the final bill.