Last day of the holiday proper. This is my last chance to explore New York. First order of business is to see where GBEast happens. I get up and go for the subway. Instead of the R train I walk a bit further and catch the F train to Broadway/Lafayette then jump on the 5 train uptown to 28th street. I come out of the subway on the crossing. I have to try and orient myself, but I should basically be right in front of it. Quite the impressive building.
Hmm. I walk alongside it a bit and I see that actually the CBS building is in the shadow of that impressive building and is a lot less impressive! Presumably as its the Friday between Thanksgiving and the weekend, no-one will be there, but this is where the magic happens.
With that done, I go for a walk and see the sights of Manhattan. I walk West towards Fifth Avenue. On the way I can see in the distance that weird triangular building I recognise, mostly from GTA.
Once on Fifth, I walk Northward. I go past the Empire State. There are people trying to snare tourists outside it, so I try to be as low-key as possible. I don't fancy riding up it - I'm sure the views are incredible and everything, but I decide to walk on.
I make my way all the way North to 50th Street and I get to 50 Rock - officially the Comcast building. Recently in the news due to some dodgy stance in regard Net Neutrality, but this is the home of NBC and Saturday Night Live, as well as the show 50 Rock. There is the seasonal ice rink outside.
Just around the corner is the New York Nintendo store. I pop in and take a look around. Its busy as you might expect. There are some crazy amiibo - the Zelda Guardians are especially impressive, but I just can't fit something like that in my bag, so I have to pass. Upstairs they have a few displays with some retro hardware and some design documents for the shape/size/dimensions of the old stuff, but overall its not that impressive. I leave and start to walk away, but figure I need some sort of NY souvenir. I go back and grab an exclusive Mario hat - silly, but it's only about £12. It does take a long time to get to pay for it though - the queue goes around three sides of the inside of the building.
Onward to Times Square which is just a short walk further.
As one might expect its really busy here. I pop a few panoramic photos. Its so gaudy and ridiculous.
Anyway, I am about done at this point, I think my feet are ready to stop, plus I need some munch. I get on the subway at Times Square and head back to the hotel. On the subway I suddenly get a serious wave of tiredness - I can't stop yawning and its around one in the afternoon. Up until this point I've had no trouble with jet-lag or time-zone hopping, and it suddenly hits me pretty hard. Good job I'm going back to the hotel. On the way I pop into a mini-mart and grab a drink and some food so I don't need to leave the room again today. Strange shops in New York - the mini-marts and deli's I've visited have rows and rows of fridges for drinks - often taking up the majority of the shop, then a small selection of other foods. I guess Americans really value their drink choices. Again I find a wide variety of Snapple on sale - I go for the Orangeade - not sure if I've had that before - but its a decent quality orange drink.
The hotel room has been visited by room service, so I am free to crash. I play some Super Mario Odyssey. Snooze is not forthcoming. In fact I don't manage to sleep until around 3 am in the end - which is really annoying as tomorrow is a big day of travelling, so I'd like to be well rested.
My phone chimes to tell me check in is ready for my flights. I manage to upgrade to the exit row again for the big 7 and a half hour flight for 47 pounds, which is great. Then for the short hop to Brum I upgrade to Economy Comfort right at the front of the plane for 7 pounds 50, so when I get back I can escape swiftly - I'm expecting I'll want to get home and crash after failing to sleep for many hours. All three of my return legs are now in upgraded seating of some sort - the Amtrak is business class as well, so hopefully the journey back will be as easy as possible.