After breakfast in our room from the French bakery downstairs again, we hailed a yellow cab over to the United Nations building, where we had booked a one hour tour starting at 10.45am. We had to be there at 9.45am to go through security, so had half an hour to wait between that process and the actual tour. That time was spent reviewing our NY itinerary which needs some revision now I’ve accepted the fact we are not going to fit everything in!

The tour was very interesting and informative. And it actually impressed us how much the United Nations has achieved since it’s inception in 1945. They have some ambitious goals that look difficult to achieve by 2030, but just the fact they have 193 member states that manage to agree on anything should be applauded!

After our tour we walked over to inspect the Chrysler Building, and then on to Grand Central Terminal, where we had lunch on their dining concourse and watched people running for their trains.

As that was right near Vanderbilt Ave, we followed the path up to Summit One, an observatory deck we planned to visit based on Facebook reviews. It cost $40pp to go up there! So we decided to move on to the Rockefeller Centre and FAO Schwarz toy store instead (where we purchased nothing but the girls did get to play the giant floor piano).

From there we visited Top of The Rock Observation Deck – also $40pp but free with my NY Pass. We may not do any other observation decks – it was fun to be up there, but because of the poor air quality, visibility wasn’t far anyway.

We then window shopped down 5th Avenue and walked on to the Disney Store, and a bookstore on W39th Street part-owned by Lin-Manuel Miranda. From there we caught a taxi back to our hotel to freshen up and change and get ready for our next musical! We returned to the Theatre District for a proper dinner at Applebee’s (steak and vegetables, and chicken salad!). Sitting at the table in the restaurant I realised it was probably the longest we had just sat, rested and chatted except for sleeping!! We then wandered two blocks over to the August Wilson Theatre to see ‘Funny Girl’, starring Lea Michele. She gave a great performance.

One thing that has amazed me at the theatres is the number of stairs and lack of obvious access for the disabled, and also the organisation of women during intermission to get them all in and out of the bathroom in time for the second half! In Sydney theatres you are on your own, but both nights here we have been ushered right up to the stall door!

After the show we walked up to Columbus Circle to have a look around, and caught a cab back to our hotel. We are pretty exhausted, so have decided not to book anything for tomorrow morning but just to have a leisurely day – Abi is in charge of what we will see so that she can choose the priorities for herself. This is her trip after all!