Day 2 and I decide to something very touristy - a 3 hour boat trip around the island of Manhattan. I love the way a city can look so different from the water - London takes on a different feel on a commuter boat and Liverpool is a truly beautiful city when viewed from the Mersey.
The trip is fascinating with the guide doing a commentary which combines history with humour, interesting fact with wonderful trivia. He handles very well what could have been an awkward moment as he talks about the World Trade Center; dignified but not going in to mawkishness nor unthinking patriotism.
At one point he comments that he majored in speech and theatre at college before moving to film school and NYC (to be honest the most surprising thing he said during the entire commentary was "my wife and I"...) and whilst his career may not gone how he intended, he is in effect giving a 3 hour one man show several times a week. A highly recommended way to spend a morning in NYC.
After lunch I head to the Museum of Modern Art - no doubt the first of many galleries I'll enjoy on this trip. What a lovely building and a fascinating collection. Modern art may not be for eveyone - but I like it and this is a beautiful haven of art just off the bustle of 5th Avenue. 
This weekend is the start of the NFL season and with the New York Giants being the current Superbowl champions the honour of the opening game falls to them. To celebrate there is a free NFL Kickoff concert being held at Columbus Circle - quite why there so we have to watch it from a blocked off road when Central Park is next door and would make more sense I've no idea. Anyway, closing the road in the rush hour adds to the midtown traffic chaos and I wander over to take a look. All I will say is that it's a slighty strange line up - Natasha Bedingfield (I've come all this way to see a Brit artist....), Usher, and Keith Urban (probably best known in the UK for being married to Nicole Kidman) - and I leave pretty promptly.
I head back to the hotel but stop off at Top of the Rock and go to the observation deck. What a contrast to yesterday's Empire State Building. I'm there at a similar time but there are no queues and it's cheaper. It is better organised with more viewing space - on several levels - at the top and, of course, you get wonderful and breathtaking views of the skyline. Its location means you get see across Central Park as well as the beautiful Empire State Building and my undoubted tip so far - if you visit New York forget the Empire State Building, head straight to the Top of the Rock.
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