Manhattan weekend

I've finally found a spare moment to post some photos HERE from a trip I made to New York in early June.

I was over there for a meeting in a place called Palisades New York - just across the Hudson river (and up a bit) from Manhattan. It's just over the state line from New Jersey (and it showed). The place where I stayed was a custom built executive 'retreat' - complete with accommodation, meeting rooms etc. It was on a property stuck out in the woods - sort of an executive concentration camp. I came away with the distinct impression that I'll never complain about going to Poughkeepsie again - by comparison Poughkeepsie is the height of culture and entertainment. The place I stayed was probably really fashionable in 1980's corporate America - but now it is showing its age. Good food though - tons of the stuff - ridiculous quantities of it in fact.

The weekend before I stayed down in Manhattan at the Hilton. 1335 Avenue of the Americas between West 53rd and West 54th. Only a few blocks down from Central Park. I hadn't stayed there before, usually staying close to Times Square. The hotel was fine and the location was excellent. Definitely the place to stay in future (assuming the Plaza isn't on the list!).

It was US Navy fleet week so I went over to visit USS Intrepid on the Saturday. I hadn't been over to see her for years - since well before Concorde arrived on a barge (which was around 2003 I think). First stop Concorde - not sure how many Concordes I've been on now - but it must be close to at least half of the fleet. Pity they've all been traveling at precisely Mach 0.0 when I've been on board. Arriving around 10am it wasn't too crowded, by the time I left around 12:30 the place was packed.

On the Sunday I got up ludicrously early due to jetlag and went for a long walk around Central Park. Every time I visit there I seem to see more of the park - it's a fantastic place I can see why New Yorkers love it. I then wandered over to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in time for opening. Given it was Memorial Day weekend they didn't have a full staff on so some of the galleries were closed. Still plenty of stuff to see though - I was there for about 4 hours before I got all 'arted-out'. Next stop FAO Schwartz (I seem to do a similar circuit every time I visit Manhattan). They were filming for a movie or telly outside which made it tricky to get in. Once in it's still as small and fairly lame as ever - next time, mental note to go to Toys R'Us in Times Square instead - probably no better (from memory) but bigger.

Given I was running out of time (and it's free - one of the only corporate perks left) I visited the MoMA. To be honest apart from some Magrittes and a Chagall I found the rest of it a bit blah. That's about all I did - probably rather pathetic compared with what most folks can pack into a weekend in Manhattan - I blame the jetlag (and I've seen most of it before anyway). I hope you enjoy the photos (filed under "2010").