Mid-town New York City, a cocktail with a view.

After an hour in a holding pattern over Syracuse while New York Newark was closed due to a ferocious storm, I hope that the pilots definition of being "low on fuel" was only relative.  He'd suggested we might have to put down in Syracuse to refuel then, a few minutes later, informed us we had now been cleared to land.  It would be about another hour before we were on the ground, he told us.  As I said, I hoped being 'low on fuel' was only relative.  As we made the final approach into the airport I leaned my head against the window and looked out at the night sky which lit up starkly every half minute or so with bright spikes of lightening.  Given our proximity to the action that nature was laying on for us and as the aeroplane pushed its way through the driving rain onto the runway, I felt surprising calm. Or maybe I was just very, very tired.

We are staying at the New Yorker hotel on 8th avenue in downtown (don't stay there if you are in NY, get a hotel instead in Greenwich or the meat packing district or on the upper east side - much better neighbourhoods) and the next morning in search of a breakfast that didn't consume the whole of our recommended calorie intake for the day, which is what the on-site diner mostly offered, we stepped out of the hotel door and into the mass of humanity and chaos that is downtown Manhattan.  Turning left toward uptown, mostly because that is the way the majority was headed, it was like I imagine a blood cell to feel, swept along by the force of the blood steam with little chance for resistance.  We went when everyone else went, we stopped when everyone else stopped, hoping we were heading in more or less the best direction.  In some respects the hotel is well situated, within 15 minutes or so walk of Central Park, the Empire State Building, the Rockefeller building and Grand Central Station. But midtown Manhatten is pretty intense with people vying with traffic and bicycles and fast food outlets, and sex shops competing with flashy brand names on the same street. We spend the day getting a feel for the this part of the city and taking in the sights.   But the best part of the day is the evening. I'd been collecting articles and recommendations for places to go and had stumbled across, in an article about the best bars in the world, a review of the  Press Lounge in midtown west (thepresslounge.com).  The press lounge is a roof top bar situated on the top floor of the Ink48 hotel on 11th and west 47th (ink48.com - stay here if you can afford it and the restaurant is great). In a taxi we head north from our hotel, gradually leaving the high rise and aiming for the left bank.  As we step out of the lift and into the lobby it is difficult to describe just how cracking the view is, even in day time.  To the north and west is the Hudson River stretching out before us and dotted with barges making their slow progress up or down river.  To the east is the highrise skyline of Manhattan stretching out to the distance in both directions.  Since it opened in 2010 the article said the bar had attracted a hip and buzzing crowd and I can see why.  As Janet and I sit with our cocktail the place quickly fills up. There is the hum of conversation and laughter, gentle jazz plays in the background.  We'd arrived quite early (the bar opens at 5.30pm) to make sure we got a seat and to enjoy watching the sun set from such a great position and as the light faded the city vista came to life.  Through the gaps in the first buildings we could see the pulsating lights and video-banks of Times Square and then as it got darker these were joined by golds and blues and greens which lit up the sides and tops of the sky scrapers around and along the length of the city.  There is no charge for going to the press lounge though I understand the queues can get quite long if you arrive later.  The cocktails are expensive but no more so than any other 'happening' kind of place we went to.  If you are in NYC it is highly recommended.