West Side

We learnt quite a bit about New York on our return trip. Our guide shared hidden locations of apartments owned by celebrities; some of which have lifts just for their cars so that they still have the luxury of parking outside their front door. The rest of them have to make do with paying outrageous parking fees or live with the fact of not driving at all. And there’s some great examples of how the space is used, from paying by the hour to use coin-operated lifts to pier-side rooftops with an outdoor gym complete with trapeziums. As we prepared to disembark, I noticed a sign advertising one of my arch-nemeses: Scientologists. We passed a metal workshop selling famous robots including a life-sized R2D2 in the doorway, then we decided we had time to visit one more landmark before calling it a day of sightseeing. To this end, we headed over to the Rockefeller Centre.