Ashley and I began our Monday morning with a trip to Tal Bagels. I had the smoked peppered turkey on a whole wheat bagel. Very, very good!

After breakfast, we did some exploring and ended up on 5th Avenue. Ashley bought a new scarf from H&M while I snapped photos of St. Patrick's Cathedral and the statue of Atlas at Rockefeller Center.





We spent a few minutes at the Chrysler Building before heading to the United Nations.





Please notice Ashley's new scarf in the photo above. Before returning to the hotel to rest, regroup, and prepare for dinner, we visited the observation deck at the Empire State Building.





The view was amazing!



After returning to the room, Ashley took a nap and I did 30 minutes on the treadmill in the fitness center. Around 730 we started getting ready and made it to Asiate (at the Mandarin Oriental) for our 830 dinner reservation. From our window-side table, the view of Central Park as well as the Upper East Side was unbelievable. Dinner was excellent. Ashley had the salmon, I had the lobster and we shared a bottle of wine. After dinner we had drinks at MObar, a bar located inside the Mandarin. Ever wonder how a $24 glass of wine tastes? I'll save you the suspense. It was mediocre at best. Our $48 bottle of wine with dinner was much more impressive than the $24-by-the-glass house merlot from MObar. Nevertheless, we had a good time and our waiter was great. Our waiter, after learning Ashley and I were from out-of-town, brought us complimentary chocolate-covered strawberries. So, I suppose our visit to MObar wasn't a total loss. After leaving the Mandarin, we took a photo (below) at the Columbus Circle, took the subway back to the hotel and called it a night.

It's 2am. I'm going to bed.

-johnn