Yes, gentle reader, one from Frank Sinatra - well, they played it on the river cruise today, so it had be the title.
Random fact:
1. Jayne has revealed that she is suffering from selfie stick envy. Everyone seems to have one but us. They are banned in some places, just not enough - they are a scourge.
2. Speaking of scourges, let me say cyclists. Surprised a few of you huh? They are worse here than in Dublin, although significantly less in number. They disregard traffic lights, ride on footpaths, ride the wrong way in a one-way street, zig-zag in and out of traffic and ride through the pedestrian crossing while people are crossing. Not pretty. Despite that, the motorists are cyclist aware and very tolerant. Certainly I know some other cities that could learn a thing or two from NYC. I'm looking at you Sydney.
Circle Line Cruise - the Complete NYC Experience
An uneventful trip on the subway landed us at 42nd St and 8th Avenue, a couple of blocks from Pier 83 where the boat was leaving. We booked online last night and opted for the 1st Class upgrade - don't bother, it wasn't worth the money. We got much more comfortable seats, which was a good thing on a 2.5 hour cruise (my back has not been friend the last couple of days). We also scored a separate boarding process, no queue, a complimentary bottle of water and had our own server (I know I can be a geek, but really, I can't get past the IT reference). I wouldn't pay the extra again.
The cruise was fascinating, you really get to see a different side of Manhattan. There is far more green space than you would imagine, 25% of the island in fact. There are also really obvious zones of development and 20 bridges connecting the island to the mainland. I even learned what the 'palisades' are that Billy Joel sings about in Miami 2017. They are a series of rock faces on the Hudson River uptown from the Manhattan.
The guy doing the commentary was non-stop and full-on, but it was informative and interesting once you became used to the wall of sound and the corny dad jokes. The boat we were on was the first one to the rescue when that plane ditched in the Hudson River. Apparently they have just finished making a film about it that will be released next year. The Miracle on the Hudson starring the ubiquitous Tom Hanks.
The Empire State Building Chapter 1
After all that sitting it was time for a walk all the way down 42nd St to Times Square to see if we could find TKTS, the discount ticket sales place for the Broadway shows. We then walked a further 4 blocks until we found it. However, the queue was unreal. It looked like the Hajj and given all the walking we were doing I thought we could have been a part of the pilgrimage. Given I queue for no man, nor woman neither, we decided it was time to strike out for the ESB.
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| Going down? |
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| The Trade Tower and the Statue of Liberty in the distance |
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| The shadow |
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| Central park |
I had read that the best time to head up to the observation platform was around 3pm. We were a little beyond that after the TKTS exploration, but fortunately there was very little traffic. The view, as you would expect, was pretty tidy in all directions. It was crowded, but people moved reasonably quickly around the viewing platform. Except where they had one corner cordonned off and someone important was having their photo taken for the 'important people who have visited the ESB gallery' it's on level 2. And no, I have absolutely no idea who she was. Photos taken, it was time to come back to ground level, but we had the issue of time to kill before the 8pm ESB viewing of the night lights of New York.
In the meantime
We were hoping to go to a show, but the TKTS queue put an end to that, so we walked from 43rd St down to 57th St and crossed from 7th Ave to 5th. It was a pretty good walk. We finished up across the street from Tiffany's at Mikimoto. Jayne has been searching for a pair of pearl drop earrings forever. New York is not the only city that has become a part of the search, but this week we have been to Tiffany's, Macy's and Bloomingdales aside from walk-by viewings down (I think) 47th St.
It was just before closing time when we arrived. Jayne described the sort of earrings she was after and the server (I'll bet they don't get called that at stores like this that have a doorman) took us down to the back of the room and began looking through slide-drawers. Anyway ... the search is over! One more thing off my bucket list. They are beautiful, simple, elegant. (Photo in the next post).
Then it was dinner time, another walk back to Times Square. Americans like lobster. Makes sense; we do too. I had been researching where to eat, but it's not that simple. Most places do a lobster roll. What is with that? That beautiful, delicate, sweet flesh that should only be kissed by a light butter sauce, or maybe a hollandaise bunged into a bread roll? No, no, no. Anyway, the nread over here ... well, it's not France.
I chose the Red Lobster, a chain eatery, but they don't do lobster rolls. It's like Outback or Lone Star for lobster and the serves are as big as Texas. Our server, Brie, was super helpful. She told me I should order whatever I wanted. Yup. For a chain store they were not particularly cheap, but the food was OK and it was an experience. Times Square is also an experience. Been there, done that, no need to return.
The Empire State Building Chapter 2
It was well and truly dark when we emerged from Red Lobster and hit the pavement for the EBS # 2. The lines were a little longer in places than they were earlier in the day, but we didn't need to do the audio guide again so we moved quickly through the exhibits. The crowd up top was bigger and it was more difficult to move around the viewing platform but we managed to get into position and get some good night shots of the lights of NYC.
It wasn't easy to organise the two viewings in one day because we had to find things to fill the hours in between. Nonetheless, we managed and it was worth both trips to see the city in daylight as well as lit up at night.
Initially we discussed whether we could catch a cab home rather than ride the subway at night. We stayed with the subway and it was as busy as 9:30pm as it is at 9:30am. Another uneventful ride home to have a cup of tea and put our feet up. Today we walked 16km.
Tomorrow is a rest day - well, a local day. We are staying in East Village to get some local photos and have lunch at Katz deli.
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