DAY 4 - MONDAY 6TH AUGUST
Tam and I are awake
by 5.00am. Not bad considering this is only the second day of our
holiday.
Michael is up and about, as the poor chap has to go to work
today, on his birthday as well. We say cheerio to him and then
start to pack. Georgia has a carrier bag inside one of the
suitcases, which contains her clean underwear. She says to me
‘Remember that golf film The Legend of Bagger Vance?’ I
say yes. ‘Well, we could make one called The Legend of Bag
of Pants’. The child is a comic genius. Tam and I argue over
which one of us her sense of humour comes from.
After breakfast it’s time to say goodbye to Elaine and
Grace, Alex is still in bed. Many, many thanks for looking after
us so well, it’s been lovely to see them again and we can
hopefully return the favour the next time they are in the UK.
We trundle the luggage up to the station to catch the 7.27am to
Penn Station. It’s a packed commuter train and there is no
platform at this station. This means 3 large steps into the train
with 3 heavy suitcases and assorted paraphernalia. All the people
getting on the train are dressed ready for the office, but a
couple of different gentlemen help us with the luggage, even
carrying it down the train to an area we can safely store it for
the journey. A big thank you to those guys, they have restored my
faith in good manners and courtesy.
From Penn Station we get a cab to the Waldorf Astoria, which
works out to be surprisingly cheap at $8.50 plus tip.
We check-in at 9.00am and they have a room ready for us. Now that’s
what I call service. The room is very nice, it is obviously an
old hotel that’s packed with history, so it isn’t the
biggest hotel room we’ve ever stayed in and the double beds
are certainly small by American standards, but it’s nicely
appointed and very comfortable.
We unpack (even though we’re only here for two days!) and
then go exploring. It’s a fascinating place to wander round
with displays showing the people that have stayed here in the
past ranging from Winston Churchill to Bruce Springsteen.
We take a look at the Starlight Room on the 17th floor. This is a
function room decorated in an art deco style which used to have a
retractable roof that pulled back to reveal the heavens, hence
the name. It’s bare at the moment, but it must be fantastic
when it’s full of tables and lit for the evening. You can
just imagine Cole Porter playing the piano as the ladies in full
satin dresses dance with their evening suited partners.
Out into the streets of New York we go and look inside St
Bartholomew’s church, which is next door to the Waldorf.
Crikey, what a depressing place. It could be wonderful, but it’s
very dark and dingy. You can barely see the domed ceiling above
the altar in the gloom. I half expect some mad priest to run up
to warn me about the coming of the son of the devil. There are
two homeless people sitting in the pews, one of whom is snoring
very loudly. We don’t stay long.
Outside it’s overcast, but quite hot and muggy. We had
planned to do the Circle Line boat tour today, but decide to put
this off until tomorrow when the weather is supposed to be much
sunnier. Instead we go to the tube station and get one day Metro
cards, excellent value at $7 a card.
We take the tube to Wall Street where Tam and I see a lot of
changes from the last time we were here. There are some streets
closed to traffic and bollards protect the front of certain
buildings. A sad indictment of the times we live in.
Next we walk down to Battery Park and then through the World
Financial Centre to the site of the old World Trade Centre. This
is quite sad as Tam and I recall the last time we were here in
2000 when we spent a happy evening in the bar at the top of one
of the towers watching night fall over New York. We’re
amazed at how some of the adjacent buildings escaped with
relatively little damage.
Back to the tube to West 4th Street where we exit and walk
through Washington Square and then into West Greenwich Village.
We all quite enjoy this area, it’s quite bohemian as long as
you ignore the one or two adult shops around.
We have a Dorling Kindersley guide book (excellent by the way)
which advises trying a cheap Turkish restaurant in Bedford Street
called Moustache. It’s a fun place and I have the chicken
kebab sandwich, Tam and Georgia have the leg of lamb sandwich and
India tries the pitza, a sort of pita bread pizza. Tam and I also
have a couple of beers each., Efes for me and Brooklyn Brown for
Tam. It’s baklava all round for dessert. The food is
excellent as is the service, the only thing that spoils it
slightly is when the bill ($85) is delivered and they have hand
written over the price to add 20% gratuity. It’s a small
grumble I suppose, but I wish people wouldn’t do that.
Everyone is flagging now as we’ve walked a good few miles in
the last couple of days, so we get the tube back to the
Rockefeller Center where we book our tickets to go to the Top of
the Rock tomorrow evening.
Back at the Waldorf, Tam and Georgia have a little snooze while
Ind reads and I enjoy a beer and write up my trip report.
We all have showers and get ready to go out. The older the girls
get, the longer this process takes. Have you ever sat waiting for
3 women to prepare themselves? Even Mr Patient of Patient town,
winner of the world patient award for the last 5 years, would end
up shouting ‘Will you women get a flippin’ move on!’
There’s all sorts of washing, conditioning, shaving,
plucking, drying, straightening and oxy-acetylene welding to be
done before they are presentable enough to leave the room. We are
finally ready just after 7.00pm.
We’ve seen a restaurant called A.J.Maxwells advertised on
the TV and decide to try this, as it’s quite close.
It’s slightly more expensive than a lot of the restaurants,
but it’s pretty good. Tam has veal marsala, India has short
ribs, Georgia has lemon chicken and I have a sort of mixed grill
with filet mignon, 2 lamb cutlets, chicken and spicy sausage.
Along with a couple of glasses of wine the bill comes to $189,
not including tip. It’s a decent enough meal, a cut above
the average, but not enough to make it outstanding.
After eating we walk down to Times Square. It’s pretty hot,
82° at 9.00pm. The square is much livelier and brighter at night
with crowds of people and neon everywhere. It’s certainly
something worth seeing, if only once.
Tam wants to look in the Virgin Mega Store and she buys a small
fan for $4.99 that you can programme to display a message when it’s
used. I’m going to get hold of it later. She’ll be
surprised when it flashes ‘buttocks’ when she uses it
for the first time tomorrow. I guess I’d be a tad confused
if buttocks flashed in front of my face too.
Back along 7th Avenue we pass The Hawaiian Tropic Restaurant
where girls in bikinis wait on the tables. Why the hell didn’t
we eat here? It only takes them 10 minutes to peel me off the
window.
Back at the Waldorf we get ready for bed and India finishes
reading 1984 by George Orwell. She has had to read it for her
college course and is not impressed. ‘God, what a depressing
book’. I point out to her that’s exactly what it’s
supposed to be, a warning of a dark and sinister future that
could come true if we don’t defend the freedoms we have. For
example, it would be a sad world if it were illegal to programme
‘buttocks’ into your wife’s fan. I would be found
guilty under the ‘Profanity on a rotating object’ law
of 2023 and sentenced to watch continuous back episodes of
Neighbours until I go insane. I’ll be lucky to make it
through the titles.
Bed at 11.00pm.