DAY 5 - TUESDAY 7TH AUGUST
We all sleep very
well, Tam and I waking around 7.00am. I guess all the walking has
tired us out and enabled us to get on to local time sooner than
usual.
The forecast for today is 93° and humid, making it feel more
like 100°. Our plans are to do the full island boat tour with
Circle Line and we’re hoping the breeze on the water will
cool us down a bit.
We walk across town to Pier 83 to get our tickets for the cruise.
We are booked on the 10.30am and have an hour to kill before then
so we decide on breakfast from the little booth by the pier. Bad
move. Can we have a grilled chicken sandwich please? No, we
don’t serve that until lunchtime. Ok, can we have a mocha
please? No, we are only serving straight coffee. Ok, we’ll
have 3 of those with lids please. No, we only have 2 lids left.
The girl is a right grumpy old tart as well. We end up with
Danishes (Dani?) and coffee.
Watch out if you ever do this tour, people start to queue quite
early to get on the boat and you really need to be sat on the
left hand side as you can then see Manhattan clearly. If you sit
on the right side you just get to see The Bronx, New Jersey etc.
I suppose I should have put ‘port’ and
‘starboard’ there instead of ‘left’ and
‘right’. Unfortunately I don’t know which is
which.
The tour is very informative, but takes 3 hours, which is a
little too long I think. The 2-hour tour covers the southern half
of Manhattan, which is really the part most people want to see.
That being said, it is quite interesting seeing the extreme north
of the island as it is amazing how many trees and how much
vegetation there is there. In my ignorance I thought every inch
would be covered with buildings.
I suppose overall it is worth doing the 3 hour tour if you have
the time, otherwise the 2 hour tour shows most of the things you
are likely to want to see.
Click on the film strip to see a video of our time in New York
After the boat trip we take the tube to Fulton Street ($2 per
person single trip) and walk down to Pier 17 where they have a
large area with shops, restaurants etc. It’s main attraction
is that it gives stunning views of the Brooklyn Bridge.
After walking around for a while we decide on a late lunch around
2.30pm at the Heartland Brewery. Tam and I split the chilli,
India has a BBQ chicken sandwich and Georgia has wings. The beers
are quite interesting here and Tam has the Apricot Ale while I
try the Indian River Light Beer. The spiel says it has undertones
of orange and coriander. I take this with a pinch of salt (not
literally, salt and beer don’t mix) as people always claim
you can taste this or that in beer when mostly it tastes of beer,
but in this case it’s true. You definitely get an undertone
of orange. It’s very nice.
After lunch we get the train uptown and return to the Waldorf
Astoria where we relax for a while before showering and getting
ready to go out for the evening.
I head down to Sir Harry’s Bar at 6.00pm for an evening
aperitif while the rest of the ladies continue with their
pruning. I wandered what the hedge clippers were for. No, wait
– that should be preening. Now I really am wondering what
the hedge clippers were for.
Sir Harry’s is a really nice bar in the plush red leather
style of many bars in the better hotels in the US. It’s
already busy with many people dressed up to go out for the
evening. Its’ really nice to relax in a bar for practically
the first time on this holiday. I’m writing this with a beer
in front of me on our last night in New York, so what better time
to reflect on our stay in this vibrant and exciting city. Frank
called it The City That Never Sleeps for obvious reasons, there
always seems to be something going on somewhere. It’s an
exhilarating place just to walk around and view the amazing
architecture, especially the older skyscrapers, which are far
more interesting and atmospheric than their newer counterparts.
The Chrysler Building has to be one of the greatest man made
structures in the world.
It’s a city of contrasts. On one hand you have a huge number
of museums, art galleries and theatres. This is in contrast to
the gaudy, flashy Times Square and some of the more rundown
districts. I guess this is what makes it so interesting.
It can certainly feel crowded and occasionally too fast paced,
it’s not a city to stand still in. I think the 3 full days
we have spent here are just about enough. We’ve walked miles
and crammed an awful lot in and so it will be a wonderful
contrast to get to our cabin in Lake Watauga tomorrow.
New York a wonderful town? Well, I’m not going to argue with
Mr Sinatra. Is it my kind of town? No you fool, that’s
Chicago, don’t you know your Frank?
But we’re not finished yet. Tam and the girls join me in the
bar and we then head out to the Rockefeller Centre to go to The
Top of the Rock observation platform. We decided to go up at
7.30pm as we thought we would be able to see the city in the
light and as it gets dusk,
We have already got our tickets and walk straight through to the
elevators. The roof of the elevator is clear and you can watch
your ascent to the 67th floor. Here you get on an escalator to
the 69th floor and can then walk up to the 70th floor.
The views are sensational. Tam and I have been up the Empire
State before, but we think this is better as you are closer to
Central Park and also get to see the Empire State, which
dominates mid-town.
We enjoy the sights for ¾ of an hour and as it starts to get
dark, thousands of lights are gradually turned on. It’s a
display Disney would be proud of. We all agree this is the
highlight of our visit to New York.
Back at ground level we walk to McCormick and Schmick’s for
our 8.30pm reservation. This is a chain restaurant and our
friends Deb and Matt really like the one they visit in Orlando,
so we thought we’d give it a try. It’s primarily a
seafood restaurant, so Tam and I try the coconut-encrusted
mahi-mahi with a spicy cashew sauce and sea scallops with a
mushroom risotto. I don’t mean this is all on one plate, we
split the two dishes. Georgia has fish and chips and Ind tries
the mahi-mahi as well.
The food is very good, but the sea scallops with risotto is the
standout dish. Our server is very efficient, although of
indeterminate sex. We have a discussion where I maintain that it
is a young lady batting for the other side, whereas Tam holds the
belief that he/she is a rather feminine bloke. None of us has the
guts to ask. I mean, what do you say? ‘Excuse me, when you
visit the bathroom do you use the door with the little man or the
little woman on it?’
The ladies are in the mood for dessert and try the 3 crème
brulees (normal, raspberry and coffee) and a chocolate box full
of berries with white chocolate sauce. Both are good, but Tam
declares the raspberry brulee to be the best.
Along with a rather respectable bottle of Syrah and tip, the bill
comes to $200.
Back to the Waldorf and bed at 11.00pm.