NYC Day Two
Sunday, 4:20 PM
We’ve had a busy day so far!
We slept in a little this morning. When we woke up, it looked cold and rainy outside – and it was! We thought we’d get a bagel before the Circle Line and because I don’t have a coat with me (that’s a debacle for another time), I thought we might have time to stop at Macy’s and pick one up. We knew we had to be at the Circle Line by 11:45 because the boat left Pier 83 at 12:30 and they recommend getting there 45 minutes early to get tickets and get in line to board.
Anyway, we headed toward Macy’s and thought we’d find something to eat in that area.
This is Bryant Park; it’s around the corner from our hotel.
Unfortunately, there wasn’t a bagel shop in sight! We talked to a policeman and then to a car service driver who sent us up about 5 blocks to a place called Hot & Crusty. We picked up bagels and then went next door to the Starbucks to get something to drink. They had an upstairs eating area so we got a chance to sit down for a few minutes and eat our breakfast in a leisurely fashion.
Our bagel trek took so long (and went so far out of the way as far as Macy’s was concerned) that we didn’t have time to shop for a coat before we had to walk ourselves over to the Circle Line.
The headquarters of the Chinese Consulate to the U.N. is across the street from Pier 83. There was a crowd of people gathered outside with Tibetan flags and signs calling for China to “Free Tibet.” It was kind of cool.
The NYPD had several officers there; it was nice to see the First Amendment right to peaceful assembly in action. We talked to one of the officers; he’s been with the force for two years and said he’d “rather do it here than anywhere else.” Such a nice guy.
The Circle Line was not circumnavigating the island today. Apparently there’s construction on a railroad bridge on the Harlem River and they can’t get it open for the boat to pass under. So we had to sail up to the mouth of the Harlem River and then turn around and come back. On our return, we continued past the pier and up nearly to the George Washington Bridge before circling back around to Pier 83.
Some highlights of our cruise: the Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, the Brooklyn Bridge, Roosevelt Island, the Upper East Side, the Cunard Line pier – the survivors of the Titanic sinking were picked up by a Cunard vessel.
We are back at the hotel for a few minutes to allow our camera battery to charge (we took 205 pictures this morning!) before we head out – this time we’re going to Macy’s and then I think we’re going to track down a shoe store so that Ben can get some more comfortable shoes.
We’ll let you know how dinner, etc. goes!
Sunday, 6:43 PM
Macy’s was HUGE. We stopped going up when we reached the 6th floor. Or was it the 7th? Either way, our last three escalator rides were on escalators with WOODEN STAIRS. It was so cool!!
Alas, even with six (seven?) floors of stuff, there were no suitable coats to be found. I’m sure there were plenty in November.
After Macy’s, we hit up a whole bunch of stores on 34th Street. We didn’t get our miracle until we got to Banana Republic. It amuses me very much that we ended up buying a coat that I’ve been eyeballing for a month at the Banana Republic back home. At least it’s cute.
Ben found some shoes at a place called Shoe Mania, which was a little funny – a strange mixture of shoes and reggae/techno. We caught a cab back to the hotel since it was only about 7 blocks. We felt terrible because the cab driver didn’t have change for a $20 and the only other cash Ben had was a $1 bill. But, he insisted that it wasn’t our fault and took the dollar from us (the fare was $3.70). He was very, very nice about it, so I guess it’s okay.
Next task: figure out what to do for dinner, and maybe head to the Empire State Building.
