We all sleep in a little later than usual but the Big Apple is waiting so eventually Victoria and I heave ourselves out to use the showers at the marina.
While we wobble our way down an extremely wobbly floating pontoon, we watch with amazement as fitness conscious New Yorkers run, power walk and cycle their way through the Riverside Park, just yards from where we are barely able to put one foot in front of another without falling into the murky water.
Victoria goes in the shower first while I talk to a nice lady from Toronto who is heading off down to the Chesapeake in a couple of days. When Victoria comes out of the shower she tells me to keep my flip flops on and when I step inside the only shower there is, I can see why. Loads of tiles on the floor are cracked which makes it look filthy (and I’m sure it is). The whole floor is wet and covered with hairs. Gross, but it’s all there is so I grit my teeth and get on with it , making sure that nothing of mine touches that floor! At least the water is nice.
It’s grey all around but nearly 80 degrees. The humidity is high so bugger fashion, I put my sailing hat in my handbag just in case!
Once we are ready we walk our way to the subway and meet our first hurdle. Getting to it means getting across a busy roundabout or going through a subway that is not lit and has a big bend in it. We opt for the roundabout, dice with death in our attempt to circumnavigate it and decide we must find a better way for next time.
We buy unlimited weekly passes for the subway and take the train downtown to the site where the Twin Towers once stood. The 9/11 memorial is there surrounded by a huge construction site where the new World Trade Buildings and others are still being built. We find out that although the memorial is free, you need a pass so we decide to come back another day.
We make our way back north and get off at Times Square, one of the things on Victoria’s list and while she and I do some shopping in Skechers and Billabong, Mike waits patiently outside. He still has a headache from yesterday and his throat is bad. Sephora, however, is quieter and less frantic, so while we spend time wandering amongst the make up and perfume, he finds a corner and nods off. He says he is just resting his eyes but his mouth is open!
Lunch is a hurried affair. Times Square is not known for its gourmet dining so we go right for the cheap tourist stuff and eat at Bubba Gumps Shrimp restaurant, choosing a southern mix of appetisers which actually isn’t bad. The restaurant is themed to death around the Forest Gump film and our waitress is an extremely enthusiastic girl from Birmingham, Alabama who needs to check that we are OK about every 5 minutes, all thumbs up and gleaming teeth, but we are in and out in about 45 minutes which is what we want.
Wandering around again (and we are wandering as we have no maps of any kind) I realise how near we are to my friend Carol’s apartment, and using the block numbering system which certainly makes things easier, we find our way to her place, She’s not expecting us until late afternoon so when we arrive she has just popped out but she returns after a short while and provides us with loads of brochures, books and maps for us to plan our next few days. She also plies us with loads of tea and then we go out to find somewhere for dinner.
She takes us to a Thai restaurant and we sit and have a lovely meal, going for the set meal at $17 each, really good value considering the quality of the food. But why is it that Asian restaurants want to hurry you all the time. I am still finishing my soup when she is bringing out the spring rolls. We ask them to slow down and they just nod enthusiastically and bring the next course out just as quickly. They are not full. They don’t need the table. Why the rush?
After dinner, Carol walks us around the neighbourhood for a while. It’s a great mixture of restaurants, bars, high rise and traditional brownstones. She then walks us back to Times Square, now lit up with a million lights and we get the subway back to 79th street.
This time we manage to get ourselves back to the marina by going through the Basin Cafe and are nearly safely back on the boat when we see something bouncing around on the pontoon. It appears to be a rather athletic rat, jumping up in the air across our path, but it turns out to be a rat with it’s head in a trap. Kicking it into the water might be kinder and give it a quicker death, but in the end we give it a wide berth and make sure that none of it’s mates follow us back onto Jeannius.
Position: 40 deg 47 min N, 73 deg 59 min W
Distance so far: 2335 miles
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