It’s pretty wet and miserable first thing but it turns into a hot, grey drizzle by the time we are all up and about.
We sit and try to plan the day using all the leaflets, maps and flyers that Carol gave yesterday. You’d think we would be able to do it in a systematic way, but no, it just seems impossible when there’s so much to see and so little time. I make the mistake of writing some blog but I have so many photos that it’s a bloody nightmare trying to choose representative ones. By the time I have done just one day, we are late leaving the boat – again.
We take the subway all the way downtown to find a nautical bookshop, only to find when we get there that it is now pouring with rain and the bloody shop has moved. There is no information about where it has moved to but as we start to walk back to the subway the rain stops and we decide to walk through the West Village.
It’s a beautiful, leafy neighbourhood with many fantastic shops, both known designers and quirky stuff. It seems that every road has something different to offer. The village is full of lovely brownstone townhouses and buildings which are very ‘gangs of New York’ If you’ve seen the film, you’ll know what I mean. Emergency stairs zigzag their way down the fronts, sides and back. It’s a pity the look is marred by all the air conditioning units poking out of the windows although I fully understand the need for it.
Photos: West Village
There are loads of interesting looking places to eat although we are heading for the original Magnolia Bakery, a cake shop made famous by Sex and the City. However, before we get there we spot an Indian creperie. Both Mike and I love the South Indian dosas so we go in on a whim and are really glad that we do. The food is fantastic. Both Victoria and Mike have dosas (huge, thin rice pancakes stuffed with different fillings, and I have an uttapam, an Indian version of a pancake. Although this one is different to the one that Laura’s maid used to make me in Mumbai (she used eggs rather than rice flour) it’s still good.
Photos: Lunch is served at the Indian Creperie
Of course we still have to visit the Magnolia Bakery and end up with cheesecake and cupcakes to take away. I’m told there is usually a queue out of the door but today we are lucky and there’s only a few people in there. How grateful they must be to HBO’s location finder for giving them the exposure. Their sales are through the roof and they now have four outlets in New York.
Photos: At the Magnolia Bakery
There are countless art galleries in this part of New York, and I am tempted to go in them but know that Victoria and Mike probably won’t be that interested. Although some sales people can be a bit snotty when they realise you are not interested in buying, just looking. However I spy a gallery displaying pop and street art, and I love some of the street art and know that Victoria does too so she and I go in and drag Mike with us.
A lot of the stuff is interesting but not to my taste, but there is one collaboration of artists who work under the name of ‘U R New York’ and I absolutely love their work. I would love to take a photo of the type of stuff they do but obviously I can’t. One of the ladies in the gallery says she will take a photo for for me and send it to me but as of yet I haven’t received it. I found this one on the internet.
Photo: ‘Brown Stones’ by U R New York
Although we are heading for Grenwich Village we sort of miss it and end up in Washington Square. It’s lovely to find these little oases of green in such an urban jungle.
Photo: Entering Washington Square
There we see another form of art. Live art. This consists of a shaven haired man in nothing more than lurid green underpants, socks and boots, dancing around the square, sometimes with a pretend chicken on his head, sometimes balloons adorning him, shouting at the passers by. At first I think it is a case of ‘care in the community’ but he has too many props with him, all arranged for his performance, so we conclude that he has a mission. Not quite my cup of tea so we give him a wide berth and scuttle out of the park.
Photos: Art? Not as I know it!
We eventually end up on 5th Avenue and try to get into the Forbes Museum where we have heard that there is a fantastic display of Faberge eggs but we arrive one minute too late. Turning a corner we realise we are on the road for Victoria’s favourite shop, West Seal and she and I go in to look around while Mike sits outside on the fire hydrant nursing his headache which would have got much worse if he had gone inside with the loud music. When we come out I suggest that he goes back to the boat for a sleep before we go over to Carol’s which he does and Victoria and I continue up 5th Avenue, stopping at various shops as we to. He takes with him the carrier bay full of goodies from the Magnolia Bakery, a mistake as in a phone call later on he decides to stay on the boat and nurse his headache.
Photo: 5th Avenue
We find a branch of J Crew and I am able to buy a t-shirt that I saw back in Portland but didn’t have the time to buy. Now it’s in the sale and I am even happier. Such is the bargain that I buy something else to go with it.
Photos: The Empire State Building – over rooftops and in reflections
We make our way back to Times Square and start the walk to Carol’s. Thirst overcomes us and we stop at Starbucks where I get hugely short changed on the amount of cream on my drink, while Victoria gets an enormous mound of the stuff. I should have gone back at the time but didn’t realise the difference in the amounts we were given. Half way through my drink it is tasting distinctly un-creamy so I ask Victoria for some of hers. She is mortified at having to stand in the street, transferring cream with the aid of a straw from her cup to mine. Anyone would think I had asked her to use her fingers! Children! I remember a birthday card I bought for a friend years ago which said ‘ Live long enough to be an embarrassment to your children’. Victoria would say I met that mark years ago!!!
We go to Carol’s where she makes us a delicious roast dinner, something we never get to eat on the boat because I won’t use the oven. Although she has been good and chopped strawberries for desert, Victoria and I are so full we can’t manage them. We sit and watch TV for the first time in two months – really crap TV (great) – Real Housewives of New York. God, I’m glad I haven’t met any like that. Coincidently they are filming in St Martin and St Barts so Victoria and I sit and shout ‘we’ve been there’ about 20 times.
Photos: Lights at night
Carol doesn’t trust us to find our own way back to the subway but I think she just wants the walk. She escorts us back and we are back on the boat within half an hour. Apparently the lady in the Magnolia Bakery told Victoria that all cakes should be eaten on the day of purchase and as we have walked a bit since eating, we manage to shovel down the cupcakes, just the one each. Yummy. A delicious end to a great day.
Position: 40 deg 47 min N, 73 deg 59 min W
Distance so far: 2335 miles
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