Victoria has another two things on her list to do today – Central Park and the Rockefeller Centre.
We are not far from Central Park – on the map anyway – so we decide to walk the few blocks there. Once there we decide to stick to the west side as we want to see the Dakota Building (where John Lennon lived and sadly died) and not stray too far from the subway.
It’s a pleasant walk. Central Park is just 20 minutes from the boat basin and we enter it about half way down. This rectangular piece of parkland, nearly 850 acres of it, is a welcome oasis in the middle of a heaving metropolis. It’s a Mecca for health conscious New Yorkers and tourists alike – and there are plenty of both. There are touts all over the place offering bicycle hire and rides in bicycle or horse drawn carriages and hundreds of people jogging, cycling and walking their animals although this woman, with two dogs tied to her waist, takes the prize for multi tasking!
We get to the lake which is a wondrous shade of emerald green, probably totally unhealthy and very full of algae. Nothing can possibly live in it or so we think. People near us throw some kind of food in (actually it looks like Cheerios) and suddenly there is an explosion of activity and red-eared terrapins come swimming in all directions. They are not the tiny 2inch creatures I used to own as a child, but 8 inch things, looking extremely healthy. Obviously they like the green stuff!
Photo: Terrapins enjoy the lurid green water
The Dakota Building is a wonderful Gothic piece of architecture, visible from Central Park. Within Central Park itself is a small area called Strawberry Fields, dedicated to the memory of John Lennon, and the Imagine Memorial, a mosaic set in the floor between the two. People gather around this taking photos, mainly wanting a clear shot of it. It gets very irritating when people insist on standing in the middle of it and posing and it takes me about 10 minutes to get a clear shot.
We exit Central Park at Columbus Circle, complete with its statue of Christopher Columbus, and Trump International Hotel and Tower.
Our next stop is the Rockefeller Centre. Exiting the subway we look around for it, thinking it is one huge building not realising that it is actually loads of different buildings spanning many blocks until after I ask someone. We stop at another branch of Magnolia Bakery and scoff cheesecake for lunch. There’s no where to sit in there but as it’s air conditioned and we are not, we don’t mind standing up at the little bar.
Most of the shops in the Rockefeller Centre are below ground – it’s a huge area – an underground mall really, with the famous ice rink outside one of the huge skyscrapers. It’s an outdoor cafe area in the summer.
We buy our tickets for entrance to the Top of the Rock, the viewing levels at the top of the centre. The entrance tickets are timed to make sure that the queues are manageable and we have just 20 minutes until our slot, do depositing Mike on a chair, Victoria and I browse the Swarovski Crystal shop, buying nothing on this occasion but mentally storing images for later purchase!
The ride up in the lift is exciting. It’s incredibly smooth and we shoot up over 85 floors in 21 seconds. Above our heads is a fantastic laser and light show and when we emerge from the lift, the whole of New York is spread out before us.
There are three observation decks, and the centre of the building has glass and crystal mosaic walls and a room of light panels which change and make sounds as you move through. Victoria and I just love it all.
While Victoria and I wax lyrical about the views, Mike takes a quick look then finds himself somewhere to sit, bored at looking at buildings – it’s almost as bad as shopping to him.
Eventually I suggest that he goes back to the boat, and glad to be let off the hook , he does, leaving Victoria to enthuse further about the man-made beauty that is New York, well, Manhattan. But we love the interior of this building too.
The only thing I don’t like about the observation decks here is that you don’t get a good view of the Chrysler Building, my favourite one but you do get a good view of the Empire State Building. If you go to the Empire State building you get a fab view of the Chrysler Building but obviously not the Empire State. You can’t win unless you spend a fortune and go in them all. Oh well.
The day which was sunny when we started off, has turned hazy and the light begins to change. We would like to wait until sunset but we have Carol coming over to dinner and need to buy some coconut milk on the way back to the boat, so reluctantly we leave.
We stop at the Swarovski Crystal shop on the way back and Victoria buys us both a crystal bracelet then we explore a little more of the Rockefeller Centre itself.
Victoria and I have to drop off at Columbus Circle to visit the Whole Foods Market (wonderful shop) just to buy some coconut milk. I thought that we would find one of the little delis that are normally on every street but are disappointingly thin on the ground in the area. For the first time since using the subway we have to leave our comfort zone of using the Number 1 line, and use something with a letter instead. It’s boiling hot on the platform and we have to wait ages for a train. When it comes, it’s already packed and although I manage to stuff myself in, Victoria gets stuck behind on the platform until I grab her hand and drag her in.
In the carriage we are like sardines in a can but there’s no room for sauce in here. When another person tries to cram themselves in a fight almost breaks out. It’s so hot and tempers are frayed. I just hope no one’s got a gun!
We get off after two stops – walking would have been easier at rush hour! Whole Foods Market is a fantastic shop, pricy but good – on a par with Waitrose I suppose. The produce is wonderful and after going in for one tin of coconut milk I find myself with a bill of $13. How does that happen? How did those other things get in my basket?
Coming out we stop to listen for a few minutes to a solo guy making very good music but we are already late and can’t linger.
Thankfully we go back on the familiar number 1 train but when we get back to the marina there are police on motorbikes at the entrance. At it happens they are just hanging around looking for potential trouble and are back making dinner within half an hour. I ask nicely and one of them lets me take a picture of his bike, posing with one hand on gun while he pretends not to notice that I am taking his picture as well. It’s amazing what a cheeky grin and an English accent can do!
Carol comes over at about 7 pm. I can’t believe she has walked all the way from near Times Square carrying two heavy carrier bags full of wine, beer and strawberries. It’s a bit scary watching her try and get on the boat but after a few tries she is successful. Amazingly she is nearly as bad as Johanne. She has a good look around the boat, sits in every seat, tries out the bed, pronounces it nice and cosy then settles herself into the corner for dinner. As it’s Curry Friday, we have king prawns with Swahili sauce, one of our favourites, and spend another lovely evening with her.
Late in the evening we are treated to a wonderful display of fireworks from somewhere over in New Jersey then we see a beam of light coming from where the twin towers once stood. How beautiful.
Unfortunately with a jiggling boat and a jiggling dock, my camera doesn’t stand a chance of capturing it properly. What a pity.
Carol leaves as she arrives – on foot walking nearly 40 blocks south through the streets of Manhattan. However, it does feel really safe. Tomorrow we are going star spotting around Broadway with her!
Yet another brilliant day!
Position: 40 deg 47 min N, 73 deg 59 min W
Distance so far: 2335 miles
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