Day 66 – New York – Friday
20/7/12
Weather – Bloody wet 18C - 22C
Sunrise – 5.40am
Sunset – 8.19pm
Time difference - minus 14 hours ex
Sydney (back an hour last night)
New York, New York.... WOW !!!!
We had the alarm set for 5am this
morning for our sail in to New York City, but I was up at 4.30am, and
Donna not long after. The anticipation and excitement of a big day
ahead had us up on the top deck bow by 5.15am. Just visible on the
night sky horizon were a few microscopic size lights in the far
distance, so we figured we had time for a quick tea and toast in the
buffet.
By the time we got back out the dawn
sky was that deep blue of day break, and the horizon was now the
clear shapes of a skyline, albeit very small, that was dominated by
two buildings that had all their lights on. We later discovered
these were two of the buildings under construction on the World Trade
Centre site.
By the time we passed under the
Verrazano Narrows Bridge, daylight was upon us, but no sun, and and
it turned out we would not see the sun today, only raindrops. Not
long after we passed the Statue of Liberty on our left, and I will
admit to a few tingles, it is a sight to behold when you see it for
the first time.
By now the skyline was, 'alive' with
buildings looming closer, Staten Island ferries transiting the Hudson
River, and the hum of the city being heard. As we slowed to approach
our berth, we had a a great view of the the USS Intrepid that was
moored just a couple of piers over from where we would be 'parked'.
The Intrepid was a fantastic sight with a Concorde parked on its
lower deck, an array of fighter planes and other military aircraft,
and a big inflatable bulb cover on the rear of its flight deck, which
houses that Space Shuttle Enterprise.
We were very fortunate to be part of a
group that Pam and Randy had put together, for which Pam had
pre-booked tickets to the Intrepid, Water Taxis and the 911 Memorial.
We got ourselves through US entry process, without the delays that I
had heard would confront us.
First stop, the Intrepid Sea, Air &
Space Museum with the centrepiece, the USS Intrepid, which is an
awesome sized hunk of metal, through which we got a guided tour. The
hangar (under the flight deck) has been turned into a museum, which
was really interesting. It was a fantastic tour that took us through
some of the ships front end, with officers quarters, and then out to
the 'anchor room'. After working our way through the inside exhibits,
it was up onto the flight deck, and we got up close and personal with
the array of military aircraft on display.
We were lucky that we had the guide, as
he was able to take us beyond the roped off areas around the planes,
for a good look, and great photo ops. We then went onto the rear of
the flight deck to where the space shuttle Enterprise is shrouded in
a protective cover. We are so, so, so lucky as this only became open
to the public yesterday for the first time.
It was a breathtaking sight to see,
quite a marvellous bit of technology. It was much bigger than I
expected, and it is in the same condition as it was after it
completed its duties. It has not been cleaned up and repaired, so the
scratch marks on the heat tiles, and scuff marks on the body are
still there to see. To be able to get so close to it, and walk under
it was just amazing. Yeah I know I say amazing a lot, but this was
just amazing, amazing, amazing.
Back out onto the flight deck of
Intrepid, where the queue to go up to the bridge was snaked around
for a very long way, so in the interests of time, we passed that,
went down to ground level and had a look at the exhibits of a space
festival that is on this week (another dose of good timing), the
submarine parked alongside, and the BA Concorde, which is the actual
plane that set the world speed record for passenger airliners in
1986. We had our first NY style Hot Dog whilst walking the deck,
yummy, but it was only a small one, but resisted the urge to get a
second one.
We left Intrepid, and went a couple of
piers down to catch the Water Taxi which would take us down the
Hudson River to Battery Park. Whilst waiting for the water taxi to
arrive, I popped into a bar to grab something more substantial to eat
on the run. I ordered a serve of chips, and walked out with a
container the size of a big cake tin, full of hot chips, covered in
hot chilli, beans, and melted cheddar cheese. It looked absolutely
disgusting, and tasted disgustingly fantastic. Fortunately Donna,
Mary, and Ian helped out in knocking it off before the taxi arrived.
The heavens opened big time whilst
waiting, and a few of us were cursing the weather forecast we had
been given aboard, as we did not bring jackets, or ponchos. We did
have our ' I Love London' umbrella in the back pack which had not
been used yet, but it did not provide much shelter against the rain.
It was wet, but not cold, so on we soldiered. A nice ride down to
Battery Park, and a wet walk to the 911 Memorial. We bought another
umbrella along the way, so now we had one each.
By the time we got through the security
screening, and walked our way through the temporary entrance
(temporary as it is a construction site) we were getting a little
over the rain. Upon seeing the memorial one could not help but
reflect on that day, and the images that are now burned into our
memory. It is a very well put together memorial, and looks better up
close that the pictures display it. Unfortunately the driving rain,
and a collapsing umbrella steered us away from the memorial and into
shelter.
A wet walk back to Battery Park to get
back on the water taxi. We went further down the Hudson River, and
around to East River, and the South St Seaport, across to the
Empire-Fulton Ferry Park, passed Governor's Island and over to the
Statue of Liberty. We got a real treat here as the Captain took the
bow right up to the statue and stopped. They opened the doors so we
could could go out on the bow and take our photos, it was so cool.
Back to Pier 84, for a damp walk back
to the ship at Pier 90, where we showered, and had dinner. We were
buggered, it had been a long day, but a great one. It would have been
so easy to just climb into the sack then, but the call of the city
was abound. So out we ventured again, by now the rain had stopped. We
walked away in the general direction of where we thought Times Square
was. After about 20 mins the tell tale signs a of glitz, flashing
neons, crowds, theatre were upon us.
The atmosphere here was just
intoxicating. I dont know if it is like this every night, or just on
a Friday night, but the sights and sounds of people crowded on to the
footpaths (oh sorry, sidewalks) was a sight to behold. As Donna said,
you could just grab a seat and spend the night just watching what was
on display. We spent a couple of hours here just soaking it up,
wandering into a few shops, and immersing ourselves into the crowd,
which seemed to just burgeon with a top up of people as the Broadway
shows emptied out.
We could have caught a cab back to the
ship, but we elected to walk back, but it was a slow walk !! It was
nice to walk the streets of New York at night, you see so much when
your on foot. The little bars underground, the subway exits where
people mill about etc. We never uncomfortable at all walking through
the streets after dark, everyone was friendly.
By the time we got back to the Pier the
legs were sore, the feet were sore, the knees were cracking, the back
was painful, but we were smiling at such a wonderful day and night in
New York. Back on board and collapsed into bed and asleep in a nano
second.
With New York being an overnight stay,
we get to do it all again tomorrow !!!!
