New York – Second Day

Well no thank you e-mail from Carlos yet so unperturbed Anne wanted to visit the Manhatten Carlo’s Bake Shop to check that the biscuits and cards had been passed on to him. As luck would have it, the shop was just up the road from where we were staying. Anne had a lovely chat with the girl at the till who suggested a group photo with the other assistant. Another friend made.

Breakfast at the Broadway Deli and Cafe, omelette for Anne and eggs, bacon, home fries, pancakes, extra eggs, my toast, Anne’s toast and two cups of coffee for me. You have to be careful when you are away, you never know when the next meal will come along. Actually, in our case, it was about 30 minutes later in Carlo’s Bake Shop, mmmmm doughnuts.

Anne watches a TV show called Yes To The Dress. It is based in Kleinfeld on West 20th Street. Brides and their entourage go to the shop. The bride tries on dresses and receives mixed comments from the entourage. Evidently, the show is a big hit (?). Dresses cost between $6,000 and $20,000+. The shop had a public area for the, well, public. And the private area (although this area was being films for an audience of millions) for the brides. Anne started chatting with what she thought was one of the assistants, but was actually ‘Chelsea’ the store manager who was on her way to London next week. Another friend made and an open invitation to try on dresses at Kleinfeld should the occasion ever arise.

An open top bus tour is our usual next stop, so we walked up to Times Square, paid $59 each, a total of $120 (no change given in NYC) and got on the bus.  Now I’m not sure I would recommend a hop-on-hop-off in New York, once you are on its great but if you get off and try and get on again you will wait for three full buses to pass and then opt for an Uber. By the way, Uber is really cheap, air-conditioned and you hop-on where ever you like and hop-off where ever you like. Hmmm.

Next stop Battery Park for the ferry to the Statue of Liberty. The queue to buy tickets was only 10 people deep. Woohoo! The queue to get on the ferry was nearly a mile long. Boohoo! We decided to look at the Statue from the pier and have lunch. A proper New York hot dog for me, yummy. salmon salad for Anne, she says yummy too. On to the One World Tower.

I will admit that the 9/11 memorial was not on the top of my list, but if you visit New York you really should go. The two memorial pools are staggeringly huge and beautiful. They take the footprint of each tower with water cascading 30 feet below walking level. The museum is extraordinary, it is underground below the pools and has many of the relics from the disaster.

Our last stop was the High Line a park and walkway that once was an elevated railway. It stretches for around two miles and provides fantastic views of both the city and the bay. By now we were both really tired so walked a few stops and took an Uber home. Dinner was get-your-own from the 42nd Street Food Emporium. At the checkout, Gloria pointed out to me that she had subtracted the senior discount. “What you think I’m over 55?” said I. She looked me up and down, turned to Anne and burst out laughing. Not quite the response I was expecting. Needless to say, Anne struck up a conversation with Gloria and they are going into business together service selling badges saying ‘Give it to Me’ to the over 55’s. Three new friends in one day, not bad.

[Show slideshow]