New York, New York!

It is, indeed, a helluva town.

Good morning America!

Even in the morning rain, she is beautiful!

Ellis Island.  This is where my Dad and his family entered the United States of America.  Thank you Grandpa Taylor for taking a leap of faith.  We cannot imagine our lives if you had not!

The morning commutes on Staten Island must never get old.

I love visiting every time I am here.  This is the third October in six years that I have spent some time visiting my friend Frieda.  Seems every other year I can find a reason to meet up for at least a little bit if not a few days.  Today was a very short time, too short.

The United States of America, rightly so, has every person enter the country through and immigration process.  For citizens it is relatively easy.  You present yourself, show your valid passport, and you are in.  Visitors show their passports with appropriate VISAs and they are welcome.  Many times, when entering our country or others on cruise ships, the officials come on board and process everyone before docking.  They may come out on the pilot boat or if they are from nearby countries they get a free couple of days cruise and take care of business.  Or I have even seen, for some countries, they simply request that the cruise ship hold all the passports.  The ship sends the manifest and everyone who is approved gets their documents back and when we arrive we disembark.  Not sure what happens to the unapproved, but at the minimum they stay on the ship.

Officials in New York had a different idea.  We each were given an assigned time.  Docking was at 8:30.  Our time was 10:30.  Since the port of call had changed from an overnight visit to a long day, this two hours was an annoying cut into our valuable time.  Luckily we didn’t have amazing plans for the day.  So here is what happened.

The three of us went to the served breakfast in the dining room. We had time.  Announcements were being made and numbers were quickly being cleared.  I am sure that those who had booked ship tours were be exited with alacrity.  We finished, the last to leave the dining room, and went back to the cabin.  Elva had decided to stay onboard since her friends were not coming up from New Jersey to meet her…and it was raining!

We noticed then that number calling had stopped.  There was about a 30 minute pause.  Are they taking a second wave of tours off?  Probably.  We decided to go to the Cellar Masters area to be ready to join the line when our number was called.  When we got there and were asked our number I showed our 25.  The girl said to go ahead.  I turned and told Elva and Carol they were taking us even though they were only on 20.  I walked ahead and showed the young man my number and he said to go ahead.  He was now working with whomever was there.  He even had a radio call and told whoever was on the other end the same thing.  We got lucky! 

 

I turned around and Elva and Carol were not behind me, nor a few people back.  Then I saw Elva sit down but I couldn’t turn back.  The walk to immigration was completely as though we were exiting to the city.  Through security to exit.  Down the gangway, back and forth on the ramp from Deck Four level to the terminal ground floor.  Down an escalator and across an extremely long terminal building.  If you have ever ended a cruise in New York you know how vast those buildings are.  I reached Passport Control.  Elva and Carol were still not behind me.  I was cleared.  Walked a way further and got a green sticker on my Seapass card to indicate I had completed legal entry.  Walked on almost to the street.  Then up an escalator and back through the long hall to the gangway entrance.  Along that.  Back and forth on the ramp to the ship.  Entered through security and went to my cabin.  I will admit.  Sad to say.  I picked up a Bismarck at Il Baccio Cafe on the way by!  After all, the display case is right there!  I ate it on the way to the cabin.

In the cabin I opened the safe to return my passport and waited for Elva.  Turns out that although Elva had put her passport in her purse in the cabin she couldn’t find it and sat down to locate it.  Also the walk was a lot for her.  I had suggested that she request assistance but she had not wanted to do that. I thought it would be a long walk.  All ended well. But it was a good thing probably that she stayed aboard as the process was basically repeated to go ashore!

Carol and I set out about 11:15 and I was so glad that Carol let me follow her around New York.  She had lived most of her life in the city, and worked in Manhattan during her career. It was retirement that took her to Cocoa Beach.  The rain was not torrential.  It even seemed that each time we opened our umbrellas the rain would soon stop.  It did continue on and off all day to varying degrees.

What used to surround Times Square isn't there anymore, but the vibe remains.

Docking at Pier 88, Berth 2 was perfect.  I believe it was at 48^th and 12^th Av.  Walking straight up 48^th we headed into the core of the Big Apple, Times Square!  At noon my friend Frieda called, right on schedule.  She was finishing classes for the day and I let her talk to Carol.  Frieda loves Pret a Manger so we headed to 8^th and 42^nd and found a table.  Iced coffee for Carol and Diet Coke for me while we waited for her.  She soon arrived, had chicken noodle soup because she was fighting a cold.  Carol and Frieda hit it off right away like old friends.  Each a lifelong New Yorker and each full of life and laughs!

My friend Frieda and I hit it off together when we first met on a tour of VietNam.

We debated about which show to see Thursday night.  I had not bought tickets in advance and was glad I hadn’t for the original schedule as the port dates changed.  The plan was to get something at the TKTS Booth in Times Square.  As we know, ‘the best laid plans’!  It turns out that on Halloween New York truly celebrates.  There is a huge Halloween Parade in the Greenwich Village.  The theaters are dark!  Shows cancelled and only a few were having performances.  Phantom was seen too many times by some of us.  Evan Hansen was what I hoped to see but they had both seen it recently.  Okay. How about Aladdin! Carol sees it as soon as she gets home.  Serious plays orcomedies.  The same story.  AND because there were so few options there were no ticket discounts!  Tourists want to see something so everything would sell full price!  $100 for Phantom!  At a $199 for a second balcony seat, the viable option of seeing the story of the Temptations was not tempting!

Christmas is coming!  The Rockettes have the first performance of their iconic show on November 8th.

Instead we decided to go to the MOMA!  Museum of Modern Art!  At least it was inside out of the rain.  Carol loves Modern Art.  The nice surprise was that Frieda, as a member, was able to get us each in for just $5.00!  The museum which just reopened after a three month renovation was really beautiful, welcoming, and did not seem at all crowded even though there were hundreds of people there.  The all white interior, the open spaces and the infiltration of natural light made it very nice. 

Modern Art.  Sad to say I am not a fan of any art museums but this was very nice.  I admired some of the pieces and we were able to enter four or five of the special exhibits.  There were artists whom I knew, like Picasso and some I had not been aware of.  But some pieces just amazed me that they are art at all!  There was a room that had ten or twelve very large lumps of grey or black material that looked like clay.  They, to me, looked like melted platypuses.  Two giant black cubes, one on top of the other, the top one turned to not line up directly – art, really!

  

Candles and children's chairs make these cute birdhouses.  I liked them better at first glance than after I really looked at them.

Frieda was in the room we had just left where performance artists walked a patterned path through large sculptures.  The pieces had handles and after the stone faced people walked in a sort of macabre game of follow the leader for about 15 minutes they were to take the pieces and walk while rolling the pieces on their wheels.  We had left by then but Frieda was there watching that.  
 

I noticed this through the window on the way to the rest room.  I love reflections and this building is what I would call art!

Museumed out!

 Carol and I were sitting on stools at the charging station that we had planned as our meeting place.  Carol and I had covered all six floors of the art displays and Frieda was still on the first one we visited.  It was probably a good plan to not stick together.

We sat, Frieda perched!

Now we were sticking together.  Frieda remembered a restaurant she enjoyed a few years back.  We walked back through Times Square, which by now was quite lively.   It is always fun.  The drizzly, warm evening was falling and workers were rushing home or to parties.  Many of these sophisticated New Yorkers were dressed in the holiday spirit.  We saw a cow pushing a cart full of boxes down the street.  The Naked Cowboy was out in full force on what was probably one of the last days anyone will want to be naked in New York.  71 degrees out!  I was dressed in a turtleneck, fleece vest, and not very breathable rain coat.  Carol, too, was too warm.  I bet the Cowboy felt just right!

We made our way to Souvlaki GR, established 2010, on West 56^th Street.  

Luckily some small buildings like this still remain.  The Russian Tea Room is a New York icon.  I sure remember the first time I visited here.  White gloves and a hat was all but required!

We considered a recital at Carnegie Hall but decided we were hungrier for food than for art!

Souvlaki GR was across the street from the side of Carnegie Hall. The small place had Santorini Blue tables and chairs, candlelight and a nice corner table by the window for me.  The food was very good but I am not a fan of purely Greek dishes.  I am used to Greek owned restaurants that serve a variety of menu items.  This was Greek and involved a lot of dill.  But, it was good. When the cheese is melty I am happy!



We said good bye to Frieda, who as I mentioned, wasn’t feeling well.  Before we parted company I asked Frieda to tell Carol the 'cow story.'  She obliged and had Carol in hysterics.  Ask me some time and I will share it with you!

A path.  A narrow path.

Carol and I walked back through Times Square again which by now was quite a site to see.  All the hustlers and hawkers were out.  At the entry of the play Beetlejuice about at least a hundred people were in Beetlejuice black and white stripes waiting to gain entrance.  Further along, little Elsas, Batmen, Spidermen, and Cinderellas were Trick or Treating at restaurants along the way.  So different than what we are used to.

Christmas windows!  I love them.  And yes, I had to wedge between the gawking young Trick or Treaters, however none were harmed in the making of this blog!

 

 

 

Gotta love this Indian Summer night.  Christmas windows and flower sellers.  These were just a couple blocks from the ship and he was getting ready for tomorrow morning.

It turned out to be a very nice day in New York even though it was not what I had hoped for.  Carol and I did walk about six miles overall before returning to the ship.  We put our things in our cabins and I lured Carol to Il Baccio’s.  After all, she needed to be fully aware of all the yummy opportunities on board.  She chose a decadent slice of what she said was delicious chocolate cake.  Carol wondered why they didn’t serve those kinds of deserts in the restaurant.  I had cheesecake before we went up to our Hideaway on Deck 7.  There we found Elva.  I grabbed my usual go-cup of tea.

The three of us went out on Deck 15 to enjoy the summerlike evening air and to take great photos of the New York skyline at night.

The iconic Empire State Building is dwarf by her younger cousins but still proudly glows green and red in the mist.

The Intrepid serves as a proud reminder of American might.

12th Avenue, where we are docked, widens into the West Side Highway and is as busy as any time during the day!

We passed through the Solarium on the way to bed.  We sat in the quiet, warm, humid air and shared thoughts about our day.

The lights of the dancing fountain  reflected on the ceiling while we took a few moments to reflect on our day.

Elva enjoyed the quiet, unhurried time aboard.  Carol and I reveled, for a short time in the bustling chaos of the city That Never Sleeps.  We, however will sleep good tonight!

Back in the cabin I took a long hot shower.  At least we had had the news that the ship was not sailing until morning instead of the planned 2:15 a.m.  High winds were going to make it unsafe to be in the river at that time.  So no need to set the alarm and get up to see the sail away.  I went straight to be for a change.  I was barely able to read but a few pages before it was lights out!