Category: NYC

We went on a cruise today, all around Manhattan Island. I didn’t even know this was possible until a few weeks ago, so I was looking forward to it quite a lot.

The cruise began on the west side at Pier 83, and took 2.5 hours to circumnavigate the island in a counterclockwise direction. There was a little mist at the start but this burned off and the weather was pleasant and sunny, and our views were good.

After rounding the bottom of Manhattan we cruised up right alongside ‘The Statue’ for a good look and photo op. There were other cruise ships scattered around as well: this is surely the big draw as far as NYC Harbour cruises go. This was the closest I’d ever been to The Statue and it was very impressive.

We cruised under many bridges – maybe a dozen – some of which were only about a foot above the top of the boat. We also went through a rail swingbridge, which carries the track that the train to and from Albany travels.

The tour including a guide who was a font of facts and figures and as a NYC resident for 40 years obviously knew the city inside out. He spoke about the city then, now and tomorrow and the great changes it had undergone since Hurricane Sandy in 2012 and of course the pandemic. Even today some of the iconic skyscrapers in the city (such as the Chrysler building) stand mostly empty with uncertain futures.

Perhaps the most interesting thing I learned was that NYC has a rail bridge that was the inspiration for a famous bridge elsewhere in the world. Here’s a photo (from wiki) of the ‘Hell Gate Bridge’, can you guess which other bridge virtually copied it:

After the cruise we had planned to go and see some of the Saint Columbus Day parade but food and shopping got in the way 🙂

We’re back in NYC for another birthday trip. It’s warm and sunny and unusually nice for mid October (back home it’s much colder).

The city is as lively as ever, possibly because there’s a major parade tomorrow (which we didn’t consider when we booked this trip). We just got back from Times Square and it was bonkers busy.

Today we walked over 10 miles hitting most of ‘our’ usual shops and just soaking in the city vibe. One church we passed was blessing animals today and we saw the minister blessing this police horse. There was also a child waiting in line with a little hamster in a cage. It was very cute 🙂

Those are paintings for sale in the markets near Union Square. They were all massive – about as tall as me, and the choice of subjects was… unusual. We not really sure if that is Jesus in the bottom left. What do you think? And which would you buy?

The hotel costs an arm and a leg but we always love staying here and to our surprise they put us in a newly renovated room with a wonderful view. They even gifted us a bottle of champagne and a balloon for the birthday girl!

We saw police setting up barricades on 5th Avenue for what we assumed was tomorrow’s parade, but then to our surprise a different parade started! It was the Hispanic Day Parade and we watched groups of people from various Hispanic countries dancing in national dress. It was quite spectacular and tomorrow’s Columbus Day Parade now has quite a bar to reach. Will we be able to watch it tomorrow? I hope so, but we have another activity beforehand which may get in the way. Check back tomorrow to see what happens…

Stickers are the new graffiti, and they cover every postbox and lamp post and whatever the thing in the above pic is. They also seem to change every time I’m here. Do they get removed? Do they just fall off due to weather? And who’s applying them and when?

Almost every street corner in Manhattan has one or more food trucks or carts. Down near Times Square the proliferation of these is incredible: I counted nine in total at one intersection. I buy drinks from them sometimes, but in all the years have never bought any food aside from the sugared nuts.

I sent loads of postcards this trip, since I had been ‘saving up’ Postcrossing cards. I think over 40 went into mailboxes during the past three days. I also bought over 100, many of which cost only $0.10 each!

The above statue had a matching friend on the other side. It’s a clever illusion, but I thought the pallet he was standing on was best since it’s also painted metal (I think).

Times Square is full of people – usually middle aged Hispanic women – dressed as Disney/Marvel/Minions characters who will pose for photos with you for a price. Yesterday on the subway I saw a lady in a Pac Man ghost outfit, with the head off, no doubt heading to work 🙂

I had fun these few days in the city. I already look forward to the next visit at Kristin’s birthday.