SUMMARY I have caught a cold and I am not happy about that! Up very early to be functioning and on Deck 7 before 6:00am when we are due to sail past the Statue of Liberty. Get some great photos of Manhattan at sunrise too. Breakfast, final packing and we’re off the ship! Sadly, because of the cluster f*** at Immigration, it takes us a while to leave the Brooklyn cruise terminal. Quickly get a ride share to our nephew and niece-in-law’s apartment in Manhattan. We drop our bags and scurry out so as not to disrupt their work day. We head to a fun diner to catch up on the news then head to the High Line where we follow an excellent narrated walking tour the whole length. More café hanging out then nice al fresco dinner with John and Savina. - Karen
DETAIL Welcome to our penultimate blog post for this trip. We get up at 5:30 am, groan. We have been getting up closer to 7:30 or 8 O’clock. It’s not that bad since last night we gained yet another hour so the 5:30 really was more like 6:30 body time, so it’s all good. But why so early, you ask? We’re sailing into New York today and passing Lady Liberty. Everyone wants a picture.
We lay the thick plastic protective blanket on the bed to protect it from our luggage. After some final packing we get ourselves cleaned up and dressed, all while swilling coffee. Every so often we dash out to the balcony to see if there’s anything to see. First is the Verrazzano Narrows bridge. It’s funny, this brings us full circle. Flying to Europe we flew into JFK and out of Newark, which meant taking a taxi across the Verrazzano Narrows bridge. Now we’re under it! We can see the lights of skyscrapers off in the distance. The Statue of Liberty and Manhattan Island can’t be too far off.
Out of our cabin we head to the Promenade Deck for an unobstructed view of the Big Apple. We note that there’s an oversized door stop next to every cabin door. Once we’re all off the ship (most of us, anyways) they’ll bulldoze through all the empty cabins like a tornado, changing all the towels and sheets, sanitizing, wiping down every surface, etc. etc. This is turn around time. They’re heading back to Southampton this afternoon. Along side us is a tanker ship, maybe 1/2 the length of our behemoth vessel, pumping in diesel for the trip back to Great Britain.
On deck we find that yes, lots of the ship’s passengers are here. You’d think they’d never seen a copper clad, toga wearing, 150 foot tall beacon of liberty before. It’s before sunrise but there’s enough light to make it look very impressive. We do not get too close but we still get goose bumps. Thank you France and Gustav Eiffel.
It’s 6:32 when we do our glide-by of lady liberty and the daily schedule says that breakfast won’t be available for a while. I think they’re whack and sure enough, breakfast is in full swing. Normally people go to breakfast between 7:00 and 9:00 but today, since everyone is getting off and catching flights, everyone’s eating at the same time. The coffee machines have a hard time keeping up.
Eventually we gather all our belongings (hopefully) and wheel away to disembark. We find our way off the ship to immigration and customs. The line’s not long but the equipment isn’t the newest. As such it takes a while to get cleared, but soon we’re outside, awaiting our ride-share.
It’s a short drive up to 9th Avenue and 20th Street. We drop our bags at our nephew and niece’s (John and Savina’s) amazing place. It’s a workday for them so we head out, in the perfect weather, for a walk. First coffee, avocado toast and the day’s news. And we go buy a couple of bottles of wine for later. We pay for the wine and ask if they can hold it for us in the fridge, we’ll pick it up later. Sure no problem. Nice!
Next up is an audio guided tour of The High Line. We’ve walked the elevated park/walkway before but with the stories and history it really comes alive. Also it’s been maybe five or 10 years since we last were up here and the plants have really filled in. They completed (more of) the northern extension of the High Line, so that’s all new to us. It’s such an amazing addition the the city and quite an incredible story as to how close we came to it being torn down. At the end of the narration we hear about other cities where they’re doing similar crazy, fun projects that will improve life for everyone.
After more walking and more refreshments, we head back to John and Savina’s, wine in hand.
We hang out in “our room” to let John and Savina finish their work day. Finally we all get together and catch up, sipping wine. We walk to a great dinner at Anton’s, sitting outside in the summer breeze. It’s warm but feels good. On the way home we stop for gelato. New York has many great aspects to it, but a big one for me is the number of independent eateries, offering inventive flavor choices.
Since John and Savina just got back from France, and are still getting over their jet lag, we all retire early. Tomorrow we fly home after fifty two days or so.
Photos
Sailing in to New York Harbor, under the Verrazzano Narrows bridge. We drove across it, in a taxi, on our way to Europe at the beginning of the trip, some fifty-plus days ago.
Manhattan Island! Everyone's very excited to see it. The weather cooperates. The sun has yet to come up so it's just the ambient light illuminating the skyline.
The statue of liberty. A gift from the French. The base? We had to pay for and build that.
After sunrise the island of Manhattan looks very pretty. In the forground is Governor's Island.
Much closer to the Queen Mary 2 is a refuling barge, replacing the diesel we burned on the trip over.
We did not give up our bags, but wheeled them off the ship ourselves.
Back on Terra Firma we stop for some (more) breakfast and to (again) catch up on the news.
New Yorkers really know how to build a good advocato toast.
The southern end of the High Line. They cut it off there (versus how it previously continued on, into the old refrigerated building behind us, to store meat, eggs, milk and cheese).
The view from John and Savina's awesome place.
Seen from our walking tour. The Edge. Glass floor and glass walls. You can pay to get all geared up in ropes and hardware to climb up the rest of the building, to the top. Thank you, no.
The (something or rather), coloquially known as The Schwarma. It's stairs and views. Too many people used it to put themselves out of their misery, so they're now adding metal mesh to prevent that. It's closed until that addition is completed.
Time for bed but we realize we didn't get any photos! Here I am with John, my handsome nephew. Maybe more pictures tomorrow morning.
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