I was up as the alarm went off at 7am. Today we had a walking tour of Lower Manhattan booked for 9.30am and we were unsure how long it would take us to get to the meeting point.
Karen’s arrival pessimism regarding breakfast was misplaced. Not only was it not crowded but it was also the full usual decent Holiday Inn Express fayre. I stuck to as much protein as possible, avoiding all sugar and carbs. It wasn’t too bad.
At 8.50am we arrived at the Bowling Green Station. As we were nicely early, we walked down to the water’s edge to get a view of the statue of liberty. We talked about our last visit when we climbed up inside her to get a view from her crown before being evacuated out. I think Norwich were playing Swansea that day under Paul Lambert.
We walked to the ‘Charging Bull’ statue which was our meeting point for the tour. Whilst waiting we took some pictures although Karen refused to have the traditional one of touching his well rubbed under carriage. I had no such qualms.
I had not suffered from this since being in California in June of last year. Then it seemed to be caused by taking painkillers for my knee mixing with my blood pressure tablets. However, I have resisted painkillers for some while so it wasn’t that this time.
I have also have had when I have had a virus and again it was the combination with the blood pressure tablets that was causing my blood pressure to drop to low causing the issue. I have admittedly been suffering with a virus for the past few days.
It did about another 7 times during the walking tour. Fortunately, each time I managed to find a seat and sweated it out without embarrassing myself.
The tour guide Renee was excellent. I knew from the start that her style of talk and level of detail was exactly at the level Karen would love, which is why I battled on rather than give in to my problems and rest for a few hours. Renee discreetly recognised I was having problems and pointed out where I could sit at every stop. We learnt so much about Manhattan itself as she was so knowledgeable. We also didn’t have anyone in the group asking stupid questions all the time which was a bonus. Renee kept up quite a tempo and I struggled with my knee walking at what she called a ‘New York pace’ so for that reason alone I was at the back of the pack all the time.
The tour ended at the Twin Tower memorials. This is a strange but serene tribute. Karen didn’t like it as it felt for her that the water represented people’s lives being washed away. For me though it had a kind of beauty. People were being respectful and like us trying to take discrete photos.
Under some of the rebuilt towers there are shopping complexes, a food court and what we were now in real need of, some toilets. It was all very well designed. We found a Starbucks and bought some drinks that we sat outside on a wall and watched the world go by for a while.
A few weeks back I had purchased through Groupon tickets to go up to the One World Observatory which is at the top of the USA’s current tallest building. Our timeslot was 2pm but we were let in at 1.30pm.
The view from the top was as expected amazing. We could walk freely around all sides for as long as we wanted.
I was still feeling rough but the episodes seemed to have stopped for now but I was in need of a fizzy drink. There was a café (which had standing tables only?) where I purchased a single can of Diet Pepsi. It cost $5. I will let that sink in. $5 for a single lonesome can. If I went to the supermarket, I could buy a pack of 10 for that. I know someone must bring it up in a Service lift but that is an outrageous mark up.
I was not the only one moaning. Afterwards whilst wandering around the gift shop I heard some fellow Brits complaining about the prices in hoodies, saying that at home in Primark the price would be 10% of what they were asking and far better quality.
After we felt we had seen the views for long enough we went back down and made our way out. Karen wanted to see the Memorials one more time before we headed to Trinity Church that we had been told about on the walking tour. Like many people we were not interested in the Church itself but the Graveyard as it contained Alexander Hamilton and his wife. Disappointingly there was no one rapping near the monument of possibly the best president the USA never had. Still at least his story is now immortalised in the musical.
Then we popped in a Whole Foods store to buy some decaffeinated tea bags. Normally we bring them with us but with bringing hand luggage only had managed to leave behind.
I still don’t know if I really like New York. It is big, brash, expensive and has an edge about it. Mind you I think that about London these days. After all I’m a good old Norfolk country boy at heart. The few days here will be enough. I do hope that we find time to escape to Coney Island for a day to see the contrast and hopefully escape the big city
A terrible pun just came to me to describe today – it’s almost been a ‘New York Fainting Disaster’. For any youngsters this was a 1967 hit by the Bee Gees.
We realised that we had not eaten since breakfast. Karen fancied a sandwich from Pret. This cost over $10. I just shook my head in disbelief. There were no sandwiches to my liking so I ended up with a burger meal from good old McDonald’s. We shared the chips which didn’t really help either of our diets, although we figured we would be cutting out a meal today and a large diet coke.
I had another light headed moment after eating, we are not sure what that signified.