Day 10 NYC

Our start today was a little later than it’s been. Of course that’s what happens I suppose when you are carousing until the wee hours of the morning! Following our rather slow start we were off, like so many New Yorkers on this beautiful, hot summer day, to Central Park.

Now I think it’s probably pretty clear, to even people who don’t know me well, that I love an adventure. I’m up for anything, and will wander o’er hill and dale to find it. But when it’s really hot, I fight grumpy! Maybe it’s the good sea breezes that I was raised on that still run through my veins, but I really don’t like the heat! Today in NYC it was hot!

God really knew what he was doing with trees! It’s 20° cooler in the shade. Central park was lovely but I suspect I may have missed a sight or two dodging from shady spot to shady spot. What we didn’t miss was the busker show in the middle of the park! A large crowd had gathered to watch these 12 black guys perform a hilarious acrobatic show that involved the audience. Wearing only shorts, their exposed torsos were photo quality definition. Watching the show for a few minutes was an opportunity to quickly figure out why! Even while some guys were ‘on’ entertaining the crowds, the guys on the sidelines were doing one armed handstands, which slowly morphed into one armed push-ups, which slowly morphed into one armed backwards push-ups! Don’t even bother to ask what that is. I saw it and I don’t understand! All I know is that while doing a one armed push-up he slowly began to twist until he was face up with his arm still on the ground under him and he was raising and lowering himself. I am certain these guys have extra joints or muscles or something the rest of us don’t! Passing the hat was part of the show as they all cheered for $20 bills, frisked others for more money and kibitzed with the crowd. All great fun!

 The boys, always a few steps ahead.

 Manhattan skyline across the big pond.

 The pea green pond! No colour adjustments needed, this is the real colour.

 The entertainment in the park.

It's true! Big bird really does live in NYC and visit Central Park!

 

As we walked away I was slightly behind the others hesitant to leave the show. OK it was mostly about the shade, but the point is I was behind!  This little-town girl was shocked when she had the chance to watch (close-up!) a drug exchange. As one guy approached another one said, “Hey, were you been man? I been needin’ a hit!” (Yes, I was plenty close enough to hear all this!!) The first guy took out a little bag and dumped from it into the other guy’s hand. They were obviously doing this discretely but it wasn’t hard to see! The second guy bent over as if to get something from a cart beside him and took his hit! Amazing the things you see on a walk through Central Park!! Maybe small town of me but it isn’t something I see every day!

What do you do after you witness a drug deal? Well go for ice cream of course! The next little cart selling cold drinks and ice cream was also a licence to print money in this heat! Besides ice cream in Central Park is as a part of the quintessential New York experience as the drug deal!

Heading out the opposite end of the park John brought us to Le Pain Quotidien for lunch. Apparently a part of a world-wide chain (they were in one recently in Spain), it offers organic breads and healthy fare and it’s delicious. Unfortunately it disappeared before pictures were possible! I believe there is one somewhere in Toronto and it will be on the ‘to do’ list when we get home to find it!

 Love the architecture in NYC!

The mix of old and new is so cool!

 

Frankly tired of walking we thought it might be a good time to take a ride on the Staten Island Ferry for a look a Lady Liberty. What we actually did was take a subterranean tour of all five boroughs! John has been a master navigator throughout our visit. Above ground and underground he has gotten us where we need to go. Apparently though his expertise only extends Monday to Friday, through no fault of his own I might add! On the weekends, routes combine, and are re-routed, and are cancelled altogether but this information is contained in the fine print or is kept secret from all but the native New Yorkers! We learned that some of this is the result of repairs that are still happening as a result of Hurricane Sandy! Thankfully we have met countless helpful New Yorkers who approach those who are obviously hopelessly lost and get us on our way until we can manage to get lost again.

We became horribly tangled in the New York subway and it was hilarious! We were on trains staring at maps as some kind fellow traveller tells us we should have gotten off at the last stop and are now on our way across the river to Brooklyn. We were on trains where we realized that we had already been through these stations. We were on platforms waiting for trains that never came to be guided by those kindly New Yorkers again to go up three (more!) flights of stairs, across the tracks for these trains, and down three (more) flights of stairs to another set of trains. Oh the stairs and the subway platforms we travelled! Subway lines in New York City are designated by letters and numbers. For some reason throughout this tangle we often found ourselves on the R Line leading John to quip that we were making Rs (sounding like arses) of ourselves and that set me off in hysterical laughter! It was enough to set John in motion to continue to say things that kept me in uncontrollable laughter. You know how once you get started, you can’t stop and everything is funny? Well I was there! Some passers-by thought it was amusing and smiled at my silliness; others looked away and are probably at home now telling someone about the crazy woman they saw on the train today!

Well we never did make it to Staten Island but...been there done that! I am pretty sure you couldn’t plan a trip like we had on our underground tour of NYC. Vacation is about appreciating the serendipitous moments!

Finally finding our way back to the PATH train (which also changes on the weekend by the way, but at least predictably) we opted for happy hour and pot luck dinner. May sound a little tame, but today was filled with enough adventure and honestly we never have enough time at home anymore to spend quiet evenings with good friends! So this was another perfect day!