As we were out and about so early the last two days, we tried to relax some by laying in bed until near eight. We failed that by an hour, u then I had suffered a bad night with much sneezing, sniffling and coughing, but in the morning, it seemed to break a little, and as I got better, I realised how bad I felt the day before. After we dressed and checked life online, we set off in light drizzle to walk along Greenwich Street to the all day diner for breakfast. An everything bagel for me, and a stack of pancakes. And coffee. Lots of coffee.
From there it was a short walk to the subway station, and a ride on the red line down to South Ferry to catch the Staten Island Ferry. Several things going for the ferry, I had Carly Simon in my head singing Let the River Run all day, it has views of Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty. And is free.
We just missed the half ten service, but only had to wait half an hour for the next, giving us the chance to do some people watching. Including a guy with a bandage covering the top half of his head with a bundle of wires coming out the top leading to a box hanging at his side. He looked fine to be honest, but odd to see.It was another dull and misty day, so once we were on the ferry and we took up position by an open window on the side of the ship, we saw little. New York was soon lost in the mist, but we were able to see the old fort as the ferry crossed to Staten Island.
80% of the passengers just get back on the next ferry, as they are like us, just riding it for the views.
We decide to stay on the island to try to find a place to get coffee, but after walking to what looked like the main street, we find nothing except a run down courthouse so we turn and head back to the terminal to catch the next ferry back. It seemed a very odd place, just a few large buildings of justice, a closed down pub. I suppose we could have caught one of the trains waiting to carry across the isand to what must have been a larger town, but we wanted really to get to New York.
We are on the other side for the return, so I could snap the Statue of Liberty as we steam past. But Manhattan was still shrouded in fog, so no good shots, but we could ride it again…. As we neared Manhattan, the towers rose up from the water of the Hudson Riverm abd soon enough we could hear the sounds of the city, traffic jumping along the wide streets.
We took the red line back uptown, getting off at 42nd Street and then riding two stops west to Grand Central. Grand Central is the station with the most platforms in the whole world, 42 in total I think. We were here not to catch a train, but to admire the building. The concourse is huge, and richly carved and decorated and the font is an art deco one. In fact the whole station is stunning, I mean jaw-dropping, and we wander round slack-jawed at the wonder of it.
It was two in the afternoon, we were footsore and hungry, so began to look for somewhere to eat. We ended up at the sumptuous Oyster Grill in the undercroft, to have seafood and beer. The rush was over, so we had a very pleasant meal, I had fried lemon sole, which was as delightful as it sounds. Service was great, as the waiters who worked lunch were still on, and the rest of the place was emptying.
But we were done for the day, at least until the evening. We catch the subway back to 42nd street, then back down to Canal Street, walk back to the hotel, so we could chill for the afternoon and me watch the first of the baseball games of the day.
Eating in the middle of the afternoon means we’re not really hungry in the evening, and with the drizzle falling down, and us dipping Ritz crackers in some spicy cheese dip, the evening passed with me watching the postseason games.
And as I write this, Red Sox lead the Damn Yankees 10-0 in the 4th!
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