USA trip 2016 pt 4
12/12/2016 New York
Okay, this place has finally gotten to me, I've now had a meltdown in public. Yay.
So we waited for the family to get the kids off to school before getting up in case we caused a distraction. I washed my hair and we headed out to find breakfast. Ended up going to Dunkin’ Donuts to try it. Unsurprisingly, was not worth it!
Jumped on a train both using my metrocard having given up on Arwin's, and headed to the WTC and from there walked down to Battery Quay and looked out to the Statue of Liberty. Didn't feel inclined to do a trip out to the island, so just wandered round a bit, talked to some squirrels, then headed back to the subway and caught a 5 train back up to Central station, then the S shuttle across to Times Square. Man this Metro network design is terrible! Oh well. A day for train-based financial requests. First train of the day had a man randomly announce he's living in a motel and struggling to feed his kids and would really appreciate help. Second train had a guy collecting to buy food for homeless people (and a guy with a lot of plastic bags and bandages who possibly was one), then the shuttle train head a bongo drumming busker. Short trip but he was awesome :-) so we gave the second 2 $1 each.
We were going to walk to the New York High Line, a rooftop garden track built on a disused elevated rail line. But it is a bit out of the way compared to the tourist districts, and it was cold and miserable. We stopped halfway for a drink and some inside time to warm up, and eventually decided to do Central Park instead. So we walked back where we'd been and headed up to the Rockefeller Centre, which had an ice rink, and also a Lego shop :-)
The lego shop was pretty impressive, best of all the TARDIS control panel like brick self serve dispenser in the middle! We bought a box of assorted “classic” bricks for the older daughter though hopefully the younger will be up to such things soon too.
From there we walked to Central Park, past Trump Tower with lots of police, and on the next block, lots of protesters. Nice!
Dome panorama of southern ice rink in Central Park
360 degree panorama of southern ice rink in Central Park
We were hoping to go skating on the ice rink in the lower end of the park, but it didn't seem to be open so we just took a few pictures, and wandered on. Lots of offers of horse and carriage rides. I guess people don't realise it's often quite cruel.
Walking back towards Broadway we found a Europa Cafe and stopped in for crepes and Swiss hot chocolate. Nice :-)
The souvenir shop itself had little of interest. It did, however, have big Donald Trump tshirts which were very tempting to give to Stu and probably others :p
We kept walking on the look out for an appropriate gift for the younger girl and maybe some more souvenirs if anything caught our eye. Of course it didn't, so much overpriced rubbish.
Back in Times Square there's a Disney shop, do we went there in the hope of finding something not too overtly commercial. It actually worked out, found a plush pink Cheshire Cat :-)
So many people though, my stress levels were very high in the shops and a few times I had to step aside into a quiet corner when the press of humanity was getting too much.
While we were there we also went to the Hersheys shop. I know American chocolate is terrible but felt like we should check it out. Turns out Kisses aren't too bad.
Caught the E Train from 42nd st back to the WTC, which had a few soldiers in it… wow this place is armed. The soldiers were carrying sensible hand guns, as were most of the cops, but we also saw NYPD cops with semiautomatic rifles in Times Square. Ugh. There is no shortage of emergency services here, although I'm sure the time of year is a contributing factor.
At the WTC we had to top up my metro card again so we'd have enough on it for tomorrow. Sometimes the machines are difficult and you have to try a few times. But even on the first time, a loud arrogant man behind us felt the need to tell us what to do, even though we knew and really weren't taking that long. Our transaction was refused, and he started going on at us to put in our ZIP code for Canada or wherever we're from because we're holding everyone up. The stress was too much so we just walked away so Arwin could check the card balance and I had a meltdown. You just can't talk to people like that. If you think they're having difficulty, quietly ask if they need help. Oh it was so awful. Anyway our balance was fine, we topped up from my card instead.
Fun fact: gumboots are apparently fashionable. Saw 5 pairs today!
Got off the train at Grove St to discover a pop up farmers market! Got some nice looking popcorn and had a look around. Good hippy stuff :-)
Headed home, gave the girls their gifts, chatted to our hosts for a while, then went to a Turkish restaurant Rumi for dinner. Plain and delicious :-)
Walking back home at night was a bit scary, but no incidents, we were just extra careful of cars.
Early start tomorrow, and 10am bus to Boston.