Thursday 22 Oct 2009
West Point, NY 55°
Busy, busy day! We got up early and drove to Peekskill. It was only about a 15 min drive and pretty. We caught a train and rode it all the way (1 hour ride) into Grand Central Station, New York. Wow! It is a beautiful building. We wandered around in Awe for a few minutes and of course took some pictures.
From there we walked to the Port Authority Bus Terminal which was about 10 blocks (.8 miles) away. They had a USO there so we wanted to get Military discount vouchers. From there we only walked about 8 blocks and caught the Gray Line “downtown loop” tour bus. It is a jump on, jump off which are my favorites. We wanted the upper deck naturally so had to wait a bus or two before we were able to get a seat up there. By the way, it was a beautiful, warm, sunny day. I believe it got up to 72°.
The tour was great. We went from mid town to through the Garment District, by Madison Square Gardens, then Macy’s and Tiffany’s and all the other expensive stores, Empire State Building, the Flat Iron Building, Greenwich Village, then SoHo. From there to Battery Park, up the East River by the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges, through East Village, by the United Nations, Rockefeller Center, and onto Central Park.
We got off at Central Park and walked down 57th street to Park Ave. Our destination was Pace Galleries on the 2nd, 3rd, 5th, and 7th floors. (Might have been on 4th and 6th floors as well, but we didn’t go to those floors.) The reason for this gallery is that it is owned by Dick Solomon who was a room mate and very good friend of Rob’s Mother and Father. We met him on the 7th floor which is one of his offices and an amazing collection of African and far western pacific cultures sculptures. They were awesome. On the other two floors were paintings, prints, and photographs. All truly amazing.
From there we walked about 3 blocks to Dick and his wife Ann’s home on Park Ave. They have a great apartment, filled with wonderful art. We had tea/coffee and cake with them and caught up on old times they shared with Rob’s Dad. They were both lovely and very gracious people.
We visited with them for a couple hours and then walked back to the Rockefeller Center which was only about 4 or 5 blocks. We went to “the top of the Rock” as they say which is up to the top (67 floors and it only took 14 seconds in the elevator). When we got into the elevator they told us to look up when the door closes. I thought it had something to do with the speed of the climb, but it turned out they were displaying photos and a little show on the ceiling. You could also look through it and see the lights in the elevator shaft as we zoomed upwards.
It was amazing up there. We were there in time to see everything in the distance all around, and stayed long enough to watch the sun go down and watch the city begin to light up. The Empire State Building lit up first then various domes and peaks and finally light with in the various buildings lit up.
We realized we were starving so we decided to walk back to a Deli that both Brad (in a text message) and our tour guide told us was the best in town. The problem was it was over 3 miles away. No problem, we can walk. Oops, I tripped stepping of a curb and ended sprawled out on all 4s in the road. Humiliated but mostly ok. Then couple blocks later missed a down slope and just about bought it again. Final straw, I twisted my ankle on a grate that was about an inch above the rest of the sidewalk surface. I was sooo done with long walking. We had actually gotten down by Time Square and not far from Grand Central Station. I was hurting a bit so we went into the first deli we came to with more than three people in it. We were disappointed.
We walked from there to Time Square. Now this is what I’m talking about. We actually hung out in Time Square and people watched. It seems like everything we do is rushed to get here or get there. And I was awed by Time Square with all the Marquis, and people and stuff going on. There is a great bleacher type structure but it is solid and the surface is all lit up red underneath and there were more that a hundred people sitting there. Naturally being curious, I thought, “what are they all doing?” So I said, “let’s go see” and we did. It turns out they were all just there taking in the sights. So we joined them and just sat for about 20 min. taking in the sights of Time Square.
As usual, there just isn’t enough time in a day. I would have loved to have gone in to Tiffany’s just to wander around, or Macy’s, but especially to Ground Zero and the museum where the new memorial and 5 buildings that are going to be built are discussed.
I really wanted to walk through Central Park and go to some other places. But, we had to go. We walked back to Grand Central Station found out what and where the tracks we needed to go back, were told we had three minutes to get there, and we ran. We made it just in time! We had a nice relaxing hours ride back to Peekskill. We made the mile walk back “up” to the truck and drove back to our abode de wheels. I fed YumYum and then went immediately to bed. Rob stayed up for a bit.
One thing I failed to mention. This morning we made it to the train station with about 7 min to spare. However, there was no place to park. One of the cab drivers told me you could park on the other side of the Highway for free, so I called Rob and told him. (He dropped me off to get tickets while he parked). So he went up there and I waited and waited and then the train came. And then the train left. And a minute later I saw Rob running down the hill. This is a large part of his life, getting to the airport off of a trip, or in this case the train station, and missing his connection/train, by one or two minutes. FRUSTRATING! But, we got a cup of coffee, ate our bananas and finally patiently, waited for the next train.
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