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Hi again from two very tired and extremely wet travelers in a very stormy, thundery and very wet Big Apple!!
Today started a bit later than planned.
Those who read my last blog would have seen that it was very late last night, or to be more correct, very early this morning before I finished it and got it published online.
We had planned a visit to the Rockefeller Centre this morning but decided to change plans a bit as we needed to get some laundry done and also to get our ‘Hop on – Hop Off’ bus tickets from the ticket office up town a ways.
We let ‘get up time’ this morning be dictated by our bodies and they very kindly let us sleep until about 8am, still only a little over 6 hours sleep but never-the-less still very acceptable.
After showers etc. we headed out about 9.15am for a nearby ‘self serve’ Laundromat and did a load of washing and drying. We were starting get a bit low on some items due to using an extra change of clothes most days due to
the very warm humid weather.
We had a lovely Granola, fresh fruit, honey and Greek yogurt breakfast washed down with several cups of tea next door to the Laundromat on 9
th Avenue. This was a very acceptable change to the free muffins etc. that don’t really fit our usual breakfast habbits!!
The load of clothes had just finished the wash cycle when we got back so we decided to throw it in the dryer and then head up to the bus office while that cycle was happening.
Unfortunately we horribly underestimated the time it takes to go anywhere here and after arriving at Grays Line office and seeing the length of the queues, I decided to leave Joy there to sort out the tickets while I shot back to the Laundromat to pick up the dried clothes.
Folks, it was at least 35C this morning here and very humid and I couldn’t see any buses on my route so fast walked back to the Laundromat completely soaking another set of clothes in the process. The heat is nothing short of oppressive but we are not really complaining as
I know you are all probably freezing at home!!!
Got back just as the dry cycle was finishing and neatly folded all the washing and headed back, on foot, to the hotel where I met Joy who had finally sorted out the bus tickets and ‘hot footed’ it the 8 blocks or so back to the hotel.
We had just about had enough by then already and the day hadn’t even properly started!!!
However we had a PLAN so off we went back to 8
th Avenue and got on the ‘Hop on – Hop Off’ bus for what was called the ‘Uptown’ tour. The plan was to take this route to where it intersected with the Bronx Tour and then take that line to Yankee baseball stadium.
The plan worked a treat except the double decker bus was only an open top deck one and it was very, very hot sitting in the full blaze of the sun for something like an hour getting to Grant’s Tomb on the corner of Riverside Drive and 122
nd St. to catch the Bronx bus. However it is really a great way
to see the city and we had an excellent ‘live’ tour commentator on both buses so we got a great running commentary all the way with lots and lots of interesting info.
We got onto the Bronx bus, again a top open decker, and drove through the Bronx for about 3 quarters of an hour before arriving at Yankee Stadium.
Just as a matter of interest, our impression of the Bronx as a gang infested, lawless place was nowhere near the mark from what we saw. It seems to have been ‘cleaned up’ over the last few years and may parts of it we quite presentable. We were both pleasantly surprised.
At Yankee Stadium we knew that there was a big MLB game on today. The Yankees were playing a series with the Tampa Bay Devil Rays and we thought about getting tickets to go to see the game a few weeks before we left home but the only seats left were not in a very good position so the PLAN was to still go to the Stadium and have lunch at the Hard Rock Café there while watching some of
the game on the TV screens there. FANTASTIC!!!! , well at least I thought so. The Hard Rock is sort of under one of the stands and while you can’t see the field or anything like that, at least it was all live on the 20 or so huge screen TVs in the Hard Rock.
A lovely Hard Rock Café lunch, watching the game live as it happened above us….even bought a genuine Yankees cap as a momento and of course Joy purchased the Hard Rock T shirt.
Then things went a bit ‘pear shaped’ for a while, as they do every now and then when we are away traveling!!!
We finished lunch and caught a B train from the Stadium back across to Manhattan and down to Harlem where were booked on a Harlem Walking Tour culminating in a Gospel singing church service for 5.30pm. We had plenty of time to get where we had to be on the corner of 145
th Street and St. Nicholas Ave. There was a Chase Bank on the corner as well so went in to use one of the ATMs to get some cash.
It told me they could only give me $110 in cash and that my account balance would then be ZERO!!!!!!
Panic stations!!!!! Where had all the money gone????? Did another ‘balance’ request and it still said ZERO. Tried to get onto the internet at a Dunkin Donut place nearby as they had free wifi but that wouldn’t work. Then walked down to a Starbucks nearby to use their free wifi and finally got on the internet and got into the account to see that the balance was still intact. WHEEEEEEEEEWWWWW!!!!
There were more than a few anxious moments I can assure you all. By the time I calmed down after sorting that it was time to meet up for the Harlem tour…….along with what appeared to be about 200 others.
Just as we lined up at about 5.15pm the first claps of thunder and bolts of lightening hit us and talk about ‘bucketing down’. We were caught in the middle of a torrential downpour that resulted in everyone get completely soaked through. There was no shelter and of course we had no coats or anything like that.
They
took pity on us and didn’t do the walking tour but still had to walk in the torrential rain, dodging the lightening, for about 15 minutes to get to the church for the service and gospel singing.
WET, WET, WET!!!!!
However the gospel singing service was great. A young group of singers under Pastor Chantel (who even preached a 10 minute sermon) sang with great gusto in the typical manner that you see on Tv etc. It was a great hour spent in a lovely old church listening to some fantastic music.
It was still ‘bucketing down’ when we came out of the church and I thought it was quite dangerous with the amount of low lightening but we walked the 4 blocks to the nearest subway station getting wetter and wetter before finally getting out of the rain for 20 minutes or so in the subway heading back to the hotel.
Thankfully there were some very enterprising street vendors at our destination subway station selling cheap brollies so we bought 2 and walked 3 blocks back to the hotel to dry out and change clothes before heading
out for dinner.
Had a lovely meal just down the road at quite a ‘posh’ restaurant where we were able to get a decent meal of meat and veges including some beautiful mashed potatoes. Beats some of the American fried food that it everywhere!!!! Still raining very heavy with lots of thunder and lightening as we walked the short distance back to the hotel.
It’s now 1140pm and will now publish this online and try to download some photos, although not many taken today, it wasn’t a photography sort of day!
Bye until tomorrow.
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