23.05 - Day 129 - New York
Thursday 23rd May - New York (Day 129)
I’m out again early hopping on a Citi Bike, cycling down to the Hudson Parkway and north to level with the top end of Central Park - fewer joggers and cyclists at this end of town replaced by numerous dog walkers. I collect some bagels from Absolute Bagels before cycling the 4 miles back along the river.
After school work at our Even Hotel we pack up and check out, leaving our bags in reception to jump on the subway down to the Staten Island Ferry. The crowded boat sails past the Statue of Liberty, the crowds filling out the walkways on the starboard side. Most of the passengers do the same as us; disembarking at Staten Island before getting immediately back on again for the return journey back to Manhattan.
A simple crowd pleasing if not healthy lunch of pizza slices back at the hotel games room before a final round of table tennis and table football.
With bags trawling behind we walk to the F line subway past, as ever, relatively high police presence which has been noticeable throughout New York, though this doesn’t stop one opportunistic thief who grabs a phone from someone nearby, sprinting up our street. The policeman gives up the chase with 50 metres, whilst we don’t know what happened next we do know the thief was running straight towards a police station at the end of the street.
On our subway trips too there have been pairs of police officers on numerous platforms and by ticket barriers. In one station a pair of police dogs including a springer spaniel which is allowed a pat from the kids.
Our next hotel is in Queens, one stop to the east of Manhattan - there is a small gaggle of chain hotels congregated together - on the one block walk there Kate says she feels as though she’s in the early episodes of The Wire, though at no point over the next 3 days is there actual intimidation, just more litter and people hanging out on the street.
Our Wingate Hotel is only just back open to the public having been requisitioned by New York to house incoming asylum seekers, something apparently many hotels have also had. But it does mean it’s fresh from renovation, one of our newest hotels yet.
One regular dish in Sydney that has been absent is sushi, so at the kids request we seek out a hole in the wall affair on the Upper East side, taking it into Central Park to sit in the late afternoon sunshine. The prim and proper streets starkly contrasting our current abode.
After eating we stroll through the park into a couple of the playgrounds, past the model boating lake to the Alice in Wonderland statue. That’s enough exploring for one day, so it's the subway and home.
