NY Diary: Day 3

Sunday 20^th March

Slept better during the night, with no noisy pipes giving me trouble this time, and was able to wake at 6.45 to relax and chill-out before get-up time at 7.30 – something I was to regret later on.

Took breakfast shortly after 8.00 – much the same as yesterday’s, plus some easy-spread American cream cheese. I used the hotel’s Internet terminal to email some photos to the folks back in the UK, but spent too long, so when I checked the times of trains from Queens Village, I realised that I had just missed the 8.42 - the next one (in an hour’s time) would be too late for me to visit the Statue of Liberty.

Deo Gratias however to the bus driver and the E Line Subway, for though my likely assumption was that I had missed the Liberty Cruise, I was going to take it as far as I could and try to see what the options for an exchange or a refund were.

As it happened, I arrived at Castle Clinton at a time nearer 11.00 than 10, but the clerk saw that I was a prepaid customer, and booked me for the 11.30 ferry instead, so all was well.

Further delays were to compound matters with a suspect package (ie. unattended) inside the monument, during which time however I enjoyed the clear afternoon sunshine and started chatting with some others in the line, who were three generations of a Texas family together with their friend over from Italy (above). Not surprisingly they were freaked out by my English accent – "British Guy" the younger ones called me whenever we saw each other from one side of the mighty pedestal to the other.

The climb to the top of the 275 steps (designed by – Gustav Eiffel, no less) was confining and extremely pulsating. My knees gradually quivered at the prospect, and I was still feeling a wobbling sensation from the ride on the ferry, but made it to the top. The Crown was smaller and more cramped than I was expecting – I bumped my head against the roof on a couple of occasions. I asked a Chinese tourist and the Monument guide to take a picture of me at the window (left), and then having milked my moment up close and personal, headed back down the narrow spiral stairs down to the pedestal – built at great opulence by the US Government in 1884, and gloriously constructed by the French who sailed the statue across the Atlantic to be 'bolted' (literally) on top – I had seen the replica prototype before in Paris on the River Seine.

As I made my way down from one level to the other down the star-shaped pedestal, I got a sense of what made America great: not just the outstanding craftsmanship of the Statue, but also the same exhilaration that Apollo astronauts felt when they looked away from the Moon and back at Earth, to see what a wonderful thing their land was.

I skipped onto the returning ferry at 1.55 which as an added bonus stopped at Ellis Island. I couldn't resist the urge as it was snack time to have a hot dog and a Pepsi in the balmy breezy brilliance of the Hudson and East Rivers. I feel like an American now.

Grateful thanks are also due to the staff at Radio City Music Hall, once I arrived there a little after 3.00. “Are you Joseph Sales?”, asked Emily the attendant when I wandered into the foyer – I must admit I was surprised to be referred personally by name in such a gigantic venue as this. As with the Louis Armstrong House yesterday, the organisers were very accommodating in allowing me to come into the tour a few minutes in. Yesterday I was not allowed to touch most of the lovingly preserved original 1970’s features of the Sachmo House; today I was afraid to touch anything (but also perfectly able to) in this incredible theatre, at the time of its completion in 1932 the biggest cinema in the world, and still one of the largest theatre venues globally. Even the Men’s Rooms looked lavish and opulent, which we were also allowed to use (although in such a theatre of my dreams the idea of the call of nature was about the last thought in my head.)

Also as an added bonus we had one of the renowned Radio City 'Rockettes' (Lindsay Howe) made a personal appearance and spoke a few words about her career and the development of the dancers, and then posed for photos with some of the guests, including yours truly feeling rather vain and indulgent; perhaps I’ve come over all Anglo-American today.

With the rest of the day free to do as I pleased, I marked out the places I had been unable to visit so far, which included St. Patrick's Cathedral, Central Park, the Plaza Hotel, and as I happened to be passing it, Tiffany’s department store (as immortalized by the Audrey Hepburn film taking Breakfast there.)

Once I’d finally given up with my ramblings around the city, I jumped onto the Subway back from Brooklyn Bridge, then the Long Island train back to Jamaica and Queens Village. In the absence of anywhere else that I could eat, I tried 'Popeye’s Chicken and Biscuits' (or 'scones' as we'd call the latter), an unexpected novelty, with macaroni cheese as a side dish with some chicken strips of varying chunkiness, before I was eventually able to get into a bath and prepare for the Transatlantic journey home tomorrow. If life truly begins at forty, then this last weekend has been one hell of a pleasant introduction.

Sunset in Central Park