15 Englishmen in New York.

On Sunday, we woke up tired and a bit hung over, and ready to experience a bit of the ex-pat culture in New York - the six nations rugby. England v France was being shown in a few Irish bars around the city, all charging the $20 cover that the sport channel Satanta insists upon. We went to the Kinsale Tavern, which is way up by 94th Street but was recommended on a couple of rugby forums. My hang over combined with our late rising inspired me to pay for a cab all the way there. This meant it was quiet when we arrived so we got a seat at the bar - a great view of all five plasma screens behind the bar... and the six or seven dotted around the tiny building itself... As we tucked into our Irish breakfasts (who'd have thought the Irish had french fries in the morning?), I wittered away at Hedy some of the rules, as she admired the short shorts of European sports. I am fairly certain that one key piece of important information stuck, as she was able to not only recognise Chabal, but was also well trained in saying "Mmmmm... Chabal" when he came on screen. It was very weird watching my home town on TV here, but a good (bizarre) game, in which I assume the French team were probably drunk... what a score!
When we left the Kinsale, we headed across to Central Park to walk through to our next destination. It was here that Hedy was able to expel my theory that old people are not allowed in New York City. I had yet to see anyone over the age of 60, and was fairly certain that there must be some kind of collection squad to remove them from the streets and send them to Florida. But no, it turns out that there are some - perhaps those who have evaded the collection squads with their sharp minds and wit - and they are mostly found in Central Park. I still stand by my theory for now - it may be that the collection team have Sunday off and so the Sunday streets are safe...
It took about 15 minutes to reach the American Museum of Natural History. My City Pass meant that could use a shorter queue, so I waited for Hedy by the big stuffed elephants that I have seen in so many movies. Annoyingly, Hedy had not been offered one of the Imax tickets that I had been given with my pass, but as I wanted to see the show I excused myself and went along anyway. The film was in a dome shaped theatre with a screen covering the the whole dome. Here I watched planets and galaxies fly past, learned about the creation of the planet, the moon and the future of the universe. Most of the time, I was really wishing that I wasn't feeling quite so queasy and had a few regrets about the large cooked breakfast. It was good though, and worth the trip. We wandered through a few more galleries of the museum, only really stopping the human evolution one to look at the bones, and for Hedy to spot a Neanderthal reconstruction and say "mmmm, Chabal". Yes, Hedy, yes it is.
When we left the museum we walked west towards the Circle Line. The walk was a little worrying, not a nice neighbourhood so we took quite a quick step all the way. We popped out at the Hudson river by the Intrepid - a WWII Naval ship that is now a military museum. Having bought our tickets for the Circle Line which was just 'next door' to the ship, we headed to a real American diner for some dinner and to kill the hour or so before the tour. The diner turned out to be a real Greek-American diner, where we both had Gyros (alas, not like Corfu ones though - more like donner kebab meat on a pitta with tsatsiki, salad and chips) and a baklava. It was here that we realised that we had walked through 'Hells Kitchen', the dock based gangland of days gone by, which had been renamed Clinton to hide its murky past. Yikes! No wonder it was so creepy!
The Circle Line tour left at 7pm. It is called Harbor Lights, and leaves just as the sun is setting over the city. As you head south, the sky grows darker and the lights come on. The guide chatted away, frequently off on a tangent about nothing in particular, but with some snippets of useful information. He showed us where the great Captain Sully so gracefully landed his plane on the Hudson river, saving all those on board. Apparently it was the Staten and Ellis Island ferries that rescued the passengers from the wings, and the Circle Line - which is too high out of the water - was used to take over the fire fighter divers, who checked the wreck was empty. The boat went on down, past the Financial District, where the born and bred New Yorker guide understandably talked a lot about 9/11, pointing out where the two huge towers should be - and the Deutch Bank building, which was damaged by one of the towers at it fell and is being dismantled floor by floor.
The boat went on round the end of Manhattan and up the east side, under the Brooklyn and Manhattan bridges. By now the sky was black - or as black as it can be with all those lights - and it the glowing city looked amazing. Eventually the boat turned around and headed south, out into the bay and over to the Statue of Liberty. It went quite close, and everyone rushed outside into the cold to get a clear photo (I waited until the last minute... it was reeeeally cold outside!). We were told that you can no longer go up inside the statue, a decision made to keep her safe. I agree with this - what a blow it would be if this globally recognised landmark of the American people were damaged or destroyed. We were told she is owned by each and every American, and not the states of New York or New Jersey. I asked Hedy which bit was hers. "The crown. The whole crown. And the left breast." She owns a lot. One very important question sprung to my mind though: when the Ghostbusters filled her with ectoplasm, how DID she get down off that podium? It is nearly as high as she is ... did she jump!?
All in, the tour was great. Perfect views of the night time sky line of New York. When we got back to the dock, we were so tired that we hailed a cab to get home, and both flaked straight out when we got back. Maybe I am getting old, but I really am not a night owl in this city!