So,… the sad truth is, and I do feel awful about it, but Jeff and Leann’s schedules being what they were, our guests missed out on a spectacular few days. It began peacefully with a two hour walk the morning after their departure at a state park adjacent to the marina. It was a bird preserve, campground and went from little hilly meadows, to foresty areas, to little beaches. The birdsong was beautiful and we saw tiny bright yellow birds, woodpeckers and doves. We then cruised to New York City and docked at Chelsea Piers. Chelsea Piers has floating docks and the surge from passing boats is intense. Thus we were in consistent motion (not super pleasant), but the location was beyond great from which to explore New York.
We immediately took a walk on the High Line, a 1-mile linear park built on a section of the elevated former New York Central Railroad which runs along the lower west side of Manhattan; it has been redesigned and planted as an aerial greenway and is very cool when not too crowded. They have planted trees and little gardens along it to provide New Yorker’s some respite from nonstop concrete and metal of the city and built sun lounges to sit on the old rail tracks that slide along the line so you can arrange them all together or separate them. The path traverses Chelsea Marketplace, so we took a stroll through there.
We then walked to The Standard Hotel (Jeff’s suggestion) and had drinks on the top floor in a golden room overlooking the city (we could see the boat below us at Chelsea Piers), listened to a lounge singer singing old standards, and had the best Pimm’s drink ever – tasted like a light, fresh smoothie served by cocktail waitress in gold silky mini-dress/space-suit. There are two bars at the top of the Standard and Mr. Curious of course couldn’t resist checking the other one out even though they were turning people away (It seems you need to be on a list or….? to get in.) For some reason they let us in and we were amazed at how different it was from the other bar with a jaccuzi inside the bar and a rock band getting ready to play right next to the Jacuzzi (with electric guitars etc). The Astro-turf on the outside deck was crowded with twenty somethings and it was a Monday evening! After dinner at the Fig & Olive, we spent a rocky night on the boat (and so I left my electric anti-seasick band on.)
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