Kim and Lynda Cruise

I've been enjoying a new Veneto grappa, Sarpa Di Poli, which comes with a fancy stopper and inside a tin can, for the planet's sake. Subtle fragrant highlights; promotes sound, sudden sleep. It's Artisan, don't you know?

This morning we were tempted to visit a gallery of B&W photos curated by Alec Baldwin from a selection candid photos of 60s and 70s rock icons via Rock Paper Photo. The collection is online, they're hoping to sell signed works at a premium over the cost of the paper. I particularly liked one of Robert Plant at the peak of his powers, but the others were interesting too.

We were on a mission to the piers - as obvious as it may be to history and real estate, a city like New York (or Sydney etc) which was built up on being a good port finds in time that ports need to be in a cheaper place. The piers close down, infrastructure moves elsewhere and a myriad of trendy bars takes over the riverside.  A long walk along the Hudson River - it was amusing to see one considerable continuing use of the old piers and warehouses was the NYPD compound for towed vehicles caught for parking violations. There were lots, perhaps it's cheaper to throw away the car than pay the fine. 

We took up another one of the New York City Pass vouchers, the Circle Line sightseeing cruise, which leaves from the Pier 83 at the end of 42nd Street. It was a good day for a cruise, and we went most of the way around Manhattan and back again, with a detour for Staten Island and lots of snapshots of the Statue of Liberty.

There was a guide giving a continuing monologue about the important buildings, where celebrities alive and dead resided, and things of interest on the other shores - New Jersey, Queens and Brooklyn.

I got an explanation for the massive vertical nets at one former pier (apparently the pier from whence The Titanic unsuccessfully sailed). People practice golf there, and the nets catch the driven golf balls.

The current tourist trick is to line each couple or group in front of a green screen and take a digital photo on the way in to the attraction - we got it at the Empire State Building too - so by the time you finish there is a photo montage of said tourists in front of a vista, purchasable there or later online with even more options for photo-cups, fridge magnets and more more more. In the Natural History Museum, they offered to montage the family as if terrorised by pterodactyls or mauled by mandrills. All good fun and clever use of cheaper photography. However, we walked straight past the Circle Line photo stall since the online offers are capable of a more shrewd discernment.

Up 42nd Street, we stepped into a supermarket for the necessaries and the lols and both were in good supply.  For example, Reese's Peanut Butter Cups in icecream form:

Yes, those are red-white-and-blue roses for the 4th of July.


We decided to walk back along 8th Avenue and past the New Yorker Hotel (I stayed there for a conference in 2003) and all the way home. Tonight - Bouley Restaurant.