Honeymoon Blog - 10/8/2008

What a whirlwind of a day. Here are pictures to go along with the blog. Today’s theme was “Sensory Over-stimulation”. We saw so much in so little time. We kept moving the whole time so we could take in as much of NYC as possible. We got up around 8:30 a.m. and started moving. I packed the night before so I was pretty much ready to go. We called the front desk to ask for an extended checkout time of 2 p.m. Alicia packed most of her stuff and we headed downstairs to breakfast.

Like I said yesterday due to my Diamond status with Hilton we were given access to a private breakfast area with some basic, and yet very ritzy continental breakfast items. We ate our fill of fresh fruits and cereals, hard-boiled eggs and toast, coffee and juices. After breakfast it was back to the room to prepare for our fast-paced tour of NYC. We finished packing up our stuff so it’d be ready for us to just to grab and check out. We had to be at the ship no later than 4 p.m.

We walked about a block to 7^th and 54^th to get on the redline train to Downtown. On the way we stopped and got some Starbucks coffee. We purchased all day fun passes and waited briefly for our train. We took it all the way down to just past the World Trade Center. Actually we were so busy talking that we missed the stop we were supposed to get off at. But it actually worked to our advantage because as we were making our way back to the WTC we ran smack-dab into St. Paul’s Trinity Church – the famous church of NYC where President after President has stopped to worship, from George W. (Washington) to George W. (Bush). It was surrounded by a beautiful and yet ancient (by U.S. standards) cemetery. There on one side of the cemetery was a memorial to a fire department who apparently lost many men in a tragedy in the 70’s. We entered the church at the beginning of their Eucharist. The kind, yet firm black man stopped me at the door thanks to the coffee in my hand. So I went out and threw it away. As I tried to re-enter, he stopped me and asked me to remove my hat. After I snapped his religious neck and kicked his dead body (when in New York!) Alicia and I took in the beauty of the stained glass and vaulted ceilings.

We left the church and two things came to my attention. First, I found it rather ironic and yet appropriate that Wall Street, the financial hub of the world, ran right up to the door of the church. Secondly, I was hit with the reality that this church was only two blocks from the collapse of the two towers and was probably, literally buried in rubble and debris and, yet, there appeared to be almost no damage to this house of worship. As we approached the footprint of the WTC cranes and tractors, men and women were hard at work, rebuilding. There was hope and determination in the air, mixed with memorials and pledges to remember. “We Will Never Forget” was displayed everywhere. Some of written by hand on the walls, the scaffolding and the sidewalks, others were written on beautiful monuments and bronze or copper etchings and murals. I could only compare the experience to the first time I stood in front of the Vietnam Memorial in D.C. There was a common respect and understanding amongst every person visiting.

We headed back towards the subway station, grabbing a slice of authentic New York cheese pizza on the way. Alicia grabbed it by the crust and held it up, demonstrating the flimsy crust as it hung limp. “That’s New York pizza!” She exclaimed. We munched as we walked and boarded the subway, but this time headed Uptown.

We got off the subway at Penn Station and headed east on 34^th street toward the Empire State Building. We passed Macy’s as we walked. As we reached the base of the Empire State Building I craned my neck to try and fit the whole thing in the camera lens. I wanted to try and capture how immense it was. We walked around the corner to the 5^th Ave entrance and walked in. It was as if we were immediately transported back in time to the 30’s and 40’s. We intended to ride the elevator to the top, but had second thoughts when we saw the cost and looked at the time. So we stopped at a Walgreen’s located on the first floor and bought some candy and batteries.

A short subway ride north and we exited at Time Square. I imagine that the scene would have been more spectacular at night, but it was still worth seeing. Alicia spotted the Hard Rock Café sign and we headed that way. I simply had to say that I’d “been there and bought the t-shirt.” We noted the time and the fact that we were dangerously close to 2 p.m. So we hurried to buy the t-shirt and get going.

I’m not sure if it was Alicia or me that suggested we skip the subway and walk back to the hotel, but either way our walking turned to running as we realized we might not make the 2 p.m. check out time. I’m so glad that we were both in shape, because the run would’ve been challenging for most people. We ran the 7 blocks back to the Hilton. Alicia went upstairs to start grabbing luggage while I officially check out. We barely made it. I went upstairs and we wrestled our luggage out of the room and down the elevator.

Alicia had two large pink rolling suitcases and I had one extra-large rolling suitcase. In addition to that we both had computer bags and I had a duffle bag. We divided up the luggage between ourselves and set out walking toward Pier 90 at the Westside docks. We were located at 6^th and 54^th and Pier 90 is on the Henry Hudson Parkway and 50^th. We walked, dragging our luggage behind us. I dragged around 100 pounds, Alicia dragged about 65 pounds. We stopped every couple of blocks to let our shoulders rest. Somehow I got it in my head that the Pier was on 57^th, so we walked up three blocks. By the time we reached 9^th Ave I checked the map and realized that we had to walk 7 blocks south to 50^th then west another 6 blocks to the Pier. Alicia didn’t complain the entire time. She simply said “let’s do it.”

Tired, sweaty and sore, we arrived at Pier 90, at 2:45 p.m. and checked our luggage. We went upstairs to get in the security line and were a little in shock at how long it was. So we decided to make a quick 2-block walk to a convenience store to buy some goodies for the ship. When we returned at 3:30 there was absolutely no line. We walked right through security. Then we were supposed to stand in line to sign into the ship and double-check our on-board account. The kind ladies, somehow had pity on us and stuck us in an extremely short line. Within minutes we were on-board.

We found our stateroom and were pleasantly surprised at how roomy it was. We explored the ship for a few minutes until the announcement came to return to our rooms and get our life-vests. We were assigned to “Muster Station A”. We followed the herd to the appropriate doors and lined up for our ever so difficult instructions on how to put on a life-vest. Once that was over and we were dismissed, we headed off to find a place to watch the ship pull out. We found a perfect place on the port side of the ship to wave at people on the other ships as back away from the dock. Once the ship was moving forward and we could estimate what side the Statue of Liberty would pass on we found another perfect spot at the front of the ship to stand take pictures. It was an awesome sight to see her pass. We both commented on how it must have felt as an immigrant to come to the country and see that for the first time.

After we’d passed the Statue, we headed to dinner. There we met our wait staff, Darmadi (called “D”) and Francisco. D is from Indonesia and Francisco is from Peru. They are both very kind and full of smiles, but could not look more different. D is short and stocky. What he lacks in stature he makes up for in his huge smile. We think we heard him singing “This is my desire, to honor you…” Francisco is tall and skinny with very Incan looking features. Alicia had a difficult time wrapping her head around the concept that our food was included and didn’t cost any additional money. I tried (and probably failed a few times) to be patient. Finally I think it stuck and we ordered to our hearts delight. Truthfully, we were both disappointed with the food. We both felt as if it was the kind of food we could order at a TGI Friday’s or some other restaurant that serves a variety of foods from different cultures. We hoped that the food would get better. During dinner the rocking of the ship took its toll on Alicia. We both hoped that it wouldn’t last the duration of the cruise.

After dinner we headed back to our room and met Maria our stewardess and Herbert from the housekeeping staff. Maria is from Romania and Herbert is from the Philippines. Our luggage had arrived by this time so we unpacked and settled in. Alicia took some Dramamine to calm her wooziness. We checked the schedule and discovered that there were some trivia contests going on in the next few minutes so we headed out to participate. On the way I joked that it was my goal to dominate the ship and become “that guy.” The first trivia was “Music in the Movies” trivia. They’d show us musical clips of various movies and ask for the title of the movie. Then they’d ask two follow-up questions about details in the clip – color of flowers, actors’ names, etc. When the clips were done we reviewed the answers and I counted 14 out of a possible 21 points. However, when I heard that someone had more points than me, my competitive nature kicked in and I quickly recounted. With Alicia sitting right next to me I discovered that I’d miscounted and actually had 17 points which tied me with the lead. They asked a follow-up, tie-breaker question which we both missed. The result was that we both won a bottle of French Champagne.

We stuck around for the next trivia game which was called “Last Person Standing.” This was general trivia covering all subjects. Every four questions every person would stand up and the correct answers were reviewed. If you missed an answer you had to sit down. Before long there were only 8 participants left and Alicia was one of them. They were invited up on stage and were asked more questions. The playing field was widdled down to two players – Alicia and another woman. They both missed the next 3 questions. Then they asked about the medical term for dandruff. Two of the choices were obviously silly and narrowed the options down to “scurf” or “scruff.” Alicia picked scurf. The other woman picked “scruff.” After a nail-biting pause, it was revealed that Alicia won. They handed her a silly little trophy that they called a “24-carat, solid-gold-plastic, ship on a stick.” Regardless of the prize we were well on our way to being “that couple.”

We were exhausted, so we went back to our stateroom and spent the rest of the night talking and resting until we fell asleep.

Like I said... what a day!