Day 173: New York City, New York … Next Day

Wednesday, 28 June 2017
At Sea — Atlantic Ocean
No Stats Collected

Roads were made for journeys not destinations.
~ Confucius ~

We were up at the Terrace Café for breakfast at 7:00a this morning … our second day in New York City.  Our goal was to get off the ship at 9:00a and go to the New York Botanical Garden (NYBG) to see the Chihuly Exhibit.  The garden opened at 10:00a, so we figured an hour should be plenty to get us there.  Well, it might have been … had we been able to get a taxi or Uber to take us to the Bronx.

Friends from New York had told us that cabbies would not accept a Bronx fare from Manhattan.  Turns out Uber drivers wouldn’t either.  We probably could have taken a cab or an Uber to the 59th Street subway station on Lexington Avenue — or to Grand Central Station — but we didn’t think of that.  Instead, bypassing the 50th Street station — we would have had to switch trains — we walked to E 59th.  It took us about 45 minutes to get there, so it was obvious we would be later arriving at NYBG than we planned.

No time to dally … but I can’t resist a mural click on the way to the subway station.

Getting to the subway station did not guarantee things would go smoothly.  We misread the sign and went down to the wrong platform.  Ooops!  Luckily a subway attendant helped us get our bearings.  She also suggested we take the D Line since a train had derailed on the B Line, sending some 40 people to the hospital and wreaking havoc on the train schedules.  At least we were saved from that mis-step.

With our $3/person one-way tickets purchased, we talked with an attendant who said the accident had been cleared, but to take the D line anyway since it was an express train.  Turns out the express train wasn’t express after all … at least not after we crossed the Harlem River from Manhattan to the Bronx.  Sigh!

When we got off at the Kingsbridge Station, another helpful subway attendant suggested taking the #9 bus to NYBG, but we decided to Uber it to save time.  It was 10:30a when we arrived at the Mosholu Gate … barely ahead of the crowds, which showed up in droves right behind us.  We bought our tickets — $23pp — and set off to explore with a map on which the attendant had circled the Chihuly installations.

[Those who are not familiar with this glass artist can click here to learn a bit about him.]

Since we were on a schedule, we decided to focus our attention on the exhibit.  Whatever we saw of the gardens along the way would be a bonus.  First, though, we stopped at the farmer’s market that was on the grounds and picked up some oatmeal cookies to tide us over until lunchtime.

Our tummies sated, we headed to the library where the ticket attendant had suggested we start our tour at the Fountain of Life.  Then we made our way in and out of buildings and around the grounds to see the beautiful glassworks scattered all around the gardens.  Only in the library did we see what I would describe as a true exhibit, with multiple pieces on display in one place.  These were all smaller pieces, but that didn’t make them any less impressive.  The rest of what we saw I would describe as installations.  Each piece, imposing in size or not, was beautiful and special … colorful and eye-catching for sure.  And the landscaped garden setting was much better than the casino setting in which we first saw Chihuly’s work at the Atlantis Resort in the Bahamas (in 2003).

One of the groupings in the Sea Forms Series at the exhibit.

”If you work with hot glass and its natural properties, it begins to look
like something that came from the sea.” — Chihuly

Red Reeds on Logs … The logs that appear in the display with the
blown glass reeds were collected from the grounds of the NYBG.

In 1995, while in Nuutajärci, Finland, Chihuly made temporary installations
along the nearby river.  He tossed glass into the river and let it float downstream,
where it was collected and returned in wooden rowboats, inspiring his Boat installations.

The brightly colored Persians resemble whimsical water lily leaves floating on
the water.  I don’t know if Chihuly intended the glass forms in the center
to resemble egrets and herons, but that’s what they remind me of.

”The Persians started out as a search for forms.” — Chihuly

I don’t know that I can say which sculpture I liked best, but the glass leaves we saw nestled amongst the plants in the greenhouse were so real-looking and blended so well with the real greenery that they are at the top of my list.

Installations at the Enid A Haupt Conservatory.

It wasn’t until we completed the loop around the grounds that we realized we had dallied longer than we intended to.  When we left the greenhouses, Mui noted that it was almost 1:00p.  We debated eating at the grill before heading back to Manhattan, but it was sit down service and we knew we would never make it out in a speedy fashion.  So we walked onto the Mosholu Gate for the trip back home.  Home — funny how we think of Insignia in that way … living in the same place for six month will do that.

Outside the NYBG, we considered taking the Metro-North train to Grand Central Station (GCS) and then Ubering to Pier 88.  But the next train wasn’t until 1:37p.  Time was a-wastin’ … so we decided to get an Uber to the subway station instead of waiting around.  Hah!  A driver promptly accepted our order, and the app said the car was 4 minutes away.  But the driver texted us to say it would be 10 minutes before he arrived.  We waited and we waited.  Seeing on the app map that the car was not moving, we texted back for an update.  When he said he was stuck in traffic and had no idea when he would get to us, we canceled the order.  Since the train was now due in 20 minutes, we went to the station, bought our tickets — $6.25/person — and crossed over to the downtown platform.

Though the train was twice as expensive as the subway, it worked out fine.  We found seats easily enough for the 22-minute ride to GCS.  After detraining, we debated grabbing a bite at the station, but it was after 2:00p.  Sure, all aboard wasn’t until 3:30p, but we knew walking back to Pier 88 was out of the question and NYC traffic isn’t confidence-inspiring when it comes to timeliness.  So, we skipped lunch and went out to 42nd Street to call an Uber.  There was a 30-minute wait!  So we asked a policeman where the taxi stand was — the stands are the only place where one can ‘legally’ catch a cab, though people widely hail them from anywhere.  Since the passing cabs were all full, however, the taxi stand was the smart choice for us.

We were back on the ship around 3:00p.  The Terrace Café lunch service was already over, so we went to the Waves Grill, which was chock-a-block with fellow-passengers who, like us, were bent on getting a quick bite before sailaway.  Somehow we managed to find a table, order a panini and a burger, and make it back to the cabin before Insignia slipped her lines at 4:00p.  Since the photography light from the veranda was the pits, however, we ended up going to the starboard promenade on deck 5 instead.

Looking back at Pier 88 where we were docked … and the Manhattan skyline.

The afternoon sun was spotlighting the Manhattan skyline beautifully.  Blue skies and puffy clouds added to our scenic sailaway.  We enjoyed the skyline until we reached the tip of Manhattan.  Then we switched sides to bid Lady Liberty farewell.  No photos this time — the harsh glare washed out the scenery … good thing I photographed the iconic landmark yesterday.  Once we were past the statue, we headed up to the veranda to watch as Insignia went under the Verrazano Bridge … signaling the end of our NYC port of call.

The Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building stand out in the skyline.

Sailaway memory with One World Trade Tower and the Manhattan Skyline.

All that walking around on a fairly humid day fairly did us in.  So we skipped dinner in the Grand Dining Room with some of our friends and had a quick bite at the Terrace Café with another group of friends.  Then it was back to the veranda to watch the sun set in our wake.  It wasn’t a particularly spectacular finale, but we did have enough color to wrap up our day.

We are losing an hour overnight.  At least tomorrow is a sea day, so we have nowhere to be in a hurry and can sleep in … maybe.

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