18 April New York, New York

After a smooth night of sailing, we arrived in New York Harbor around 6AM just as the sun rose above the horizon. The temperature was 42F but the wind and ship speed made it seem much colder. Karla and I donned our Antarctic parkas. Even with them we retreated inside to warm up. Viking had coffee, tea, and pastries as well as Mimosas readily available.

We had breakfast in the World Café and said good-byes to all those departing for home. There are 16 of us continuing to at least Toronto, fewer to Milwaukee. Nine of the 16 gathered for a trip to the Museum of Natural History. It was billed as a guided tour of the museum, but we were dropped of to explore on our own for nearly three hours. Those of you who have been here know that is enough time to glimpse a lot, but not enough to take in the planetarium or any of the special extra cost exhibits. We used nearly all of the time, but the spring break crowds (there was a line a block long to get in if you didn’t have a scheduled time) got a little wearing after weeks aboard Octantis.

We returned to the ship, got key cards for our new, originally booked room, and had lunch. The rest of the afternoon was spent unpacking. I had thoughts of going to the USS Intrepid next door but settled for pictures out the Nordic Balcony© window. The Concord was not opened for touring, if it had been I would have gone to see that icon of aviation history.

The evening tour started out great with a guided drive through of key landmarks in New York—Columbus Circle, Macy’s, Gen Sherman Statue apartments of the rich and famous. We stopped for cannoli to go at an Italian bakery and I grabbed a NY slice to go from a pizzeria near-by. We crossed over into Brooklyn (looked for Kimberly and Doug, but they had just gotten back from New Orleans) and took some photos under the Brooklyn Bridge. Not too different from the Sydney Harbor Bridge in Australia. From there we went for our tour to the top of the Empire State Building. We’ve been before, but they have jazzed things up with video displays. On top it was snowing and blowing. Still it was something to see the skyline, the traffic, the rivers.

Out guide than directed the driver to take us to Times Square for a quick photo opportunity. SHE FAILED in the one of the two most basic things every guide must do. The first is keep and validate an accurate count of the guests. The second is to set a clear rendezvous point and time for the guests and the driver. Some how number two wasn’t provided to our driver, our guide left her phone in the van, she didn’t know his number and as result we stood in a moderate drizzle until the ship sent another van to pick us up. We were a cold, damp group upon return. Not Viking’s fault and they arranged a rescue rather quickly but a poor ending to a night that will be remembered for all the wrong reasons.