After a decent lie-in, we exited our hotel armed with suncream, drinks and a book with the intention of spending a relaxing day in Central Park, located just a few blocks from our hotel. In the end, the books never came out as our exploration of the park took a lot longer than anyone anticipated – yes, it really is huge! I always knew that it was quite substantial and not just a small, flat bit of grass, but you can't really appreciate the scale of the thing until you are in it. Of course, there are far bigger parks in the world, but I suspect very few where you can find a (relatively) peaceful area with a backdrop as impressive as the Manhattan skyline. I say relatively, firstly because you can still hear traffic (although at points it is quite distant), but also because it is very well used by New York's inhabitants and thus quite busy. But that did not detract from our enjoyment of it one bit, and we truly got to appreciate just how vital it must be to New Yorkers as an escape from the hustle and bustle.
Our way out of the park brought us on to fifth Avenue, which we decided to walk down to get to FAO Schwartz, another famous toy store (which featured in the film “Big”, with Tom Hanks), where we picked up some presents for my niece and nephew. By this point, we were all quite hot and sticky and decided to pass on more shopping and instead return to the comfort of our hotel. On our way back we passed a staging point for the many horse and carriage rides that you can take through Central Park and the city. Any romantic notions you may have towards these is quickly killed off by the overwhelming stench that you might expect from 10 to 20 horses standing in one place all day!
Despite not providing much literary inspiration for the blog, the day was quite satisfying and made a nice, relaxing change from the tourist attractions. For the evening, we met up with Tubb & Helen for a meal at one of the restaurants near our hotel, a farewell dinner for them as they were due to fly back the next day. We had a good meal, and I really enjoyed the company. For me, having friends along has made a huge difference to this part of the trip, which has been infinitely more enjoyable as a result. I have to confess I had been a little uncertain how my dad and my friends would get along, but it has worked out really well and there was some good friendly banter between us all.
Amazingly, this trip has shown me that Tubb is in danger of becoming a big old softy, as he has begun to demonstrate most un-Tubb-like behaviour, from sending people postcards to even at times forgetting to make smart arse remarks (although this is soon corrected if pointed out!). I'm sure he would be most mortified to hear this, but settling down with Helen has had a very positive, civilising impact on him! Of course, that's not to say he doesn't have a way to go, as he had to be reminded that Helen “has a face too” (he claimed to be inspecting her t-shirt: a likely story!). Now, for the sake of avoiding physical injury in relation to what I just wrote, I'd like to take this opportunity to say what a wonderful human being Tubb is and what an amazing source of assistance, entertainment and all sorts of good things he is!
Just one last thing to mention about the evening, following the meal we retired to a nearby Irish pub for more drinks. Here we met with Bob, a fairly drunk American who persuaded us that we were all Flyers fans (an ice hockey team, apparently!). Unfortunately (or not!) myself and Tubb were just out of earshot, but my Dad seemed to have made a new best friend, and dropped Helen in it by mentioning her opinion of a seven-day sports event (which was essentially that people should really get out more, an opinion which I can sympathise with, but possibly not one that you wish to share with a pub full of sports fans!). Still, it was all very friendly although we didn't stay much longer, probably wise as they had just begun to lose! After the bar we said our tearful (no, not really!) farewells to Tubb and Helen and retired for the evening.
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