Rain, Remembrance and a Radiant Lady

A soggy start and new faces

It was pouring rain this morning when we left our room and splashed our way to breakfast. The Broadway Lounge was where we met our Travelmarvel tour group properly for the first time. Plates of eggs and toast were pushed around the tables while people introduced themselves, some more confidently than others. It still felt like an introductory session, with everyone working out who was who and where they’d come from, the conversations polite but a little tentative. Outside the tall glass windows, the city looked grey and damp, a reminder that New York wasn’t going to make things easy for us this morning.

Chelsea Market chaos

Once we’d finished breakfast, got ourselves sorted and hopped onto the bus, the morning turned into a sightseeing loop around New York. We cruised through the Upper West Side, caught glimpses of Central Park glistening with raindrops, and rolled past pockets of Manhattan before pulling up at Chelsea Market for a break.

Chelsea Market isn’t just another shopping arcade. Sitting in the old National Biscuit Company building in the Meatpacking District, it has history baked into its bricks — this is where the Oreo cookie was first created. Today it’s a maze of food stalls, shops and bakeries, the kind of place where smells of fresh bread and roasting coffee hang in the air.

We ducked in to escape the rain, grabbed a coffee and watched one of the commercial bakeries at work. Ros, who always notices the hygiene side of things, was horrified. A baker was making cakes with his bare hands — and I mean elbow-deep into a bowl of cake batter, scooping it out with arms and hands completely covered. No gloves, no utensils. All I could think about was being served a slice of that cake and coughing up arm hair. Not exactly appetising!

Rain and remembrance

From Chelsea, the bus wound its way downtown to the 9/11 Memorial. The rain hadn’t let up, but we had a different experience this time — weaving through the underground spaces around the World Trade Center. The mood was reflective. Even in the drizzle, the scale of the site and the stories etched into the bronze panels hit hard.

Hot dogs and a harbour icon

Our next stop was the ferry terminal for the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island cruise. While waiting for the boat, we grabbed a hot dog from Nathan’s Famous along with some chips. It was good, but Ros had food envy when she spotted another lady from our group holding a Subway sub. Too late by then — the hot dog was gone.

The cruise itself was quick, smooth and, mercifully, the rain had stopped by the time we pulled up at Liberty Island. The first glimpse of the statue towering above us was breathtaking. We walked up to the terrace above the museum for sweeping views of Manhattan’s skyline, then ducked into the museum just long enough to see the previous torch on display. From there we made our way around to the front for the classic photos, the green copper lady looking magnificent against a now brighter sky.

Stories of arrival

From Liberty Island we continued on to Ellis Island. For over sixty years, from 1892 to 1954, more than twelve million immigrants passed through here seeking a new life in America. Walking through the same spaces where so many hopes and fears once collided gave the stop an extra weight, even though our visit was brief.

Back at Battery Park, the afternoon had loosened up. We stretched our legs and wandered to see the Charging Bull near Wall Street. The line to pose with it was long, curling around the barricades, so we took a look and left it at that.

Street performers and squeeze plays

The bus ride back to the hotel was a lesson in New York traffic. Horns blared, pedestrians darted, and somehow our driver threaded a full-sized coach through streets that looked far too narrow for it.

As we edged into Times Square, the neon lights were matched by another sight — The Naked Cowboy. He’s been part of the Times Square landscape since the late 1990s, strumming his guitar in nothing but boots, a hat and his tighty-whities. A true New York oddity, and one of those “did we really just see that?” moments.

By the time we reached the hotel, the day felt like it had packed in a whole week of experiences. Rain, remembrance, history, hot dogs, and a giant green lady holding her torch high — all stitched together in one unforgettable New York day. Tomorrow promises to be just as full-on, starting with a classic diner breakfast at 8am, a trip up the Empire State Building at 10am, and then hitting the road towards Washington before lunch. We had to pack our bags to have them ready for an early pick-up tomorrow as well. We will be on the go for at least the next week like this living out of the suitcase for 1 or 2 nights at a time.