Madison Ave in Crocs

On Assignment East Village NYC
13 days until Grenada
3 days until southbound for Florida


I've tackled the urban jungle with gusto. I love coming to New York City to visit my brother and his family. Granted, NYC is not for everyone, but in small doses I simply love it. If I were on a bigger budget, a much longer stay would be more feasible. The moment I leave my brothers apartment on East 10 street the wallet hemorrhage begins.

Since I've been coming to New York now for several years I am much more adept at getting around, which has only served to make my visits more enjoyable. I tackle a day in the city much as I do an upcoming passage. I start out with advise from locals (brother, sister in-law), head to a local coffee shop, ingest maximum brew and shape a plan. We have weather and navigational issues to consider, as a subway trip and copious time on foot is required.

Yesterday, I lit out with Joyce, my sister in-law, to Times Square where she works. After Joyce cast me

adrift I meandered throughout Times Square, passing Ed Sullivan Theater, pretty much all the required sights. Not my first visit to the square, but each time I notice more or different things. My intention was to head for The Metropolitan Museum of Art on the east-side of the park at 81st. I hit my first shoal, when I happened upon police barricade's signaling something was in the offing. Turns out the Italian Parade was ramping up, set to march down the east-side of the park. I re-routed which dumped me onto Madison Ave. I'd never been on Madison before. Quite the fashion scene with chicks galore. Of course I was highly amused to be in my unfashionable, but very comfortable Crocs, dodging the fashion over function crowd. I used to be very anti-Crocs right until I actually tried a pair on. I'm a utilitarian in this regard.

The Met is just magnificent. This is one of the tastier aspects of aging. You simply start to appreciate things that were positively boring in youth. Back in the day I would have much rather slugged it out on a bar stool than skulk through a museum, even though each activity is full of pontificating. This is my second journey to The Met. The first time around the Sir Ernest Shackleton exhibit was on display. That was awesome, but I spent so much time with Ernie, I failed to leave any energy to check anything else out. Besides, who wants to look at paintings when you just checked out the actual James Caird life-boat.

And so it was, I took an artsy fartsy posture and checked out Rodin sculptures, including the famous Thinker sculpture, Roman Empire artifacts and incredible paintings. The highlight was the Robert Frank photography exibit. With Mr. Frank's photo's astern of me, I headed back down Madison, to Columbus Circle, named after our good friend and sailing mentor, to the foot of Trump Towers and hopped on the A train downtown to West 4th St and Washington Square Park. I was back in the neighborhood.

Not sure what else I'll tackle while in NYC, but word around the subway steam grate is that the Titanic Artifact exibit is in town. May have to check that out, so I can keep in touch with my nautical roots.

Capt Chris

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