We got up early as planned and prepared our bags for departure before leaving our room for our tourizing of NY. We took the subway to uptown Manhattan and grabbed some H & H Bagels and ate them with our quiche and OJ at Zabar’s across the street. By Amy and Grace’s standards – this is not to be missed.
From there we walked down to Central Park and had a lovely stroll. We rented a boat and rowed around one of the lakes for awhile – what a delightful time it was! We saw whole herds of wild turtles sunning themselves on the rocks, on limbs and on the shore. We showed all due caution, giving them a wide berth for safety.
We made our way up to Serendipity 3 for lunch and had Iced Hot Chocolate, burgers (in my case it was a chili, bacon and onion cheeseburger), and then we topped it off by sharing a triple scoop, hot-fudge banana Sunday. We wattled along after lunch to see Bloomingdales, Grand Central Station and the Chrysler Building. After briefly tourizing people there we headed to lower Manhattan to go the Tenement Museum for a tour (to get a better understanding of the life of many Irish immigrants), but the tour we intended to join was sold out. So Amy gave me a personalized guided tour of the Old Saint Patrick’s Cathedral instead – quite beautiful. The weather has been fantastic all day – giving us a little pink on our cheeks.
Finally, we rushed back to our room as fast as three subways can take us to meet our taxi cab to make our plane in Newark. The cabbie appeared to be a 13 year old girl that knew little English, and spoke to us virtually not at all. However, she did not cease to speak Spanish with her hands free iPhone to someone that must have been fascinated by every word (I kid you not!). Our $70 cab ride (including $25 for road tolls) was one of the strangest experiences I have had in a long time, and one of my family members (not to be named on the internet) will be pleased to know that we did not tip her a single red cent – not one!
We are now resting our tired, sore feet and typing away – grateful for our three hour wait to board our plane for our 6 ½ hour flight Belfast, Ireland.
I'll remain anoynmous in an effort to respect your effort of leaving me anoynmous. ;) I just wanted to leave a kudos for sticking to the principle and not giving into the social pressure of tipping when they've done nothing to deserve it.
ReplyDeleteYou guys must have have been pretty upset with your cabby. :)