Friday, October 18, 2024

New York City – Furries, Highline, Grape Jelly, and Dry Pretzels


New York City – 14 kilometers walked

I started to get a feel for the geography of NYC today. Turns out our marina is near an area of Manhattan called Fort George, very close to the north end, not the Bronx, which I realized is not in Manhattan at all, but east from us across the Harlem River. I’ve heard the names of all these places so many times through American movies and shows, but now I’ll finally get to understand where they all are.

 

We picked up Ben and Kate in the dinghy around 9am and hopped on a subway train heading south. Ben wanted to have breakfast at that Monk’s Café restaurant from Seinfeld (in reality called Tom’s Restaurant, and only the outside of it was used in the show, with the interior being an LA set), but the 110th stop came and went as our train whizzed by it and we realized we were on some sort of express ride and instead got off near Times Square and started big city wandering.

 

Times Square is flashy and awesome, but there were a bunch of Furries walking around pestering people. I thought maybe it was some sort of Furry convention (and we all know what shenanigans those kinky fellers get up to at their gatherings) but Ana told me they are always there and you’re supposed to pay to have a photo taken with them. One dressed like Grover propositioned Ben, but Grover looked like he was just coming off a heavy night of drinking and had been dragged down the street at some point during the night because his fur was all matted and ripped and he staggered instead of walked.

 

We headed west and found a nice looking spot for breakfast – Galaxy Café, and enjoyed a slow, delicious feed as we people-watched the New Yorkers going about their daily business. The waiter delivered an excessive number of Welch’s grape jelly single serving containers so I eyed up the staff and waited for the perfect moment when none of them were looking our way and pocketed four of them for later consumption. Grape jelly is just such a treat.

 

During breakfast Kate brought up Elmo, as one of the Furries we saw seemed to be going for that look.

 

“Wasn’t Elmo Grover’s cousin or nephew or something?” I asked the group.

 

“I don’t think so,” Ana said.

 

“Not sure, but they seemed to be exceptionally close,” said Kate.

 

“Well you know those Muppets,” said Ben. “They’re all cut from the same cloth.”

 


After settling our bills we continued walking west then turned south when we noticed the gigantic aircraft carrier – Intrepid. I was hoping to pay a visit to this place as you can get right up on the ship, see dozens of aircraft, and I think there’s a nuclear sub there. But that would have to wait until another day.

 


We walked until we reached the beginning of the Highline, a community-led project that turned an abandoned, raised railway line into a beautiful urban path, full of public art pieces, many species of trees and plants, many small grotto-like areas just off the main path offering quiet seating, and lots and lots of tourists and locals using it. One of the art pieces was a giant aluminum pigeon that was incredibly lifelike. I couldn’t help but bob my head and in out as I walked by.

 


At the end of the Highline we walked for a while through Chelsea then decided to split up, Scooby-Doo style. Ben and I walked to a pub in Greenwich Village, and drank a few rounds of dark ‘n stormys, IPAs, and lagers as we watched live bluegrass on one tv and American football highlights on the other while the ladies went to T.J. Maxx and perused the deals.

 


The ladies met us for one drink then we started our way over to a subway station, but stopped near the Washington Square Park at a hot dog cart for a little pick me up. Three of us got hot dogs and Ana went for a New York pretzel and it was the most tasteless and dry bread twist we’d ever encountered. I slid my hand into my pocket and revealed one of the stolen jellies and my gang erupted in a chorus of cheers, congratulatory back slapping, and they even lifted me up on their shoulders and carried me around the park for a while as random people in the park lined up to lay the high-five’s on me. It's nice to get it right sometimes. The jelly made the pretzel marginally edible so we ate as much as we could then I threw the remainder to a group of NYC pigeons who all picked away at it then rolled over, dead.

 


The subway ride home was long and boring. No weirdos in the carriage to look at. No musical groups entertaining the riders. Just silence. I noticed that nearly everybody had earbuds in their ears or were wearing big headphones, and most of them were intently focused on their phones for the entire ride, so living in their own worlds. We finally reached the Dyckman stop, got out, did the short walk back to the marina, then dinghy’d back to the boats and called it a night.

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