New York City – 13 kilometers walked
Yesterday I discovered that one is not supposed to top up the water in lead acid batteries unless the batteries are fully charged. Normally our boat is plugged into shore power at the marina all the time so I add water whenever they need it. Today I woke up to an alarm on the boat’s inverter/charger telling me that the 12 volt battery system was down to 10.5 volts. Once again, I fired up our portable generator to charge up the batteries but for some reason could not get our inverter/charger to switch into equalize mode to try and solve the problem. We had a big breakfast of pancakes and bacon in the middle of this, and it wasn’t until close to 11 that I gave up and we headed into shore to say our goodbyes to Ben and Kate who had decided to push on down the Hudson. We expected to see them again very soon.
The plan for today was to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art, a place I’ve long wanted to see. We exited the subway at the 86th street station and walked across the perfectly rectangular and bustling Central Park, passing by a lovely lake called the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis Reservoir, then found a 12 piece mariachi band playing La Bamba to a thousand people on the steps of the Met.
The gallery was amazing, both for its stunning architecture and the elaborate galleries, of which it houses hundreds of them. We explored the ancient Egypt galleries first, which Ana absolutely loved, then moved randomly from room to room, seeing American art, tapestries, elaborate furnishings, European sculpture, modern art, impressionist paintings, and all manner of ancient knickknacks. I took a photo of a room full of antique Chinese teapots for our friends Linda and Brian who run a teahouse and would be just giddy over that collection. The entire experience was overwhelming and this gallery is clearly one of the best in the world. After nearly three hours we had made it through about two-thirds of world class art on just the first floor, but were starting to get hangry so we cut and ran for the nearest Shake Shack and enjoyed world class burgers and milkshakes as we looked out on the Upper East Side rich and famous walking and driving their swanky neighbourhood.
Ana and Magnus wanted to do some window shopping on Fifth Avenue, Madison Avenue, and Park Avenue so I went back to the Met to see how much more I could get through. I managed at least a dozen galleries of European Renaissance paintings, most of the Asian section with its artifacts, calligraphy, sculptures and models, then I finished up with browsing the ancient Greek and Roman section which was expansive and overwhelming, and when I found myself standing there in front of a magnificent statue of the Roman emperor Trebonianus Gallus, mesmerized by the detail of his marbled and veined testicles and uncircumcised penis, I realized I had hit “peak culture” and it was time to get back to the boat for a thoroughly modern and proletariat rum and coke.
I met my crew and we walked back across Central Park, navigating the other side of the lake, then eventually made it back to home base after what seemed like an eternity on the subway trains or subway platforms waiting for trains. We had a great and slow meal of burritos on the boat and talked a lot about what we had seen during the day, and started making plans for tomorrow, which was likely to start with laundry, grocery shopping, and boat fixing for us and an NYC solo mission for Magnus.
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