Once we finally got off the ship - see the previous entry for details - they put us onto a series of shuttle buses to take us a few hundred yards to collect our luggage and then go through customs. Took a while but at least it was all air-conditioned. Then we went outside into chaos. We had planned to get a taxi but somehow we ended up on a bus. First they said that we'd be dropped where we wanted to go in New York, but once they'd got us all on the bus, they told us we'd all be dropped at one place and would then have to get taxis. Fortunately, the place they dropped us was only a block or so from our hotel, so we just walked there.
We had quite a chaotic afternoon - we needed to post home some souvenirs and warm clothes that we won't need any more, go and collect the tickets to Washington, buy an internet widget, and in my case stock up on some toiletries. And, we needed to get this all done in time to go and see the Yankees game.
After some dramas we managed to get it mostly done. Then we needed to get to the game - I had sorted out the instructions on how to get there via the subway, but what I didn't realise is that they feel absolutely no need to post any sort of information in the subway station about when your train will come, or even where. However, Paul cornered a young man and asked him, and it turned out he was going to the game, so it all worked ok.
We were late arriving but many many people were still getting there.
The atmosphere once you're inside is just amazing - it's a huge stadium and caters to the American need for constant entertainment even more-so than at Angel stadium. However, the real surprise was security - they were frisking everyone, if you left your seat you had to take your ticket with you and show it in order to get back. There was more security here than on the Amtrak train we caught the next day!
Our seat was excellent - twelve rows from the front but with absolutely no chance of the people in front blocking the view: - no idea why the photo is sideways - I'll try to fix it sometime....
Anyway, we left the game and decided to get a taxi. What we actually got was a hire car and we're pretty sure he wasn't supposed to be touting for custom there. However, we got back to our hotel without any drama.
Next time we do this sort of thing, we have agreed that we will stay at least two nights in a row as a break between tours - this was just exhausting as we had to get up quite early to catch the train the next day.
I'm also not at all sure about whether I want to go back to New York - I'm going to think about that some more. It certainly won't be any time soon, as we're almost certain now that our next trip will be to the UK and Europe.
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