New York City Jan 19 2023

We had planned a busy day in NYC on Thursday and hoped the predicted rain wouldn't be too intense. As it turned out, it was never more than a drizzle.

At 6am it was pouring, and we thought we'd have to take a taxi to the station. Around 8am, however, a miracle happened. The rain had completely stopped. So we hightailed it out of the house and walked our luggage to 30th Street station.

Lunch was at the Amtrak Metropolitan Lounge in Penn Station. The lounge has some really nice lunch offerings.

Since we had originally thought we'd be staying in the financial district, our plans revolved around locations near Wall Street:

• Stopping at the Metropolitan Transportation Authority (MTA) office so Cliff could get a replacement 'Senior' transit card.
• the National Museum of the American Indian (a branch of the Smithsonian in DC). This was a fascinating museum, but it was worth a visit just for the building - an old customs house, with some great nautical murals featuring the great ocean liners of the 20s and 30s.
• a wine tasting at a boutique wine store from which we had pre-ordered a couple of bottles and
• visiting the Cunard building. Since we're sailing on Cunard it seemed only appropriate to visit the building that had been their New York headquarters. Built in 1920, it served as their offices until 1968. Unfortunately, the building is private and now closed to the public. It would have been nice to get a glimpse of the interior. What I've seen from photos, the domed lobby (which was the original ticketing hall) is gorgeous. We did get photos of the First Class and Cabin Class entrances as a consolation.

You'd think we were preparing for an around-the-world trip with the amount of booze we ordered and are carrying. Gin, vermouth, Dimmi Liquore Di Milano (an obscure Italian liqueur), and 3 bottles of red wine; all picked up in New York from two different liquor stores. This is in addition to the bottles of whiskey, Montenegro (an amaro), pre-made coffee martinis, and wine that we're lugging from Philadelphia. I think that it should keep us in (good) spirits for three weeks.

Dinner, at V(IV), was excellent. It's a Thai restaurant that had excellent Google reviews. And it's decorated in an over-the-top Asian theme. 

Not much was on the agenda for Thursday evening except, perhaps, taking some exterior photos of the ship at night. A hotel across the street from the Cruise Terminal has a rooftop lounge. We were hoping to get a nice view of the ship from up there, but it was closed for a private event. So, back to the hotel, by way of the same route we would use the next day.

Friday will be breakfast at the hotel, followed by possibly rolling our big bags to the Cruise Terminal (about a 15-20 mins walk) to leave them with the porters. "Possibly" because, based on the dry run, it may be a longer excursion than anticipated. We will head back to the terminal where we're planning to get some more exterior photos of the ship. Our plan is to board around Noon. Lunch will be, aboard, in the Princess Grill. Then to unpack!