Last few days in New York

I have been reminding myself that this is a holiday as well as a trip. Yesterday I went to Midtown and caught the ferry which zig zags it's way down the East River, starting at 34th street , going over to about 5 stops , the first in Long Island City, the southern end of Queens, then several stops along the Brooklyn shore then crosses back to the Wall Street pier. I went to the North Williamsburg stop. The ferry seemed quite new, the LIC and Brooklyn wharves were all very new, but each time the ferry driver took several goes to position the ferry properly at the wharf. Maybe the water was chopper than normal, but I think not. Maybe he was on his L's.

I walked through one of the very new parts of Williamsburg- lots of construction, very old run down buildings, brand new trendy looking apartments, small interesting shops. I walked around, was going to walk to the stop at South Williamsburg but decided to return to the one I got off and came back to my apartment.

 In the evening I went to see The Book of Mormon. It was very funny, with lots of good singing and dancing.  The single guy sitting next to me lives in a town 63 km  ( I have just asked Mr google) away from Wendy in the middle of nowhere in MO. What are the odds of that?  We chatted quite amicably about everything and nothing before the show and at interval.

Today I had breakfast in my normal cafe,  was greeted by the locals and was assured , when the topic of weather came up, that today's steadily falling snow and the conditions are quite different from the snow 2 weeks ago that stopped Carol getting out of NY.  According to the locals, I should have no difficulty getting out tomorrow.

I pottered in my apartment till lunch time , when I walked a long way around to a nearby cafe for lunch but did not enjoy the slippery conditions. I learnt what slippery frozen snow looked like 2 weeks ago here  and I learnt in Quebec City what slippery half frozen snow on top of half frozen snow looks like, but today's light snow on footpaths looked like slush to me but was, in fact, quite slippery. I will know for next time. If? When?

I have just returned from dinner at the place I went to last week with the $1 oysters , which becomes more like 1. 60 AUS by the time you add their tax, then the 20 % 'tip' then convert to our dollar. Still I had a delicious final dinner.  As well as oysters I tried a few clams. One, the cherry stone clam was huge and delicious.  THe same waiter as last time looked after me. He had told me he comes from the Midwest. After last nights coincidence , tomight I asked him where in the Midwest.   I told him my daughter lives in Missouri.  He comes from Iowa about an hours drive from the border of Missouri.  Quite diplomatically , he asked how she found it. After a sentance or 2 of me trying to be diplomatic, he read between the lines  and was quick to say  that many parts of Iowa are quite progressive and forward thinking.  I have enjoyed my exposure to this country of contrasts over  the last year

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