Today is Thanksgiving day. We put the parade on TV when we wake up and a little while later I wander downstairs to check out the parade first hand.
As I emerge from the hotel, the normally reasonably quiet 44th street is packed. The crowd on the left towards 6th Avenue is at least 50-60 deep. Every possible vantage point is taken. People are standing on flower pots, hoods of parked cars, some have scaled nearby walls and many stand on small columns that line the street, balancing survivor like trying to win an immunity challenge.
I go back upstairs and continue to watch on TV. Commentators suggest a crowd of 4-5 million people line the parade route, the biggest ever.
We get ready to go out. We’ve booked and planned a delicious lunch at Manhatta. A restaurant on the 60th floor in lower manhattan overlooking the East River.
We jump on the subway and head downtown to Fulton St. We then walk to Liberty St. The restaurant is in a high rise office building. We enter and get the lift to the 60th floor, our ears popping on the express ride up.
We are greeted by the maître de and ushered to the bar. Our table is almost ready. A few minutes later we are shown to our seat. A gorgeous window seat overlooking the East River with views of Brooklyn, the a Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. The weather is so clear we can see forever.
We enjoy a cocktail before lunch. The staff are attentive, friendly and everyone is in a great mood. We are one of the first couples to be seated. But over the next 30 minutes tables around us fill. Behind us is a couch like table that faces out to the entire restaurant. It’s set for two. We joke that this is the judges table. You know on those TV cooking shows the judges always sit a little bit away and isolated from other diners.
We again chat to the staff and select our dishes. For entree I have dumplings with truffle consommé and Mardi has Hamachi. For mains we have turkey and halibut respectively. Desert is chocolate cremeaux and pumpkin pie.
We enjoy our meal over the next two hours. It’s delicious and served with care and attention. During our dessert the “judges” arrive. A younger couple. We hear them order. It seems they rush their meal as their dessert is served as we continue to enjoy ours. Weird. They then pay quickly in cash and get up and go, most of their dessert left on the table. They were there for under 40 minutes. Perhaps they had somewhere to be or they didn’t enjoy the experience despite having the best table.
We sit for a little while longer enjoying a cup of tea after our dessert.
We eventually drag ourselves away from the experience and descend to street level. The weather is coolly mild with bright sunshine. We walk around the financial district. We visit the iconic statues in the area: Fearless Firl who stares down the stock exchange, the bull at Bowling Freen, representing the stock market. People are lined up at both ends of the bull, one group taking selfies at his head end, and a longer queue at the other end cupping his scrotum!
We continue walking around, passing Fraunces Tavern: NYC’s oldest bar and a place where George Washington celebrated victory over the British in 1783. We walk to the East River and then find a rooftop garden over looking the river and sightseeing helicopter landing area. Choppers take off and land every few minutes as eager tourists take to the skies.
We wander back to Wall Street and catch the subway home. We’re pretty tired and decide to take it easy for the rest of the day. We watch some Thanksgiving themed game shows on TV and have a simple dinner of leftovers before getting an early night.
