Boston and New York #2

 Our two duplicated ports on this back to back were Boston and New York. In both cases we had overnight stays after evening arrivals, followed by mid-afternoon departures.

We arrived in Boston at noon on October 30 and once the US immigration clearance was done, we took the shuttle bus into downtown and headed straight for the Old Union Oyster House for lunch. We don't come to Boston very often, but as it is one of the oldest restaurants in the US, we make a point of visiting. Lunch did not disappoint. We shared a seafood platter and crab cakes, and once we were done with that, and the clam chowder starter, we didn't need to eat anything else that day!

We wandered around the Quincy Market and Old State House area for a bit after lunch, and headed back to the ship before 5 p.m.

The next day was Hallowe'en and the Crystal Plaza was decorated for a dance party that evening. But first, the display of crew pumpkin carvings was up and waiting for guests to choose a favourite. That was a hard decision to make!

Crew members carved all of the pumpkins on the display. The prize for the creator of the Guest Favourite was a dinner in one of the specialty restaurants.

The entrance to Waterside, the main dining room, had its own display:

Unfortunately we missed the afternoon and evening festivities as Larry was hit by a bug that laid him low for almost 2 days.

We sailed into New York on November 1, arriving at 5 p.m. It was a beautiful day and the skyline and Statue of Liberty were perfect for photos.

The skyline as we were about to cross under
the Verrazano Narrows Bridge

The raised 'garden' over the water actually turned
out to be an amphitheatre.

We stayed on board for the evening and were treated to a concert by pianist Julian Gargiulo. More on him in the On Board post coming up next. He put on a great show even though the crowd was rather sparse.

On Saturday morning we did a foodie walking tour of the Hell's Kitchen neighbourhood of New York City. Little did we know that Hell's Kitchen was the same area where we had already visited lots of restaurants when we were in New York on previous occasions.

Our tour guide, Jennifer, was very knowledgeable about the history of the area and brought it to life through her stories of the gangs, speakeasys and Prohibition. Of course someone asked why the area was called 'Hell's Kitchen'. Her favourite story was one of two police officers, a veteran and a rookie, who were watching a small riot in the gang-ridden area. The younger cop, talking about the disregard for any laws, remarked, 'I think this place is Hell itself!' The older replied, 'Hell has a mild climate. This is Hell's Kitchen!'

There are other reasons for Hell's Kitchen getting that name, but suffice it to say that during the mid 1800s it was the roughest and dirtiest part of the city. After Prohibition and the speakeasys, things were cleaned up and theatres began to move into this part of New York. Restaurant Row, West 46th Street between 8th and 9th, is a particular block that has many good restaurants and bars. It was developed and patrolled by the city so that theatre patrons would have a safe area to go for a meal before a performance. We've been to a few restaurants in this block over the years.

Now to the places we visited on our tour. We began at a Japanese Barbecue called Gyu-Kaku. It is a teppanyaki restaurant with quite a varied menu. We had a couple of types of beef, zucchini and a bowl of noodles with vegetables.

Our second stop was at a fusion restaurant - Indian and Mexican. It is called Taco Mahal. The owner has a few small shops around Manhattan, having taken over a restaurant from her father an changing the menu up a bit. We had chicken tikka masala tacos on a chapati bread. It certainly was something out of the ordinary - and quite spicy!

The mural on the wall. There weren't more than 14
seats in the whole place

Our final stop on the tour was at The Meatball Shop. This is also one of a number of locations. The idea behind this restaurant is to offer everything a la carte. If you want just a meatball without spaghetti, you can get that. Or whatever items there are on the menu. Jennifer had ordered a small meatball for each of us as well a mini chicken meatballs and roasted cauliflower.

When we were done with all that, we were pretty much full, and it was time to head back toward the pier. Everything is really close by in New York; many people didn't realize that the heart of NYC was only about 6 street blocks down and 6 avenue blocks straight east from the pier.

We had a mid-afternoon sailout from New York. Those of us attending art class had a great view from Marketplace. We interrupted our class to go outside and take photos.

A panorama of the skyline just after we left the pier.

Our next port stops are the odd ones for this itinerary - Norfolk, Virginia and Jacksonville, Florida. Jacksonville is so odd for us that it is a even maiden call for Serenity.