5/3/13 – Boat Tour and Ice Hockey

Close to the best photo I have ever taken!

Brooklyn Bridge

Our apartment is the small black one with red trim between us.

Collected Hans and Sue from their hotel and walked through Central Park to the Boathouse Restaurant where we had a ‘coffee and danish’ (well what did you expect … this is New York after all?). Hans and Sue enjoyed our tour through the Frick Collection and it was a joy to see the front portico open to the warm sunlight and displaying a splendid antique watch and clock collection.

We finished the Frick in record time, with the result that we arrived a little early at the 42^nd street jetty from which the Circle Line Boat tour was scheduled to depart at 2pm, so we took a short stroll up 40^th Street and came across the ‘Pom Pom’ Diner where we had three burgers and a chicken pot pie for lunch. At 2.15pm we boarded the boat with 520 others for our cruise around Manhattan. Even though the air was brisk on the front deck, we enjoyed the warm sunshine on this glorious day and took some stunning photos.

Upon alighting at the end of a most informative and scenic tour we walked briskly up to Penn Station and went below in search of the ‘Tracks’ sports bar and diner that had been recommended to us as ‘the place to go before any game at The Garden’. Good call – great clam chowder in a cob loaf and cold beer!

After dinner at Tracks we headed up to the Garden to take our seats for the big game. Ever since we arrived in New York we had been looking forward to seeing an Ice Hockey match and more specifically the NY Rangers. But the players strike delayed the start of the season for so long that it was only tonight that we finally got the chance to watch the Rangers play, against the Philadelphia Flyers.

Both teams had won their last two games so it was on for bragging rights, but none of us could have predicted the entertainment off the ice that we were about to witness!

To give you an indication of the tone/atmosphere at the game I suggest that you You Tube “Dancing Larry and NY Rangers” 

This guy (Dancing Larry) was a legend in 2009 when this video was uploaded by a fan. Now he has his own half time show where he appears without a shirt in a random location in the 20,000 seat stadium and the crowd goes off.

Unbeknown to us ‘his seat’ is in the row next to ours and when a ‘Philly Flyers’ fan dared to cheer (when the Flyers scored) the insults flew thick and fast. The game commentary was also complimented by the couple sitting behind us who combined to yell out witty insults that were game breakers (eg when two players were locked in battle over the puck, the NYR player directly behind the PF player, the couple behind us yell out with their strongest NY accent – “Sammy take his wallet, take his wallet” – NYC is simply amazing.

On another level the hockey was great – Rangers won 4-2 thanks to their goalkeeper Henrik Lundqvist whose reflexes had to be seen to be believed. The Flyers had 25 shots (to the Rangers 20) and Henrik stopped 23 of them!

Tip for the day – always wear red, white and blue when going to watch the Rangers play at home at the Garden!