Monday, May 29th New York City

Updated: Feb 11

Around 2AM this morning we were awoken by a very loud fire alarm going off in our hotel room. I jumped out of bed and tried to gather my thoughts; I’d been in a deep sleep – it was hard to figure out what was happening. The alarms were also going off out in the corridor and after a minute we heard a PA announcement saying to begin evacuating, we couldn’t believe it – we looked out of the window and could see no fire engines and no sign of smoke. It’s amazing how you try to rationalize ignoring the official instructions; we’re not dressed, it’s cold outside, I’m tired and want to go back to bed… This lasted a few seconds before we quicky pulled on some clothes, gathered or valuables and headed into the corridor. Other guests were milling around, obviously going through the same rationalization we had just done – but taking longer. Some said they’d heard it was a false alarm but could not provide any information about how they’d heard this – no one was heading for the exit. We took another minute to assess the situation and then headed for the stairs, incredibly some guests were waiting for the elevators. It’s a long way down from the 27th floor when you are using the emergency stairs. The stairs were quite narrow, about 3 feet wide, and the turns quite tight. Others were in the stair well making their way down from higher up, and as we got further down it became more and more crowded as guests joined from each level below us. It was hard not to think about the 911 attacks and if this was what it was like for those who attempted to exit the towers via the emergency staircases. Finally we reached the ground floor and burst through a small door and onto the sidewalk adjacent to the main hotel entrance. A small crowd of hotel guests was milling around in various states of undress. There was no sign of any emergency vehicles, I walked to the end of the block and still could see anything untoward. After about 15 minutes we got the all clear to return to our rooms, but no official communication from the hotel management about what had happened; we heard a rumor that the alarms had been set off by someone smoking, and another one that the security guards set off the alarms after a dodgy looking person ran into the hotel and they could not apprehend him before he went upstairs. We sat in the closed lobby bar for about half an hour to wait for the queues at the elevators to die down before we could get back upstairs. All in all a pretty scary and frustrating event.

Given the events of the early hours, we slept a little late and enjoyed a bagel from the little deli right by the hotel entrance before taking an Uber down to the very tip of Manhattan. The weather was glorious as we made our way across Battery Park and down to the waterfront and watched as hundreds of tourists piled onto one of the tour boats like sardines in a can. A little further along we spent some time at the World War 2 naval memorial which consists of several large concrete monoliths displaying the names of the fallen and a large bronze eagle statue which is very impressive.

Taking in the views of the Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and the New Jersey shore we continued along the waterfront to Castle Clinton, originally Fort Clinton – it’s a circular sandstone structure built between 1808 and 1811, it was the first American immigration station predating Ellis Island. The fort now belongs to the National Park Service which offers tours, it’s also the place to buy tickets for the Statue of Liberty / Ellis Island ferry.

We discovered two additional war memorials a little further along the promenade; first the Korean War Memorial – a large granite monolith with a stylized soldier cut out, it’s very impressive. Then, out on a short pier, we spotted the memorial for the merchant marine – a fantastic sculpture of three seamen on the deck of a ship, one of whom is attempting to pull a fourth sailor from the water.

With a rough plan to head to a Greek restaurant we like, we recrossed Battery Park and started to head north – taking in some great views of the new One World Trade Center building. At the junction of State Street and Broadway, Sandra noticed a large impressive old building, so we crossed the street to investigate. It turned out to be the National Museum of the American Indian, a branch of the Smithsonian Institute and a great find. The building was constructed in 1902 and housed the Customs House for New York, it was later named in honor of the first US treasury secretary, Alexander Hamilton. Entry was free and we made way into the central atrium from which all of the galleries can be reached. The atrium is a wonderful space with a fantastic stained-glass ceiling and impressive murals. The permanent collection is called Infinity of Nations and is designed to show the scope of the Smithsonian's collection. Organized by geographic regions (including Central and South America), the exhibit displays over 700 items. Since we had no plans to visit this museum it was a wonderful surprise.

By now it was mid-afternoon, and we were a bit peckish, so we took an Uber to our original destination the Greek restaurant – only to find it closed for the day. A short walk took us into the Tribeca neighborhood whose name derives from TRIangle BElow CAnal (street) – this area was originally farmland in the early 19th century, before becoming a mercantile area centered on produce, dry goods, and textiles, and then transitioning to artists and then actors, models, entrepreneurs, and other celebrities. Old warehouses have been converted into shops and businesses with fancy loft apartments. We found Sarabeth’s, a bar / restaurant on Greenwich Street with a good selection of pizzas, wine and beer – it really hit the spot.

We capped off the day with a late dinner at our favorite New York City restaurant, Cipriani’s in Grand Central Terminal – it never disappoints!