Who turned the tap on?!

We started out with plans for a wander round Upper Midtown today, but the weather had other ideas.  When it's sunny here, it's sunny, with temperatures in July regularly topping 90F.  When it rains though, oh boy it rains!  The skies opened and forgot to stop!  We popped into FAO Schwatrz, in my endless search for a Minion, but no luck.  We then dripped into Trump Tower for lunch - something we've been promising ourselves for the last couple of years.  Don't know why we bothered!  Expensive and nothing special.  At least it was dry though!  We made it as far as the Rockefeller Centre after lunch, but decided to give up, and go back to the hotel to dry off.  Chris says he's never seen rain bounce knee-high before.  I thought we'd be coming home in an Ark!

As soon as the rain started, the umbrella sellers appeared on every corner touting their wares.  To be honest, I don't think brollies helped!   We were as wet with them as without.

We did debate whether or not the evening's plans - the Hidden Harbour cruise - would actually go ahead, and if we wanted to be sat on a boat in the pouring rain, but it dried off by late afternoon, so we headed on down.

When we booked this, we were unsure what to expect, and they'd already blotted their copy book by changing the itinerary and not notifying us - we only found out by checking the website.  Initial impressions of the organisation skills weren't good.  A hundred or so people milling about, with no indication of where to queue or even that we were in the right place.  We were lucky, when the crew from Circle Line, who were supplying the boat, did turn up, we were in the right place - others who had been waiting just as long, ended up right at the back of the queue.

Things improved once we got on the boat, and the tour was really interesting.  We saw a lot of bits that we wouldn't have seen on a regular tour, and got background on how New York works!  One of the narrators actually works for NYC council, in the Environment and Development area, so had a real insight into the plans for the river front areas.  Would probably do it again, if we could get a different itinerary.

Last full day tomorrow, sort out a few odds and ends, then off to the Cyclones in the evening.

Loads of pics here and here.