New York - Day One

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Regatta docked at Pier 92 in New York before 8am, but we were up and out of our cabin before that. They started maneuvering the ship and pulling the cables, etc. at 6:30am so we were awake and they also request that you vacate your cabin by 8am so they can clean and turn over the cabins for the next group which starts to board at 11am. Because we did not have a plane to catch, we signed up to be in the last group to disembark, at 9am, and had time for breakfast in the Grand Dining Room. We got off, located our 2 large checked bags and set off with hundreds of others to find a cab to our hotel. Of course, we got to the hotel too early for a room to be ready so left all our bags with them and spent some time in the closest Starbucks. We were scheduled to meet our friends, Frank and Maria, at 11:30am in front of MOMA (Museum of Modern Art) but they called to say they were running late (surprise!) so when we got back to the hotel we were able to get our bags into a room and hang up clothes for dinner that night. It was about noon when they arrived at MOMA and we spent 2 1/2 hours there. Our main goal was to see the Willem de Kooning retrospective which was on the top floor, and then we walked down through the normal exhibits. Modern art is not necessarily our first pick, but the retrospective was one of a kind. There were some pieces that we liked on the next floor down, Monet-Gaugin-Van Gogh-Cezanne, but it then went down into pieces which made us think the artists were laughing at their gullible audience. We took pictures of some of them, so you can decide for yourselves. After MOMA, we walked down Fifth Avenue to the New York Public Library, where we met the son of a friend of Frank and Maria's. He is part of the team who pick and set up the exhibits and he gave us a personal tour through the current major exhibit, showing the best of 100 years at the museum. It is an eclectic mix of a Gutenberg Bible; the original stuffed animals belonging to Christopher Robin which are the basis for the Winnie the Pooh books; an annotated book that Charles Dickens used to give his readings; original drafts of documents by Jefferson and Washington; etc. Andy also took us up in the Employee Elevator to see the Reading Room which is beautiful and the largest library room we have ever seen. Their "stacks" are 7 floors high and will soon be completely enclosed in an underground vault for protection. We then split up to go and get ready for dinner at Del Posto at 6:30pm. We considered this to be a dinner to celebrate Rob's 65^th birthday as we had celebrated Frank's with them at our house. We got to the restaurant 10 minutes early as we had the great luck to find a cab that found a quick way. Frank and Maria were still not there at 6:45pm and we got a voicemail message saying that their cab had been pulled over and a cop was giving the driver a ticket. By the time they arrived they were pretty tense. Del Posto is Mario Battali's highest-end restaurant and has a beautiful interior, extremely attentive staff and great food. However, you have no choice but to go with a 7 course or a 5 course menu, which is basically too much food as the servings are much too large for a multi-course dinner. The wine list is long and well chosen but the prices nearly gave Frank a second heart attack. After dinner, we went our separate ways with a plan to meet at 11:30am the next day.