Just like this, our cruise was over. We got up just before 07:00. Graham got our magnets in while I packed our last odds and ends into the hand luggage. Then we headed out. The first order of business was to find a view. We had heard that we would have prime views over the Manhattan skyline and of the Statue of Liberty from where the ship was docked. The views were indeed pretty spectacular. A lot of the crew were out taking photos, too.
Once I had taken some photos, we headed to the Windjammer for some breakfast. We wondered if it would be too busy, but a lot of people seemed to have got early or were about to do so. We managed to get a table right by the buffet. Graham had fried egg on toast followed by oatmeal with dried fruit. I had Italian rope sausage, biscuit with gravy, hash browns, and baked beans. We both had some coffee.
Once we had finished our breakfast, we headed downstairs. There must have been some kind of staff meeting in the Seaplex as the lifts were all full of crew members. When they realised that we were waiting for a lift, some crew members on the lift that stopped on deck 14 got off so that we could get on. When we got down to deck, my heart sank. There was a huge, long line that went as far as the art gallery. I had read horror stories about debarkation at Cape Liberty and what we were seeing there seemed to back this up. Still, there was nothing we could do about this, and it was not that we were on any timetable that day. We managed to get some seats inside Giovanni’s Kitchen where we could see a screen with the luggage tag numbers as well as the line. I don’t know what had caused the long line, but it suddenly cleared. Soon afterwards our luggage tag was called. The longest part of the process was actually having our Seapass card scanned to leave the ship and that did not take very long. Once we were off the ship, there was port staff at every step of the way to guide us. Even immigration was lightning fast. In the end, it had taken about 20 minutes from when our luggage tag was called until we exited the terminal. I thought this was amazing.
Before we left the terminal, we checked what exit we should be using for ride share services. When we got outside the terminal things were a little chaotic. There was no hint where we needed to go. I checked with one of the porters and he advised that Ubers would come to the pick-up area. There are various different zones in this area, and he advised us that once a driver had been assigned to just message the number of the zone where we are to the driver. This worked well. I requested a ride. It took a while for a rider to be assigned. Once the rider was assigned, the pick-up time kept being moved back. There was a lot of congestion near the port. Eventually our driver did arrive and leaving the port was very quick. It did not take long to get from there to Staten Island either. We got to our hotel just before 10:00.
We went to the front desk. It was too early to check in, which we expected. However, we asked if we could leave out luggage. This was no problem. The person at the front desk tagged our luggage and gave us the receipts. She advised that we could help ourselves to some coffee. Neither of us was in the mood for this. I had some water and we both used the bathroom. Then we headed out to go exploring.
We knew that there was a bus stop nearby, but we were not entirely sure in which direction we needed to go. Fortunately, the direction we took proved to be the right one. On the way, we did some sightseeing. There was an antique stagecoach right outside the hotel. Right opposite was a little memorial garden. This is dedicated to the 274 Staten Island residents who lost their lives on 9/11, along with the 85 members of the military who lost their lives during the Vietnam War who came from Staten Island. At the centre of the garden is an impressive statue that features all the names along the base. At the back of the memorial garden there is something that looks out of place. It is a traditional British red phone box. There is a plague in next to it explaining the meaning behind this. The Hilton Garden Inn hoteliers were watching CBS Sunday Morning when the host spoke with a man in the Pacific Northwest, who shared a story about a phone in a forest in memory of his young daughter. This was not connected to a phone line, but people came to speak to loved ones that they had lost. They were so inspired by this that they decided to recreate this in the memorial garden. I found this incredibly moving.
We then took the driveway up to the main road and the bus stop was just opposite. We did not have long to wait until the bus arrived. This was a high-tech bus with Wi-Fi and USB sockets. Not all of them were as nice as this one. Even though the distance to where we wanted to go was not particularly far as the crow flies, the bus took a fair while to get there as it was weaving in and out of various side streets. Graham quite likes bus rides. As a rule, I find them a necessary evil at best. However, I did enjoy this particular bus ride. Staten Island is absolutely magical. I also have never seen so many different churches in one place which adds to the fascinating architecture of the place. When I mentioned on our cruise Facebook group that we were staying on Staten Island during the cruise, I got some horrified gasps. On our travels, we came through some very diverse neighbourhoods. Some of them fell under the category leavy suburbs with a lot of mini mansions. Our travels took us through all kinds of different ethnic communities with their unique shops, restaurants, and places of worship. There were also some lower income areas. However, wherever we were, I never felt uncomfortable or unsafe. Give me Staten Island over Times Square any day of the week.
Where we got off the bus definitely fell under the category leafy suburbs and there were plenty of mini mansions in the area. A lot of the front yards were decorated. There were still some harvest and Halloween decorations up, but most were decorated for Thanksgiving. I was so tempted to take photos, but I did not want spook people. We did not quite find the quickest route to our destination. I think where we went wrong is that we were slightly sidetracked by a small park. I think we should have turned off just before we reached this park. However, in the end it probably only added an extra 5 minutes.
Our destination was the New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden. Those of you who have followed my trip reports for a while will know that I love Chinese gardens. We were however quite disappointed with the Chinese garden in Vancouver earlier in the year. However, this does not put me off visiting other Chinese gardens. I actually thought I would be out of luck here as during the off season, the New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden is only open during weekends. At the time, it had not sunk in that we were due to arrive in New York on a Sunday. This was a stroke of luck. The New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden is tucked away in the centre of the Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden. If you did not know it was there, you may never find it. To start off with, Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden is not exactly small. It covers an area of 83 acres. The first thing we spotted is what looked like a castle. We had a closer look at this later in the afternoon. For the time being, I took a quick photo and then moved on.
Access to New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden is through cottage B on Cottage Row. Cottage Row used to be staff housing but is now home various charities. Again, if you had no idea that you have to access through cottage B, you would not just happen upon this. The New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden is not visible from this area. When you enter cottage B, you walk through a foyer to the ticket office. You then leave through the back door via a staircase before heading downhill. The first indication of anything Chinese is a bamboo grove. The New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden is the other side of this.
There had been plans for authentic Chinese garden since 1984, but it finally opened in 1999. It was created with the help of 40 Chinese artists and artisans from Suzhou. It was also artists and artisans from Suzhou that were behind the Chinese garden in Vancouver. Both have some design elements in common, but the New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden is the better garden of the two. It is a beautiful peaceful spot. We sat on a balcony for a while and watching birds come and go. Once more people arrived, we headed back to explore the rest of the garden. As we left, we saw a “honour wall” where all the people who made financial contributions to the creation and upkeep of the garden are listed. This precisely what I felt would be solution for acknowledging donors without it being intrusive after my visit to the Chinese garden in Vancouver.
We continued exploring. Just beyond Cottage Row, we encountered some serious birdwatchers that were trying to get a photo of some rare hummingbird. It never materialised again. I may only be a recreational birdwatcher, but I do know that birds can vanish into thin air if you point a camera at them. I was amused that there was a beautiful cardinal basically sitting right above their heads and it did not even register. I know that cardinals are not all that uncommon in the USA. Indeed, we had spotted one on the path in New York Chinese Scholar’s Garden. However, I will never grow tired of seeing these beautiful birds.
We left the hardcore birdwatchers to their own devices and followed the path around to the duck pond. There was a handy bench, and we sat down for a while. There were all kinds of woodland birds and ducks around. There were also squirrels that were the size of a small dog. Once we started to get uncomfortable, we moved on.
I had my own birdzilla moment. There were some beautiful yellow birds, but I could not figure out what they were. This drove me crazy. The photo app on my phone has a handy feature that identifies wildlife and plants, but there was too much going on in the background for this to work. I figured that I would try to clean up the photos a bit when I got home to see if it worked then. I did not actually get around to doing this until I started to work on this instalment. It turned out that the birds were American Goldfinches. I had seen them in a bird identification guide, but instantly dismissed this. The birds were huge for a finch. The colouring was also completely wrong. The issue with most bird identification guides is that they concentrate on adult birds in their breeding plumage. It turns out that in the winter they are not quite as brightly coloured as the bird identification guides make out.
From the duck pond, we crossed a lawn to the main buildings of the complex. The area is called Temple Row and consists of five interlocking Greek Revival buildings labelled A through E. They are home to the Staten Island Children’s Museum, the Staten Island Museum, the Newhouse Center for Contemporary Art, and the Noble Maritime Collection. Opposite the buildings is the memorial and final resting place for Captain Robert Richard Randall. Near the memorial was a display about the history of Snug Harbour. Snug Harbor was founded through a bequest after the 1801 death of Captain Robert Richard Randall. His vision was a rest home for retired sailors that had fallen onto hard times. At its peak in the late 19th century, about 1,000 retired sailors lived at Snug Harbor, then one of the wealthiest charities in New York. By the mid-20th century, it was Snug Harbour that had fallen on hard times. A lot of the buildings had fallen into disrepair and some of them were pulled down. In the 1960s, the institution’s trustees proposed to redevelop the site with high-rise buildings. Fortunately, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission put a stop to this. The the five Greek Revival buildings and the chapel were saved by designating them as New York City’s first landmark structures. They are also listed on the National Register of Historic Places. In the 70s, local activists, politicians and artist worked together to convince the city of New York to buy the property and turn it into a cultural centre. What was created is an absolute gem.
We backtracked to the entrance that we came in through in the morning. On the way we passed the heritage farm and the Tuscan Garden. I am sure this looks amazing during the spring and summer. On this day, it looked sorry for itself. The centrepiece of this area are a number of shaped pools which during our visit had been drained. It gave the whole area a somewhat forlorn atmosphere.
We also came past the castle that I had spotted in morning again. We decided to have a closer look. Unfortunately, this area was closed, but there was some information outside. This was the Connie Gretz Secret Garden. The brick-walled area boasts three towers and a shrubbery maze, leading to another smaller enclosure at the heart of the garden with greenery, flowers, and benches. I think this must be truly magical. The garden was created in memory of Connie Gretz by her husband Randy Gretz, inspired by her love of children and the classic children’s story The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett. This is a relatively recent addition, and was completed by 2000.
There was one thing I wanted to take care of before dinner. Ever since I first visited the USA, I have loved Bath and Body Works. We used to have Bath and Body Works in the UK for a while, but then all shops were shut down. Fortunately, after the pandemic they returned back to the UK market, initially just online, but now they have physical shops again. This means that I no longer have stock up on visits to the USA or Canada. However, there is one product that I love that is still available in the USA and Canada, but that has sadly been discontinued in the UK. They are the aromatherapy shower steamers. When we were in Vancouver earlier in the year the vanilla and lavender shower steamers were out of stock. I wanted to try again. I found out before the trip that there is a branch of Bath and Body Works at one of the shopping centres on Staten Island and there was a handy bus to take us there. I figured this would be the best day to do a little shopping.
There was a bus route from the top entrance of Snug Harbor Cultural Center and Botanical Garden that took us straight to the shopping centre in question. The route was a little scenic, but we were in no hurry. On the way, we came past Chilis where we were planning to have dinner. When we got to the shopping centre, we used the bathroom and then I did my shopping. I was in luck and they had the vanilla and lavender shower steamers. It ended up being my lucky day. They had a flash sale with all bath and body products being $5. This included the shower steamers. They are normally about $20 for the tub. This was a nice saving. I would have loved to stock up, but luggage space was limited. I still ended up getting a second tub when I had intended to get only one.
Once I had done my shopping, we headed out. According to the journey planner, there was a bus due in a few minutes. However, this did not materialize. Instead, we got a number of express buses that went in the wrong direction. Eventually the right bus came, but it was already pretty full when it arrived and there were a lot of people waiting. There was no way we would get on this bus.
When we finally managed to get a bus that went in the right direction and had some space, it did not take very long to get where we wanted to go. It so happens that two things that are a big pull for me when I am in the USA were very close together. I love browsing in Walgreens. I also prefer Q-Tips that are sold in the USA over anything similar that is sold in the UK. I ended up buying two family packs with 1000 Q-Tips each. This will last us for years. Graham was teasing me about my choice of souvenir. I also got a bottle of orange soda to take back to the hotel. Then we went to Chilis for an early dinner. This was just half a block away from Walgreens. When we got there, it was relatively empty. Graham had a ribeye steak with shrimp, loaded mashed potato, and broccoli. He also had some unsweetened iced tea. I had the triple play appetizer sampler as a main course, and I had chosen the crispy chicken crispers, fried mozzarella, and southwestern egg rolls. This came with ranch dressing and honey mustard dressing. I was a bit disappointed that this did not come with marinara sauce as well. The ranch dressing was also just a standard ranch dressing rather than the avocado ranch that normally comes with the triple play. Still, I like any type of ranch dressing, and this was no hardship. It turned out that even though I had not eaten since breakfast, my eyes were bigger than my stomach. Graham had the last piece of my fried mozzarella. I had no issue with finishing my watermelon iced tea though. I made good use of the free refills. I had three glasses in the end.
We did not fancy our chances with the buses especially as we were done around the same time as the shopping mall was closing. We decided to treat ourselves to an Uber. One thing that I find fascinating in the USA is that you can request an electric car. We got a driver with a Tesla. We had a bit of a wait for the Uber to arrive, but nothing we could not handle. Once our Uber arrived, it did not take long to get to the hotel.
When we got back to the hotel, we went to check in and to retrieve our luggage. We had a bit of a wait as the person on reception had an issue with her log in and there were a couple of people ahead of us, too. Eventually they managed to resolve whatever the issue was, and we were checked in. We headed upstairs to find our room. I was a little nervous as some of the recent reviews were not exactly complimentary. However, we found a huge room that was spotlessly clean and comfortable. The décor is probably best described as timeless, but everything was in a good state of repair. There was nothing I would have changed.
We unpacked our hand luggage and got ready for bed. I was not tired yet. I tried to connect with the hotel Wi-Fi, but I did not succeed that evening. Still, I have a generous mobile data allowance on my phone that roams to the USA and the mobile phone reception was decent. I just wanted to check my emails, Facebook, and post a photo of the day and it was definitely good enough for this. By the time I had done this, Graham was fast asleep. I was still awake and spent an hour or so reading before I settled down for the night, too.
Dolphingirl’s Travels 
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