Monday, August 19, 2019

Monday, August 19, 2019

Tonight's picture was taken in August of 2008.  Mattie was home between treatments and requested pasta. Honestly whatever Mattie felt up to eating we let him have it. As food no longer was of interest to him. At the end of his cancer journey, Mattie was literally just skin and bones. Very emaciated. Mattie went through food kicks that ranged from eating only Utz potato chips, or rainbow sprinkled donuts, or chicken nuggets, or soft dough pretzels, or vanilla milk shakes, or pasta!







Quote of the day: The world breaks everyone, and afterward, some are strong at the broken places. ~ Ernest Hemingway

The beauty of the sun on the Atlantic last night as it was setting. 

This was the sight outside our window at 6am. Any one who knows me, understands I am not a morning person. Practically every morning on the cruise I was up at 5 or 6am. In any case, this has taken its toll on me. 

It is in the 80s and humid in New York. Very welcomed after 10 days in cool and damp weather. 

The beauty of the New York skyline. Notice the sun coming up and being reflected on Manhattan buildings. 

The tallest building is the Freedom Tower.  It is truly awe inspiring to see it in person. One World Trade Center (or Freedom Tower) is the main building of the rebuilt World Trade Center complex in Lower Manhattan, New York City. It is the tallest building in the United States, the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, and the sixth-tallest in the world. The super tall structure has the same name as the North Tower of the original World Trade Center, which was destroyed in the terrorist attacks of September 11, 2001. The new skyscraper stands on the northwest corner of the 16-acre World Trade Center site, on the site of the original 6 World Trade Center. 

Do you see Mattie Moon over NYC?

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The Caribbean Princess docked in Brooklyn at 7am. I am quite certain I never saw a more dysfunctional  disembarkation process. It took us 2 hours to get off the ship, and I truly believe we only got off because I was kind to the Princess staff person and did not snap her head off like many other passengers. To disembark 3,500 passengers, you need a very organized process. Princess assigns you a disembarkation color, and the color is chosen based on your flight or travel arrangements post-cruise. Those who have morning flights are given priority to get off the ship. 

Well once we were cleared to get off the ship, then we got to a large room that looked a lot like this. Luggage every where. You then need to find your luggage and claim it. The problem was there were no luggage porters. I have never experienced this at any port. No one could help me with the luggage. So literally the wheelchair person who was escorting us, helped me get the cart you see above. Then he and I put all the luggage on the cart, and I dragged this cart for what seemed like the length of a football field to exit the building. The only reason we got out of the building in a timely way was because we had wheelchair service. Otherwise, ambulatory passengers were waiting in lines to get out of the terminal and I am quite sure they had to wait hours. In fact, several people thought they were going to miss their flights because of how long it was taking to process out of the terminal. There were NO porters, LITTLE to no taxis to transport people and the overall flow of people and luggage got a grade of an F in my book. 

The drive from the port to the hotel we are staying at took over an hour. We passed the beautiful Brooklyn Bridge. 

All that could go wrong practically did today. We got to our hotel and they were taping the TV show, Blacklist. Camera crews were everywhere and we weren't allowed into the lobby. I was just about to scream. Rented a car, found a CVS, and planned dinners with friends for my parents tonight and tomorrow. What I know is I need to recover from this cruise as I am feeling absolutely crummy. I know others look rested on cruises, but I have yet to experience what that feels like, so clearly I am doing something wrong.