A TOUR OF MANHATTAN

I've gotten to the stage where I now best enjoy a bus tour beginning in the late morning, requiring no walking. Fortunately enough, this option was close by the New York Times Square Marriott Marquis. First, a free breakfast in the M Club, then a short walk to hop on the bus.

Tried to board the Hop-on / Hop-off bus, but was stopped and told to wait until the next one came. Therefore we were the first on, and walked up to the second deck front two seats. What luck. Good start.

New York University was close by Times Square. I almost went to their law school way back in 1969, but ended up at LSU because everything was paid by fellowships and salaries.

Where do you think the bus went next? See the symbols below MacDonald's? This is Chinatown.

The Wall Street bull.

Heading for the former Freedom Tower, which was renamed One World Trade Center.

Later, passed by aircraft carrier Intrepid.

Then a quick ferry ride for a few photos, some with stories. You already know almost everything about the Statue of Liberty.

Water's Soul was was opened in 2021 and is 80 feet tall. Seeks to unite New York and Jersey Cities.

The Colgate Clock has now been around for a century in Jersey City. Has a diameter of 50 feet, and once sat atop what was once the headquarters of Colgate-Palmolive until 1985, when it was moved to ground level to allow construction of the Goldman Sachs Tower.

The Brooklyn Bridge spans the East River between the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn. First opened in 1883, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world at the time of its opening. Cost $15.5 million to build, the equivalent today of around $500 million. Not called the Brooklyn Bridge until 1915.

One story is that people were afraid to use the bridge until in 1884 P.T. Barnum walked across Jumbo and 21 other elephants to lessen doubts about the bridge's stability.
Another is selling the Brooklyn Bridge. George C. Parker, an American con man repeatedly sold it, and other New York public landmarks, like the Statue of Liberty, Madison Square Garden and the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Was convicted of fraud four times, after which in 1928 he was sentenced for life at Sing Sing Prison, where he died.

That 57-story white structure is known as the Jenga Tower, from $3.5 million to $50 million/apartment. Robert De Niro lived there and built up the entire Tribeca (Triangle Below Canal Street) area. Beyonce and Jay Z live in the building, sometimes.

Finally, made a complete circuit in almost two hours, and decided to have a ramen lunch.

Tried to find Ippudo, but could not, so walked further towards Totto Ramen. However, I then saw this sign and noticed it was a sake bar.

Went in, and this was Ippudo. Kind of dumb not to have any English sign.

Had their special with Asahi Dry Beer and hot sake.

It was okay. Walked back to Times Square, found a seat, and sat there for an hour watching the world go by.

My blue-bar came for a visit with his friends.

Strange people walk by, as for example....

Took a photo above me.

Then walked towards Duffy Square to the TKTS booth for half price Broadway shows. We decided to go to A Brilliant Noise, the life of Neil Diamond. However, no cheap tickets for tonight. They normally cost from $700 down....per seat. Perhaps tomorrow. Went back to our room, looked back down to Times Square and actually saw sunlight. It is supposed to begin raining tomorrow and really pour as the week progresses. No Yankees game for me this time.

Walked 5724 steps, about three miles.

Today, lunch at Le Bernardin.

A NEXT COVID SUBVARIANT?

By now most know that the Omicron BA.5 subvariant has become the dominant infectious agent, now accounting for more than 80% of all COVID-19 cases. Very few are aware that a new one, BA.4.6, is sneaking in and steadily rising, now accounting for 13% of sequenced samples . However, as BA.4.6 has emerged from BA.4, while there is uncertainty, the scientific sense is that the latest bivalent booster targeting BA.4 and BA.5 should also be effective for this next threat. One concern is that Evusheld--the only monoclonal antibody authorized for COVID prevention in immunocompromised individuals--is not effective against BA.4.6. Here is a reference as to what this means. A series of two injections is involved. Evusheld was developed by British-Swedish company AstraZeneca, and is a t ixagevimab co-packaged with cilgavimab . More recently, Los Angeles County reported on subvariant BA.2.75.2 . which Tony Fauci termed suspicious and troublesome. This strain has also been spreading in

Part 3: OUR NEXT AROUND THE WORLD ODYSSEY

Before I get into my third, and final, part of this cruise series, let me start with some more newsworthy topics. Thursday was my pandemic day for years. Thus, every so often I return to bring you up to date on the latest developments. All these subvariants derived from that Omicron variant, and each quickly became dominant, with slightly different symptoms. One of these will shock you. There has been a significant decline in the lost of taste and smell. From two-thirds of early patients to now only 10-20% show these symptoms. JN.1, now the dominant subvariant, results in mostly mild symptoms. However, once JN.1 infects some, there seem to be longer-lasting symptoms. Clearly, the latest booster helps prevent contracting Covid. A competing subvariant, BA.2.86, also known as Pirola , a month ago made a run, but JN.1 prevailed. No variant in particular, but research has shown that some of you will begin to lose hair for several months. This is caused by stress more than anythi

HONOLULU TO SEATTLE

The story of the day is Hurricane Milton, now a Category 4 at 145 MPH, with a track that has moved further south and the eye projected to make landfall just south of Sarasota. Good news for Tampa, which is 73 miles north. Milton will crash into Florida as a Category 4, and is huge, so a lot of problems can still be expected in Tampa Bay with storm surge. If the eye had crossed into the state just north of Tampa, the damage would have been catastrophic. Milton is a fast-moving storm, currently at 17 MPH, so as bad as the rainfall will be over Florida, again, a blessing. The eye will make landfall around 10PM EDT today, and will move into the Atlantic Ocean north of Palm Bay Thursday morning. My first trip to Seattle was in June of 1962 just after I graduated from Stanford University. Caught a bus. Was called the Century 21 Exposition . Also the Seattle World's Fair. 10 million joined me on a six-month run. My first. These are held every five years, and there have only been

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