It was a busy departure from Cape May with holiday makers, fishermen, & 4th July weekenders all returning to where ever via the narrow inlet out to the Atlantic. It was a rolling sea all morning arriving in Atlantic City about 2pm. We caught a "jinty" bus (like a shuttle) and after seeing the many casinos alighted at the famed "Boardwalk" where we joined the hundreds of 4th July weekend holiday makers. This is lined with casinos, entertainment arcades, tattoo parlours, souvenir vendors galore, sweet stall, haunted ghost trains & T shirt & cheap clothing shops. There were many families, couples, teens and golden oldies all strolling, ambling & in many cases shuffling along the lengthy promenade. There were trolleys you could ride in pulled by men for about $5 for 4 blocks. We hoped they had an extra charge for the very heavy people - you would have struggled to get the cart in motion. The extremes of people was eye popping; different colours, sizes, & shapes dressed in the most incredible array of clothing; mismatched, rainbow, self styled, overdressed & underdressed, unflattering, & down right weird. You could walk along here in anything and not stand out from the crowd.
We went to look at the original Boardwalk Hall which houses the Midmer-Losh Organ consisting of 33000 pipes - the largest & loudest musical instrument in the world. They are still rebuilding it after years of neglect and as it was Sunday - guess what - the hall was closed. There is a lot of rebuilding going on in the city after hurricane Sandy tore through here a few years ago. Some of the casinos have closed (11 currently operating) and many buildings stand minus their roofs. The 4 mile boardwalk also suffered damage. The city hosts many large festivals such as Airshows, Miss America Pageant, marathons, Food & Wine, Power boat, Pro beach volley ball, Golf tournaments etc. - even Gordon Ramsey has a pub here.
We completed the afternoon walk with a visit to the Steel Pier - a pier full of fairground rides, side show hoopla, candy stalls, carousels & helicopter rides.
The day was completed with a taxi ride "for a good deal" driven by a Bangladeshi who was full of interest about our boat trip & Australia & insisted on getting out of the cab to shake our hands at the end of the short ride.
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