Hello

Hope you are all keeping well and enjoying the summer. I know you can’t wait to hear what we have been up to. Yes! Well we have just spent 3 fantastic weeks in Manhattan, New York. We sailed over night along the coast from Atlantic City to Sandy Hook New Jersey. Then did the short hop into New York to get our first glimpse of the Statue of Liberty and the famous New York skyline. Graham had had hopes of anchoring off Liberty Island; there is an official anchorage area according to the guide books but the amount of traffic around made this impractical. So I got my Kodak moments and we went up the Hudson River. On route successfully conducting a dinghy rescue. The tow line on the dinghy snapped and we looked back to find we had left it stranded in the river, luckily the tide was with us and as we stopped the dinghy dutifully drifted to us, to be attached now with two lines and so we continued picking up a mooring off the 79th. Boat Basin, beside Riverside Park on the Upper West side of the city.

This was perfect from here we had a short walk to the 79/72 street metro stations with access to the attractions of the city. It’s a good residential area with shops bars and restaurants. (Graham found a real bar, rough and noisy where the barmaid though bodily small had a personality to rate with May West). The river itself is not quite so friendly. It is a strong tidal river and though it was quite windy the tide still won. We found ourselves facing into the tide with a strong wind behind us, this along with the traffic on the river causing a wash it often got very rough. However the mooring were good and a big plus it was cheap.

The weather was hot, our trusty radio put out regular heat warnings to the population of the city. But as the song goes “Mad Dogs and English …” We picked up our bottle of water and sun hat and joined the mad dogs (of which there were plenty) into the mid-day sun to explore the city. Manhattan is what I like to call a people city and very easy to walkabout. They also have the metro, which wasn’t visitor friendly. Though a lot smaller than the London tube network it lacked directional information and the ticket attendants, mainly the women I’m sorry to say hadn’t graduated from Charm School. But it was cheap 2 dollars per trip and for seniors 2 dollars per return trip.

So we went round the city, doing our Kodak moments at all the famous places and public buildings we had read about. The Rockefeller Centre, Madison Square Gardens, Trump Tower. We walked down Fifth Ave did a little shopping at Macy’s department store and got my photo taken under the clock at Grand Central Station. We went down to the financial District of the city, the Stock Exchange and the Federal Reserve Bank, magnificent buildings the centre of which is Ground Zero. It’s a huge building site, well fenced with large bill board posters relating to the bombing of the twin towers. Pictures that we all remember seeing flashed across our TVs back home. Looking round at the height of the buildings around it is difficult to image the two buildings that towered above them.

The other poignant place we visited was Ellis Island. It is a museum now, but from 1890 - 1954 it was the arrival point for over 12 million people, mainly Eastern European fleeing religious persecution, poverty or unrest in their homelands. The museum tells the story of the immigrants through displays, artefacts and an oral history archive of taped interviews.

On a lighter note we spent an enjoyable day walking round Central Park. An oasis in the middle of the city. As we walked we came across a restaurant called the Boat House on the banks of a large lake with Gondoliers and row boats for hire. The restaurant looked very swish; they had a bar attached with a gent on a piano playing softly for the diners. Obviously the place to seen at on a Sunday. We sat at the bar and order a beer and a white wine. Imagine the shock on Grahams face on handing over a 20 dollar bill to receive 2 dollars change. Needless to say I didn’t have a second drink.

Another day we visited the Empire State Building. Apart from the impressive views we got from the 86th floor observation pavilion we also got a first hand demonstration in the art of people processing. It is written in the guide book 3.5 million visit this building so I suppose they know a little about people processing. We paid our money and entered this elegant building, passing through a lobby housing 3D panels depicting the seven wonders of the ancient world, very nice and into a very large room. Here maybe over a hundred people shuffled up and down the corded lines of the biggest queue I’ve ever seen to a large door at the other end. Never mind we thought, it’s not too bad and they did seem to be moving quite quickly. WRONG! From this room we entered two more rooms of equal size and a lift before we made the observation deck on floor 86. As you entered the last room some joker had a large printed sign stating “You are nearly there” We eventually got to the 86th floor we could have gone to the 102nd for another small fee, but Graham had done with queuing. In all it must have taken us almost 2 hours of queuing and we spent half an hour getting our Kodak moments. We then began our decent, which was quicker but we had to be channelled past the photos that had been taken on our way up. A tiring day but you can’t come to New York and not go to the Empire State Building, can you?

One of the most amazing places I felt was Time Square. As you came up from the metro station into the centre of Time Square you are surrounded with giant TV screens and electronic signs posting news messages. Larger than life posters advertising the current shows on Broadway. The touts selling tickets for bus tours of the city and people, crowds of people and the noise. Yes this was my favourite place. We joined a queue and got half price tickets for Mamma Mia. I am an ABBA fan and though Graham isn’t I think he quite enjoyed the show, a light hearted comedy with Abba music running through.

So we did what we had hoped to do this summer get to New York , for me to see a show on Broadway and for Graham to sail past the Statue of Liberty, though he didn’t manage to anchor. Now we are ready to retrace our steps south, back into the Chesapeake until November the end of the official hurricane season when we can return to the Caribbean.

Joy

Categories: Travels
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