Aug 23-28 - Cousin Joe visits from Alabama

Joe Finnegan joined us on Grand Fromage for a few days' sightseeing in NYC. Joe is a fun guest because he is so enthusiastic to see all of the things he has read about and seen on tv.

Robert and Joe wait for the Liberty State Park ferry. This was the one of the few relaxing moments in a day of frenzied sight seeing.

We took the subway up to Times Square and wandered around. Our main challenge was keeping track of Joe who was so enthusiatic to photograph the surroundings that he would sometimes wander off.

One find was Bryant Park on 42nd and 6th. This park is very popular for relaxing, reading and meetings. It is a big park and the amazing thing is it is filled with bistro chairs, tables and stools that seemingly stay in the park. They are constantly being rearranged for round table discussions, napping, reading, lunching and people watching.Bryant Park is right next to the NYC library. Part of the park is a reading area with rolling carts of adult books, childrens' books, newspapers and magazines available.
Another surprise about Manhattan was the sense that it is a safe place to be. There are over a million people living and working there, so you know there is crime and violence. However, whether we were wandering the streets or traveling by subway, we never felt threatened, endangered or insecure. There is a sizable police presense patrolling the streets, driving around or hopping into the street to move trafic. Prior to Joe's arrival, we had checked into going to the top of the Empire State Building. It was going to involve long lines and significant waiting. We had read about an alternative..the top of the Rockefeller Center. Imagine our surprise when we discovered we could walk up to the booth and buy a ticket without first standing in a two hour line. Even better, with tickets in hand, we were immediately going up the elevator to the top for a fabulous view of NYC. "The Top of the Rock" was one of the most fun adventures we shared with Joe. Here is the Empire State Building from the top of the Rockefeller Center
View of Central Park
On Joe's last day, we were up and out early for a ferry ride over to Ellis Island and Liberty Island. We really enjoyed the museum at Ellis Island. One thing clear from the exhibits...immigration issues are not new.

The main building at Ellis Island

There were many photographs of immigrants going through the process at Ellis Island or leaving their native country. I enjoyed all of the photos, but this was one of my favorites. It is a gypsy family.The first thing you notice when arriving on Liberty Island is the actual size of the Statue of Liberty...it is HUGE. The second thing you notice is that the statue is set on a fort. This mandatory silly photo demonstrates both the size and the underlying fort. A close up of the book and the copper overlays.
After Liberty Island, we took the ferry back to Manhattan for the mad subway dash up to the theatre district. We had tickets for the matinee of "The Lion King". Our second foray to Broadway was a roaring success. Our seats were wonderful. The set and costumes were imaginative and fun. The pace and energy level were extremely upbeat. The singing and acting terrific.

Aug 12-14 - John and Vivian visit from NC

It was a real treat to have our two doctor friends from New Bern, NC - John and Vivian - visit Grand Fromage. The only problem was the visit was so short, but we tried to cram in lots of sight seeing and adventures.

We took a five and a half hour All Aboard small bus tour. This tour was highly recommended on the Trip Advisor website. I did feel like we got a good overview of Manhattan, but a lot of time was spent in traffic and a few of the stops were rather silly.

The first stop was the tribute to John Lennon in Central Park..."Strawberry Fields"....one of the silly stops. However, it was wonderful to see a little corner of Central Park and very interesting to see The Dakota, the condo where Yoko Ono stills lives. If you'd like to buy a flat in the Dakota, you can get a bargain for 12.5 million or 18.5 for the upscale flat. Robert and I have our realtor negotiating as we speak, err write. Shucky darn, our offer of 150,000 was turned down.

The Empire State BuildingI can't remember the story about this building, but I liked it.

The Brooklyn Bridge

John and Vivian relaxing during a break in our All Aboard tour

We dropped by Wall Street for some pre-bailout negotiations.

Our tour included a trip on the Staten Island Ferry for scenic views of the New York Harbor. On the way back we saw this storm over the Hudson. Manhattan is on the right of the river. Jersey City is on the left side. You reach Liberty Landing by going up a creek right next to the tallest building on the left. That building, by the way, is Goldman Sachs.

We wanted to see a Broadway show with John and Vivian. We already had tickets to see Wicked in September. John and Vivian had never seen Phantom of the Opera. We had loved it so much when we saw it in Sacramento that we figured a repeat performance would be a treat. We were very disappointed. The sets were not up to the standard in Sacramento. The singers did not enunciate and thus you could not follow the story line. There was no zest or exilaration. Our first foray on Broadway was a dud.

Aug 10-12 - Exploring Manhattan

To get to Manhattan from Liberty Landing, we took the Liberty State Park Ferry, "Little Lady". This ferry ran sort of every half hour, except when it took on gas or broke down or just ran late. Despite the little problems on occasion, it was a wonderful service and we thoroughly enjoy the ferry rides.

Our ferry landing place was next to the Financial Trade buildings and a few blocks from ground zero, which is now a giant construction site.

This picture is interesting because it shows a few of the older buildings in with the new.

It didn't take long to locate the subway entrances. This led to our first surprise about NYC. When we were leaving the Chesapeake, we were told by several people, "As soon as you leave the Cheasapeake, you will not find any more nice people....nice will be over" We were constantly amazed by the helpfulness and graciousness of the NYC people. We would be studying a map of the subway system and someone would ask if we needed help. We had a couple of people actually walk us out to the street and up a couple of blocks to show us which way to go. People would frequently strike up conversations on the train. Instead of nice being over, we discovered a whole new world of nice.

In a couple of days, we had figured out the subway system. We also discovered a Whole Food Store within walking distance of the ferry. We grabbed our trusty cart and headed our for some provisioning.

The traffic in NYC is completely crazy. The parking fees are even worse. We would pass signs at parking garages..."Special...1/2 hour....$12.95", "Special....1/2 hour $14.95" Eeek!!! It looked like it would cost $500-1200 and up to park a car in the city. We started to converse with many people about car ownership in NYC. What we learned is that none of the folks with whom we chatted owned a car. One fellow told me that no one in their right mind would drive in the city during the week and since most New Yorkers work five days a week, owning a car for two days' a week was an unaccptable luxury. What they do for that big shopping or the weekend getaway is Zipcar...http://www.zipcar.com/index . You apply in advance for the service. There are cars parked all over town. When you want to use a car, you call or go online to reserve one for an hour or days. Your zipcard opens up the car you've reserved. New Yorkers are wild about this service. I noticed on the zipcar website that the service is also available in San Francisco.

The view from Liberty State Park across the Hudson to Manhattan was fabulous. We would frequently walk down to the river to enjoy the panoramic and dramatic NYC skyline. Here are a few pictures looking from Liberty State Park to Manhattan.

Lower ManhattanMidtown Manhattan. The tall building is the Empire State Building. The smaller lighted peak to the right is the Chrysler Building. One of the big New York City ferries

Aug 6 - From Staten Island to Liberty Landing

We said goodby to the wonderful people at Great Kills Yacht Club and headed to our reserved slip at Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, NJ.

Staten Island is one of the five boroughs of New York City. Coming around the point of Great Kills Harbor, it presents a pastoral view.
Staten Island becomes busier and more industrial as you approach the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.The Verazano-Narrows Bridge, looking toward the Atlantic. Our first glimpse of Manhattan from under the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The Staten Island ferry Staten Island ferry going toward Manhattan.
One thing we looked forward to tremendously was passing by the Statue of Liberty on our boat, Grand Fromage. It was a magic moment, although Captain Robert did have a job jocking around all of the manic sightseeing ferry boats. Here are a few pictures of Lady Liberty we took from Grand Fromage
Liberty Landing Marina is in Liberty State Park, a huge 1200 acre park directly across the Hudson River from Manhattan and Brooklyn. The marina is protected from the wake and turbulence created by all of the New York ferries, but the views are amazing.

A few hours after we had tied up, our friends Mark and Brooke pulled into their slip. They showed us the ropes of riding the Liberty Park water taxi. We took the water taxi to a cute bistro in Jersey City. It was great fun to swap stories and adventures with Mark and Brooke.

Aug 4 - First trip into Manhattan

The members of the yacht club gave us step by step instructions to take the X1 bus into Manhattan. The bus went over the Verazanno Narrows Bridge, down into Brooklyn and then through a tunnel to Manhattan. The traffic was unbelievable.

Our instructions said to get off the bus at 42nd and 6th. We have been to San Francisco many times. This did not prepare us for the people, traffic, hustle, noise we faced when we got off of the bus. Eeeeek!!!!! It was overwhelming.

The first thing we looked for was something familiar, so we made a bee line for McDonalds. We encountered a huge line and once we had our food, discovered there were three floors of dining tables. So much for the cozy comfort of the familiar.

We wandered around with our eyes and mouths wide open in astonishment. Soon, however, it started to be a little bit of fun to recognize street and building names. Landmarks we'd seen in movies and on tv came into view as we wandered about. You must realize that much of what we know about New York City we learned watching Law and Order. Hmm....we passed some out of the way bushes in Bryant Park....a possible location for a body?

Robert is walking up 42nd. The Chrysler building is the one with the pointed top.The Chrysler building is all private offices so you can not see much, except for the lobby. It is an art decco dream. Here are a couple of the elevator doors. We saw a street sign for Park Ave....that sounded famous. Times Square

Aug 2-3 - Staten Island, NY

Our first day at the Great Kills Yacht Club, we moved into our regular slip and then met John Calascibetta, who made the arrangements for loopers to stay at the yacht club. John is a wonderful person...knowledgeable, interesting and lots of fun. He spent considerable time advising us about New York City and other possible ports of call with Grand Fromage. The other members of the yacht club were also extremely helpful and welcoming. We are extremely appreciative of the courtesies extended to us by the Great Kills Yacht Club.



John in front of the yacht club. One thing that surprised me about Great Kills Harbor is how beautiful and scenic it is. When in the harbor, you would never know you were in one of the largest cities. Here is the marsh next to the yacht club. There are several excellent restaurants within a few blocks of the yacht club. Staten Island seems to be an easy going place with many established neighborhoods.