We had but two full days in New York. The first day we crammed in so much in spite of the chilly temperatures. We went to see the 9/11 memorial, a fitting and serene setting for people to reflect on that day and the people who were killed. The last time we had visited together had been just months after the tragedy when there had been just a gigantic hole in the ground surrounded by a makeshift fence and every inch filled with photos, dedications and memorabilia of those killed. It had been very emotional and impossible not to shed a tear. It was still very emotional seeing the new memorial, but time had lessened the shock and the pain that we had felt the first time.
Our next choice was whether to go to the Empire State Building the same day or wait until the following day. It was very cold but the air was crystal clear, the sun was shining and the sky was blue, promising great views. Although it was Sunday we decided to go. There were a lot of people but we didn't have to wait more than half an hour and it was well worth it. I had never been up there before and the views were indeed spectacular and breathtaking. One side was closed because of falling ice but we could peer out into every direction for miles.
We decided to take a bus to the Seaport as we had visited this on several occasions in the past and really liked it there. From here you also get one of the best views of the Brooklyn Bridge and as the sun was setting the bridge took on a golden glow - just magnificent! We had also enjoyed a restaurant called Jeremy's which David had introduced me to on my first visit to New York in 1999. It is an unpretentious place in which bras hang from the ceiling. The food is basic but good and you can get cider, one of my favourite (alcoholic) drinks. We settled for seafood and by this time we were both pretty exhausted with aching legs - time to head back to Charlie and the magic bus.
Our last day in New York was without any particular plans. David had to do the accounts in the morning and pay bills, so we had a late start. It was a little more cloudy and hazy than the day before and we were so happy we had visited the big tower the day before. We took the ferry across from Jersey City to the World Trade Center. The whole waterfront area around there has been rebuilt since 9/11 and there was a small duck/fish pond where we landed. We wandered through the atrium and took the subway to Greenwich Village. We'd considered going later and seeing the world's biggest Halloween Parade which was due to start at 7pm, but chickened out at the prospect of being stuck for three hours with possible rain and lots of drunken witches and vampires. What we did see was the kids' parade which was a delight. I think this is what Halloween is really about and seeing all those cute kids dressed up was more than enough for me. They were all so happy and we did see a lot of what would follow later - adults in costume. We sat a while in Washington Square which David told me was the scene for a lot of the sixties music and the peace movements of the time. Just about everyone in the music business had hung out around there at one time or another and the air had been thick with the smell of pot. Now it was thick with the smell of popcorn and cotton candy (candy floss). The whole area was alive and buzzing and tonight especially so with the upcoming parade. There were dozens of cops on every street corner but the mood everywhere was happy. We were tempted to stay on but both of us were tired and aching and the prospect of 200 plus miles the next day convinced us to go back before the parade. We got the PATH train back to Grove Street and soaked in the Halloween atmosphere of Jersey City, then went back to our home on wheels. Lynda
Monday, October 31, 2011
The Big Apple NYC
We got up to a chilly but beautiful day. Lynda took Charlie out and loved the view from the waterfront to NY harbor. From that we bundled up and packed our camera etc and walked to the PATH train station a few blocks away. The train took us into where the World Trade Center used to be and I was filled with thoughts of my years of commuting to this very spot. Of thoughts of how it looked after 9/11 and how much work had been done to bring it back into working condition. As we came above ground I looked around and tried to get my bearing as to where we were. We had booked tickets to visit the WTC memorial site on line as one must have reservations to get in. The line went fast and after a very thorough search we arrive at a most beautiful park. The actual bases of towers 1 and 2 were now huge marble basins with water running down the side. Along the perimeter was a marble gray wall with the names of all that perished carved through. Light were installed beneath and it all was so moving and grand. I stopped and chatted with a Port Authority Police Man and asked questions where my friends and co-workers in the Port Authority might have their names. He showed me and we talked for awhile about it all and the PA. Lynda and I found some of the names of the Police I knew and then went to the automated machines typed in my friends names and found their locations. I had many thoughts on it all. Tower one was closed off due to ice falling from the new beautiful tower so I wasn't able to see the new place they put the PA people that died in the 1993 bombing. Steve Knapp a long time friend of mine died in that and several other co-workers I knew well. But for the grace of God I wasn't one of them as I was scheduled to park in Steve's parking spot that day and head to the Seaport for lunch with a vendor. The vendor called it off that morning with car trouble and we cancelled going over. I had spoke to Steve that morning telling him I would come in the lunch room and say hello around 12 to 12:30 pm. He died at 12:18 pm in the lunch room with the others that day according to the stopped watch they took off his body. Not my time yet.
From here we headed to see the Wall Street demonstrations, Empire State Building and the South Street Seaport. To be continued later for that check back:
Some pictures from the last part of the day.
Sunday, October 30, 2011
The first Two days
(Starting this blog after a couple of days on the road. Writing it first on a word processing program then I will paste it to my blog. Am on my Mac Book Pro as it seems Google, who I used to really love, has cut off the iPad from it’s blog use. There seems to be a big thing going on between Apple, Google and some other software companies to make their product sell more. I personally see the users as the ones who will suffer from this game. Isn’t there enough room for everyone. Anyway I will find another blog source in time. I mention this cause I bought some wireless time on my iPad for this trip and now have to use Lynda’s mifi card, and the Mac Pro to post this, stinks.)
The start:
Every year we have done this sojourn to the Keys we need to perform a lengthly ritual to make that change. We assume it will go easier with experience but leaving your house for 6 months and moving to another place is not easy. The amount of things on our check list is huge as you can imagine. Post Office, Doctors, Dentists, neighbors, Police, draining the house, timers and lights, maintenance on the Bus, packing, Car registrations & inspections, and on and on. We did get a head start this year and towards the end thought we did a fairly good job and then..........The snow storm! Two inches of snow fell the night before we left and with it came wet cold weather.
I went out in the middle of the night and closed the slides on the Bus. The ground was covered with cold wet snow as I creeped by in my slippers. Because of the cold I started draining the outside hose bibs early also. This was at 330 am. The next morning what was going to be a snap was not. My numb fingers with no feelings found it tough to even feed the kayak hold down straps through the buckles. Putting the bike and ladder on the back was a torture. Poor Lynda had to spread salt all along the path to the Bus to fill the food from the fridge and other last minute things. By the way Her part in all of this was remarkable, She covered so many things and I thank Her so. Love that Woman. So although late, we made it. We drove the 228 miles to the Moose Lodge in Danbury CT that we stop at every year, set up and spent the night. Its a freebee as they let members just park on their lot. It was a bit cold that night and because, we were just plugged in with a long extension cord we couldn’t use the heat pump thus, had to use the propane heater. This is somewhat of a drag as we can’t get our big propane tank filled so easy and would need the gas in the RV park by NYC if it stayed cold. The electric heat pump it seems won’t work at a temps below 40 degrees F. That is why you don’t see them on houses in the North.
That night at the Moose we kept hearing of another huge snow storm on the way. We knew we had to get out of Dodge real early and beat it to our site at Liberty Park RV in Jersey City before we got caught. We did get out fairly early for us and zoomed to Jersey and made it through the gate of the park just as the flakes began to fall. That was with me getting off at the wrong Turnpike exit, damn Garmin, and driving the Bus through the crowded streets of Jersey City pulling the Honda, not fun.
So that was our first two days. Too keep from using up our Propane I found a local Cuban hardware store and bought a nice electric heater. Across the street was a clothing store and I picked up some long Johns for my legs as I knew it would be cold on the streets of NYC. We also took advantage of the City life and ordered Chinese take out to the Bus. Nice. One last change for that day was that the new heater exposed some wiring quirks I had to straighten out from when I wired in an inverter to use for dry camping a few years ago. Anyway I spent about an hour putting it all back to factory specs as we don’t use the inverter anymore to power everything. The new heater along with the small one we had with us worked well. With that, phew, we listened to the snow fall and wind blow and where cozy that night. They had 19 inches of snow just a few miles in land from us. The Moose club in Danbury got 12 inches and many trees were down everywhere. We would have been screwed it we waited just a few hours more. Double Phew. And oh you can see the Statue of Liberty from our site, beautiful. I will post photos.
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