|
Back in New York, New
York
11th - 17th September
2005 |
|
It was a poignant moment as we motored around Manhattan
Island on 11th September at the exact time the horrific terrorist attacks
had taken place at the World Trade Center four years
earlier. A memorial service was being held at the Ground
Zero Site with the names of all the victims being read aloud by
relatives. The reading of the names hadn't been completed in the
two hours it took us to travel around the island, which really brought home
the number of victims. Later that evening in tribute
to those lost, the former sites of the twin towers were lit up with
searchlights shining into the sky........
|
Approaching Manhattan four
years to the minute after the terrorist attacks
|
Tribute to the victims of
911
|
|
We were safely moored at the Boat Basin in
time to head out to Broadway for a Greek-style Sunday Brunch and a stroll
around Central Park in the sweltering heat for a spot of
people-watching.
Next day we had a brainwave to head over on
the ferry to Staten Island and check out the harbour at Great Kills, which,
from our charts, seemed to offer more protection, just in case Hurricane
Ophelia should head our way.
Phil enjoying a free ride
across the Hudson
|
Sunday Afternoon People
Watching in Central Park
|
|
First we had to take the subway to the station
at the South Ferry Terminal. To alight at that station you had to be
sure to be in the first five cars of the train. This led to some
entertaining racing between cars at stops along the line, as we made sure we
were far enough up the train. We weren't alone, plenty of
other people were leaping off the train at the different stations on the
way, racing up the platform, battling through the exiting crowds, to make
progress up the train and then leaping back on just before the doors
shut. We were just glad we'd known about this beforehand, as
announcements on the subway train were totally unintelligible to
us. Who said it was a common language?
|
|
The recently renovated ferry terminal building
was quite impressive and the fact that the ferry was free of charge even
more so. There ended the list of impressive things about
our trip to Staten Island. After a long bus ride we arrived at
the bus stop at Great Kills Park, only to find the harbour was a walk of
about three miles distant. As it was another scorching hot
day we gave up our challenge and took the next bus back to the
ferry. We found Staten Island pretty
unimpressive.
|
|
Preparations in full swing
in Little Italy for the festival of San Gennaro
|
Back in Manhattan we checked out
Chinatown. As we'd already eaten lunch and weren't in the market
for a cheap knock-off handbag or watch, it didn't have too much to offer
us. Suddenly on rounding a corner we found ourselves in the
Little Italy district, New York was certainly a city of contrasts.
Little Italy was in the throws of preparing for the festival of San Gennaro.
Streets were blocked off and restaurants were being expanded onto the
pavements. The street closures, when combined
with other nearby street closures for the UN General Assembly in the City
and the resulting fleets of black stretch limos ferrying the VIPs around,
led to a pretty chaotic and noisy traffic gridlock. New
York was one of the few places we'd visited in the US where having a car was
definitely more problematical than being without one.
|
|
As on our previous visit to the city, much of
our itinerary was based on the list we had showing which attractions were
free of charge on which days. On Tuesday we were off to
the Brooklyn Botanical Garden, a new adventure as we hadn't crossed the East
River to Brooklyn previously. We made sure we took different
subway lines there and back, so we experienced both the tunnel beneath the
East River and crossing over the Bridge on our way back. The
Botanical Gardens were on a much smaller scale than the ones we visited
previously in the Bronx, which meant less walking in the head. They
offered a peaceful and shady oasis in the hot city.
We took a tourist ferry out to Liberty Island
to have a closer look at the Statue of Liberty. Unless you were
queuing up at first light, it wasn't possible to visit the inside of the
Statue. We ate possibly the worst food we've ever had in the
United States at the cafe at the Statue and then got back on the ferry to
hop over to Ellis Island.
|
Brooklyn Botanical Gardens
|
|
Main hall at Ellis Island
|
The museum at Ellis Island was fascinating and
gave a great insight into how it must have felt to arrive in the United
States in steerage class. Ship passengers who'd paid
higher fares were processed aboard ship but those in third class were
subject to long waits prior to vetting for suitability to enter the
country.
The first stage was a health inspection where
any sickly looking arrivals were weeded out. The most gruesome
part of the medical examination was an eye inspection which involved rolling
back the eyelids with a large metal hook. If you survived the
medical examination, the next stage was a background
check. We enquired how the authorities were able to check
into the arrivals' background and it transpired that basically you were
asked if you were a criminal, political activist or insane, which you would
have to have been to answer yes.
|
|
The immigration statistics on display were
fascinating reading and on viewing how many million people emigrated from
England to the USA, Australia, Canada and New Zealand each year, it was a
wonder anybody was left there. Also strange was the fact that
everybody emigrated from England or Ireland with apparently no arrivals
recorded from Wales or Scotland! Geography was obviously
not a strong point with the statisticians.
On our last day in New York we made use of
the free Friday evening admittance to re-visit the Museum of Modern Art,
which we'd really enjoyed on our last visit. As a final
farewell to New York, we then wandered down to Times Square to see the big
city lights.
|
|
Big City Lights of Times
Square
|
Leaving New York
|
|
When the tide turned in our favour next morning
we made our way down the Hudson, stopping briefly to refuel before motoring
on to nearby Sandy Hook, where we anchored overnight, ready to make an early
start south next morning.
It seemed that the weather would be perfect
for our trip, northerly winds were forecast for the period when we would be
motoring south along the shore of New Jersey and then the wind was expected
to shift to the south east at about the time we would be turning north west
up the Delaware river. Needless to say the reality was the
complete opposite, leaving us to motor into the wind southwards down the
coast of New Jersey before a wind shift left us motoring directly into the
wind up the Delaware River. Although weather forecasts in the
States gave excellent local detail, we were beginning to realise often
they didn't actually bear much resemblance to reality!
We were relieved that we'd carefully carried
out tidal calculations for our route, so at least we had the current in our
favour as we motored quickly up the Delaware River and then shot through the
Delaware and Chesapeake Canal into the Chesapeake Bay at around eight knots!
After 36 hours of motoring we were happy to
anchor overnight in the Sassafras River and then after attempting to press
on to Annapolis next morning but finding fifteen knots of wind right on the
nose again, to spend another quiet day in the Sassafras
resting. We decided to move a few miles to an anchorage at
Still Pond, to cut down the distance for the following day and were worried
on the way there when we found sea quiet choppy that the anchorage would be
uncomfortable for the night. Bizarrely once we entered the bay,
which was wide open to the wind direction we found that although the bay was
choppy, one corner was completely flat and calm for some inexplicable
reason, so we were able to spend a comfortable night after all.
|