Statue of American soldier rescuing the
opressed.
.
We then had a two mile walk through Liberty
Park to reach the ferry boarding point for the visit
to Ellis Island
and the Statue of Liberty.
You don't quite get car parks like this
in Blighty.
You are not permitted to land your
dinghy on either Ellis or Liberty islands and will be arrested by
over-zealous
border protection officers
if you do; we learned this from an
article which appeared in Yachting Monthly
some years ago which we kept just
in case we ever found ourselves in a
position to visit NY. The ferries depart
from the old train station, a place
where millions of immigrants left from
to start their new lives in the USA.
There were twenty one platforms there
alone.
The entrance to the reception building on Ellis island. There are
thirty seven buildings in total.
Ellis Island is an amazing
place with very well displayed history and
wonderful architecture.
Immigrants seem to have been very well looked
after, but what an
emotional time it must have been for them.
Reception Hall, Ellis
Island.
We climbed the segregated
steps where the immigrants thought it was just a queue but
in fact the
queue to the left was being accepted, the queue to the middle
was going
straight for detention and return to their countries of origin
and the
queue to the right was also being accepted but did not
have
passports or papers of identification. Hence the _expression_,
"without papers" (WOP) Entering the great
hall was amazing, it
was cathedral-like inside and very ornate for such a
large building.
Immigrants must truly have thought that they had entered
the land of
milk and honey.Wall of remembrance
within the 7/7 museum. There was a photo of every person killed in the
attack.
The new 'Freedom Tower' was well up on
the 7/7 or Ground Zero site.
After a couple of hours at Ellis it was time
to board another ferry and
move on to Liberty Island and the Statue of
Liberty. In order to climb up
to the crown you have to book six months
ahead so we will know next time!
The statue, a gift from France,
is mounted on a plinth that is itself ten
storey's high and is made up
of 3/16" copper sheeting moulded around an iron
framework
designed by Mr. Eiffel, a name that has popped up a couple of
times since
we left home and of course of the tower fame.
Bev in front of
Liberty.
Close up, the detail of the statue is
quite fantastic and from the back you can see that she is
balanced on
one foot about to take a stride forward, signifying that she is
walking forward to welcome all the poor,
hungry, dispossessed, stateless etc. etc.
It is quite an amazing
achievement. We managed a walk around the island before
boarding
the last ferry back. The tourist could buy every size of
model
statue that you could think of and was reminiscent of Dell Boy
flogging
miniatures of the Eifel Tower, thank goodness we are short of
room.
We had a lovely walk back to Swiftwing and watched some very
competitive J24
yacht racing beside the park.
Boss open 60 sailing south on the
Hudson.
The "Boss Open 60" came screaming
through the fleet as we watched. The clubhouse was a floating structure
anchored
in the middle of the course right in the centre of the action,
the topdeck was crowded with people probably enjoying a
G&T.
A gaggle of J24's
The following day we ventured
back into the Hudson and sailed the 6 miles
up river to 79th street
marina which surprisingly enough is on West 79th
street,
Manhattan
Our very rolly berth in W79th Streem
Marina.....£83 for the night please.
USS.Intrepid was so narrow at her
waterline I reckoned that she would roll on wet grass.
We passed all the piers that in
the glamorous era of cruise liners crossing the Atlantic must have
been busy and it would
have been quite a spectacle
when all of these piers were full of gracious liners
such as The Queens
of Cunard. At 79th Street Marina you can rent a mooring
for $30 per
night but it is strictly a 'first come first served' system and
it
gives you the use of the marina facilities and a safe place to leave
the
dinghy when you go ashore. Unfortunately, there were no moorings
left when
we arrived so we had to come alongside a very rolly pontoon
and pay £83
per night for the privilege!
Looking North on the Hudson hoping to
pick up a $30 per night mooring.We had to go alongside a pontoon at
£83
However, next morning we managed
to secure a
mooring which we kept for a week. There was nothing
sophisticated about
the Marina so we felt right at home, but it has a
truly amazing location
in the heart of Manhattan.
There were over
fifty piers like this that we saw but the numbers went up over one
hundred.
A five minute walk along W79th took us
to the centre of Central Park and
within a few minutes to a selection
of subway stations. Even the walk up
to the street was enjoyable
as the marina is situated in a bay front park.
Once settled we walked
through the park along the banks of the Hudson and
went to visit
an American aircraft carrier, the USS Intrepid, which is
now a floating
museum ship that had served in the Pacific during WW2. In
fact, a
couple of Kamikaze pilots crashed their bomb laden planes onto
her
flight deck which was rather careless of
them.
We couldn't believe how small Concord
actually is.
For the princely sum of $10 we were
able to visit the ship which also housed 20 or so
assorted
aircraft. On reaching the flight deck which appeared to be
about twenty
storeys up we found that a school brass band from Belfast
were playing.
We also visited one of the
Concords which was parked on the same
pier and the first
Ballistic Missile submarine ever built.( I've
forgotten it's name I'm
afraid)
On the flight deck of USS Intrepid.
There was even a Tornado there on loan from the RAF.
One of the highlights of our visit
to New York was walking in Central Park
a wonderful foresight by
the developers and a haven for all New
Yorkers.
Boating lake in
GCP.
We enjoyed the entertainment as we
visited several times, lots of
street artists of all sorts.
This is the standard of busker in GCP. I
think they were playing Fingal's Cave by Mendelssohn.
After Sarah and Will left to fly
home we
spent the 4th July, a Sunday afternoon, in the Park listening
to a busker
strumming 70's British rock music.
Another view of Central
Park.
Interestingly, there is a statue
of
Robert Burns and Sir Walter Scott on one of the Avenues.
Rabbie.
We also wanted to
'take
in' a show while we were in New York but the Broadway tickets
were
horrendously expensive and the show we had initially wanted
to see, 'The
Munsters' was being panned by the critics, so instead we
went 'Off
Broadway' and saw, 'The 39 Steps', which was quite
appropriate with it's
Scottish theme and author. Sarah, by
reference to her Rough Guide to NY,
directed us to a very good
restaurant called 'Josie's' at 300 Amsterdam
Avenue. Cheapish, organic
produce and a good vegetarian menu but plenty of
big steaks for the
'boys'.
Empire State fro street
level.
View fom the top of The Empire State
Building looking south over Lower Manhatten with The Statue of Liberty in
the middle of the photo. The Twin Towers would have been right in the middle of
the assembled skyscrapers.
The Empire State swings about
alarmingly at the top.
Duggy and I also found a good
Indian
restaurant after Sarah and Will left on W80th and Amsterdam, one
of only
four in NY. and in an area known as Devil's
kitchen.
We walked a lot in New York but also used the subway which
was very easy
to use but hot in the middle of July though the
trains were air conditioned. There was one old man in his
80's
busking by playing the piano on one of the platforms, I'm not sure
how he
put up with the heat and noise but he was very
good.
Sarah was delighted to see that 'The
naked cowboy' was playing in Times Square. Apparently he is famous.We avoided
taking photos of 'The naked cowgirl' who was obviously cashing in on the cowboys
fame and to be honest looked like a midden on fire
(Douglas).
The crowd watching the World Cup in
Grand Central Station.
Central station was an amazing place,
beautiful building. Amazingly
somebody had put a television screen in
the center of the concourse and
hundreds of people were watching
a World Cup football match with much
cheering and clapping going
on. Soccer, as they call it is making heavy
inroads into the
traditional American sports with both Nascar and Baseball
attendances
dropping like a stone in favour of Formula 1 and Soccer.
Traditional New York tenament building
which has been saved from the wrecking ball.
Times Square with Bev looking like a
native New....tourist.
A bucket of live frogs for sale in
Chinatown and no it wasn't a pet shop.
With days of walking and
sight-seeing the week with Sarah and Will soon
went and it was time for
them to head back home. We said goodbye to
them at Grand Central
Station following a very grand lunch there the waiters dressed in
best bib and tucker.
. As our US Visas were about to
expire (two year multiple entry, each visit no longer than six
months)
we decided that we would sit down
on Sunday morning and look at
our options. The original plan was to go
home for six weeks in the summer
when it was too hot in America, but
looking at the price of flights we
couldn't justify the cost for such a
short time. I think the days of
cheap air travel have now gone.
We also looked at taking the train over
the border to Canada with a
visit to Niagara Falls for a few days and then
re-entering the US., but
on investigation this on a US visa forum we
learned that this is viewed
by the authorities as abusing your visa and
our worst scenario would be
to have Swiftwing on a mooring buoy in New
York and us in Canada and
not able to get back to her for a number of
months. The Border
Protection authorities want a clear break of two
months from
departure to re-entry. We still had over 600 miles to go to
Nova Scotia
and less then two weeks left on our visas to do it in. We were
also
anxious to see our folks and so we decided to come home. We booked
our
flights on Sunday morning and as it was July 4th we went to
Grand
Central Park, to give it it's full title, for a relaxing
afternoon in the sun listening to the excellent
buskers.
Sarah playing one of the street pianos
in Central Park
That night there was going to be the
huge Macy's Fireworks Display off barges in the
Hudson which we were
looking forward to. We enjoyed our Indian meal and
walked back to the
marina. The whole river front was mobbed with crowds of
people,
cars and Police. The official estimate was that three million
people had entered Manhatten
to see the display. At 9pm in unison
with music over local radio, the fireworks were set
off
and we had a spectacular view of 22 tons
of fireworks being let off a little further
down the Hudson from the
comfort of Swiftwing's cockpit, whilst the three
million New Yorkers
crowded the shore alongside us. Boats had anchored all
along the area
and not only was the park full of people but the Hudson was
teaming
with thousands of boats of all shapes and sizes. The highway was at
a
standstill with traffic and it all looked like mayhem from our
position 100 feet from the river bank.
. Three NYPD helicopters did a fly-past
as did three fighter aircraft. The firework
display was quite
fabulous.
Photo doesn't do the fiewoks display
justice but you get the idea.
When the celebrations had finished we
watched
all of the boat navigation lights head off in different
directions as people headed for
home. Tomorrow morning we would get up
early, sail back down the Hudson
past Coney Island and say goodbye for
this year to New York and sail back
to the Chesapeake to lay Swiftwing
up and head home for what was left of a
fine soft (wet) Scottish
summer.
The best picture that we got of the
Ospreys after meny attempts. We took Swiftwing very close to the Marker to get
this one and the birds seemed quite unperturbed.
A peaceful anchorage on the way to the
Chespeake after the hustle and bustle of the Big Apple.
Now we are home in Scotland until we
return to Swiftwing at the end of March 2011
Back home at the classic car show at
Brodie Castle.
