New York City, NY – June 16, 2008

Our last day in the city started at 6:00 a.m. when we took the PATH to 33rd and Broadway then took the NY subway from there to Rockefeller Center, which is the site of the Today Show on NBC. We arrived there at 6:45 and were four people among a very large crowd.

The first hour of the show was all inside the studio, most of it was devoted to Tim Russert. Additionally, Al Roker was in Iowa reporting from Cedar Rapids, so he wasn’t outside with his frequent weather reports.

The second hour had quite a few of the segments outside. It was very interesting to watch what was involved in getting everything ready for Matt Lauer or Meredith Viera. There were so many people there, seemingly doing nothing. We decided that each person has one job to do and then they stand around and wait until they have to do ‘their’ job again.

There were monitors outside so we could watch the program. There were also speakers but we were unable to hear much of anything, even when the segment was being shot outside.

A few times during commercial breaks Matt and Meredith would walk around, shake hands, sign autographs and say hi to people. They didn’t come in the area where we were standing, but we did get some pictures. You really need to look closely to see Matt. He’s blurred in one and we just got the back of his head in another. One of the guests today was Mike Meyers who has a movie coming out. He was interviewed inside the studio but he came outside before the segment to greet the people and sign a few autographs. We got some close shots of him.

We don’t think we made it on TV this morning, however Bob and Margaret did. We each made a sign and were holding it up. Bob and Margaret were in a better place and Keely told us she saw them and the sign. We had a good time this morning and are happy to have experienced this.

We were quite tired when we finally left. We had been standing for over 2 hours and went into a coffee shop to sit down and have a coffee break. Then we made our way back to the PATH and came back to New Jersey.

We have really enjoyed the past few days, but we are ready to continue our trip. We didn’t encounter a single “stereo-typical rude New Yorker”. Everyone we asked questions of or talked with was very nice and helpful.

New York City, NY – June 15, 2008

We got going again today at 8:00 and just missed the PATH to NYC. We had to wait 15-20 minutes for the next one. Upon arrival at 33rd street we spent a little time planning the rest of our route for tomorrow morning when we are going to Rockefeller Center for the Today Show. We think we have everything figured out and plan to leave our boats at 6:00 a.m. tomorrow morning. THAT’S EARLY!

Our plan was to get directly on one of the buses and complete the bus tour we started yesterday. We got on at 9:30 for the Downtown Tour. We had thought to complete the entire tour, particularly since we had such an excellent tour guide, then go again and get off at the places we wanted to spend more time. We drove through or by: the Theater District, Macy’s, Madison Square Garden, Empire State Building, Greenwich Village, Soho, Chinatown/Little Italy, City Hall, World Trade Center Site and Wall Street. At Battery Park we were told we had to change buses (and guides). So, we decided to get off there and spend some time walking around.

There were many beautiful buildings and many small areas that were designated as parks. There was more greenery and trees than we had expected.

We were amazed to find that in the Financial District, right next to Wall Street, was Trinity Church and its cemetery. The original Episcopalian Church was built in 1698 and was destroyed in 1776 by the Great Fire. A second church, built in 1790 was demolished in 1839 and the present church was completed in 1846. Alexander Hamilton is buried there as is Robert Fulton, who invented the steamship. There was a service going on as we visited.

Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Center, was nearby and we walked there. It was very difficult to see anything as there was fencing all around. They are in the process of putting in the foundation and setting pilings down to bedrock for the new building. The building will be 1776 feet high and will be named Freedom Tower. Completion is expected to be 2012.

We visited St. Paul’s Chapel. More about St. Paul’s Chapel in a separate posting.

We needed lunch, but were in the financial district and most of the eateries were closed on Sundays. We ended up eating in Subway, one of the staples of NYC.

After lunch we continued our bus tour by taking the Uptown Loop. We didn’t get off at any of the stops but saw and heard about Upper West Side, Dakota Apartments (where John Lennon lived), Strawberry Fields (a garden in Central Park across from the Dakota Apartments which Yoko Ono built as a John Lennon memorial), several of the museums in NYC, Harlem, The Apollo Theater and many of the extremely expensive apartment buildings. We felt the bus tour was a very good way to get an overview of NYC and see many famous sites without walking a lot.

We were finished about 4:15 and were all very tired. We caught the PATH back to our base in New Jersey, rested a bit then had dinner in a New Jersey Eatery.

New York City, NY – June 15, 2008

St. Paul’s Chapel was built in 1764-1766 and Manhattan’s only colonial-era church. George Washington attended this church and his pew is still there on view. It is about 2 blocks from the WTC and was not damaged at all when the buildings fell. Not even a pane of glass was broken. The Chapel became a place where the many workers and volunteers went for replenishment, both material and spiritual. There were meals served, cots for rest and support offered to enable them to continue to return to Ground Zero.

There are memorials to those who died and those who aided. A memorial altar has pictures of many who died. There is one made up of insignia’s from the many men and women of the many departments/states/countries who came to help. Many of the signs and cards sent were on view for all to see. The Chapel still holds services, but most of it has been devoted to 9/11 and its aftermath. This was a very emotional experience.

New York City, NY – June 14, 2008

The four of us left our boats this morning at 8:00 and walked about 1 block to the PATH. The PATH is the New Jersey subway system and runs from New Jersey under the Hudson River and makes several stops in New York City. We had a little difficulty figuring out how to get the tickets and discovered we had been trying the wrong machines. We finally figured it out and took the PATH to West 34th and Broadway.

We walked several blocks just looking around and finding such places as Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Macy’s and many Broadway theaters. We also needed to get to the Marriott Hotel as early as we could to get in line for half-price tickets for a Broadway show. Margaret and Beth waited in line while Bob and Darrell found a coffee shop and had a break. Once they opened at 10 a.m. the line moved very quickly. By 10:15 we had very good tickets to Mama Mia.

We saw many other tourists, every 4th person seemed to have a camera. While it wasn’t very crowded this morning, by noon it was packed with people. We had to check out Rockefeller Center because we may try to do the tourist thing Monday morning and get on the Today show. There were many policemen all around. We saw ‘Living Statues’, musicians playing on corners and a man playing a guitar wearing only briefs (the naked cowboy.) Many people were having their picture taken with him.

We bought 48 hour passes on a tour bus, a double-decker with an open top. The package we bought goes Uptown, Downtown, Brooklyn and a Night tour. It stops at many of the attractions tourists would like to see and you can get on and off as often as you want. We thought we could see a few things before our matinee but got off after a few stops so we wouldn’t be rushed and could have a leisurely lunch before our matinee.

After a delicious and large lunch we got to Winter Garden Theatre in plenty of time to get to our seats and get ready for the wonderful performance. We had seen it before and we had enjoyed it very much. We were happy to see it again and it was so fun to see Bob and Margaret enjoy it.

Our plan was to get back on a tour bus after Mama Mia but it had started raining. We abandoned our plan and decided to go back to our boats. Unfortunately it was a few blocks to any subway that would take us to the PATH which would then take us back to New Jersey. We got quite wet.

Liberty State Park, NJ – New York City - June 13, 2008

We had dinner last night with Bob and Margaret. We each provided a portion of the meal. We toasted our arrival in New York by having champagne that had been given to us when we started our trip.

This morning a swan came over to our boats. Bob brought out some bread and we got some good shots of it.

We are staying at the Newport Yacht Club & Marina for the next 4 days. It was only about 5 miles from our anchorage so we didn’t need to get an early start. We did some catch up jobs around the boat before leaving at 10:30. We cruised the 4.4 miles and were in and tied up at Newport Yacht Club & Marina by 11:15. We are on the New Jersey side of the Hudson but we can easily see Manhatten and the Empire State Building from our slip. The price is extremely good for here but there is a downside. There is major rolling during the day from all the ferries going by. We have heard it calms down at night and we hope that is right.

We decided to spend the afternoon visiting Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. We took the light transit to the end of the line ($.95 each one way), then caught a shuttle to Liberty Park ($.65 each round trip). We got on the 3:00 ferry to Ellis Island. The pigeons are so used to the ferry’s they fly in and walk around looking for food.

Ellis Island was a very interesting place. There was so much information given about its history. Some called it the Isle of Hope and some the Isle of Tears. Approximately 12 million people passed through Ellis Island. 98% of the people arriving, after medical and legal checks, were permitted to stay while the other 2% had to return to the homeland they had left. There were many exhibits detailing why people left their homeland for America, the possessions they brought with them and how the inspection process occurred.

We spent so much time at Ellis Island that we didn’t have time to get off at Liberty Island. It was OK though, because the museum in its base was closed as was the inside of the monument. It was too late in the day.

We had to wait for the shuttle to pick us up for the return, then had another $.95 ticket each for the return on the light rail. You buy the ticket for the light rail, validate the time by machine and get on the train. You don’t have to turn in the ticket or have it checked by anyone. The transit police randomly check passenger tickets and assess stiff fines ($150) if you don’t have a valid ticket.

We arrived back at Newport about 6:30. We didn’t feel like cooking, yet no one wanted to eat out either. So we found an Italian restaurant and ordered pizza’s to go. We sat at the bar and had a drink while we waited. The pizza’s were good and quite reasonably priced.

Metedeconk River, NJ – Liberty State Park, NJ, June 12, 2008

This is L'Attitude Changer in front of the Statue of Liberty.

We got underway a little before 7 this morning. It was a beautiful, calm, clear day. We were in the canal system for only a few miles before the ICW ended at the Manasquan Inlet. We then had a 26 mile open ocean stretch to Sandy Point, before crossing the Lower New York Bay and getting into protected waters again.

You need to look at the weather and pick a good weather window for this leg. There are only a very few places you can go for protection if it starts to blow or storm.

We saw the skyline of New York City about 2 hours before we got there. We went under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, which connects Staten Island and Brooklyn. It is also the dividing line between the Upper and Lower New York Bay. Shortly after entering the Upper New York Bay and rounding a corner we saw the Statue of Liberty. It took us another hour to get to her.

We took pictures of Bellissimo with the Statue of Liberty and they of L’Attitude Changer and the Statue. Ellis Island is just next to the Statue of Liberty. The skyline pictures are of Manhatten.

We are staying the night at Liberty State Park in New Jersey. Bob and Margaret dropped anchor at 1:30 and we rafted up to them. We can see the Statue of Liberty from our anchorage. Prior to 9/11 we could have taken our dinghy and gone directly to the Statue of Liberty. Now, you can only go to the statue by designated ferry’s. You must first go through security.