Alexandria Bay, NY - July 5, 2008

After Beth dropped her phone in the river last night, our plans for today changed a little. We went back into Alexandria Bay this morning and were able to find a spot at the city dock. Darrell called T-Mobile and found that the nearest place we could get a phone was 20 miles from here. This town isn’t large enough to have any car rental agencies and a taxi was going to be quite expensive. We went to the Chamber and one of the ladies called her husband and asked him to drive Darrell to Evans Mills. Her husband graciously agreed. Bob was looking for a new depth sounder so went with Darrell in hopes of finding one.

We left Alexandria Bay at 1 p.m. with a new cell phone for Beth and a new depth sounder for Bob. We went to Singer Island, about 10 miles away and planned to tour that castle. We arrived at 2:30 and were told we would be in the 3:00 tour. 3:00 came and went. They kept putting us off, saying there was a tour boat coming and we would be with that group. We weren’t allowed to go by ourselves. Finally at 3:30 we requested a refund and left. We watched with binoculars and the tour boat didn’t tie up until 4:00.

The Thousand Islands are breathtaking. There are islands almost everywhere in this area of the river. To quality as an island, there must be at least 1 tree on it and it must be visible 365 days a year. Some are very close together, some are large and others small. Most have homes on them and you can only get to them by boat. Some of the larger islands have 2-3 homes. Many of the smaller have 1 house.

Every picture in the slide show is that of an island. Some have homes and some don’t.

Here is a picture of the smallest island we saw which had a house.

We decided to go back to our anchorage of last night, just beside Boldt Castle. Another night with a beautiful view.

Tomorrow we will go to Rockport, Ontario to clear customs.

Cape Vincent, NY – Keewaydin State Park, NY - July 2, 2008

There is a small museum here that is fascinating. The Cape Vincent Historical Museum is located right next to the Visitors Center and has a lot of information and displays. It was very interesting place. One of the items was a Friendship Quilt that was made as a fundraiser for St. Johns Episcopal Church. The fundraiser was from 1925-28. For 10 cents anyone could have his signature embroidered on the quilt, or embroider it themselves. There are 749 names, so it raised $74.90, which was a substantial sum in those days.

Cape Vincent also lays claim to a movie actress. There is a black beaded dress that Eleanor Bennett McVean wore when she appeared in the silent movies under the name of Eleanor LaMore.

We walked through the aquarium at the Cape Vincent Research Station. The Research Station monitors the health of the fishery of Lake Ontario. Using their trawler, they use nets to collect samples to determine population and health of various species. It was interesting to find out that you can tell the age of a fish by looking at one of its scales. The distance between the rings on the scales indicates fast or slow growth period as well as when it spawns.

One of the displays featured Lake Sturgeon, much smaller than its ancestors. In the western United States during the 1700’s sturgeon as large as 1500 pounds and over 100 years old were common. There are still Atlantic Sturgeon in the Hudson River that occasionally reach 200 pounds and are 6-8 feet long. The population decreased dramatically when they were harvested for their meat and eggs (caviar). Sturgeon are a prehistoric fish and remain basically the same as they were 65 million years ago. Most sturgeon populations are protected and regulated to help maintain or increase their numbers. We took a picture of the sturgeon, but it was through glass and is slightly blurry.

We picked up some food at the grocery store and left Cape Vincent at 10:45 this morning. Bob and Margaret were going to get a later start. It was slightly cool again today and it was beautiful. The channel narrowed for awhile as we got further into the St. Lawrence River and, at one point, there couldn’t have been more than 1 mile between the United States and Wolfe Island, Canada.

We arrived in the Keewaydin State Park Marina at 1:45. We plan to stay here 2 days. Bob and Margaret arrived at 2:30.

Sackets Harbor, NY – Cape Vincent, NY – July 1, 2008

We awoke to fish flies all over the boat, so Darrell hosed off the boat before we got underway. We left at 6:45, on our way to Cape Vincent. It was a very beautiful day, mostly clear with puffy clouds on the horizon. It was slightly cool, just enough to be refreshing. We arrived and were tied up by 10 a.m. There is a large visitors dock here that can hold up to 10 boats. There is no charge for this and you can stay 2 nights.

Cape Vincent is located at the mouth of Lake Ontario where it meets the St. Lawrence River. As we entered the St. Lawrence River, Wolfe Island Canada was just off to our left. We can easily see Wolfe Island from our dock at Cape Vincent and ferry’s cross the St. Lawrence River hourly from early May to mid October. Cape Vincent is also the beginning of the area called The Thousand Islands.

The first 50 miles of the St. Lawrence River is called The Thousand Islands. (There are actually more than 1700.) These islands are the rocky tops of mountains and you must be very careful navigating around them. The water may be 1 foot deep in one spot and over 100 feet deep a boat length away. There are also many bays and coves, narrow passages and wide open areas. The channels are well marked and there are many places to anchor. There are many small towns along the shores, but most of the islands are privately owned and have cottages and summer homes on them.

We went to lunch at a local café. The food wasn’t as good as we had hoped for. The afternoon was spent walking around town and looking in some of the stores. The library was having a book sale so we stopped by and found a couple of books. Beth took some clothes to the Laundromat. Our washer can’t handle a full set of sheets so it’s easier to do it there.

Last night over dinner we made a tentative plan for the next few days. We will stay on the US side of the St Lawrence River for a few days and on Friday, July 4 anchor in Alexandria Bay, next to Boldt Castle. We’re told there’s a huge fireworks display that evening. We will then cross into Canada, clear customs and cruise on the Canadian side.

Oswego, NY – Sackets Harbor, NY – June 30, 2008

Last night across from us was the Grand Mariner, a small cruise ship of the American Canadian Caribbean Line. This ship cruises where the big ships can’t. It cruises the canal systems, rivers and lesser known destinations. The Grand Mariner has 50 cabins and a maximum of 100 passengers. They docked and lowered their pilot house to be ready to go through the canal system this morning.

We left Oswego this morning at 6:45 and started across Lake Ontario. Our destination was Sackets Harbor to the northeast of Oswego. We are still in New York but very close to Canada.

We had become used to the smooth ride of the canal system and were soon reminded of the unstable, rolly ride of a boat in big water. After we got in deeper water the seas became more calm and we had a nice, 4 ½ hour crossing to Sackets Harbor. We arrived and docked at 11:30. There is a dock at the waterfront. It is a visitor dock with a limit of 4 hours and no overnight allowed. This is a beautiful town. The waterfront is very nice, with a gazebo, picnic tables, benches, flowers and many trees. It was nice just to sit on the benches and look around.

Margaret and Beth went out to explore (read: check out the quaint boutiques). There are many cute stores here as well as several restaurants. The town of Sackets Harbor has about 1800 residents with the number increasing greatly in the summer when visitors fill the cottages. Fort Drum is near here and is home to the 10th Mountain Division. We also discovered there is a large Menonite and Amish population in this three county area.

Darrell and Bob heard about a place here that brews its own beer, so they went off looking for it. They found the Sacket Brewing Company and, of course, needed to sample the local brew. It was a nice place and the beer was good.

We left after our 4 hour limit at the dock and anchored near the entrance to the harbor. We rafted with Bellissimo, discussed our next few day plans and had dinner together.

Brewerton, NY – Oswego, NY – June 29, 2008

Along with Bellissimo we got underway at 8 this morning. We traveled 9 miles and went through the last lock before leaving the Eastern section of the Erie Canal.

Our last few days on the Eastern Erie Canal was very beautiful and scenic. Many parks and picnic areas were dotted along the way and were beautifully maintained. There were many free tie-ups for boaters. The waters were calm and the reflection of the trees and bridges in the water was so pretty.

At mile 160 of the Erie Canal we turned north onto the Oswego Canal. The Oswego Canal opened in 1828 and connects Three Rivers to Lake Ontario. Three Rivers is where the Oneida and Senecca Rivers join to form the Oswego River. We dropped from 363 feet above sea level to 245 feet above sea level in 24 miles and 7 locks.

The 4 concrete bridge abutments in the water used to support the trolley bridge on the line from Oswego to Syracuse. The Oswego Canal is yet another very scenic area of New York.

There are many interesting stops along the way, but we decided to travel the entire canal in one day. We stopped for the day at Oswego, the end of the canal and on the shores of Lake Ontario. We ran into several other Loopers here at Oswego. We are getting together tonight for snacks.

8 locks today – total of 32.

The weather forecast sounds good for tomorrow. We plan to cross Lake Ontario to the St. Lawrence River, then into the area called 1000 Lakes.

After today we are not sure how often we will have internet access. We will be cruising in Canada for 4-5 weeks and will update our blog whenever possible.

Brewerton, NY - June 28, 2008

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The weather forecast for today was rain so we decided to stay here another day. It is not fun going through locks in the rain. We used one of the courtesy cars at the marina to go shopping. We dropped Margaret off to do laundry, then Bob, Darrell and Beth went to West Marine, a grocery store and Wal-Mart before picking Margaret up and going back to the marina.

Storms and rain off and on all afternoon. Darrell took advantage of the rain and washed the boat. It stopped raining and the sun came out about 4. It started getting warm.

There is a flower planter just a little way from our boat that has a duck nesting on eggs. We’re told she has been there about 2 weeks so the eggs should be hatching in another 1-2 weeks. I got a picture of it. Can you see the duck? She blends in very well.

Herkimer, NY – Brewerton, NY, June 27, 2008

Today was pretty uneventful. We got underway at 7:30 with an overcast sky. It never rained and was a nice day for cruising. The sun started coming out around 2:30 this afternoon, but it was still quite nice, not very hot. Again, the scenery was very pretty. One picture shows a bridge just before the lock. There were a lot of private docks, many of them having table and chairs, ready for entertaining.

Margaret called us this morning to tell us they were going to Winter Harbor Marina for the night. They had called and there was a very good boat rate as well as very reasonable diesel, with a discount for cash. It was quite a haul for us but we were going to try to make it.

We only went through 4 locks today, and were held up at all of them. One was already locking through a boat going west and had one waiting to go east. That was about a 20 minute wait. We’re not sure what was going on with the second lock, but we had to wait about 15 minutes for it to open. The 3rd lock waited for a boat that was quite a ways behind us and was going very slowly. The 4th lock took extra time because the boat mentioned at the previous lock didn’t have a permit and had to buy one.

The 3rd and 4th lock were ‘down’ locks. We went down 25 feet in each lock, so ended up today at an elevation of 369’.

We went through Oneida Lake, the largest body of water on the Erie Canal.

We made Winter Haven Marina just before 5 this afternoon. Winter Haven is located in Brewerton and is very close to Syracuse. We were in time to fuel up and pump out. We took on 163.9 gallons of diesel. We hope that will take us on all our travels in Canada because the cost of diesel is higher there.

Total locks 24.

Fonda, NY – Herkimer, NY - June 26, 2008

When Darrell started the engines this morning one didn’t sound right. So, he went down to the engine room to check. A new alternator belt Darrell had installed had stretched a little. He fixed it and we were off.

It was raining this morning. Not good weather for going through locks. We were going to get wet. We could only hope it would quit raining soon. It did stop while we went through the first three locks, but started again at 11:30 with three locks to go before our intended stop. There were showers off and on the rest of the day.

The Erie Canal locks use one of three methods to allow you to hold your boat in position on the wall as the lock floods or drains. One has several pipes running down both sides of the lock. You pull up next to one of the pipes amidships and run a line around the pipe. You secure one end of the rope to a cleat, then loosely loop the end of the same line around the cleat. As the boat raises or lowers, the line slides up or down the pipe and holds the boat in place. This is the easiest type of lock.

The second type uses rubber coated steel cables anchored top and bottom along the sides of the lock walls. You use the same procedure as above.

The third method simply has ropes hanging down the lock wall in several places on both sides of the lock. This is the most common type of lock we see in the New York Canal System. You bring your boat in between two of these ropes. One takes a forward rope and one holds an aft rope. You really need gloves for this because the ropes are wet, dirty and slimy. You simply hold on to the rope to hold the boat in place. This can get difficult if the wind or the current in the lock is significant. There is current depending on where the flood or drain gates are located in the lock.

We went through lock 17 today. Not only is this the highest lift lock on the Erie Canal, it is believed to be one of only two locks in North America where the entrance gate is lifted above the boater instead of opening with swinging doors. The other is in Ottawa River in Canada. Lock 17 is also the largest single step lock on the Erie Canal, going up 40 feet.

The gate of lock 17 made very ominous sounds when closing. There was clanging and echoing as the gate very slowly lowered. It sounded much like an iron gate in a castle or prison slamming shut.

In addition to several marinas, the canal system offers complimentary tie-up spaces at most locks and towns along the way. Almost all of them are very nice and some even provide electricity. Our stay at Fonda last night was next to a park with picnic tables and a grill. It was a gated area and the park gates closed at 3:30 p.m. There was a sign there that said Welcome Boaters. We forgot to mention in yesterdays posting that the Henry Fonda clan is from Fonda, NY.

We were able to stop for the day earlier than yesterday. We are at Herkimer, NY at a complimentary dock. We tied up at 3:30. There is new building next to the dock which houses a restaurant on one end and a very nice upscale gift shop in the rest of it. There are products from over 50 vendors. Darrell rode the bike to a nearby store to buy oil. He wants to change the oil before we cross Lake Ontario.

In the pictures, look at how smooth and glassy the water is. You could see the reflection of the bridge and the trees in the water. It was beautiful.

Today we went through 6 locks, for a total of 20 locks. We are at an elevation of 383 feet above sea level.

Waterford, NY – Fonda, NY - June 25, 2008

We were into the Erie Canal Lock #2 at 7:45 this morning. (Lock #1 is at Troy, and is not considered part of the Erie Canal). The first 5 locks of the Erie Canal, lock #2-6, raised us a total of 151 feet over 1.5 miles. We got through lock #6 at 9:20 a.m. and were then able to cruise awhile before the next lock(s).

The Erie Canal was the dream of New York State Governor DeWitt Clinton. It opened October 26, 1825 and was 4’ deep and 40’ wide. It was over 340 miles long and connected Troy, NY on the Hudson River to Buffalo NY on Lake Erie. It was a great success and settlers went westward, sawmills and other industries sprang up and prosperous towns were established. The Erie Canal has been enlarged and modified since then and is still the mainstay of the New York Canal System. We were on the Mohawk River most of the day, not a dredged part of the canal.

We aren’t going to Lake Erie so will be on the Erie Canal only until we reach Three Rivers. We will then go north on the Oswego Canal, which will take us to Lake Ontario.

The scenery is very pretty. The land alongside of the canal appears sparsely populated and undeveloped, with natural woodlands. There are a few homes and a marina every once in awhile. Most of these are where towns are close by.

We had a long day today. We stopped at a free dock in Fonda, N.Y. and were tied up by 5:45. On the water 10 hours and only went 48.4 miles. That is because of the time it takes to go through the locks.

We will now start keeping track of the number of locks we go through. As of yesterday there had been 3. Two locks in the Dismal Swamp, one at the start and one at the end, and one lock at Troy. Today, we went through 11 locks, 286’ vertically, for a total of 14 locks.

Waterford, NY – June 24, 2008

The marina at Waterford is located just before the first lock on the Erie Canal. It is operated by the city and staffed by volunteers. Volunteer Jimmy was quite taken with Margaret and said she was a very good captain. (Margaret had docked the boat). There is free electricity, showers and WiFi, and as we mentioned previously, free dockage for the first two nights. After that dockage is a $10.00 per night donation. There is no limit to how long you can stay. There are many restaurants within a couple blocks of the marina and post office, grocery store, and laundry very close. The people are all very nice and friendly.


On Sunday we met Bill and Sherry. They were traveling on a sailboat and had left from Chicago. They were going the “wrong way” and were going to travel around Long Island Sound and end up at Annapolis for the boat show. The six of us went to dinner together. One of the nice benefits from this trip is meeting people.


Bob and Margaret left this morning. We are staying another day, yet more boat projects to get done. We will catch up with them again.











Waterford is the oldest unincorporated village in New York. Three of the original locks are still here, located next to the newer lock. These locks are still used as overflow for water in the canal. They were very narrow, only about 20 feet wide.



Today was a beautiful day. The sun was out, there was a little breeze and it was a little cool. Just right. Darrell needed something at the hardware store, so we took our bicycles and rode about 2 ½ miles along the Old Champlain Canal Trail to the store. It was a very scenic ride. While Darrell was looking for the items he needed Beth discovered the sky was getting very dark. We hurried back to the boat but it never did rain.

Waterford, NY – June 23, 2008

This morning we went out for breakfast with Bob and Margaret. Since they had been here for a few more days than we, they had checked out many café’s and restaurants. There is one café here which serves 2 eggs, toast and coffee for $1.75. That’s where we had breakfast. Darrell added fried potatoes to his order and our total bill, including tip was $6.50.

Darrell spent most of today working on the boat. He was fixing, adjusting and replacing. He worked very hard and still has more to do. Beth took care of paper work and bill paying.

We went out for dinner tonight with Bob and Margaret. We went to an “upscale” Irish restaurant that had been recommended by a couple of locals. We all enjoyed our food.

Kingston, NY – Waterford, NY - June 22, 2008

Last night we were treated to a concert in the park right beside our boat. A small orchestra played big band music for 2 hours. This is a weekly event in the summer and many townspeople came down to listen to it. They were very good and we enjoyed it. It reminded Beth of the band concerts which were held on Friday nights in Postville.

We were up at 5 this morning and underway at 5:30. We had a long way to go today, 65 miles. The tide would be against us most of the time, so we wanted to get an early start. It’s amazing that the ocean tide can effect the current in the Hudson River all the way up to the lock at Troy which is 150 miles north of New York City. The adverse current caused an average loss of 1 mile per hour over the course of 9 hours. We arrived at 2:30 pm. If we had left at 1pm we would have had an average gain of a little more than 1 mile per hour but we wouldn’t have arrived until about 8 this evening.

The sunrise was beautiful and there were fishermen already up and out. We passed a tug pulling a barge and met several more going down river.

What started as a beautiful morning quickly turned to overcast skies with thunder and lightening in the distance. The weather station called for thunderstorms in the morning with an occasional severe storm. We didn’t run into any thunderstorms or severe weather, but had rain for several hours.

The rain stopped shortly before we reached Albany. We passed Albany on the way to our final destination of Waterford, which is just after the first lock at Troy.

A few miles past the first lock is Waterford, NY. Just before Waterford the Hudson River splits and there is a sign telling you to go left for the Erie Canal and right for the Champlain Canal.

The Waterford Harbor Visitor Center offers a two-day free tie-up, then $10 a day if you stay longer. They have complimentary electric, water and showers. It is quite a deal and many boaters take advantage of it. We plan to stay here a few days to complete boat projects. All the spaces were filled when we arrived at 2:30, but luckily Bob and Margaret were here and let us raft up with them.

Kingston, NY – June 21, 2008

We’re back on the boat after two days visiting Darrell’s sister Eileen and her husband David. We had a wonderful time. Eileen took us shopping and we stocked our larders. She also cooked wonderful meals for us. We enjoyed sitting on their patio watching the squirrels steal food from the birdfeeder. It was nice to leave the boat for a day or two.


This morning they brought us back to the boat. We went for a short boat ride, then went out for lunch. After David and Eileen left we spent the rest of the day putting everything away.

Kingston, NY – June 19, 2008

Kingston is located on Rondout Creek. There is a lighthouse to mark the entrance. The ride up Rondout Creek was very picturesque with an old-fashioned charm about it.

The town marina is next to the Hudson River Maritime Center Museum and the restored historical waterfront district. There are several restaurants close to the docks.

Kingston was the original capital of New York. In 1777 it was burned to the ground by the British, whose ships had managed to get up the river.

Darrell’s sister Eileen and her husband David live in Connecticut. We will be visiting them for a couple of days. Back to the blog in a day or two.

Newburgh, NY – Kingston, NY - June 18, 2008

This morning before we left Margaret and Beth took a walk along the riverfront in Newburgh. Newburgh is on a hillside with the riverfront separated from the rest of the town by a large retaining wall. The riverfront has many restaurants and some marinas.

A portion of the retaining wall has been made into a mural. It is entitled “Archways” and was organized by a Community through Arts organization. It was hand painted by one man and was completed just recently, 11-3-07. Five scenes depict the history of Newburgh; Washington’s Headquarters, Broadway Corridor, Downing Park, Dutch Reformed Church and The Crawford House. It is very well done and is a wonderful way to beautify an area.

We got underway at 8:45 and continued up the Hudson River. We passed many small river towns, marinas and beautiful scenery. There is a railroad right along the edge of the river, carved from the rock. We passed many power plants and we also met a tug towing a barge full of junked cars.

Beth captained the boat for a while today while Darrell got the last little bit of non-skid applied. A 2nd coat tomorrow and it will be all done.

We passed the Esopus Lighthouse on the way.

We were in Kingston and docked at 12:30.

New York City, NY – Newburgh, NY - June 17, 2008

Last night there were some dark, menacing clouds in the sky. There had been a chance of severe storms but we just got some rain. The photos don’t really convey the way the sky looked. The more severe weather went north.

We were underway at 7:00 this morning, starting our trip up the Hudson River. The ferry boat traffic between New Jersey and New York City was much heavier than over the weekend.

We went under the George Washington Bridge. The bridge was built in 1931. 30 years later a lower deck was added. Semi-trucks go on the top deck and cars on the lower. With all the traffic, they could probably use a third deck.

As we got further north the tall buildings and wall-to-wall concrete give way to more greenery and trees. The area became less populated and had more of a ‘country’ look. It’s hard to believe that New York City was less than 20 miles away. Maggie had told us that parts of the Hudson resemble Lake Pepin and we can see that. The cliffs here are higher than those around Lake Pepin, but the look and the feel of it is the same.

We left New Jersey behind and now had New York on both sides of the Hudson. The river widened some and we saw more recreational boats.

We passed Tarrytown. The name derived from the complaining of Dutch wives that their husbands tarried too long at the village taverns! We also went past West Point. West Point is the United States Military Academy and was opened in 1802. We had not realized that it was built right next to the water, almost into a cliff and looks like a fortress.

We needed to keep an eye out for debris. There was a 30’ log in the river, along with smaller branches. It was probably due to the storms last night. A riverboat captain in a boat ahead alerted us on channel 16.

We arrived in Newburgh, NY at 1:30 after traveling 59.1 miles. We had very favorable current. Bob and Margaret are coming over tonight for dinner. We will make the crab cakes we had bought and frozen at the fish market in Cape May, NJ.

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.