Melsea's USA/Canada Adventures Part 4

#1

Melsea's USA/Canada Adventures Part 4

New York, New York Day 2. 9/11

We woke up to another glorious day in New York and the weather forecast was it was going to be even hotter today, goodness me that meant very hot and humid. I have only been to two places in the world that could equal the humidity of New York and they are Darwin in Australia and Penang, Malaysia.
We went downtown by Subway, took a while to figure how we were going to get there but we did it. I wanted to visit the Statue of Liberty as I had not been there but have been to Ellis Island before and as it happens Ellis Island was closed anyway. We got to the ticket office for the Statue only to find that tickets for the crown part of it was sold out. Apparently you have to book this online before you go or turn up very early to try and get a ticket on a first come first serve basis. Well since my visit was actually to go up her I decided not to bother. So we started to make our way towards Ground Zero which today was the anniversary so a very poignant day for New York. Ground Zero is closed off for three days from 10th to 12th as it is for the families and victims to be there. We got there when the memorial had come to an end and we wanted to get as close as we could to pay our respects. We actually got a lot closer than we thought and saw families coming away with their relatives photos and various mementoes of their love ones, it was heartbreaking to see. The problem with a very public deaths whether by terrorism or disasters they are never a private affairs and will always be in the public domain, this must be such a sad thing to have to come to terms with. We passed a local pub very close by which was heaving with members of the emergency service personal. There were military, firefights, police and paramedics everywhere all remembering that day. There was a surreal moment when we saw a Harley Davidson with a very tattooed and leather clad guy and thought don't mess with him when we realised he was actually part of the firefighters association. Never judge a book by its cover was very apt in this scene. We walked away towards uptown and literally ahead of us there is a small square where various people were gathering. A number of families were there and there was a choir singing hymns which were sung very well. We stayed here for a while and then we walked to the nearest subway to go back uptown to go to the Rockefeller Tower, another place I had not been to. But before that Bill wanted to have his shoes shined so we went back to Grand Central where I thought it would be most likely to have such a service and I was right, it was outside a shop called the Cobbler & Shine. They had six chairs where shiners worked on all sorts of shoes and in fact they cleaned those that were left that morning for their customers to pick them up on their way home. The man that had shined Bill's shoes did a terrific job they were shinier than when they were new. This superb service was just 4$ with tips on top, about the best deal in the city me thinks. We were feeling fairly hungry and so when we did get to the Rockefeller we saw outside on the pavement opposite several vendors with various types of food on offer. I had lamb with mayo and salad inside a large wrap, it came with a fork which made for an easier way to eat it. Bill had a sausage dish with mayo and salad and other relish. We washed it down with a drink of Pepsi. Then we made our way to the Rockefeller where we got tickets to go to the top. The lift ride was very quick and the ceiling of the lift was clear Perspex showing you going up the shaft of the lift. The view from the top was amazing and what's more you get a great view of Central Park and of downtown Manhattan. There are three levels you can view from each one given you a different perspective and distance of what is in front of you. It was very hot up there. The heat of New York was quite something and being high up the sun felt very strong. All too soon our time in New York was coming to an end. We took the subway home but got lost in changing lines, the signage was very bad and it didn't help that there were building works going on as some of the signs were partially obscured. We got there in the end and we walked the final part of our journey as the subway is 20 minutes away from the Pier 90. Our departure was extended so that we could sail at dusk the reason was that as we pass the ground zero area they would be illuminating beams of light into the sky to represent the two towers that once stood there. These beams can be seen for 30 miles and were more than a mile high. It was an awe inspiring sight and something I will not forget in a hurry. At just after 8.30 we went to dinner. It was a rather different sail away, in fact the usual sail away was cancelled as it would not have been right to have a jolly sail away as per usual. It was a fitting end to our time in New York and even more so since it was Aurora that had dropped of passengers in New York before it was due back to pick up them up, that never happened. Also Neil Turnbull was the Captain at the time so it was a personal journey for him too.

So folks on that note I will close this report here until my next reports will be when I get back as when this is posted we shall be making our way home. Reports will be on Boston, Portland, Newport & then our Canadian ports. I'll be back...

Melsea.

#2

Hope you enjoy the rest of your cruise - this brings back memories of our cruise on Arcadia - you were lucky with the weather - it poured with rain the first day we were in New York. This cruise was most definitely my favourite and if I could get the time off work would do it again.

#3

Interesting read as always melsea. Thank you

#4

Your post brought a tear to my eye.

#5

arcadialover wrote:
Your post brought a tear to my eye.

Oh Lordy, never had that reaction before. Hope you found the tissues.

It was a moving moment I must say.

#6

Hi Mel, Thank you. I have just got round to reading your report. We visited NY a while ago, before the GZ memorial was completed, but even so our visit was very moving, and everything was unbelievable. At that time there was a presentation of computer generated pictures showing the plans for the memorial. This was in the nearby Church that was used by the firefighters for rest and recuperation during the terrible event.

BTW, we visited the Statue of Liberty, but we couldn't go up to the crown either!

Best wishes to you both Judith and Alec.

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