New York City

In order to have a full day to show Cian the sights of New York city, we made reservations there for two nights.  The plan was that Chris would drop the rest of us off at our hotel and continue to Connecticut in the car. He could get some work done and maybe visit with Shanna or Terry, and we could avoid the cost of parking in New York City.

Sherry and I had stayed previously at a Marriott Courtyard on 40th Street in midtown Manhattan and liked it.  So I went to the Marriott web site and made reservations for August 15 and 16.  Chris dropped us off at the hotel and continued to Connecticut.  But then the hotel clerk couldn't find our reservation.  Visions of a night on the street in midtown Manhattan start to dance through my head. Fortunately I had printed the reservation conformation.  Sherry showed them the printed confirmation. Turns out it was for a different Marriott Courtyard on 40th Street.  It had never occurred to me, when making the reservation, that there could be more than one Marriott Courtyard on 40th Street.  I just looked at the street name and made the reservation.

The hotel where we had a reservation was only eight blocks away, an easy walk even with luggage.  And this Marriott Courtyard turned out to be more or less interchangeable with the other one.  Sigh of relief!

I had asked for a "high" floor when making the reservation.  They gave us a room on the 29th floor, with this fantastic view:

Thursday morning, our major objective was the Empire State Building.  But the observation deck doesn't open for visitors until 10:00 AM.  So we took some time to walk around the area.  Our hotel was just east of 5th Avenue on 40th Street.  The New York Public Library is on 5th Avenue right around the corner.  The Library lions are one of my favorite New York City landmarks.

On up 5th Avenue for a quick look at Central Park, then back down 5th Avenue to 34th Street and the Empire State Building.

As I was taking this picture, someone on the sidewalk beside me asked me "Is that the Empire State Building?"  I felt like a real expert to be able to answer confidently, "Yes."

It took us about an hour to get to the 86th floor observation deck.  But the view is well worth the wait. Here are Cian and his dad on the north side of the observation deck.

View to the north.  The green patch near the center of the photo is Central Park.

Next objective: the Staten Island Ferry.  Far and away the best deal in New York City, at a cost of zero.  We took the subway from midtown to downtown and came up at Battery Park, a short walk from the ferry terminal.

A ferry leaves every half hour during the day (more often during rush hour), and a lot of people ride it. The crowd at the gate is not as oppressive as it looks.

We rode on the Spirit of America, which holds 4,427 passengers.  Despite the crowd at the gate, the boat was not at all crowded.  We were able to stand at the railing and get a good view of the downtown Manhattan as the boat left for Staten Island.

The ferry sails past the Statue of Liberty, affording a good view to any passengers who are interested.

The trip to Staten Island takes about 25 minutes.  He we are at the Staten Island port, looking toward the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.

BTW, this bridge does not cross the Verrazano Narrows.  In fact, there is no such place as the Verrazano Narrows.  The body of water, between New York's Upper Bay and Lower Bay,  is known as simple "The Narrows".  When the bridge was being built there was a controversy over whether to call it the Narrows Bridge, or the Verrazano Bridge, in honor of Italian explorer Giovanni da Verrazano, who was the first European to sail into the bay.  They settled the controversy by naming it the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge.


Docks at Staten Island.

I was drawn by the visual rhythm in this scene.

We took the next ferry back to Manhattan, and started toward our next objective, the World Trade Center.  We happened to pass the famous Wall Street Bull.  Unfortunately so surrounded by tourists that I couldn't get a good picture of it.

One World Trade Center, the building previously called Freedom Tower, under construction.  Although unfinished, it is now the tallest building in New York City.

Nice dinner at Church & Drey, in the Millenium Hotel beside the World Trade Center site.  Followed by a subway ride back to midtown.

Friday morning we walked a few blocks to Grand Central Terminal and boarded a train to Connecticut.