Okay, one more story....

Lined up at security to board our flight to Seattle, we turned back to see Bill desperately checking all his pockets for his passport. No sign of it! The security officer couldn't find the page in her manual that said that a driver's license was enough and panic was ensuing. Finally, he pulled out a lump of what he thought was kleenex only to discover the wad of blue/white was what was left of his passport after going through the wash! He told the security officer the added wrinkles made his photo more accurate. It was also a topic of conversation when we went across the Peace Border later that day but we were waved on. Bill is going to wait to see how long he can keep it going - seems to lighten the experience.....

MoMa and Hi-line and Goodbye to Manhattan

 Looking down a street in Chelsea from the High Line

 Native grasses and plantings turning fall colours along the pathway.

Parking below the High Line 

We returned to the MoMa to see the exhibit we missed in our first visit. A special exhibit of Chagall, Dali and Picasso was like walking through an art history text. Salvidor Dali's Persistance of Time surprised me - only nine inches by thirteen!
Then off again to the High Line - the New York railroad of the 1930's - now transformed into a wonderful raised mile-long park through Chelsea.
After a Krispy Kreme donut in Penn Station, we grabbed the 3:49 train, said goodbye to Manhattan,  and travelled to Watchung, a suburb of Montclair in New Jersey. While waiting to meet up with Leigh's family, we stopped in a deli for a coffee. When identified as Canadians the owner asked what we thought of the up-coming election. We soon realized we'd found ourselves in strident Republican territory and were treated to a scathing review of Obama and Clinton's record and a reminder of the glory days of Bush - "the time when Americans could hold up their heads". I told the owner that had I bought the Obama button I'd pondered outside the Natural History Museum, he might not have wanted to serve me coffee... he assured us later when we left that he would have served us - button or not. Nice to be able to be detached from the emotional quagmire that Americans find themselves in right now.
Curry in a neighbourhood restaurant was a fun way to say goodbye to our hosts - early-morning and late-night drives amidst a very busy life were very much appreciated. It turned out to be the fabulous, whirlwind, but comprehensive visit we hoped for.

End of our list....

One last day and only a few things left to check off. We spent the morning in the American Natural History Museum. We sat in the huge Hall of Diversity with the life-sized blue whale arching above us. The low light and quiet sound scape makes it easy to imagine you are underwater. Life-sized models of thousands of incredible creatures, scores of looping videos, and interactive computers with details of anything you see, make it the most incredible place to spend time. I'd be signing up for a life-time pass if I lived here.
We had a checklist of highlights and moved our way through world-class exhibits as we sought out the massive west-coast canoe, the Star of India, a beautiful blue star sapphire, and ended up in the main foyer under the skeleton of a barasaurus reaching up to the ceiling.

Subway story

Back on the 9:00 train for the last time and easily switched to a subway at Penn Station. We are pros now and quickly swipe our cards, enter the station and often glide onto the subway.
Quite a change from our rush trip from Empire State Building to Brooklyn a few days earlier. That night we had thirty minutes to get to the restaurant and in our tired rush, ran into a station, lost our confidence about our choice and pushed back through the exit. BIG MISTAKE! The one condition of our subway cards is that they can not be used again for twenty minutes (to avoid handing it to someone else). Turned out it was the right station but when we tried to reswipe our cards, we all got the same "Invalid" message. The thought of missing our special dinner was too much. Ron made a split decision and just lifted his long legs over the turnstiles and went in anyway. He looked back to see us old guys looking blankly back at him! I wasn't worried about the idea of bypassing the gate - I knew we had the cards legitimately. I was worried about getting one leg up over the gate and then having to call security to come unwind me and get me out! Ron thought quickly and hearing the alarm going at a gate around the corner, held it open, shouted at us to come this way! and we all ran through. Turns out, people set off alarms often if they have to move a stroller through and no one pays any attention. So we only lost a few minutes and learned a few more lessons.

War Horse, St. John the Divine and a typical diner

We went to a matinee in order to see the one play we hoped to be special. It involved actors and life-sized puppets of horses and ended up being emotional, convincing and beautifully done. The theater in Lincoln Center was small and intimate and we all loved the experience.
Coming out of the theater and keen for more, we phoned to try to buy last minute tickets to the Lion King for one last play. It was sold out except for three scattered tickets - $200 each. We decided to give it a miss and just enjoy the memory of War Horse.
We then submerged into the subway to try to get up into Harlem to see the Cathedral of St John the Divine - the largest cathedral in North America. The guide book said it was closed at 7:00. We got there at 6:30 to find the doors locked - new hours. We tried to walk around it but were discouraged by security. Still got an impression of its incredible size and appearance. It was begun in 1892 and is still only two-thirds finished. During its history, the style changed from Roman to Gothic. The north and south transepts have not been built yet but once the funds are raised, it will take another fifty years to complete and then be the largest Cathedral in the world.
It was getting dark by then so we again headed for the subway to find a New York Deli for supper - ended up to be nothing special - had hamburgers and spaghetti.
We left the restaurant late as always for the subway, train, and bus home with one more day to go....

Locked in the stairwell of the Met

The Metropolitan Museum of Art is unbelievably huge and crowded - especially on a Sunday. Once admitted, we set up a meeting point - one p.m. in the gift shop.
I scanned the exhibit of modern photography, the 17th, 18th-century European wing and next the 19th, 20th century section where you can drink in more Degas, Picasso, van Gogh, Serat. One van Gogh nearly brought me to tears - two sunflowers - I was so close I could see the tiny cross-hatch red paint strokes brilliantly picking out the details of the seed head.
Five to one and I headed for the elevator to go meet up in the gift shop. I managed to get off on the wrong floor thanks to a 'helpful' security officer. As the elevator doors closed behind me, I found myself on an administrative floor with all doors closed and locked. I didn't panic, just headed to the stair well to climb up or down to the floor I needed to get out on. That door banged behind me too and now I was locked in the stairwell! Climbing up or down didn't help. All doors were locked. All was quiet and knowing it was the weekend, I wondered if anyone would be using the stairs. I still wasn't sensible enough to be worried, rather just annoyed that I had to walk and climb more when my feet screamed at every step.
Finally, I rounded a corner and spotted an older-looking, dusty phone on the wall. I picked up the receiver and dialed 0 not really expecting an answer. Surprisingly, an operator answered and after my breathless description of my predicament, reassured me that someone would come find me. After she disconnected, I waited a long time in silence before finally, a voice on the other side of the door tentatively called out, "Hello?" I called out too and a lovely man working overtime in one of the offices rescued me, saying he found my location using the videos in the security office. He then escorted me down winding hallways to the elevator, used his key fob to get it going and emphasized that I should get off on the FIRST floor! He also told me that I wouldn't have spent the night in the stairs - at closing time, alarms are triggered, especially in the stairwells, and the minute I moved an inch all sorts of interesting events would have followed....
A lesson. Never, never follow me if you aren't sure of the directions. I never really know where I am.

Train to the Met

 Train Station in New Jersey

 Tallest building in Newark skyline is actually WTC 1 in Manhattan.

Day five and we were up early again and off on the train heading for Penn. It was much busier today - families going into Manhattan for the day. We are pros now and quickly changed from the train to the subway to head up to east Central Park. Our original plan was to go to the Natural History Museum but, seeing the crowds, we changed our minds and decided to join Ron and walk through another part of Central Park and go to The Metropolitan Museum of Art where there might be smaller crowds.
A tip: go through the side entrance - you miss the snaking lines at the main. It worked for us twice.

We trave

Guggenheim and Harlem's Sylvia's

We spent the whole afternoon at the Guggenheim. The building is as amazing as the current exhibition of Picasso, Black and White. Winding up and down the spiraling hallways we learned about Picasso's developing interest in cubism as well as his changing interest in women. Incredible to stand so close to so many masterpieces in such a short time. Our feet were beginning to scream by the time we were done but we kept at it until we felt we had absorbed all we could.
Not willing to lose an evening, we headed to Harlem to try out Sylvia's. Opened in 1962, the restaurant is known for its soul food. It has had many famous patrons, including Nelson Mandela, Bill Clinton and, last week, Barak Obama! It was 8:30 by the time we arrived and so in keeping with the practice of late eaters (normally meaning all-nighters, of course) I ordered the Harlem-style fried chicken and waffles (is it night or morning?), a surprisingly good combination. Kind of main course, followed by dessert!
Since it is the weekend, there is no late train right to our New Jersey Station so we took subway, then shorter train ride followed by a long bus ride. We had an hour long wait for the bus in a station in Newark - later told that was something locals wouldn't have done. We probably looked so old. so tired, so bedraggled, no one could be bothered with us. We didn't feel worried except that our bus took such a long time to arrive and we just hoped we had read the schedule right. After the long ride and a walk through the dark neighbourhood, we crept quietly in only to be met by our niece taking on the role of a mother worrying about her overdue children. After a brief and probably disjointed account of another great day, we dragged ourselves into bed.

The Frick

We carried on right through Central Park on our mission to see The Frick - formerly the home of Henry Clay Frick, an industrialist who bequeathed his home and amazing art collection to the people of New York. He had the house built for $5,000,000 in 1913 with the original plan to leave his house and collection to the public. We wandered through the rooms trying to imagine living there surrounded by some of the world's most famous pieces of art, sculpture and decorative arts. This one is worth the visit.
The staff in the gift shop recommended a deli a few blocks away for lunch. Bagel and smoked salmon followed by a chocolate panini suited me!

Central Park West

Day four and we slept in and left at 9:30 to catch train at 10:00. We changed our train at Penn Station to subway taking us to Central Park. We stopped at a station just outside The Lincoln Center where we browsed a high-end annual craft fair before walking to The Dakota. This 1880's building was famous long before John Lennon lived there but now the focus is on the spot outside the front door where he was killed. The memorial originally placed there has now been moved to a spot in the park. We stopped across the street from the building and chatted with a pedi-cab driver who, after realizing we weren't going to hire him, stopped the hard sell and just chatted. He is from Bulgaria where he lives in the winter - currently taking his Masters in Finance - and comes to New York in the summer to learn English while pedaling people around.
We moved into the Park and encountered Strawberry Fields, a memorial to John Lennon now in control of "The Mayor of S. Fields", a wild-looking character who is now the self-named expert who gathers crowds around and begins his disertation on the life and meaning of John Lennon. We lasted a couple of minutes before crossing into the middle of the park - a surprisingly hilly and beautiful gem.

The River Cafe

Ron phoned The River Cafe just as we got off the Empire State Building elevator see if a table had come up. We were advised that if we could be there by 6:00 (absolutely no later) they could fit us in. It was 5:30 and was two subway rides away! Did we make it?? You bet! As Ron said, "We're rock stars!" If you want to hear the whole story, ask me sometime... Bottom line is we walked in at 6:10 and once Ron and Bill were outfitted with jackets over their casual shirts, all three of us walked in wearing our jeans and runners and were treated to the loveliest dinner with truly a million dollar view. We had the Statue of Liberty on our left, skyline of Manhattan in front of us, and the Brooklyn Bridge on our right. The sky was turning pink as we sat down and before long the lights of Manhattan came on and we sat back and indulged ourselves.

Empire State Building

Would I recommend it? Read it and decide for yourself....
We surfaced from the subway - remember we've already walked across Brooklyn Bridge, through Chinatown and the cast iron district - and now arrived to see huge crowds lined up outside ESB. Hawkers assault you as you try to figure out what door to go in. We had bought tickets online that promised we would avoid all lines except security. So the hard sell of "special tickets to avoid lines" didn't interest us but making it through the crowd of them took some effort.
We entered the building and from then on took on the role of sheep. We stood in snaking lines with assurances that this truly was the fast line for security. We eventually did go through another demoralizing airport-like security search. An hour later we were escorted into another room with displays of all the energy-saving changes the ESB is undergoing that we could read at our leisure - the snaking line took all the fun out of it, believe me. Then a line in hallways that circled the building - we could see the line we had been in down the hall cutting through the building as we moved around the perimeter. Finally we turned a corner and were moved into one of three elevators that took us all up to the 78th floor. We were then instructed to join a line for the single elevator and insured that the wait for it was only a little more than an hour! Or, we were given the option of walking up the remaining six floors. We did - I mean how can you accept the idea of another hours wait after waiting so long already? A cruel choice in my mind.... We trudged up the stairwell and broke out into the light only to find the outside so crowded that the next lines began. You picked a spot you thought you'd like to look out at and lined up behind people who were already in front. As long as people felt some responsibility to look, take a few pictures and move out, you were okay. The outlook over the financial district was most crowded with people most reluctant to give up their spots. Pictures have to be taken through wire fencing. It was fairly clear but the smog made for pretty bad pictures.
We returned inside to leave only to find out we had an hour - plus wait to go down unless, you guessed it, we wanted to walk down the six flights. Again we took the exit, totally fed up with the experience.

 Empire State Building from Subway exit

 Metal cage to prevent suicides, crowds lined up to get to edge to take pictures

 Looking southeast toward Financial District 

"The Projects" now high-end condo's. Brooklyn Bridge in background

Chrysler Building looking Northwest

And to think that I saw it on Mulberry Street

We took the subway from the end of the Brooklyn Bridge over to Chinatown and the Big Wong restaurant where we ate the BBQ duck and ribs hanging in the window - their specialty. Family-style meant sitting with locals as we ate. The first family were in Chinatown to visit the dentist, they no longer live there, the second family was returning to New York for a visit after living away for a while. They were back for the theaters and food.

We walked to Greene Street, famous for the cast iron buildings now being carefully restored.

If it's Friday, it must be Brooklyn

A clear, beautiful, sunny day - not a humid but still very warm. A perfect day to walk over the Brooklyn Bridge! We took train and subway straight from New Jersey to Brooklyn, where we walked through Brooklyn Heights. We stopped at the River Cafe on the Brooklyn side to add our names to their wait list for dinner that night before setting out to walk across the bridge. Surprising how many others had the same idea! The commuters (on bikes) seem disgusted with the tourists who stray into the bike lanes. It is such a great way to see the skyline of Manhattan and by now we were getting familiar with a lot of the skyscrapers and their place in the scheme of things.

Brooklyn Heights

Manhattan skyline seen from start of Brooklyn Bridge

Cranes on WTC 1 now clear

Empire State Building in the distance

Crowded pedestrian pathway leading onto bridge

Brooklyn Bridge

Eataly and Spiderman

We stopped to eat in a fabulous Italian marketplace that also houses eight restaurants called Eataly. We chose the Pizza/Pasta Restaurant and had an incredible fresh, tasty dish accompanied by a local brew. We ate mid-market surrounded by shelves of freshly made pasta, vinegars, and pesto's and other assorted delicacies. This one is highly recommended.
Spiderman was next and our reviews are mixed (we are a tough crowd!) The technical aspect of the play is outstanding - Spiderman (actually eight acrobats/gymnasts) really does fly through the theatre and up the side of wonderfully imaginative scenery. The play itself is the traditional story told simply BUT the music and sound effects are amplified until the sound shatters both itself and any innocent eardrums nearby. Too bad. It made it hard to enjoy when you were not only cringing but the sound itself was not clear or effective.
So far, two thumbs down!
We left the theater in a rush, elbowing our way out and down the street to catch the subway that would allow us to catch the 10:30 train. This meant a 11:30 pickup in New Jersey - already late enough. We had a fight with the ticket machine at the train station and boarded with seconds to spare only to find once we collapsed in our seats that a power failure had slowed everything down and some trains were delayed. Fortunately we only waited an extra five minutes before leaving. By the end of our days we are so tired we don't think straight - walked down the wrong stairs at our destination and ended up on the wrong side of the tracks. That climb back up two flights nearly killed me...... In bed around 1:00 with plans to leave at 8:30 the next morning ready to go again!

MoMA mia....

Just in case you think we are slackers, I forgot to mention that on the first day, we also spent a couple of hours in the MoMA (Museum of Modern Art). To be in the same room with world-famous Van Gogh's, Picasso's, Serat's, Kandinsky's is an awesome experience. We didn't get enough - part of the exhibit was closed until Monday so our plan was to return.

Flatiron Building

Having a week-long subway pass meant that once our feet couldn't take it, we could dive underground and take a ride to another stop. We had time to kill before dinner and a play so stopped off at the wonderful Flatiron Building at the corner of Broadway and Fifth.

Occupy Wall Street

The movement that began a year ago, now consists of about 8 - 10 people sitting opposite the start of Wall Street just outside Trinity Church. Some have sleeping bags and appear to be there for the duration, others are there to talk and provide information.

WTC 1

We all agreed we wanted to visit Ground Zero but had doubts more than once as we worked through the maze of complications to accomplish this. We arrived close to the site of the original World Trade Center. The new tower is almost full height now. The grounds are surrounded by walls of one sort and another so you can't see in. We followed signs to the information office where tickets were presumably available. After waiting in line, we were given a map which took us six blocks to where the actual tickets were distributed! Long walk and wait later, we were up to the window and then informed that these were timed tickets and we had another hour and half wait. Each set back made us question if we wanted to carry on but we filled the time and returned at our time. We were now told to join a long, snaking line - for security! An airport-like search took place and we then joined the final line which moved all the way around the perimeter and in.
Once inside we did get an idea of the size of the original towers' footprint, now replaced by memorials (You can see the people lined up around it). The memorials are very moving, the park surrounding them will be peaceful and beautiful and the new buildings awesome. We only wonder when or if the need for security will ever end.

Financial District

After walking along the shoreline of Battery Park at the tip of Manhattan, we walked down Wall Street. It begins at Trinity Church (covered with scaffolding) with gravestones from the early 1700's. Wall Street is strange - sculptural brass barriers block the street at both ends, barricades surround the New York Stock Exchange building, security guards and police roam in front and packs of tourists form the audience. There is no evidence of traders coming or going. Flags reassure all that America is safe and proud but the insecurity is clearly evident.

This photo of the NYSE is taken from the steps of the Federal Building, a classic building from 1830's. We were looking down on the crowd along with George Washington, who took his oath of office on these steps.

More iconic sights

Plan today is to ride the Staten Island ferry to catch a view of the Statue of Liberty and look back at the skyline of Manhattan. We are not getting off - no time. Just want a first view and then we are exploring the financial district of Manhattan.
It isn't a clear day but enough can be seen to give us an overview. There are some other tourists on the ferry but most are commuters. We docked and had to race off and around the corner and back onto the return ferry with the locals watching us in our craziness.

The "Freedom Tower" stands out provocatively in the skyline. It still has three giant cranes on the top. The height is deceptive but when travelling from New Jersey, it stands out on the horizon long before the rest of Manhattan starts to appear - looks like it is a tall building somewhere in Newark rather than far away in the financial district of Manhattan.

It's only just begun....

Once we were settled with evening tickets, we covered as much local territory as we could. After the library, we walked to the Chrysler Building. The elegant foyer is open to the public and pictures of the elevator doors are possible if you lean in over the security gates. Art Deco at its most famous, this 30's building is gorgeous inside and out. This building along with the Empire State Building and Rockefeller Center were all built in the 30's - a time of economic upheaval that obviously didn't affect everyone. The Empire State Building was built in just over 400 days!

Another turn-of-the-century Beaux Arts Building, Grand Central Terminal was saved the fate of the original Penn Station when Jackie Onassis lobbied to save it from demolition. Gold chandeliers, pink marble halls and vast spaces with vaulted ceilings are evidence of the extreme wealth of families such as the Vanderbilts who built it. 

Sitting down in a Thai Restaurant close to the theater district was a welcome relief for our aching feet. We then walked over to the New Amsterdam (not new any more!). Mary Poppins was a strange effort - an attempt to combine the charm of an old-school musical and elaborate sets with updated and disappointing songs and lyrics, strangely dissonant voices and campy acting. We gave it a thumbs down! We left the theater after dark but you'd never know it in Times Square. It is completely lit and full of people - impossible to tell the time of day or night. We headed for the subway and train for New Jersey, thankful for our sweet driver who was waiting at the station ready to pour us into bed! Day one complete, five to go.....