East Side…West Side 7-22-09

We left Staten Island on 7/22 for the Statue of Liberty anchorage, but since it was a new moon with very low and very high tides and currents, we decided to swing up the East River for a little cruise first. This is ambitious for a little trawler with a speed of 7mph as with current, we were slowed to a speed? of 3mph which is almost going backwards especially through the notorious Hell’s Gate section. Here are some pictures of the East Side with the beautiful Brooklyn Bridge, and the Midtown area with the Empire State and Chrysler Buildings.

On 7/23, we left the Liberty anchorage in the fog and had some serene moments with Lady Liberty at 7am before all the hectic cruise boat traffic. We headed up the Hudson River and got a glimpse of the West side and Ground Zero which is rising like a phoenix now. There is a resilience in New Yorkers and in all of us.

Lady by Day, Lady by Night 7-22-09

America is the story of immigrants and our families are part of it. My parents emigrated from Ireland (Dad at age 16 alone from Galway; Mom, age 25? from Mayo) and Bob’s Dad at age 16 alone from Norway.

I grew up hearing about America as the Land of Opportunity and how the Statue of Liberty met them in NY Harbor with a welcoming light and outstretched arms. There is no one more patriotic than a naturalized American, and as a tribute to my Dad when he died, we had his name, John William Silk, engraved on the Wall of Honor at Ellis Island.

I sit here tonight at anchor in the reflection of the Lady’s light, remembering their stories and feeling so grateful to be here.

A Quieter Side of the City 7-21-09

We are staying at the Great Kills Yacht Club on Staten Island at the invitation of John Calasciebetta. John and his wife Julie did the Great Circle Loop in 2003 and suggested to their yacht club that Loopers be invited to stay here for $1.00 per foot. Looper boats, Moonlighter and Lolligag, have also stayed here this week and all the club members have been so welcoming to us. It is a quiet peaceful harbor just a stone’s throw from the City and just what we needed after the City immersion experience of the past 3 days.

Here we are at Gateway Park across Raritan Bay. We took the dinghy over for a picnic lunch and a walk on the beach. The mooring field looks like the one in Marathon and it is hard to believe that NYC and the Verrazano Bridge are right over the hill.

We had a little excitement here in the harbor on Monday when Bob’s cousin, Liz, happened to be in the neighborhood aboard the 82 foot tugboat she captains for the US Army Corps of Engineers.

We were able to have brunch with Florrie and Lew, friends we met in the Bahamas who live in this area. Lew just had eye surgery and is sporting a pirate look.

Thank you all for making our visit so special.

New York, New York, it’s a wonderful town…. 7-19-09.

I can’t help humming this song as we tour here for 3 days. It is the quintessential tourist experience with so much to do. No matter how many times we have visited, each time is alive and pulsing with new offerings. You would think with names like “Peggy and Bob Olsen” from MN that we are Midwesterners, but I was raised in Poughkeepsie, 75 miles on the Hudson River and Bob, on Long Island with early years in Manhattan and Brooklyn. We are back to our roots, talking with our hands and showing affect.

I have always wanted to do the touristy double-decker bus tours in the City even though most native New Yorkers never take them. On the Internet, I found a combination tour package of a Downtown, Uptown, Harlem, Brooklyn, Nighttime and Circle Line tours plus some museums for $49 per person with City Sights NY http://www.citysightsny.com —“such a deal.” You can hop-on/off the bus at any of the sites so it’s a great way to get-around town easily and enjoy a great summer’s day/night. It gave me more of a gestalt of the City and how much it is an onion layered with the history and identity of so many immigrant groups. The tour operators are all actors and stand-up comics so the tour is informative and also live theatre. Tara doing stories about her Italian family in Brooklyn is not to be missed.

Our visits to NYC usually involve a visit to the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA), a walk around Central Park and seeing a play. We were in the nose-bleed section for the Tony award-winning play, God of Carnage, but the performance was so sublime that we were swept into this “comedy of manners…without the manners.” Target sponsors free MoMA admission every Friday night in the summer. It is a creative idea to introduce art to more people and the museum was packed. It was probably not the best viewing that we’ve ever had but the energy and appreciation by the new art lovers was palpable. Central Park was spectacular on a splendid summer Saturday afternoon and my favorite moment was listening to this violinist play Puccini.

There is always something going on in New York. We even caught a glimpse of President Obama's motorcade and got a wave.