Marching On.

Following a relaxing day where we were able to enjoy the facilities of Craft Inn, it was time to move on to our next adventure. Saturday morning we departed Wilmington, stopped briefly at one of the many covered bridges scattered throughout the New England area, (remember the "Bridges Of Madison" movie) then onto Greenwich in Connecticut, a distance of 190 miles. Miraculously we are stil managing to negotiate the maze of overpasses, underpasses, split dual roads etc. without getting lost or heading in the wrong direction - and without the assistance of a GPS.
I must say that the road and freeway signage is excellent, providing you have an understanding of exactly where you want to end up and in which direction of the compass you are travelling. It would be a nightmare if the traffic flow forced you onto a North entry ramp when you needed the South, as in many cases to correct the oversight could involve many extra miles plus a great deal of anguish.
Connecticut is still very much a lush green state, however increased traffic flow made it seem we were a million miles from Wilmington. Settled into the Howard Johnson Motel, then explored the surrounding homes along tree lined streets on foot. We chose this location because of its proximity to a station on the Metro Rail network and therefore within commute distance of New York City.
Sunday up early and departed on the 55 minute train trip into NYC and Grand Central station. Boy, what a building - vaulted & domed tiled ceilings, huge chandeliers, massive arches and heavens knows how many tracks terminating here. Our first stop naturally was the very helpful information desk, armed with our short list of things we wished to see within the space of one day.
From Grand Central we walked down 42nd street heading towards Times Square. About 5 blocks down we crossed Madison Avenue where there was a HUGE open air market which appeared to stretch about 6 city blocks. This was an unexpected surprise and one that we could not bypass. Stalls were set up on both sides of the closed off Madison Ave; selling a large variety of items including food, clothing, shoes, electronics, jewellry, handbags etc etc. Fortunately the tall buildings provided a shade haven for most stalls as the temperature is in the mid 90's F. Times Square was Times Square - busy, noisy, giant neon billboards and nine out of ten vehicles honking horns, and 80% of those yellow cabs. Still something to witness though. It's hard to come to grips with the fact that we are only 3 hours drive from the pure unspoiled serenity of Wilmington, Vermont.
Next stop was the Circle Line Ferry wharf on the Hudson River where we boarded a Ferry for a 3 hour narrated cruise circling Manhattan Island. The cruise sails south down the Hudson River, passing the mid-town high rise buildings, dominated by the Chrysler Building and the Empire State Building. Approaching the southern end of Manhattan Island we cruised past the Downtown business district, the NY Stock Exchange and HQ for most of the worlds largest companies as well as the ill fated World Trade Centre site - now being redeveloped as Freedom Park, with a massive spired column as the centre piece. Then up close to Ellis Island and the awesome spectacle of the Statue Of Liberty and Statten Island in the distance. The Ferry then moves into the East River, heading north passing Brooklyn & Queens, both located on the western end of Long Island and thousands of tall apartment buildings, under the three famous "BMW" bridges - the "B"rooklyn, "M"anhattan and "W"illiamsburgh. New Yor!
k City is made up of 5 boroughs - Manhattan, Staten Island, Brooklyn, Queens and the Bronx with a total population of 8 million. The cruise continued into the Harlem River, passing the last of the 5 boroughs The Bronx, the only borough on the mainland. At the northern tip of Manhattan Island we passed through the Harlem Channel and returned to the Hudson River for the final lap of our 35 mile trip around Manhattan Island - Fantastic.
A very positive note re NYC. When I was last here in 1977 with IBM, the thing that hit you in the face was the filthy streets and graffiti everywhere except the main thoroughfares. The garbage collection seemed non-existant, even the windows on trains had graffiti covering them. Well today it is an entirely different story. Graffiti is non-existant, no garbage lying around, and this is the scene everwhere we saw. Apparently the key to this turn-around is their "zero tolerance" policy combined with a multi million dollar clean-up and repainting of all trains with a paint that prevents any type of paint from adhering to the surface permanently. The result is truly amazing. It is a pleasure to visit NYC. Our next stop was a bus ride to Ground Zero. This area is regarded as a place of special significance, consequently activities such as loitering, soliciting etc are prohibited by law. Their is a Police presence there at all times to ensure the serenity is maintained. Although a!
t present this is very much a construction site, there is enough evidence on the adjacent buildings to drive home the magnitude of this disaster. We visited the Precint 10 Fire Station which is adjoining the Site and spoke with several officers who were the first on the scene on that fateful day in September 2001.
343 Firemen lost their lives that day, 5 of them from this station.
Had dinner at an establishment in the downtown area then we did a bus trip around the city, ending up at the Empire State Building hoping to go to the upper viewing platform for a night view over NYC, but the wait was over an hour, meaning we would miss the last train back to Connecticut so we had to forego this view.
Trivia re the Empire State Building:
The 200 foot tower atop the ESB was intended to be a mooring mast for dirigibles, but updraughts made blimp docking impossible.
Kevin & Gail.
www.alaska-2006.blogspot.com

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