Yesterday my husband, my sister and I rode the train into the city to take the Circle Line tour of Manhattan on the Hudson River. I took the tour once on a class trip in elementary school and Cathy has been on it somewhere along the way, but it was the first time for Greg.
(Promotional photo I lifted from somewhere. The rest of the photos are mine.)
There are a variety of tours you can take with Circle Line. One of them goes all the way around the island. It's a 3 hour tour and since I think we all learned a lesson from Gilligan's Island (and I didn't have a trunk full of clothes as the castaways apparently did), we opted for the 2 hour one.
The ride was very relaxing and informative. We were treated to stunning views of the city, The Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island and 3 famous bridges: The Brooklyn, Manhattan and Williamsburg.
My family has deep roots in this New York City soil. None of us ever lived in Manhattan, though my Mom once worked there and my parents grew up in its Burroughs (Queens and the Bronx). We "kids" have trampled its streets throughout the years on various outings, driving in or taking to train from Long Island where I grew up.
My sister's neighbor, a man her kids called Uncle Ed, died in one of the towers on 9/11. The smoke from its fires wafted to their house in Nassau county and when I finally got through to her on the phone my sister said it smelled "like death." To quote Forrest Gump, that's about all I want to say about that day. But it's a deep and permanent scar on the landscape of NYC and on the hearts of those who experienced it. It binds us still.
My husband's job may take me away to live in places far from here, but I'll always be a New Yorker. I love this city.
Times Square
A McDonald's in the theater district
Brooklyn Bridge
Blue tarp and cranes mark where the Twin Towers once stood.
An American flag hangs from one of the cranes
The city that doesn't sleep
5 comments:
Wonderful Caryl! You will always have roots there like I will always have them in Houston. I still love that sailboat picture the best. And, about the city not sleeping...that is one of my very first and very vivid recollections of my only visit to Manhattan in 1976. My husband & I arrived about 2am to his sister's 6th floor apartment. I was amazed at the city noises still coming from the streets through the open windows at 3, 4, & 5 am! We then did a circle boat tour around the island without ever going to bed, and I think went up the Empire State Bldg before we drove out to LI.
Wow! Whirlwind trip to NYC! '76, huh? I was still living on Long Island then. Maybe we passed each other in a store or something. ha!
Took a similar boat tour the last time I was there (July '08) and it does indeed provide an impressive visual of the city.
That was my first trip back since we lived in southern CT in the 70s. Hated the city back then but I was promised it was not the NYC I remembered. Very glad I went. We stayed at a hotel in Times Square area and I was very comfortable walking around there. We were a short walk from MoMA and my visit to the museum was an all too short highlight for me! I'd love to go back to NYC sometime.
Thanks for the update ...
Caryl, I went on a class trip on the Circle Line also, have very fond memories of it. Growing up in NJ my folks used to take us to the city often for day and over night visits. As a young adult spent alot of time in the City with my job, always looked forward to the great resturants in the City!
JI
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