New York City, Day 3

Empire State Building

 

New York is amazing!  A friend of mine just made a statement that fit so well (Hope you don't mind, Linda) it Vibrates!  It is big and very densly populated, but a very walkable city, so we have walked and walked and walked.  My feet hurt, my neck hurts from looking up!  There is a subway station just 5 blocks from here, and once on the subway, we are 15 minutes from the Empire State Building.

Wednesday morning, we got a Hop On - Hop Off bus tour and saw many sights around town.  We took the uptown and downtown tours, with lunch in between.  The guides were entertaining and informative.  Very good tours.  New Yorkers that we have met are very friendly and upbeat.  There are alot of hustlers on the streets trying to get you to buy tickets for tours or whatever, but they are pleasant enough and leave you alone if you say no thanks.  I don't know how these folks make it in this city, probably 14 per apartment.  We have never felt unsafe.  We have been walking the streets until 10 at night.  No problem.

Some facts we found out.  Average monthly rent in Manhattan - $4000;  Average price of an apartment - $1.46 million.  Parking signs-  Special - $8.45 / 1/2 hour.  $46 per day.  Subway, $2.25/trip - cheap

Flatiron building

The new Tower One, World Trade Centre, almost completed.  Is the tallest building in the United States.

 Neat looking building, Looks like twisted metal.

Diana Ross once lived here.



United Nations

 

 Rockerfeller Centre

 We then had dinner in a little brewery close to Time Square and then got on the night tour bus!

 The financial district at night, and the Brooklin Bridge as we are driving over the Manhattan Bridge.

 Time Square at night is actually daylight!  very bright and full of people.  This is an area that never sleeps. The subway runs 24 hours a day.

Empire state building

More Times Square

 

The next day we started with a harbour cruise.

 Note Empire State building

 Tower One, WTC

 Two Canadians in New York

The Statue of Liberty.

 

Then last night we went to a wonderful musical,  The Jersey Boys, all about the Four Seasons.  Great music.  We will probably stand in line, if our feet work tomorrow, and see if we can get tickets for another production.

 

Today we visited Ground Zero. It is quite moving.  The memorial is very tasteful.  A fountain for each building that is the size of the footprint of the towers, water runs down around the perimeter and then disappears into infinity.On the rim of each fountain is the names of the victims of 9/11.  It is surrounded by White Oak trees.  The lower building behind the fountain in this picture is going to be the museum, which isn't open as yet.

 The new Tower One, behind the memorial

 The Surviving Tree, a Pear tree that survived 9/11 and has been nurtured and replanted at the site.  It's stump was found in the rubble, about 8 feet tall, burned and broken.  It sat on a garbage pile for a month, and a worker noticed it had buds on it, so he took it to a nursery in Brooklin and they nurtured it and it came back! 

 

 

 Memorial to the Firemen and Police

 

Then we walked past city hall to the Brooklin Bridge

 



 On the steps of the Court house.  We see this building every week on Blue Bloods.

 

 

 We then walked across the Brooklin Street Bridge.  This bridge was built 130 years ago, unbelievable.  You walk above the traffic in the middle of the bridge, not on the edge.  It was quite neat.

 

Then we went to Central Park and spent time just sitting as we couldn't walk any more.  At 6 pm we met some very dear friends from Penticton that are in New York as well, and went to a pub for dinner.  It was so good to see someone from home again!  We had a lovely visit, then walked past Times Square (Again) to the subway (about 20 blocks) and home. 

This are the beams from the 9/11 memorial as seen from the campsite, our front window!

 

Goodnight.  I'm pooped.

New York City - we made it

Hi all,  the day started great.  We were hooking up the car by 9:30, so were hoping to get a good start to New York.  Then the hookup for the lights on the CRV wouldn't work, probably a broken wire.  So another camper, bless their hearts, had an extra, so we bought it from them and started out.  Next was stop for Propane.  A car is parked where we need to be, so wait!  Finally pulled out of the Campground at 10:45.  Then we get on the road and the CRV is saying low battery!  Stop to check.  Then an accident on the highway, stopped for that, no exit, more than an hour just creaping along.  Then-----

Monsoon rain on the interstate towards New York.  it just poured!  had to slow down big time.

 



Stressful drive on multilane highways!  Chris is my hero.

The Tappan Zee Bridge to New Jersey side.  Note the sky has cleared.  not a great picture, but you can't really pull over here.  lol

We got to our campground at close to 6 pm.  So a long 4-hour drive. lol.  (That's how long it was supposed to take. )

This shot is taken a 2 minute walk from our RV parking spot. The site is a parking lot, as I said before.  But we are looking at the skyline from the front window of our RV!  And it is quiet here, except for the sound of the halyards on the sail boats behind us!  So we are spending the evening going over New York info, trying to figure out what to do tomorrow.  The ferry is right here, takes you to New York in 15 minutes, but then you have to figure out how to get around from there.  We will keep you posted.   

Boston and Old Cape Cod

I forgot to include this picture in the original post of Boston.  This is where you pay for parking at the train station.  It is really hi tech, for the city that has MIT!  You have to use cash.  You put $4 in the little slot that has the stall number of where you are parked.  Quarters (16) or dollar bills folded and stuck in the slot.  You can use the little medal poker thingy in my hand to push it in.  If you only have a $5, then you pay five, if you only have a ten, same.

Parking Pay station at commuter train.
Apparently, you can pay on line using your phone, though!

Old Cape Cod,

Beautiful sandy beaches.  The whole Peninsula looks like a big sand dune.  The problem with most of the area is that the property next to the beach is all privately owned, so very few places where you can get to the beach.  At least where we were.  We didn't get to the end of it, and maybe we will try tomorrow.  The end is a National park, so I'm sure there is better access there.  If you get to the beach (This picture was taken at a private beach, I found out later.  Chris just dropped me off, as you had to pay $25 in the parking lot there.) The sand is that beautiful white fine sand, the water blue.  It was a lovely day too.

 

 

Some of the homes along the water

The harbour, where you take the ferry to Nantucket, and Martha's Vineyard.

JFK Museum.  His family still has the summer house here.

 

The traffic getting home from there was atrocious!  Friday of the last long weekend in the summer, close to Boston and New York City, guess it figures.  So the next day, we had a day off from driving.  We did laundry, and vacuuming, and reading, and I even did some knitting.  We met some people that come here all the time and sat and chatted for a long time, getting the lowdown on Washington DC, and the area.  It is a pleasant campsite, again, easy to get around to Boston and such, but out of the city.  For those following us, it is Circle G Farm campsite in Bellingham, Mass.

 

We are having another day off today, as we woke up to pouring rain and thunder and lightning.  It is still 78 degrees, so quite warm.  It quit raining this afternoon, but it is great to have some time off from travel, so we are enjoying our leisure.  We have been getting a little travel weary, so this rain and rest is probably exactly what we need.  Ha ha.

Cooking outside, so as not to make it any warmer inside. 

 

We have one more night here.  The weather looks to be the same tomorrow,  showers and thundershowers, etc. etc., so we may just stay put again, and not tour around.  We are booked into a campsite in New Jersey that is said to be only 15 minutes to downtown Manhattan by ferry and has a view of the Statue of Liberty etc. from the campsite.  It is not cheap, but otherwise you would be driving to a commuter train 45 miles, and then 1 1/2 hours on the train to get there.  The campsite is a parking lot, not a tree in sight, and we will have to drive into Jersey City, which may be something with a motor home.  Wish us luck! 

Freeport and Boston

 

Hi all,  We found L. L. Bean, in Freeport, Maine.

 The town is basically outlet stores.  All the older buildings have been converted to an outlet store.

 .

I found some sandals at the Clarks store

  .  There is also a big mall like structure, and L. L. Bean.  The original store is here, and the signature stores.  There is one huge store that is just hunting and fishing, then a clothing and footwear store (Outfitter) and  a home store.  Quite something.  We are here on the week before school starts!  Smart, No!  Lots and lots of people and kids everywhere.  But is was fun.  I found a few things, and we had a nice dinner in town. 



look at the space we had!
We stayed at a great campground just 2 miles from the town called:  Cedar Haven family campground in Freeport, Maine.  It was a ma and pa place.  We really liked it and were sad we were only there for one night.  The sites were large, lots of trees.  If you had a big rig, it may be tricky in spots, but the owners were so helpful and would be sure to give you a place you could get into.  It wasn't paved or anything, but we liked the space.

another lovely building in town.

The colors are just starting, but we will miss them, I think.

Then on to Boston!  We are in a campground close to the commuter rail that takes 1 hour to get to downtown Boston.  We then took a Hop On - Hop Off bus tour, that included a harbour tour on two different boats and 2 days on the buses.  I wasn't excited about going to Boston, but I was pleasantly surprised. It is a green and interesting city.  It has so much history.  Paul Revere did his famous midnight ride from here.  The Boston Tea Party, and the birthplace of the American Revolution, so many stories in all the older buildings around the town. It has the first College in the new world, Harvard.  It has many, many universities and colleges and MIT of course.  It has the first public library, the first public park, the first subway in America.  Benjamin Franklin was from here. 

 

 It was low tide, so couldn't get a good picture of old Ironsides

Aboard Old Ironsides

 



They have the oldest commissioned war ship, still afloat, the USS Constitution, launched in 1797, nicknamed Old Ironsides.  She doesn't have iron sides, but white oak and live oak, so thick that when she was fired upon, the canon shots just bounced off and she was never severely damaged.  She never lost a battle.  She has been restored more than once, but this is the original ship, over 200 years old and still afloat.

Boston State House

 

 

This is a hospital, they have many hospitals as well, to go along with the many Universities.  They used to have ship building in this area, but it was moved by government to somewhere else, so they are revitalizing the waterfront.

Yes, Cheers was from here!

Remember!

This building was once a power house for the ship building area here, it is now exclusive apartments.

Some of Boston's skyline

This is near Harvard.  Harvard has 400 buildings, so what do you take a picture of, the same with MIT, its a district of the city almost! 

Lots of beautiful buildings, and interesting architecture.

The Old State House, and the site of the Boston Massacre, another event that kick started the American Revolution.  British soldiers fired upon protesting citizens in front of this building.  5 were killed.  1770.

This was the end of our first day.  You can see the fog rolling in.  The pictures that look grey were taken on the second day, in the haze and mist.  It never really rained on us, but threatened all day.  Two long days with lots to learn and lots of walking.  I'm pooped.  Tomorrow, we will check the weather.  We are here over the long weekend, and still need to see Cape Cod.  The weather is iffy at best, so we shall see. 

Hope I haven't bored you, but I really did find Boston interesting.

So long for now.