The Big Apple

There is no city quite like New York City!  We left the boat this morning and caught a Metro North train from Tarrytown (station one block from our marina) to Grand Central Station in Manhattan, a 30-minute ride if you catch the peak hour express.  Grand Central was refurbished a few years back and is absolutely exquisite.

And busy, just like you see in the movies. Do you see Cathryn in the center of this photo wearing the white shirt and black skirt?

Bob’s niece Leslie (his sister Lynn’s youngest daughter) is an attorney whose office is in the MetLife building on top of Grand Central, so we met her briefly for coffee on arrival.  She kindly gave us a map of Manhattan along with a subway system map, so we’re good to go for the day!  We’ll see her and her family for a longer visit on Saturday.

Leslie took us to her office on the 52nd floor where the view is drop-dead spectacular!

Her office is very close to the beautiful and architecturally interesting Chrysler Building.

We had 11:00 passes to see the 9/11 Memorial, adjacent to the Freedom Tower which is well under construction.

Though we’d seen pictures before, in person the 9/11 Memorial is a stunning design, powerfully evoking the significance of the assault and loss on that tragic day in America’s history.

 

Below, a reflection of the growing Freedom Tower from across the street.

 

We walked across the Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan.

And had lunch at the well-known pizza place, Grimaldi’s, underneath the Brooklyn Bridge.  It’s so popular you have to stand in line to wait for a table. See Bob in the red shirt about halfway back?  Man, was that pizza delicious!  Not like pizza in Seattle.

 

Later in the day we walked the full length of Highline Park, an innovative use of a former elevated rail line through west Manhattan, now turned into a much-loved, well-used, beautiful urban park where lots of people spend time walking, lounging, reading and visiting with friends. There’s lots of public art sprinkled among the plantings and walkways.

 

Interesting architecture abounds along the way (see Cathryn in the foreground of the photo below)

People stopped to stare, wrinkle their brows, then laugh at the window in an apartment adjacent to the park.  The half-dressed guy in the window is not real, just a cardboard cut-out smiling and waving like a goofy resident.

Lots of interesting people watching in NYC!

And more unusual architecture.

 

The really boring part of our day was spent in a Verizon Wireless store, where Cathryn spent 90 minutes replacing her cell phone that drowned in the squall while we were in the Atlantic Ocean off the Jersey coastline last Monday. What a shame to spend time on such a mundane task while in The Big Apple!

Late in the day we took the Metro North train back to Tarrytown and made plans for tomorrow and Saturday.