Finally seen Liberty (Barry)
Tuesday, May 6th, 2008This afternoon we took the train into West Fourth Street, Downtown. New York University has several buildings there. We walked through Washington Square – there were jazz bands playing at different ends of the park – really good musicians – bass, sax, a violinist. People laying around, relaxing in the beautiful sunshine. The weather was just perfect, if anything a little too warm.
We’ve walked a lot and made our way through the bustling sidewalks and crossings of Little Italy and Chinatown. It was good being Downtown – again, it made us realize that this one place, Manhattan, needs several weeks of daily activity in order to be appreciated. At best, we might scratch the surface. And Manhattan is only one part of New York City.
Speaking of Little Italy reminds me: there’s a statue of Garibaldi in Washington Square.
The area around New York University is very English in architecture and design – small cobbled streets.
We also wandered through SoHo. This is the upmarket spot – the place where ‘Sex and the City’ was set. Very attractive women and everyone well groomed, though even here there is the occasional homeless person. On this occasion, we were approached by a very down-and-out dishevelled man, who had a club foot and walked badly, who requested money for a drink. He said he was a Vietnam veteran and showed us his identity tag, which featured his photo and an American flag in the background. He approached us at a pedestrian crossing (the Americans seem to call these ‘cross walks’) and we didn’t give him any money. It all happened too quickly and the lights changed, so we crossed. We then talked briefly with Hannah and Joey about whether or not we should have given him something.
We made it eventually to the southern tip of Manhattan, and we visited the site of ‘Ground Zero’ where the Twin Towers were destroyed by terrorists on September 11, 2001. There’s a huge hole in the ground, needless to say, but the site has been cleaned up considerably and I’m sure that an even bigger and better building or buildings will replace the old towers. The area is surrounded by huge sky-scrapers of breath-taking beauty. This is a city that won’t be defeated.
I was emotional on seeing the memorial to the New York fire fighters who perished on September 11th. The fire station is there, near the site, and one of the fire-engines had the words “We support our troops” inscribed on its front. There were tourists going into the station – it’s an active functioning station, by the way – to be photographed with individual firemen. They still have a heroic status.
I was tempted to go in myself, to be photographed with some of them, but Joan and Joey and Hannah had kept walking and it’s very important to stick together in this chaotic, bustling, place. My friends, Ken and Pat, with whom I played music for a number of years, will remember how, after September 11, we met for our regular weekly jam session and signed a card, which I sent to the New York Fire Department. Anyway, as with every other day here, I took heaps of photographs – it’s such a pity we don’t know how to load them onto this blog.
We finally walked to Rockefeller Park, by the water, and I caught my first glimpse of Lady Liberty, way off in the far distance, hazy in the mist. We’ll take the ferry next week and see her close up. The park is beautiful, with people of all races and backgrounds lolling around, relaxing and having fun. There’s a section called “The real world”, which contains sculptings by an artist who designed the little area for children. ‘The real world’ is actually the childrens’ fantasy world, with sculptings of monkeys and frogs and so on. (Leslie, I photographed the frog sculpture for you).
We were very hot, tired and thirsty by this stage and we came across a very high class restaurant by the water, near the ferries. We were surprised at how reasonable the prices were, even there, and Joey and Hannah ordered banana splits. They were the biggest, classiest, banana splits I’ve ever seen – and only $6.90 each. In Australia, they’d be much more. We’re finding that prices here, especially food, are cheaper.
Our waiter was a black American called Gus and he was a real charmer and entertainer. Joan asked for his autograph as we were leaving. We’ve found that the waiters and other tourist-related workers are really professional but more than that, they seem to genuinely care for you and go the extra mile. Everyone is interested in Australia – we have considerable novelty value, it seems.
I have developed a new taste over here – every day I drink at least one bottle of iced tea. It’s very popular in Manhattan and on all the shelves. It’s very refreshing and has replaced Coke as my drink of choice.
So far so good. We’re having a terrific time.
The only down-side is that my back is getting sore and that’s usually a sign that it will soon ‘go’ on me. Anyhow, so far so good, as I said.
Yesterday we took the Long Island Rail Road to Huntington to visit the Walt Whitman Historic Site and Interpretive Centre. I’m probably using the word ‘amazing’ too much but it really was an experience to enter the house that Whitman’s father had built in the early 1800s. It’s in very good condition.
Tomorrow (Wednesday), we go upstate to the rural hamlet of Roscoe, about three hours by bus. We’ll be there for two nights, staying at a local inn, and then we head a little further west to the city of Binghamton. I suspect that Binghamton will be more typical of America than Manhattan. I’m thinking of hiring a car at Roscoe, so we can drive into the Catskill Mountains, and also so we can drive ourselves into Binghamton.
We’ve used the rail system a lot. It’s very efficient and inexpensive.
During the day I frequently take note of things to mention in the blog but, alas, by night-fall, I forget them. There’s just too much. It’s all so concentrated, physically, socially, culturally, and a very intense experience.
We could spend three months just in Midtown Manhattan, not just three weeks on the whole island.
We were going into Times Square tonight, to see the lights, and also to pop into the Comedy Club on E53rd Street. Might still do it, as we purchased discount tickets from a street hawker a couple of days ago.
Till next time,
Barry
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