10. A round-trip in under two days, part TWO...

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November 14th 2005

Published: November 30th 2005

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Cazd_83

George Washington Bridge

Traveling under the GW Bridge that links New Jersey to New York.

By my second "i'm-going-to-see-everything-this-darn-town-has-to-offer-just-you-try-and-stop-me" day, I'd managed to figure out the ferries and the piers and the times and the locations of the whole thing. So I gave the cruise another shot. With the Circle Line ferry leaving from its pier at 12:30, I had my arrival timed to perfection. The Law of the Sod, however, decrees that when a good idea has been had by one person, millions of others will also have been blessed with said good idea, and so all shall descend upon this same little pier at the same little time in order to bombard the humble 'sailors' with their presence. You're sensing my joy right now, I can tell...

So the queue was huge, and after I'd stood in one line to buy my ticket, I then stood in a larger line to wait to board the boat. In that hideous Disneyland-esque "let's-make-sure-you-remember-this-day-forever-as-the-one-where-your-hair-was-sticking-up-and-you-were-wearing-that-awful-coat" model, they had decided to take pictures of people standing in the queue, grouped around a Titanic-style ring float. Being on my own, this really wasn't floating my boat, so to speak, but I noticed that they were taking pictures of everyone, regardless of whether they said yes or no to them.

The Ground Zero gap from the Hudson River

Looking over to the now-present gap between the buildings.

I grinned and bore it.

With roughly 200 people in the queue ahead of me and maybe 150 behind, I was thinking the boat was going to be pretty jammed. Until the Law of the Sod reared its ugly head once again, decreeing that whenever something unexpectedly good happens, it will happen to the person that was just behind you in the queue. They opened up a second boat 20 people after me. One where all of the top deck sunny chairs were free and no screaming children adorned the decks. Not that I'm complaining. I was perfectly happy in my sun-shaded lower deck Manhattan side seat, with the gentle breeze lapping against my face and the joyful sounds of exhuberant children twittering in my ears.

Whatever. Frankly it was cold, windy and noisy, and I began to wonder if I'd made some kind of horrible mistake in willfully trapping myself on this vessel for three long windswept hours.

And then the cruise began, and quite honestly it was magnificent. If you visit New York and you have some semblance of sunshine on any particular morning, go on the cruise. Seriously. It's the most amazing trip I've

Up Close and Personal, as promised

The good Liberty herself, and just as teeny as everyone says...

been on so far. We went round the southern tip of Manhattan, getting "up close and personal with the Statue of Liberty" as promised, and then underneath all of the bridges on the east side of the island. What completely knocked me for six is that the northern most tip of the island is completely wooded. I'd always sort of assumed that Harlem took over and melded into the Bronx somewhere along the way. Instead though there was a fantastic forest, with trees decked in their autumn colours as we ducked under yet more bridges the whole way round.

I'm not going to babble on about this for any longer. I don't do it justice, the pictures will hopefully speak for themselves and quite frankly, I'm knackered.

Take care y'all!! Cxx

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