Washington, DC and New York City - Wow!

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Well, it's been awhile since I blogged. Unfortunately, that means I haven't traveled for awhile. But travels are back on, and I'm just back from a trip to Washington, DC and New York City.

Washington, DC

This was our (my wife and me) third trip to DC while our son does his Ph.D. program there. Having explored many of the sites on previous trips, we decided this time to take 3 days of the week-long trip to go explore New York City. But first we spent a little time in DC.

The main museum we wanted to see was the Museum of American history, which had been closed for renos on our earlier visits. Like the other Smithsonian museums, it is massive--but free, and divided into major sections. The one I enjoyed the most was the history of transportation section, showing actual transportation vehicles and equipment through the ages (cars, locomotives, semi's), as well as some models (ships, Mississippi River cruisers). We also checked into a number of other sections: history of science, a section on the presidents and one (especially enjoyed by Joy) showing all the inaugural gowns worn by the first ladies through the years.

We had also prioritized the Archives, but the long lines to see the original Declaration of Independence, Constitution and Bill of Rights caused us to check into the Museum of Natural History which, although we'd seen it before, is fascinating. We only took in several sections of this one, particularly the mammals section, and a temporary exhibit on "Cyprus--crossroads of cultures".

Towards the end of the day we did get to the Archives, though, waited our mandatory 45 min. in line, but did see the three original documents, along with some others. Not being American ourselves, these are probably less special to us than to most of the citizens but interesting nonetheless. Each time I go to DC and am reintroduced to America's history, I marvel again at the grand experiment they tried back in the eighteenth century, which, despite its faults, has been mostly successful!

New York City

The next day we took a bus to see the sites of New York. Our son had been there several times before and was a fabulous tour guide!

We arrived just after 6 pm, just around the corner from Madison Square Garden, where the Rangers were playing Washington in the fourth game of the Stanley Cup playoffs 30 minutes later. The atmosphere was electric!!--a fitting way to start our New York experience. After soaking up the atmosphere for awhile, we got our subway cards and experienced that efficient system for the first time, as we headed to Greenwich Village for dinner at a nice gluten-free restaurant (all our kids are celiac and so need gluten-free food). Trudging around Greenwich Village for awhile, we poked into such esteemed places as "Unoppressive Non-imperialist Bargain Books." After dinner we walked to Union Square, took in the party atmosphere in very comfortable weather conditions, then boarded the subway to check into our accommodations.

We had decided to travel light, and cheap, so had only our backpacks with us, as we headed for Brooklyn. For those who are unfamiliar with New York, the City is really a conglomeration of five "buroughs": Manhattan (where all the action and most of the sites are), Bronx, Brooklyn, Queen's and Staten Island. We had reserved a hostel, which was really quite comfortable, in the middle of Brooklyn.

Thursday, we began by exploring some of Central Park. There were large crowds everywhere which, although normal for New York, were enhanced by the many on Easter break. Then we strolled down the famous Fifth Avenue, where all the high-end shopping is, poking into a few shops here and there, including the Trump Tower. Eventually we reached the Rockefeller Center, where we also checked out Radio City Music Hall (though we didn't have the time to wait in line for the tour, nor the desire to spend the exorbitant dollars that all such tours cost in New York. On the way, we also wandered through Grand Central Station, a stately (and ornate) train station that is now a larger transportation hub.

After grabbing some lunch, we headed for the New York City Library, wandered through that gorgeous building, then awaited our younger son's arrival. He's been on a work term in Ottawa, and flew down to join us in New York. Already mid-afternoon, we headed next the Empire State building, once the tallest building in the world. Again, eschewing the lines and dollars, we avoided the trip to the top but explored the ornate ground floor, with all its matching marble floors and walls. Next, it was off to Highland Park, an abandoned elevated railroad bed converted into a park. Then we ambled back to Greenwich Village for the favoured restaurant. After dinner, we wandered through the East Village with its more "hipster" shops and scenes before heading back to our hostel for night.

Having done "Uptown" on Thursday, Friday was devoted to "Downtown" New York. We started by doing the famous Brooklyn Bridge walk, where we ran into parade of thousands doing a "stations of the cross" Good Friday walk over the bridge. Along the way we marveled at the south Manhattan skyline, then briefly poked our heads into several buildings at the foot of the bridge. Being Good Friday, most office buildings were closed.

Wandering through the legal district, where all the courthouses are located (federal, state, city, district, etc.) we made our way to Chinatown. Typical, but larger than most North American Chinatowns, it was a beehive of activity, public markets and displays, and an overall assault to the senses (without even breaking open a durien fruit). Passing the grand entrance to the Manhattan Bridge, we entered "Little Italy," also an interesting ethnic enclave but focused more on eating establishments that public markets.

Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Center was our next stop. Construction is advancing on the the twin towers replacement of one taller building amid a tranche of smaller (but still large) buildings. That building is now probably at 2/3 of its eventual finished height. We wandered around the area, then into the Financial District (as in Wall Street). At the end of the street is a beautiful cathedral, where we observed a bit of a Good Friday service in progress, then carried on down to the New York Stock Exchange building (closed, of course).

Eventually we got to Battery Park, but not before passing the famous bronze bull, where we took photos, and where Jeremy ended up being interviewed by a local paper. Battery Park is the launching point for excursions to the Statue of Liberty, but we were already too late for the last tour of the day. Not to worry though, we hustled over to the terminal for the free ferry to Staten Island that passes quite close to the Statue. We did our trip, took the mandatory photos, along with thousands of others who had the same thing in mind. The ship listed at 4 degrees from all the people crowded to the same side. We were then told we must all vacate the ferry at the Staten Island terminal and could catch the next ferry back if that was our wish. Interestingly, probably 80% of the travelers simply walked out the exit, took a big U-turn and entered back onto the same ferry for the trip back.

The evening was devoted mostly to Times Square. What a veritable sensual overload! The mass of lights reminded us of Las Vegas, and the crowds and atmosphere, of last year's Vancouver Olympics. Again it was mostly wandering around outdoors, though we did go into Macy's (the world's largest store) and Toys'R'Us, where they had some phenomenal Lego models, as well as an indoor ferris wheel. After dinner in Times Square, Jeremy left us to grab the bus back to DC. We, with Joel, spent more time at Times Square, then walked over to Grand Central Station (which Joel hadn't yet seen), and the Chrysler Building (which lost the height competition with the Empire State building in 1931), and, finally, over to the United Nations building. Altogether, we probably walked about 20 km. that day.

Saturday was cool and rainy. We took Joel to see a few of the sites he'd missed the first day--The Rockefeller Center and Fifth Avenue, then said good-bye, as we headed for the bus stop and our ride back to DC.

What an amazing city New york is!--everything you've ever imagined it to be is probably true. But you can't fully grasp it just from photos or movies. You have to be there to really comprehend it with all the senses, to understand the spatial context, and to fully appreciate what it is all about!

Although we didn't take in a Broadway show or do the expensive tours (this was the el cheapo trip), we got a pretty complete overview in a short time, taking in about as much as is possible over that period. Next time, we can do more of the detail (money permitting).

Back to DC

Back in DC, we immediately had the overwhelming sense of spaciousness. Whereas Manhattan is vertical (some places you couldn't look down a street and see any building less than 20-30 storeys tall), DC is horizontal (the site of grass was a startling contrast).

Jeremy is heavily involved in music in his church, so we joined him for the Easter vigil (a 3-hour Saturday night service of three Anglican churches), where he led the choir and played keyboard all night long. Sunday we went up to the house where he lives with 6 other guys. Then we joined him for his church's own Easter Sunday service, a two-hour service beginning at 5 pm, where he was again involved in music, this time as the bass guitarist. We were, of course, so proud that he does so well both at his music and in his PhD studies, where work on his dissertation is progressing reasonably well (and of course, his superior New York tour guiding skills).

Stay tuned for more blogs. I leave next week for a SE Asia tour, mostly to Vietnam.

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Photos

Times Square
Network capital of America

Ground Zero
Replacement tower for Twin Towers, about 2/3 completed

The Museum of American History
They just don't make cars like this anymore

the White House
President Obama was not there to meet me; truly an opportunity missed --by him!

Union Station
Always buskers. This one was from Ethiopia. New york is a grand mix of ethnicities.

Another view of Times Square
ABC studios