NEW YORK CITY 2009 1 - Jim Colyer

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Michael and I made our second trip to New York, September 24-26. We fought our way from Kennedy Airport in Queens to Battery Park at the southern tip of Manhattan. We again ferried to the Statue of Liberty. The Statue is a National Monument. They were taking only 200 people a day to the crown and were booked til January. We headed for Times Square and the Portland Square Hotel where we checked into our room and prepared for Kristina in Concert. We had time but had to keep moving. The hotel is located at 132 West 47th Street. Phone: [phone]. We used my AAA card.

Kristina in Concert was at Carnegie Hall for two nights, and we saw it on Thursday, September 24. The main characters lined up to sing their parts in front of the orchestra. It was nearly three hours. The melodies were beautiful and full of emotion. Even though it was the English version, it was still difficult to pick up the lyrics. Of course, I knew the story. I pitied those who did not. Leaving the theater, Michael asked me what I thought. I told him it was an accomplishment, an achievement. And that is what it was, that I managed to see it with my son! We sat high in the balcony, close to the edge. A dangerous spot. Benny and Bjorn were in the audience (I figured they would be) and came to the stage at the concert's end. The song getting the biggest ovation was The Gold Turned To Sand. Carnegie Hall was built by industrialist Andrew Carnegie in 1891, and is located at 57th Street. After the show, Michael and I went to a karaoke bar at Times Square, and I sang Dancing Queen. I told him I had made it on the "big stage."

We walked from Times Square all the way to the Financial District. We entered the New York Life Building. Michael is an agent for them and sells their products. We had a tour scheduled at the Federal Reserve Bank of New York and were taken to the Gold Vault underground to see $190 billion in gold. Michael reminded me that one bar weighs 20 pounds and is worth $118,000. I kept biting my nails, and he asked me if I were nervous. I guess it was all that gold! We returned to the charging bull and got pictures. Michael rubbed the bull's balls for good luck. There were more people than last time probably because of activity at the U.N. I told Michael he might be doing business on Wall Street during a future visit.

We took the subway to the Bronx and 161st Street to the new Yankee Stadium. It sits right beside the old one and cost $1.4 billion. It is Steinbrenner's legacy. The Yankees played the Boston Red Sox, the greatest rivalry in all of sports. The Yankees won 9-5. This is four times we have seen them and the second time they have won. The Stadium is the star, and we walked all around it, viewing the game from different angles. There are huge pictures on the walls of great players from the past: Ruth, Gehrig and Mantle. I nearly choked up as we entered the new cathedral. Being among Yankee supporters, I felt like we were among friends. Michael spotted 9/11 mayor Giuliani in the crowd.

Our last day, we found Rockefeller Center and the NBC Studios. We saw the statue of Prometheus, and I told Michael about the Greek myth, how Prometheus brought the gift of fire to mankind and was punished by Zeus until Hercules set him free. We strolled through the NBC Experience, a gift shop, and saw a funny picture of Conan with his hair sticking up.

Our trip ended with a ride through Central Park. We came to the John Lennon Imagine Mosaic at Strawberry Fields, and Michael took my picture giving the peace sign. Everyone else was flashing the sign, so I did. The Dakota was nearby, and I recalled how Lennon was shot by a guy named Mark David Chapmen in December, 1980, and how I called Karen after seeing the story on the front page of the Tennessean as I was going into Shoney's for breakfast. She always said I cried, but that was not true. Chapman did not try to escape. He sat on some steps and waited for the police. Our driver said that Yoko still lives on the top three floors of the Dakota. We heard several Beatle songs while having breakfast at Starbucks.

Flying back to Nashville, I told Michael how I was feeding him a bottle in the back room at the house in Lebanon and thinking of New York. Reading about Central Park, I learned how it got its name, by being in the center of Manhattan. Michael said that it was his dream to go to New York. Now he has been there twice. We took it further and deeper. These trips are a few of the many ways I am helping my son.


New York City 2005
Tuesday, August 9 (Day 1) - Michael and Karen came to my apartment at 4:30 in the morning. I met them in the garage, and Karen drove us to the airport. We left Nashville at 6am on Delta Flight 5405. This was Michael's first time on a plane, a good thing about the trip. We changed planes in Cincinnati and arrived at Kennedy Airport in New York at 11:31am. We caught the airbus to lower Manhattan. Our first day was hard. I had a hostel waiting. Michael would not stay there. We spotted the Empire State Building in the distance and started walking. The Empire State Building is at 34th Street & 5th Avenue. It was built 1930-31, and its architecture reflects the period. It is shaped like a pencil. There are 102 floors. The observatory is on the 86th. The line was long, and I told Michael the story of how I came here in the Army. "It was a cold, windy night. My hat blew off, and I had to chase it." We looked down on Manhattan as I had years ago. 20,000 buildings are seen. New York is a study in buildings and architecture. We saw the Hudson River. Back on the streets, we entered Central Park. Joggers ran past. I felt we were getting in deep, so we retraced our steps. We found Times Square. Michael was elated, and it dawned on me what Times Square meant to him because of seeing it on television. He took pictures from every angle. Night fell. We were turned away from hotels. We went into TGI Friday's. The Yankees were playing the White Sox on the Yes Network. We watched the game and talked about staying up all night. We went looking one last time and found the Portland Square Hotel. It was a miracle. The room was small but clean and quiet. Best of all, it was right around the corner from Times Square and the Palace Theatre where we had tickets for the Broadway show. Nothing is cheap in New York. I tried to keep spending under control while doing what we came to do. Michael had his cell phone and stayed in touch with his mother and friends. People were everywhere. You dodge them. Horns blow. Cabs whiz. It is an effort to cross streets. Michael and I stayed close. We had a flexible plan which we adjusted as we went along. We walked for long stretches. We sat and rested. Michael said he was overweight. This was a chance for him to work off some pounds and for me to fight arthritis.

Wednesday, August 10 (Day 2) - We made our way to Yankee Stadium in the Bronx by subway. The Stadium is located at 161st & River Ave. I got tickets by email, $52 total. We were in the upper deck down the third base line toward left field. The game took up a large part of the day. I wanted a day game so we would have light when we hit the street. The Yankees played the Chicago White Sox. This was traditional American League baseball. The Yankees lost, but the main thing was that we experienced a game at Yankee Stadium. There were some leftovers from the great team of the 1990s: Derek Jeter, Bernie Williams, Jorge Posada and manager Joe Torre. The Stadium itself was the star. I noted the big "NY" behind home plate and the facade in the outfield. I remembered how Mickey Mantle came within inches of hitting one out. I gazed at the bullpen and spotted the edge of Monument Park from where we sat. The Yankees dugout was on the first base side. We roamed through souvenir shops.

Thursday, August 11 (Day 3) -
This was the day we cracked New York. We rode the subway to Lower Manhattan and Ground Zero. It was fenced in, and we walked around the perimeter. It was a solemn site, not unlike Pearl Harbor. It was not so emotional at this point, but we wondered what things were like in the city on that day. Michael pointed to a cross. From Ground Zero, we hoofed it to Wall Street as I had before. Wall Street is the country's financial center, and Michael wanted to see the New York Stock Exchange where stocks are bought and sold. NYSE lists 3,164 companies and has the largest trading volume of any stock exchange except NASDAQ. This was an education for Michael. George Washington was inaugurated across the street at Federal Hall. We got pictures of his statue. Wall Street got its name from a wall built by the Dutch to keep the Indians out. The British took "New Amsterdam" and renamed it New York in honor of the Duke of York. We moved toward Battery Park. A German girl took our picture as we ferried to the Statue of Liberty. She was from Hamburg, so we talked about The Beatles and the Star Club. Michael and I spent an hour on Liberty Island looking up at the green Statue. His Liberty pictures are like post cards. I was doing this for him. He was seeing New York for the first time. The Statue was a gift from the French. It was done by sculptor Bartholdi and commemorated French support during the American Revolution. Lady Liberty holds a tablet reading July 4, 1776, in Roman numerals. Her arm is straight, and she holds a torch. There are seven spikes in her crown representing seven continents. Her official name is "Liberty Enlightening the World." Battery Park is so named because of the guns which once defended Lower Manhattan. We returned to the room to rest. It was a hot August day. I was thirsty, and water fountains were not to be found. I secured the tickets for All Shook Up which I got from Ticketmaster by email. The show was at the Palace Theatre, 1564 Broadway. I remembered the address because it was the year of Shakespeare's birth. Off we went. We sat in the balcony. The theatre was ornate, and the usher told us it was about 100 years old. All Shook Up combined the music of Elvis Presley with the plot of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night. It was fun. We exited the theatre and went to our room for our last night in the city.

Michael had to see Trump Tower, and we found it. It is residential. The condominiums are for the rich. Donald Trump is a real estate developer and Michael's hero. I took a picture of Michael against the backdrop of Trump and his wife, Melania. Michael bought shirts at Brooks Brothers. The clerk told him Trump's assistant came in the day before. We passed Rockefeller Center and got pictures of Prometheus and Radio City Music Hall. We slipped into the NBC studios shop. We ate at ESPN Zone and saw a collision between two baseball players on TV.

Friday, August 12 (Day 4) - On our way out of town, we stopped by New York University. Washington Square Park sits on the edge of NYU, and we saw the arch. We entered a book store. Michael compared the business books to MTSU's. We got to Kennedy Airport with time to spare and ate at Chili's Too. It was a straight flight to Nashville. We arrived on Delta/Comair. Karen met us and dropped me off at Vanderbilt.

I had it in mind to take Michael to the main sections of the United States: down south, up east and out west. Daytona Beach was our trip south. New York and Washington, D.C. were up east. Las Vegas and L.A. are west. I see my early trips as preparation for the trips with Michael.


New York City 1984
I spent two days in Manhattan in October, 1984. My first stop was Dinosaur Hall in the American Museum of Natural History. The Museum sits near Central Park. Dinosaur-mania was talking hold, and I saw tyrannosaurus, brontosaurus, triceratops and stegosaurus. Some fossilized eggs added credibility to the existence of these creatures. I attended a show at the Hayden Planetarium inside the museum. My second day began at the top of the World Trade Center (the one without the tower). I looked down at the Statue of Liberty snug within its scaffold. It was being renovated. Since 9/11, I have imagined what it might have been like standing on the building as the plane flew into it. 9/11 happened 17 years after I stood there. It showed that the perpetrators hate all Americans, not white or back, Republicans or Democrats. Anyone could have been in those buildings on that day. From the Towers, I hoofed it to Wall Street. The street was short and nearly deserted as it was Sunday. I learned that George Washington was inaugurated there in 1789. The bus took me up the Avenue of the Americas to Midtown, and I saw the gold leaf statue of Prometheus against the backdrop of the RCA Building. In Greek mythology, Prometheus taught man how to use fire. His statue shows him descending from Mount Olympus encircled by the Zodiac. I wanted to see the Rockettes at Radio City Music Hall, but they were not performing. From my room I watched the presidential debate on television between Ronald Reagan and Walter Mondale. The morning before I left, I rode a bus out 42nd Street to the United Nations. I entered the building but did not take the tour. There was a protest against Reagan which rubbed me the wrong way. I glimpsed the N.Y.P.L. (library) and Madison Square Garden before heading for Nashville.


April, August, 1974 - New York state
On truck with Chester. We went to Erie, Pennsylvania, and across upstate New York: Rochester and Syracuse. We spent the night in Binghamton. We were in New York when the tornado hit Louisville on April 3. The closer we got to Louisville, the more we heard about it. It took the roof off Candy Heim's house. She was in the Air Force by then.

December, 1970 - Philadelphia & New York City
In Philadelphia, I gazed through the windows of Independence Hall at the Liberty Bell. In New York, I ascended the Empire State Building and blitzed through Greenwich Village and Times Square by night. I was in the Army and made these trips with two guys from Valley Forge Hospital in Phoenixville, Pennsylvania. It was cold and windy in New York. My saucer cap blew off at the top of the Empire State Building. I caught it before it went over the edge.

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