The Big Apple

On Sunday, June 14^th we departed Great Kills Harbor for our transit into New York Harbor. This was one of our goals for this trip and we were quite excited! As we approached the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, the entrance to the harbor, a Coast Guard boat approached with its blue lights flashing. Once inspected for all of the proper safety requirements, we were issued a document of compliance and allowed to continue our journey. We have noticed the Coast Guard presence all along the waterways, nowhere is it more noticeable than in New York, we were told they had boarded 54 private boats the day before. Once under the Verrazano Narrows Bridge, the Manhattan skyline loomed ahead with Lady Liberty raising her torch to greet us. A breathtaking sight! We chose Liberty Landing Marina in Jersey City, directly across from lower Manhattan with water taxi service every half hour, as the base for our exploration of this great city.












Once we were tied up in the slip and washed down the boat, we were ready to explore! Our first afternoon was spent at the World Trade Center Site and the St. Paul’s Chapel, where so many sought solace after the terror attacks of 9/11. It is located directly across the street from the site itself yet sustained no damage at all, not even a broken window pane. They had set up quite a moving memorial inside. We then found our way to the financial district and Wall Street. There were so many fascinating places to be explored. We looked forward to the next two days to see even more. We chose to use the Grey Line hop on, hop off bus tour to see as much as we could in the two days we had remaining. We loved wandering through Battery Park, Rockefeller Center; had lunch at the Rock Café, the site of the skating rink during the winter months. Times Square was amazing, with Broadway blocked off for pedestrians only, people were milling around day and night. We were able to see so many places we had only heard of. We learned to use the subway system. We capped off our visit with dinner at a small restaurant near the Theatre District, Jack’s, and were able to get tickets for Chicago to celebrate our 42^nd wedding anniversary. We enjoyed every minute of it, what a fabulous city!