A TALE OF TWO CITIES, part two, New York          

Last week I told you of our adventures in Washington DC, a charming place to visit and well worth touring if you are going to the east coast.

After our visit there, we took a train to Newark, New Jersey, which was about three hours duration.  What a great way to travel into unknown territory, you see so much more from the train that a plane ride has to offer.  Dave is an avid photographer of bridges, so the fact that the trip took us close to the coast made it possible for him to see many bridges and capture them for posterity.

We spent the night in a beautifully appointed hotel which had no soul, everything chrome and glass and contained every amenity we could possibly require but no feeling of history, the whole place felt more sterile than any modern hospital.

The next day we boarded ship and began our journey, waving to Miss Liberty as we sailed by. I love the pampering and cosseting that you get on a cruise, but that is another story.  I am going to jump ahead two weeks to the end of our cruise.

We landed back in New Jersey around 8.00am on Sunday morning, our plane home was not for another eight hours, so we had decided to take advantage of one of the ships offered side trips.  This would be a four hour tour of Manhattan finishing up at the airport in lots of time for our plane.  A perfect way so spend a few hours.  New York has never called out to me as a place to visit, so much noise and bustle, but never miss an opportunity to see somewhere different.

We boarded our bus and had a marvellous tour guide who seemed to love his city and his job, he made it very entertaining.  He said how lucky we were to go on Sunday when traffic was light as, through the week, it could be a nightmare.  Sunday or not, the traffic was awful.  Many places the road went from three or four lanes to two, with all the resulting jostling, honking and bad manners that go with that situation.  Sitting high in the bus gave us a good look down to the tangle of traffic below.  The driver used the front of his bus as a battering ram, never actually hitting anything but relentlessly pushing forward into the mess in front.

The tour was really interesting with so many highlights and famous buildings crammed into a relatively small space.  We made several stops for twenty minutes which allowed us to take photographs or wander around.  Dave was nowhere in sight as he and camera shot through the opened door of the bus like his tail was on fire.  I stayed, like a sheep, with a group of people, scared of getting lost and fighting back as I was jostled and pushed by the crowd.  I never lost sight of the bus during any of the stops.

Ground Zero was very solemn and seemed to have a cloud of sadness over it as though the souls of all those killed in 9/11 were still hovering there.  The new Trade Centre tower that is now open was so tall that I couldn’t see the top of it, trying to look up to the top made me dizzy.  Another stop was Rockerfeller Centre with its skating rink.  A very popular spot and it was fun to watch the skaters wearing summer clothes with mitts.

The hugeness of Central Park was quite amazing and nice to know that someone had the foresight to keep this green oasis in the middle of this city of noise and bustle.

I guess New Yorkers enjoy their big noisy city with crazy traffic and endless bustle but it was not for me. The charm of Washington has nothing in common with big, brash New York.  I am so glad I had the opportunity to see both of  these cities, their differences make them unique but I only lost my heart to one of them.