Catskills - 23 July 2012

True to Catskills reputation we were awoken in the wee small hours by the same thunderous noises that enticed Rip van Winkle up into the mountains. Being aware of the dangers posed by investigating such noises we remained in our tent and awoke a few hours later rather than a few years like poor old van Winkle.   We decided to push on regardless and purchased some plastic rubbish sacks from the camp store to put the wet tent and groundsheet into so we could  put them all in the rental car with a clear conscience.

We set off for Woodstock to purchase milk for breakfast and to get a coffee. There are a number of towns called Woodstock in the US but this Woodstock is "The Woodstock" and although the famous 1969 Festival is long gone the township is still pretty alternative and full of "peace" and "love" stuff.  So much so that the fiirst cafe we tried was so vegan we could not even have milk in our coffee.  Fortunately the waitress warned us before we ordered. (Perhaps we did not look like the typical vegan clientel.)

Then we discovered that we could not even buy milk in the town, the nearest groceries were a few miles outf of town, fortunately on our intended route.  As the rain returned at this point we cut short our look around Woodstock and set off for the grocery store.

Shortly we came across a reservoir lake so stopped for breakfast and then headed off through the Catskills with intermittent sun, showers and heavy rain heading for Ithaca, home of Cornell University.  We found the waterfall obove the town, had a look around the shops and visitied the lake front before heading across to the next finger lake, past Watkins Glen to our campsite for the night.

207 miles today. 352 total trip  States: New York

The road trip begins - 22 July 2012

Why is it that after a few nights in a hotel it seems impossible to get all the stuff back into the suitcases you arrived with, after all we had only been window-shopping on 5th Ave?

Nevertheless, we crammed it all in somewhere and hauled our multitudinous suitcases and carry on bags down to the lobby and out to the street and tried a new experience; hailing a New York yellow cab.  With a little difficulty the luggage was crammed in and we set off back to JFK, not because we were flying but that was the only place we could collect a rental car on a Sunday.  Since we drove back to Manhattan on our way out of town it was a little inefficient but needs must.

After attempting to convince me to pay extra for a decent sized car she discovered that they had none available of the size booked and paid for so upgraded us for free to a very new Ford Fusion; tres comfortable!

So off we set on our road trip across the US, from New York to California with Illinois plates..  We had been, very generously, given a brand new sat-nav with US maps so there was no real bother negotiating our way out of Nrew York back through Manhattan and then up the Hudson River valley.  After a stop for supplies we came across the 'Walkway over the Hudson' State Park so stopped for lunch and to walk partway across what is now the longest footbridge in the world. (It used to be a railway bridge.) It was a bit hot (and we did not have the time) to make the full crossing and back so we went as far as the river for the photo shots and returned.

A few miles north was one of the Vanderbilt Mansions that is now a National Park and we arrived just a few minutes before the 3pm tour with an excellent, informative and engaging guide.  The Vanderbilt fortune began with the Staten Island ferry that today provides rides to all for nothinig.

Pressing on, we crossed the Hudson a few miles futher north and arrived at Saugerties, our first destination.  Consulting the information about things nearby we discovered the Saugerties Lighthouse and set off to find it.  What a fabulous surprise; after a short w alk from the road there was this little picture perfect house with a light on the top, not at all what we had expected to see.  Our picnic dinner was at a park back in town on a tributary river, the Esopus Creek.

145 miles today, 145 miles total.  States: New York.

New York on $0 a day - 21 July 2012

By last night we had used the equivalent of the cost of our 1-week Metro passes in subway and bus rides so all rides from now on were "free".  Our first free ride took us to the start of the High Line park.  The High Line is a fabulous re-use of an old transport link.

When the riverfront here was a major transport hub the freight rail lines were raised to the third floor level to feed freight straight into warehouses while making it safer for pedestrians and vehicles at ground level.  When the wharves closed and freight moved to trucks the line was disused and became a bit of an eyesore as nature slowly reclaimed it.

There were moves to dismantle and remove the tracks but some felt is should be saved and those voices finally won and site was converted to a really attractive elevated long thin park which is a wonderful escape from the hustle and bustle below.

Having walked the High Line from 12th to 30th St we decided we were close enough to finally go and find the Empire State Building close-up.  From there it was only a shortish walk to the Chrysler Building.  While they are impressive to stare up at, the buildings cannot really be appreciated so close so we decided to ride the Metro to Queens to look at the city scape from across the water and thus we chanced upon another piece of park converted from its industrial past. The area had also been part of the old railroad/freight infrastructure and was now an attractive amenity area.

From there we rode the Metro back to Times Square and changed to the line for South Ferry. This time, instead of getting the Statue of Liberty ferry we caught the Staten Island ferry which costs nothing to ride and provides wonderful free views of the Manhattan and New Jersey skylines as well as the Statue of Liberty. Not feeling any particular need to visit Staten Island itself we, like dozens of others, simply caught the next ferry back to Manhattan.

Next door to the Staten Island ferry terminal is the beautiful old Govenor's Island terminal building. Taking a closer look we discovered that the ferry to this National Park is also free so we decided to invstigate further and disovered yet another example of urban renewal as this ex military and coastguard base is being turned into a wonderful park just a 10-minute ride from the city.

After a walk around the main part of the island we returned to Manhattan and rode the Metro to Greenwich for a free self-guided walk through the village to round off our New York on $0 a day.

... and the land of the free - 20 July 2012

When young Emma Lazarus penned her sonnet containing the now immortal words, "Give me ... your huddled masses" I don't imagine she was thinking about the masses of tourists huddled under umbrellas and ponchos in the middle of summer as they were today. We had booked our tickets for the Statue of Liberty visit today based on the long-range foarecast which promised Friday was the best day of our stay in New York. However the reality turned out quite different with drizzle all day and occasional heavy showers.

 As it happened it was not a bad day to visit as the tour also takes in Ellis Island and that is several hours of indoor activity when it would have been a shame to be inside had it been a glorious day. So, all we missed out on was blue skies behind the statue and the Manhattan skyline for our photos.

The subway to Battery Park is right outside the hotel door and then there is only a short walk at the far end to get across Battery Park to Castle Clinton where the ferries depart. Naturally there was the full, shoes-off, belts-off, even watches-off, security hoo-haa before getting on the ferry for the short ride to Liberty Island. The statue is really very impressive, close-up and it is amazing to think that when completed it was the tallest structure in the eastern US.

There was a short intermission in the rain which enabled us to take a second walk around the island without umbrellas getting in the road when snapping pictures. Because the statue is under renovation there is no access to the interior or even the pedestal so it was time to make the short hop to Ellis Island.

Renovated in the late 80s after falling into disrepair following its closure in 1954, the facility is now a stunning tribute to the 12 million immigrants who poured through these rooms between 1898 and 1924 at the rate of about 5000 per day. The exhibitions are really well done and are very moving, as well as educational (10% of the population of Sweden emmigrated to the US) and cover the immigration to the US from the times of the early colonists up to modern times, including the 12 million Afrcans who were forcibly "immigrated".

 At the end of all this, the question is posed, but not really answered, "What makes an American?"

Money, money, money - 19 July 2012

Although London seems to be the financial capital of the world, New York is inextricably linked with high finance so we started the day on Wall St which is just a short walk from our hotel. The area is protected to keep traffic out and is crawling with NYPD officers and you cannot even sit on a bollard without being moved on. The official reason was that I might fall off and injure myself but I suspect that I had sat just a few moments too long outside the Federal Reserve surfing the web on a smart phone. 

After wandering Wall St end-to-end and seeing the NY Stock Exchange we found an ATM on Wall St to cement the link between Wall St and money then wandered off for a look at Chinatown and on out the other side and into Little Italy. On the far side we deided it was time to ride the Metro and headed for Grand Central Station. Grand Central is a fantastic space, so typicial of the era and so different from the typical untilitarian functionality of many modern transport facilities.

At the station we discovered that there was a very convenient cross-town shuttle to Times Square so that was our next "money" stop as the centre of the entertainment spending for New York. To soak up the atmosphere we sat in the square and sampled the best hot dogs in New York as part of the NY experience. We knew that they were the best hot-dogs in NY because it said so on the side of the food cart that was selling them and they would not lie, surely?

After checking out all the incredible video billboards and the Times Square New-Year's-Eve ball we wandered back to 6th Ave to catch a bus up to 70th St to visit the Frick collection, put together by a monied titan of industry to satisfy his love of the finer things in life. The collection is housed in what was his home but which was built and furnished more as a museum to display the collection which he always intended to leave as a gift for all to enjoy. The collection has many fantastic paintings with most of the great names represented and, of course, the last of the Sevres pot-pourri ships.

Our next money stop was "5th Ave". As we left the Frick we were on 5th Ave and 5th Ave runs for many miles but when anyone says "5th Ave" it is the luxury shopping section that comes to mind. We avoided the cash registers and wandered down as far as 34th St to head over to the largest shop in the world, Macy's.

New York, New York - 18 July 2012

The Big Apple!  What can you say? How many books have we read based in New York? How many movies have we seen set in New York? And now we are here.

Because our body clocks are in some other time zone, we woke very early and as the TV weather reports suggested temperatures above 90F followed by thunderstorms, we decided to get ahead of the game so were off early to walk the Brooklyn Bridge, well half the bridge anyway.  Repair work is underway and high walls blocked the views except from the piers and the mid-point, so we walked as far as the middle for our views of the New York skyline.

Back on shore we headed for the 9/11 Memorial only to find a line for tickets. However we got in on the next available timed entry slot and headed off for the entrance which is a few blocks from the ticket office and very informative visitor centre.  Finally arriving, the security was as totally over-the-top as we expected it would be with at least 4 people checking our tickets along the walk to ground zero and a full airport, belts-off etc security check.

The actual memorial pools are very impressive, with their 1 acre sized holes in the ground where the tower foundations were and the final waterfall drop cunningly arranged so that you cannot see the bottom. Having walked around the two pools we located the survivor tree, the only tree on site which is not a swamp white oak.  It is a Callery pear tree which was originally on site and survived the destruction as a stump in the debris.  Nursed back to health, it has been returned as the "Survivor Tree".

The temperature was rising so we road the Metro to 72nd St and set off across Central Park heading in the vague direction of either the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the Frick Collection, both of which are on our 'must visit' list.  We decided on the Metropolitan as a pleasant place to avoid the heat and any possible thunderstorms. 

Even with about 4 hours to spend and moving at a fairly brisk pace, there is only so much that you can see in this amazing collection.  There was one piece in particular that was on our list and we found it without too much hassle.  The Sevres porcelain factory made pot-pourri holders in the shape of styilised ships with delicate rigging. Because they were particularly hard to make, only 12 survived the firing process and, reportedly, only 10 survive today, usually in a set with two matching vases; we have seen the three at Waddesdon Manor; one at Buckingham Palace; one in the Wallace Collection; one in the Louvre; one in LA in the J Paul Getty collection; the one today and one yet to find in the Frick Collection.  We cannot find any information of the location of the tenth.

We found the collection of re-created interiors from different periods most interesting and the early American folk art fascinating along with and introduction to many American artists that we had not previously encountered.

As predicted the thunder arrived and the heavens opened and the we watched the rain cascading down the glass roof of the atrium, smug in the fact that we were inside and dry.  However, when it came time to leave, the rain was still bucketing down and our umbrella and coats were several miles away in downtown NY.  The foyer was packed with people waiting for a break as the supplies of plastic ponchos had sold out and even at $35 each there had been quite a run on umbrellas.

There was a slight lessening in intensity of the rain and we decided to make a dash for a bus, jumping on to the first one available.It was a fortuitous choice as it terminated at Penn St station where we could get a C line Metro to within a hundred yards of our hotel.Very slightly damp but not drenched like several other bus passengers we return tired but satisfied with a day well lived.