1998 Trip to the United States
New York
After our pleasant time in and around New England we next made our way to New York, using a comfortable bus, operated by Peter Pan Bus Lines.
I ought to say at this point that New York was a place Eric had never had any desire to visit, thinking of it as a busy. noisy, probably dirty and more than likely violent city. This I am happy to say turned out to be very far from the truth and we never once felt unsure of ourselves or threatened in any way. A highly visible but low profile police presence absolutely everywhere must cost the city a fortune in manpower but probably pays for itself time and again as tourists come in increasing numbers and spend their dollars.
We checked into our reasonably priced hotel, right in the heart of Manhattan early on a Saturday evening. No sooner had we got to our room when we received a phone call from none other than Bud Adams himself, welcoming us to his patch. We swiftly made arrangements to visit Maria and himself for a meal at their apartment the next evening. We also had a FAX from "Big Apple Greeters", more later.
The first evening we went for a meal in a restaurant on Greeley Square. Here we saw a statue of Horace Greeley (1811-1872). He started the New Yorker and then later the daily New York Tribune which he edited until his death. Politically he was a bit of a maverick, originally supporting the southern states in their right to secede from the union but later becoming an advocate of the Civil War. Even in this he was somewhat inconsistent in that he travelled to Richmond after the war to sign the bail-bond of Jefferson Davis. It was he who was responsible for saying "Go west young man. Go west". Advice he did not, of course, follow himself.
We spent a
rather quiet Sunday, finding our feet in the big city and
later walked down to 14th Street to meet the Adams's and , of course,
Victor, who has since sadly died. Once again, on meeting an Elder for
the first time, we felt we had known Bud and Maria for years. They
made us so welcome and we had a lovely meal and a very pleasant
evening in their home.
Next morning we were up bright and early and by 10:00 am were waiting in the foyer of the hotel for our hosts for the day from "Big Apple Greeters". For those out of town Americans and "furreners" of all types we can highly recommend this organization. They consist of volunteers who completely free of charge escort visitors around the parts of New York they have indicated an interest in. They operate from an office in the Municipal Building and we had contacted them before we left England. Their "blurb" says that they will "Show you what New York City life is really like, by taking you to neighborhoods throughout the five boroughs that most visitors never see - where New Yorkers live, work and raise their families". In our case we were assigned to Abe and Ciciley Margolis, a lovely retired couple, who arrived complete with maps and vouchers for our first tentative experiments with the New York Transportation system. Before the end of the day they made sure we were familiar with the workings of buses and subways and all similar practicalities.
The four of us went by bus down to the Financial District and picked
up tickets for a free tour of the Stock Exchange, and after a quick
cup of coffee it was time for the tour to start.
This self-guided
tour starts with an introductory video presentation and you then
proceed to a viewing gallery above the trading floor, quite
entertaining, but you don't see much more than you see on the
occasional news item on TV. The tour, naturally finishes at the
........you've guessed it.......gift shop!
We next walked up Wall Street to the Federal Hall building, which has
a superb statue of George Washington in front of it, although the
pigeons seem to enjoy sitting on his head. The present building is
somewhat different from the one built on the site in 1702, as a City
Hall for New York. After the Revolution it was one of the sites at
which the Continental Congress convened. When the new Constitution
was ratified the capital remained in New York and it was here that
George Washington was sworn in as first President on 30th April,
1789. 
When the capital moved to
Philadelphia, in
1790, Federal Hall
again became City Hall, until it's demolition in 1812. The present
building was built as a Customs House between 1834 and 1842. In 1862
the Customs House moved further down Wall Street and the building
became the United States Subtreasury and millions of dollars worth of
gold and silver were stored there until 1925. Today the building is
a National Monument, administered by the Parks Service and can be
toured free of charge.
We took lunch at the South Street Seaport complex, which had used to be the sailing ship port and has now been developed as a rather attractive restaurant and shopping facility with views over to Brooklyn and of the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges. It is also adjacent to the Fish market. After lunch the Margolis's took us by subway to Greenwich Village. This, was my one big disappointment in New York. Having read so many times in travel books and novels I had expected Washington Square to be pretty and probably flower-bedecked. It was neither, just rather boring and a bit smelly from dog walking etc. Granted some of the narrow streets were tree lined and quite interesting but apart from the Washington Gate, like a mini Arc de Triomph or Marble Arch left me cold. The ice creams we bought there were fine though.
Our day with the Margolis's ended with a visit to a wonderful foodstore, Balducci's, where we spent a happy half hour or so browsing and indulging our senses with the apparently millions of goodies on sale there. We travelled back to our hotel by bus and were amused to see that the New York buses can "kneel". When an elderly or infirm person waits to board the bus the driver can tilt the platform to make it easier for them to step up. I'm relieved to say they never did it for us so must have considered us neither too old nor too infirm to board unaided, even after a heavy day sightseeing.
During the next few days we joined various escorted tours to see the
"Sights" and revelled in it all. We went to Central Park, up the
Empire State building, round the Statue of Liberty, on a cruise around
Manhattan, Lincoln Centre, Rockefeller Centre, World Trade Centre,
United Nations, several museums, Chinese/Italian areas, spent some
money in Macy's and even went on an evening tour to Brooklyn to see
the lights of Manhattan from over the water. A meal was almost
enjoyed in a superb MacDonalds complete with uniformed doorman
and
waitresses and live music played by a young man in evening attire
seated at a grand piano. You name it we did it. That is all apart
from a theatre visit. Can we be the only people to visit New York
and not go to see a show on Broadway? There was nothing on at the
time that really interested us I'm afraid. The highlight we saved
until our last full day in the city when Audrey and Marti came over
from New Jersey and joined us with Bud and Maria for a great lunch and
wonderful bon homie. Only a few months later we were even more
grateful for this very pleasant day in that Bud sadly died. We miss
him dreadfully on the Elder's list and as people who met him
personally we considered it an enormous privilege that we had been
given the opportunity to do so. Those of you who weren't so
fortunate missed a treat I can tell you. He was every bit as witty,
amusing and charming in person as he appeared on the list.
A final three "historical" facts regarding New York. 1. Did you know that on the Hudson River the landing stage where the Titanic was due to arrive is still there, albeit in a rather dilapidated state but the gateway with White Star Line emblazoned on it is there?
2. Ellis Island, which has recently been smartened up, only normally
held immigrants for less than two days and that most of them never
entered Manhattan but went out towards New Jersey.
3. During WW2 when American ships were sending food and goods over to Britain there was nothing to send back across the Atlantic and to stabilise the otherwise empty ships for their return journey they used the rubble from bomb damaged buildings of cities such as London and Liverpool. When they reached New York this was used as infill and the reclaimed land off the south east of Manhattan, where they are creating parks and leisure areas, was originally British!