Day two NY

Liberty and Ellis Island, the subway, ground zero



Those are our goals for today. Jen has lived in New York now since she came out to attend Sarah Lawrence College and become a drama major in the big city. She is a New Yorker now, who vacations on the West Coast. Packing a back pack of PB and J sandwiches she puts 2 year old Cole in his stroller and heads out the door of the apartment. Catch the two doored elevator, we go out the basement this time. It has a ramp for the stroller to get outside. We stop at the local mini mart to pick up cold water bottles. The teller is an Indian woman who's children go to the same school as Sebastian. Jen and she converse about school for a moment. Then we head down the street to the subway.



Normally I could never get Tom to take the subway. He remembers the era, pre Gulianni, when subways in America were just not safe. He does not like going below ground, but Jen is in the lead, so he hands himself over into her care with good spirit, if only slightly tense. We buy a $50 subway card for all of us. It turns out each use though is limited to 4 people at a time. The card stops working at Jen and Tom. Jen doesn't even blink. Sebastian walks around to the emergency gate and opens the cage style door. Alarms ring out loudly. Jen pushes the stroller through with Cole and Tom.



She says the stroller doesn't fit the turn styles anyway. Its a poor design. We do this routine every time we hit a turn style. Once there is even a man in the booth. He turns off the alarm for Jen's illegal entry. Jen tells us this is normal. The system has flaws and one of the biggest is it is not stroller or handicap friendly at most stations. So everyone just circumvents the system as needed. She is not the only one we see set off the alarms while we are underground. She says some stations have permanently disabled the alarms, as they are really useless noise.



We switch trains underground and are swiftly at the end of Manhattan, near Battery Park. We stop and see the construction at the World Trade Center as it is still called locally. It is a construction sight still, The new tower is barely begun. Sebastian says last time he was down there it was still in clean up mode. We walk through a beautiful sky scraper nearby that has a second story viewing area. You can look down on the pit and the cranes to see the progress. On the other side of this building is the Battery park walk. It is a paved park that runs along the water for miles. At one end you can catch the fairies to Ellis Island.



Tom and I admire the real estate along the walkway. Jen tells us after 9/11 everyone abandoned the water front. You could get homes really cheaply, but if you did, the air quality was so poor that many people came down with respiratory ailments. She is content with her home out in Brooklyn a little off the fray of the mega wealthy.



We reach our destination of the ferries. The line is long, blocks long. Jen and Tom go to buy tickets in the ticket line while I hold our spot in the line for ticket holders. We have to go through security check these days before getting on the fairy. The day has gotten hotter, so the boys go to sit in the shade. I have a big sun hat so I don't mind standing in the sun. It is around noon.



When we reach the security check area the line splits to give you the illusion that you are a lot closer to the end. We have to unload the sleeping Cole from his stroller so they can check it thoroughly. I hold Cole. He goes right back in and back to sleep immediately. We got lucky on that one.



Cole has the tendency to wake up angry and scream inconsolably. Jen's last trip home was a nightmare as the woman sitting next to her on the plane was as unforgiving as Cole. The woman Barraged her with criticism over what a horrible parent she was for not being able to keep her child happy and quiet. After the flight the man behind Jen apologized for the woman's behavior. Cole is just one of those kids that wakes up cranky all the time. But he doesn't complain at any other time. He is a great family participant once fully awake. So the transfer out and back in to the stroller without disturbing his nap was a blessing.



I had to pass through the medal detector screen three times before they finally cleared me. I figure it was my titanium joint in my finger that kept setting it off. They were as thorough as the airport. Though they did let us keep our water bottles. In this 90 degree heat, I would hope so. The ride was delightful even if the fairy was packed. On the water it was much more pleasant than being in the city on a hot day. We hauled the sleeping Cole in his stroller all the way to the top for the outside view. I grabbed one end and Jen had the other for the first floor. I handed my end over to Trevor for the next flight of stairs. Jen said afterwards though she would stay on the first floor with the stroller for the other stages of the ferry rides.



Liberty is huge. She is much more impressive in person. 350 feet tall. Her sandled feet are as big as a minivan. You can't get that perspective except in person. We did not go in , but just walked the island. We did hit the gift shop and have a family picture taken by a professional photographer for an expensive price. But I like the guarantee that you get a good family shot at least once on the vacation.



What the photo did show me was my sun hat looked dorky, I was fat and my clothes are not becoming. Tom said he would take me shopping and for me not to buy my own clothes without him. I am looking forward to it.

when we went to catch the next leg of the trip, at the last minute we remembered to pick up the pictures Tom and I ran back to the gift shop. Jen loaded with the boys. Tom and I missed the fairy. At least we knew we were all going to the same place. We tried to cajole the guard into squeezing us on, but she just said our children should not have loaded without us. So we sat in the shade and waited for the next fairy which come every 20 minutes.

Ellis Island gave us goose bumps. Jen was waiting in her own shade for us when we arrived. The building is both larger than I thought and smaller as you think of all the people that came through its doors. You could hear other tourists speaking as many languages as you could name also checking out the place where so many from all over the world had been processed and accepted or rejected. Only 1% failed to pass.

There was a contagious eye disease that was an automatic reject. For a quick medical exam, pass angers didn't know this, but doctors stood at the top of the flight of marble stairs that reached the second story of the extremely tall ceilinged building. It was the first stage of the waiting line off the boat. The doctors watched to see how you walked. If you could do the flight of stairs then odds were that you were healthy and well. If you struggled with the stairs you were pulled into another line for further inspection. It was a quick and easy health check up.

The museum reeks of history. After immigration changed to visas, the building was used as a hospital in WWI and a jail in WWII. It had worn out its use by 1954 and needed help. It had been vandalized and anything of worth had been stripped, from windows to furniture. Ronald Reagan hired Lee Iaccoca to raise private funds to save the facility from complete loss. Now it stands as a reminder of a time when we were expanding and wanted and needed the riffraff of the world.

The bravery of these people, who didn't have two cents to rub together, to jump on a crowded boat in primitive conditions, travel to a country where they don't speak the language, to accept being poked and prodded like cattle, in order to have just a glimmer of hope that life could be better than where they came from. If you have ever traveled to a foreign country and thought about what you would do if you lost your wallet, that is only a fraction of the stress these people where willing to endure. I can barely get Tom to travel with the family to visit my sister let alone a foreign country.

We were hungry by the time we got back to Battery Park. The restaurant Jen wanted to take us to was in Little India in North Manhattan. I had asked Jen for Ethnic and something really New York. I could see she was enjoying our walk. Once we got off the subway train onto 45th and 6th, we were definitely in the New York of the immigrants. We walked down a street with tattoo parlors and little tourist shops every 10 feet. There were restaurants with steps down from the sidewalk and restaurants with steps up from the sidewalk, right on top of each other. Men stood at the doorways calling out to us trying to get us to pick their restaurant to have a meal. We rounded a corner and Jen took us up to the one of her choice.

It was hysterical. The place was eight feet wide, with narrow tables running down both sides. The restaurant ended 30 feet in the back. A star bucks coffee shop is twice as big. Red shiny wall paper covered the walls and all the chairs were red. I could barely squeeze into mine behind the table. From the ceiling hung strands of lights. So many lights, you could not see how high the ceiling really was. The lights were red and some were white. Many were chili pepper lights. If you looked closely you could see an occasional sea shell chandelier hanging in the lights. The waiter had an Indian accent as did the matrade and the bus boy. It was definitely ethnic. We all looked around the place with glee. It was just the experience I wanted my boys to have. Something way out of their comfort box, but perfectly safe. Hor douvers arrived, everything was fried. I could not identify what they served us but I enjoyed it. Sometimes it is best not to ask but just try it.

Tom told the waiter to choose for him, something medium spicy beef. What came was a delectable dish rich in flavor. I ordered the most staid dish of all. I love curried chicken and never get to have it at home so that is what I ordered. It was delicious. The boys liked the dishes they ordered. Trevor had a lamb dish that I thought was scrumptious. We passed around bites so everyone could try each others. Cole and Sebastian were old hands at eating out so they were enjoying our reactions. Cole had a tomato soup that he enjoyed smearing around and decorating his white place mat. But he also ate well. The deep ceramic spoon almost stumped him as it was a little difficult for him to get into his mouth. I helped him change to a regular spoon so he could eat more and spill less.

The whole atmosphere was wonderful. It felt exotic. The food was great. Jen said when friends say they want ethnic this is where she often takes people since it is just a little over the top exotic decoration and fun.

We headed home after dinner, exhausted from a long day of being tourists. The kids showered first before bed. Jen said adults get morning showers, kids shower at night. Otherwise there is a Juggernaut in the bathroom in the mornings. After everyone was finished though I did slip into the shower for a quick rinse of the city dirt. Jen said she used to bath three times a day when she first moved to New York, because of the dirt and sweat of the city.

We slept soundly with plans for our last day in New York percolating in our brains.