By Friday morning we had begun hearing little bits about Hurricane Irene approaching land. There was one tabloid type newspaper in the corner market that had something fantastic about how NYC was being evacuated. I didn't believe it because our hotel staff had not mentioned anything like that to us.
This was our final day in the city and we had a full day planned. We had originally not planned to see the Empire State Building because it was pricey. However, we walked past it several times because our hotel was so close to it. It began to look more and more appealing. And its story had been in that New York City documentary, so we knew a little bit about it already, which made it even more appealing. We decided to go.
First we stopped at a restaurant nearby for breakfast. Chuck and I had gone for an early morning walk and found this place. It was part grocery, part health food restaurant. It didn't seem that large but you could get anything there. There was a buffet with a huge bowl of yogurt surrounded with smaller bowls of many different kinds of fruit and granola, and other things that go with yogurt. There was a hot cereal area. There was a grill where you could get any kind of omelet, breakfast sandwich, pancake or waffle you could think to ask for. There was a coffee bar. There were not always prices, but the prices of the breakfast sandwiches were very reasonable, so we brought the kids there.
The other prices were not so reasonable, because the yogurt with fruit, etc. was charged by the ounce. But it was so so good. There was an eating area upstairs and we tried to get internet there unsuccessfully. Unsuccessful internet was kind of the routine for the trip.
We dropped the laptops back off at the room and headed for the Empire State building. They have a pretty good plan for the way they sell their tickets. There is a room with a maze of that kind of tape stuff that you go through when you are in line. It had lots of people in it, but it was moving fast and it didn't look too daunting. When you got to the door....there was another room with tape going back and forth full of people waiting in line. I think there was a third room as well. Finally you get to the room with a back-and-forth tape line that has actual tickets for sale in it. Chuck and Tim had gone ahead of us to buy the tickets, so Becca and I could skip that last long tape line. While we did that, we noticed a man carrying a large purse with a dog in it.
Beyond the ticket line was the security line. This was more serious than airport security. They x-rayed our bags, and we walked through scanners. Chuck had a pocket knife that he had to give up. Tim's bag was checked twice. Then the security person said that she could see something large and round in his bag. "Yes," he responded. "That is my frisbee."
"You can't take that," she stated very firmly and another guard came to help her. Tim removed the frisbee and they give him a strip of plastic with a number that they tore off the top of a bag. They shoved the frisbee into this bag and told Tim he could claim it later.
While we were going through this process, the man with the purse/dog came up to the the body scanner. We heard a guard say, "You can't bring that up here!" The man just as loudly proclaimed in impolite terms that the guard did not know what he was talking about. He COULD bring the dog because he had purchased his ticket in front of the building from a man who charged him an extra fee for the dog and assured him that the dog WOULD be allowed. The guard repeated, "You can't bring that up here!" And the man increased his impoliteness. We didn't wait to see that one end.
Now it was time to stand in a long back and forth line for the elevators. On the way we could look at exhibits telling about the building of the Empire State Building. That was pretty interesting! But the line after the exhibits was still pretty long.
And then an offer was made to use the stairs to go up the last 6 flights in order to avoid that line. We went.
As you would expect, the view from the top is pretty impressive and we have the photos to prove it.
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| the top of the Empire State Building from the top of the Empire State Building |
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| looking down on the Chrysler Building |
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| In the lobby in front of the wall facing the front door of the Empire State Building |
After we got back down and took these pics, Chuck and Tim went to reclaim their items and then back to our hotel to pick up our umbrellas while Becca and I went back to the shoe store for some Tom's shoes for me. Tom's shoes are pretty popular. They were out of the black in my size so I opted for a darker shade of brown, and they are quite comfortable. We got done in time to meet Chuck and Tim at the subway station.
Ellis Island is where the immigrants came through before entering the United States. There documents were processed, health checks given, and people either allowed in, kept for a while for health to improve, or turned away. I wanted to be able to look up family members who had immigrated in the 1870's and the 1920's, so we had made some calls to get names and dates of immigration.
Battery Park is at the southern tip of Manhattan. Close to the water is Castle Clinton, which is an unimpressive old building with not many windows or beautiful architecture to draw anyone's attention. Tickets for the ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty are sold inside of Castle Clinton. The line wound quite a distance around the outside of the building, so we found our way to the end of the line. As soon as we arrived at the end of the line a loudspeaker announcement was made that no more tickets would be sold for going inside the
Statue of Liberty that day. People could visit the island it was on, but they could not go up inside the statue. A group of people left the line at that point so we were moving.
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| Castle Clinton |
We ate crackers and cheese and dried fruits while we waited. It really wasn't a bad wait, and then we were inside the Castle Clinton and found there were many lines available for buying tickets, so that went fast too.
Security for the ferry was again more strict than airline security. Even the clasp of my barrette set off the metal detector.
The ferry ride was nice. I was worried a bit at first about seasickness, but it wasn't a problem. As we got farther from shore the skyline of NYC became so much easier to see. The absence of the World Trade Center towers was conspicuous from this view.
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| In this picture there is a building being built that is about half as tall as one of the World Trade Center towers. It is in the plaza where the WTC used to stand. That building will eventually be taller than the WTC. Also in that plaza are the lower buildings with greenish tops. Somewhere in between all of them is the memorial with the giant waterfalls in each of the basement areas of the two towers that fell. |
The farther we got from shore, the closer we got to the Statue of Liberty, which is as beautiful as you can imagine in the bright sunlight.
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Becca and Tim on the benches of the upper deck of the ferry
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| Ellis Island |
While we rode the ferry, and heard the conversations of those around us, we kept hearing more about Hurricane Irene. One impressive fact being discussed was that the subways were going to close at noon the next day. At this point we were still unaware that except for 9/11, the subways had never been shut down. But the predictions for the storm hitting land were that it would arrive after our Amtrak trains were safely out of the city.
As we neared Ellis Island, an announcement was made that Ellis Island would be closing a bit early in order to prepare for the hurricane.
We entered the building and a priority for me was to find out where I could look up our ancestors. Unfortunately, for that day, they were not allowing anyone to make any more searches because of the early closing. However, they assured us that this was better for us anyway. We could have access to all the same documents online for free at home, whereas at Ellis Island there was a fee for doing a search.
Chuck was beginning to wonder whether the closing of the subways meant that trains would also not run. Becca's train was scheduled to leave in the morning but the rest of us were not leaving till mid afternoon. Becca called Amtrak. They assured her that our trains were still running and that we had nothing to worry about.
We continued to tour the building but there was an undercurrent of worry about how things would play out with the storm. Also, it seemed that Ellis Island did not open until after most of our ancestors had already arrived in the United States. The stories of the building were compelling, but I wondered how I would be able to find out more about our stories.
Finally I asked some staff about where people went through immigration before Ellis Island was open. Castle Clinton was the place. That dark, windowless building that we came through without paying much attention to our surroundings was where our ancestors set foot in this country. It seemed more like a prison than a welcome.
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| The ferry |
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As we left Ellis Island
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Becca and Tim enjoying the ride back to NYC
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The guy with the sagging pants who was kind enough to match his shirt to his boxers!
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After Ellis Island we were scheduled to go to the Mets game in Queens. Chuck really wanted to go back to our room to pick up our train tickets, but the rest of us wanted to get going to the game so we could have a chance at seeing the opening pitch. Chuck acquiesced.
Mets stadium is on the far side of Queens, so it was one of the longer subway rides. The subway stops right in the parking lot of the stadium, so that makes it easy to go to a game. We had a bit of confusion about whether to buy tickets before or after security, but finally we were seated in the nosebleed section and watching the game already in progress.
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Citi Field, where the Mets play
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The stadium was really not very full at all
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Chuck in the empty stands
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There were some things that needed taking care of back in Kansas, so I left the game to make some phone calls, and ended up missing the whole first half of the game. Chuck came to check on me just as I was finishing up and we bought supper for the others. We haven't attended many major league games so I was unprepared for the cost of food inside the stadium. But it was a very very good hot dog!
As soon as Chuck finished eating he called Amtrak again. He didn't come back for the rest of the game, and finally I went to check on him. Our train was cancelled. If he would have had our tickets with him it would have been much easier for the ticket agent on the phone, but Chuck was persistent, and the ticket agent was sympathetic. After much time spend searching through using our names instead of ticket numbers, and then checking status of other trains still running, Chuck managed to get us all on a train leaving NYC at about 7am. We would get to Massachusetts near noon, but then no other trains would be running east that day at all. Monday was the first day we might be able to get a train to Chicago, which meant Tim would arrive at orientation 2 days late. We would have to spend a couple of days in Vermont with Becca waiting for the trains to run again. But at least we had tickets out of New York.
After the game we needed to book motels and figure out our plans. This is when the non-existent internet access became very frustrating. We took our laptop to the tiny lobby of the motel and could not get a signal there either. We asked at the desk. They seemed incredulous that we would try to get a signal on first floor. The signal was good from second floor to the top of the building. We explained that is was not good in our room on 6th floor. They reiterated that the signal was very good on the 6th floor. We could see that it was stupid to argue this one out and we went upstairs to second floor where we parked ourselves in the hallway next to an outlet.
We had a signal. We booked the Super 8 in White River Junction, and also looked at other options. Taking a bus from there to Chicago for the three of us was too expensive. Renting a car was not appealing because we were so tired and it was a very long drive. But it was hard to decided that Tim would miss the first 2 days of orientation. We went to bed tense and did not sleep well.
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