New York City

October 18, 2017

We stayed in Port Washington, New York for a couple of days waiting for good weather. We figured it would be a good time to visit New York City so we took the Long Island Rail Road (similar to CalTrain) into the city and arrived at Penn Station. From there we walked to the Empire State Building and went to the top for some fabulous views.

This is looking east towards Port Washington where Thistle is.

This is looking south towards the East River which we will transit soon. You can also see the Chrysler Building.

This is looking southwest towards the mouth of the Hudson River. You can see Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty in the distance.

Next we walked to the Library, used in the filming of "Ghost Busters". It really is a beautiful and inspiring building.

In fact, New York City is full of fascinating and historically important buildings like Grand Central Station, 

St. Patrick's Cathedral,

Macys,

and Saint Thomas Church.

Next we walked up Fifth Avenue along Central Park to the Metropolitan Museum of Art where we saw gorgeous works of art by Cassatt,

Degas,

Monet,

Pierre August Cot,

Bouguereau,

and this monumental work by Emanuel Leutze.

The museum also has a nice collection of sculpture,

and some nice American glass

including these Early American flasks.

After walking to Times Square in the evening we crashed at what has to be the worst hotel ever. As if the lumpy, noisy bed weren't bad enough, the shared bathrooms had horrible shower heads and no exhaust fans. The "breakfast" consisted of hot water and instant coffee packets, cookies, and bananas. We've stayed in nicer hotels in third world countries, but we were so tired from walking all day that we slept like logs anyway.

We walked to Washington Square and then to the 9/11 Memorial. I remember so vividly watching the events of that morning, and the museum does a great job of documenting it.

We also walked by Battery Park, Wall Street, the Charging Bull, the Brooklyn Bridge, and the tallships.

We took our last ride on the subway back to Penn Station, hopped on the LIRR, walked back to the public landing at Port Washington, took the water taxi back to Thistle and got a good night's sleep in preparation for the East River.

The next day we made the quick run (with the current) down the East River and to the anchorage near Lady Liberty. Then we made the 32 hour run around New Jersey, up the Delaware River, and into the Chesapeake Bay.