Which way is Up?

For those of you who don't know - both Katy and I are a bit directional challenged. Needless to say this has put us on high alert in our figuring out the New York Subway system. And let me tell you people it requires more than a knowledge of lefts and rights. It is about "uptowns" and "downtowns" and which level of the system you need…requiring stairs - lots of stairs. Then once you board you may be sitting backwards , sideways or forwards to the direction the train is moving . Finally when you arrive at your destination the stairs exiting will either be in the direction your going or against. And then there are usually multiple ways to exit onto the street especially in the main stations - Union Square being one of them. Like gophers popping our heads out of the various tunnel options, I think we have tried every tunnel at Union Square :) There is one that is closest to ABT and for the record and my own mental pathway it is Broadway and 16th! Did you hear that brain - 16th! Until we learned the street names it seemed like we came up a different way every time. The subway is only a one minute walk and one stop from our apartment - then transfer to another for one stop and if you transfer in the right direction and come up the right tunnel the entire trip takes only about 15-20 minutes!

What we have learned is that Greenwich Village, where we are staying, and anything towards the Staten Island Ferry and Financial District is "Downtown" and anytime we want to go to American Ballet Theater, Time Square or Central Park we follow "Uptown" signs. This all may sound simple enough but in the first week when you are down in the bellows of the subway station with the pulsating drone of the ever stopping and starting subway trains thick with the humid summer air mixed with the musical overtone of the musical buskers - these little things are important! And just when you think you have it all figured out you decide to be brave and take a number or letter that is going in the same direction that the subway you usually take only to discover that it is an "express" and doesn't stop at the same stops you are used to or happens to be a line than turns before you get to the spot you wanted on the map.

Anyways back to my story - we walked in the wrong direction towards the Staten Island Ferry but in the end it worked out to our benefit as we discovered Pier 17 which had a lovely boardwalk overlooking Brooklyn and a seaport that was only a short ways from the Brooklyn Bridge. This has been one of the bonuses of not being sure where we are going - we often end up discovering something that we weren't looking for!

After snacking on some New York fries along the boardwalk, we wound our way along towards the tip of Manhatten until we joined up with hundreds of others to board the free Staten Island Ferry for our free viewing of Lady Liberty. Once on the other side we had decided to have dinner, so attempted to search out a Carribean Restaurant recommended on the tourist info once we landed. Well it turned out to be closed and not much to see in the area left of the ferry….so I guess it doesn't always work out and we decided next time we go to Staten Island we will try walking right!

Ghost Town - Down Town

Saturday was the day to head further downtown Manhatten. We heading out on the downtown subway to take the Staten Island Ferry and see the Statue of Liberty. Once again a friendly New Yorker gave us a few tips before we embarked complete with a fun exaggerated New Yorker accent at the end that made us laugh. And thanks to another mom and daughter team from Katy's dance studio who came to ABT last year we have this set of New York City walks and a little fold out map so despite not really having a plan we never really feel lost. We came up out of the subway in "Financial District" so we shuffled through our cards until we saw a walk we could join up with. We quickly connected up with the Wall Street walk and soon discover that the Financial District sleeps on a Saturday. Where are all the business people in suits with their lap top bags? I thought they were work-a-holics who worked on the weekends! We are sure that Vancouver does not have this ghost town feeling on a Saturday. Maybe it is because shopping and skyscrapers are more mixed in downtown Vancouver? Even the little shops …one which held the shoes Katy was looking for for only $9.99 were all closed!! The only hubbub was created by the mass of tourists climbing up to take a photo by a statue of George Washington just down the street from one of the Trump buildings and adjacent to the New York Stock Exchange which was adorned with a huge United States Flag - probably for the upcoming July 4th celebrations. So we "occupy Wall Street" on a bench and eat our salads I packed for lunch. Soon we find ourselves merging into another walking card - the Ground Zero walk. Within minutes , two groups of 6 security guards came running towards us with urgent and serious faces adding to the drama of the area - never did find out what that was all about! i'm sure that area will forever be on high alert. The first place we went to was the church that stood unscathed despite sitting in such close proximity to the towers. Truely amazing that this church survived to become a refuge for the many injured and rescue personnel. ..it was hard to keep the tears back. I had heard about this but to be inside and see and read the memorial items was overwhelming. I remember being in our little townhouse in Ladner in the upstairs room when the kids were just little watching the second plane hit. Never really thought I would come to visit. We didn't stay too long in the area as we plan to book a tour of Ground Zero on another day. After trying to guess which were the new towers that were being built, and reapplying sunscreen in a nice shaded sitting area, we headed towards the Staten Island ferry…or at least we thought we did!