Take a bite, or many bites, out of The Big Apple.  So we took the NewJersey Transit to New York City. The modern coach bus goes to the 42nd StreetPort Authority. The Port Authority is one of the many hubs of groundtransportation in NYC. Most of your major bus companies are located there andyou can make connections with almost every subway line via a walking tunnel toTimes Square. The rail hubs are Grand Central Station, connected by subwayshuttle from Times Square, and Penn Station, a two-stop jaunt on the subway.The subway system in Manhattan is the quickest and most efficient form oftransportation on the island, with stops within four to six blocks of eachother. The system used to be confusing with many independent lines designatedby different letters: IRT, BMT, etc. Today the various routes are designated bycolors and either numbers or letters. A map shows all of the routes and theirconnecting points. The subways system today is very easy to follow. It is alsosafe, contrary to some people’s perceptions. Here are a few little known factsabout the system. The tunnels go at least eight stories below the ground. Thereare miles of mazes even under the tubes themselves, where the homeless havemade their homes. On one of the lines from Manhattan to Queens, the tracksliterally ride on water under the East River. Even engineers do not know how tocorrect the problem. The money collected at the ticket booths is sent by aspecial train which travels the system. The trains are very long, at least tencars in length. Most of the cars have benches along the sides, which leavesmost of the car for standing room. There are three exits on each side of thecar, which allows quick entrance and egress. The riders are called straphangers, because they hold on to straps hanging from the ceiling whileriding.  The newer cars post the next stop on signs in the car. Some evenhave a map of the route and the present location of the car lit up on themap.

The city of New York consists of five Boroughs: Kings (Manhattan), Queens,Bronx, Brooklyn, and Richmond (Staten Island). All of the boroughs areconnected by subway or train or bus, except for Staten Island which is servicedby the famed ferry. More about the different areas when we visit them.

Went for desert at Café Lalo, where part of the movie “You’ve Got Mail” wasfilmed. Then we walked up Broadway to Fairfield Market, a few blocks South ofWorld famous Zabars, a grocery and kitchen appliance store (but so much more:an experience). I was surprised by the variety of fresh produce and meats,fish, and poultry and relatively low prices. The aisles are very narrow in thestore, due to the fact that space is at a premium in Manhattan. Buy anunlimited Metro Pass, $21.00 for the week, and hop on a Downtown bound bus onBroadway. Downtown means towards the Battery, the Southernmost point ofManhattan.

Uptown is Northbound and Cross-town is either to the East River(East Side)or the Hudson River(West Side). What a wonderful and safe way to see the city.We passed by Columbus Circle, the edge of Central Park, Julliard, LincolnCenter, the Theater District, and of course glitzy vibrant Times Square. Thebus then turned East on 42nd Street and passed by the Public Library, GrandCentral Station, and ended at The United Nations Building.

As long as fate brought us there, we toured the famed United Nationsbuilding. Mati from Senegal in Western Africa, was our tour guide and was veryknowledgeable about the workings of the UN. It is not the paper tiger that somepeople claim it is. It is a real forum for all of the nations of the world todiscuss mutual concerns: military conflicts, land mines, disease, hunger,trade, etc. Perhaps the real tigers are the ones who want to control the othernations or make huge profits by fostering these problems. Some of the Chamberswere in use, namely the Security Council, and the Council for Economic andSocial Justice. They were in session.

The Lexington Avenue bus goes further Downtown. Along the way we passedChinatown, the Bowery, Little Italy, skirted Greenwich Village, and ended atcity hall. There are so many different types of restaurants in NY that youcould eat at a different one every single night and not repeat yourself foryour entire lifetime.

Today we rode the subways. First we went Uptown to the Northern tip ofManhattan to Tryon Park and the fort. This is the highest point on Manhattan,overlooking both the Hudson and the East Rivers. At the northern most point ofthe park is The Cloisters Museum. This unique museum consists of five medievalcloisters rescued from buildings being demolished in Europe, along with chapelsand numerous artifacts. Some of the statuary was being used as scarecrows byfarmers, while others were found in junk piles. One outstanding room is theUnicorn Tapestries, which tell of the hunt, death, and resurrection of theunicorn-a symbol of Jesus Christ. The tapestries contain over one hundreddifferent species of medieval plants woven into the stories. They are justbreathtaking not only from their beauty but also from the textures of theweave.

We went back to Times Square and then hopped on the route #7 subway toQueens and Flushing Meadows, the site of the 1963 Worlds Fair with its massivesculpture of the world. On either side of the train station are Shea Stadium,home of the NY Mets baseball team and Arthur Ashe Stadium, site of the US OpenTennis Tournament. Back on the train to Times Square and on to W route to ConeyIsland at the tip of Brooklyn. We ate a Nathan’s World Famous Hot Dog. Itcannot compare to a Chicago Vienna Hot Dog. The amusement park was closed, openonly on weekends while school is in session. The Cyclone, their famous rollercoaster, had just closed up. Thank our growling stomachs for this lack oftiming. It is open daily from 12:00 to 4:00. The coaster does not look likemuch. But looks are deceiving. This baby shakes, rattles, and rolls. I wantedto see if it still gave me the same thrills as the last time I rode it in 1963.But that was to be for a later day, which never came.

This day was reserved to visit the grand dame of New York City, the Statueof Liberty. Taking the train to Battery Park at the lower tip of Manhattan, wepurchased our tickets at the Castle Clinton, once a fortress guardian for theharbor, then a concert venue (the American debut of Jenny Lind), then animmigration port of entry, and now the ticket office for our lady. Circular indesign, it is only fitting that one must pass through a fortress to gain accessto greet the great lady. On the fifteen minute boat trip to Governors Island itis easy to imagine the awe and deep feelings of overwhelming joy of themillions of immigrants who first envisioned her while sailing through theVerrazano Narrows into New York Harbor. The statue, donated by France over onehundred years ago, stands on another fort, one of five which guarded theharbor. The pedestal rises eleven stories and the lady herself stands onehundred fifty-one feet. Once again security is very tight and visitors are notallowed either in the museum, on the pedestal, or into the crown. But justbeing in her presence was as said in Hebrew, “Dayenu” (It would have beenenough).

Embarking on the boat again we went to Ellis Island, built in 1892 toprocess the great flood of immigrants. Both of our ancestors arrived beforethat date, so they might have come through Castle Clinton, AKA, Gardens or adifferent port of entry. Charlie Walker was our Ranger tour guide. Once a drillinstructor, he has a voice to match. He also missed his calling to the stage,because the tour he gave was more of a living presentation with a cast ofcharacters than a boring recitation of facts and figures. He definitely loveshis job. The experience of Ellis Island was reserved for passengers in steerageclass. Remembering the movie “Titanic”, steerage was the lowest of the low. Thepassengers in first and second class were processed on board ship. After theydisembarked, the ship proceeded to Ellis Island. There the steerage class ranthe gauntlet of the eyes of the inspectors. I was reminded of the pictures ofthe holocaust where the prisoners were “selected”. If you walked funny,protested, or looked frail, your clothing was chalk-marked for furtherinspection and processing. Many of these people were fleeing tyrannical regimesand were terrified of uniformed men. Here in America they were being orderedabout by more men. Families were separated, while the processing took place-men on one side and women and children on the other side of the room. The goodnews is that the process generally took less than five hours and only 2% of thetwelve million immigrants were deported back to their home lands. The ones whoremained took the trains Westbound out of New Jersey or stayed in NYC, diggingthe subways or other back breaking jobs.

Arriving back at Battery Park we walked to Broadway. At the entrance was thesculpture of the Peace Globe which stood in the World Trade Center Plaza.Miraculously it withstood the tragedy and is now at the foot of Broadway beingkept vigil by an eternal flame. Although damaged, the globe still stands forpeace in this world.

Walked through the financial district, which looks like a war zone,barricades and armed police patrolling the area. Our goal was Federal Hall atthe corners of Nassau, Broad and Wall streets. Federal Hall was the firstcapital of the United States. Here Washington was sworn in as president and theCongress met. The building has long been torn down. In its place is aNeo-Classical designed building, Parthenon-like exterior and Pantheon-likeinterior. Used as a customs house and then as a depository for US gold reservesduring the Civil War, it is now a museum remembering our first capital. One oftheir prized possessions is the Bible which Washington used for hisinauguration (the one that President Bartlett wanted to use on “The WestWing”)

Walking down famed Wall Street, where never have so many been raped by sofew (written over five years ago), we went into Trinity Church where many cometo pray after losing their life savings down the street. Built in 1696, thechurch has withstood many Wall Street crashes. Notable people buried thereinclude Alexander Hamilton and Robert Fulton.

Many people talked to us about visiting St. John the Divine Cathedral.Happily, we took their advice. Started in 1892, this Gothic house of worship isover two football fields in length. The cathedral is still unfinished, but isstill spectacular. Each set of stained glass windows has a different theme:poetry, medicine, law, etc. Standing in the immense interior is a humblingexperience not to be missed. Around the high altar are side chapels, one whichis reserved for local artists to show their work. At this time the childrenfrom the Cathedral’s school have their artwork on display.

From St John’s is a short bus ride to Grant’s tomb, where he and his wifelay at rest. The interior is similar to Napoleon’s tomb in Paris. Mrs.Grantchose New York, because the people were kind to them after they had becomepenniless. The tomb sits high on the palisades overlooking Riverside Park andthe Hudson River.

Adjacent to the tomb is Sukaru Park, so named because of the numerous cherrytrees in the park, which were donated by the Japanese government. In the parkis a statue of General Daniel Butterworth, the composer of Taps (rememberBerkeley Plantation in Virginia). He is looking over to Grant’s tomb, keepinghis eyes on that hallowed ground.

Across the street is Riverside Church, a Presbyterian Church noted for itsgrand carillon of over seventy bells. The nave of the church is Gothic instyle, but not quite as large St. John’s. The Church is part of UnionTheological Seminary, which is connected with Columbia University also presentin the neighborhood.

Hopped on the train again to Theodore Roosevelt’s Birthplace. This is alarge brownstone at 28 East 20th Street. The original house was torn down and areconstructed one was erected according the similar design plans of others inthe neighborhood. His sisters, still alive gave instructions about floor plansand the arrangement of furniture in the house, as they had remembered.Roosevelt, born in to a very wealthy family, suffered from asthma. After losinghis first wife and mother within the same week, he moved out to North Dakota tofind himself. There he rediscovered his love for nature and the independence ofthe common working man. To prove his virility, he longed for a war, which hegot when the  Battleship Maine blew up in Havana Harbor, Cuba. The Spanishwere blamed for the sinking. He formed the Rough Riders in San Antonio, Texas,and the rest is history. Of his presidency he claimed that the building of thePanama Canal was his greatest achievement. Even though he was a war monger andempire builder, he is the first American to be awarded the Nobel Peace Prizefor his help in ending the Russian Japanese War.

A short distance South is Greenwich Village, not quite the Bohemianatmosphere it was in the 60s. It is still a thriving area of restaurants, smalltheaters, interesting shops, and people watching. Washington Square, thequasi-official entrance to the area, still has its checker and chess tables setup with games constantly going on.

Stopped by Lincoln Center and bought tickets for the New York City Ballet’sMatinee Performance. Lincoln Center, at 64th and Broadway is the PerformingArts complex of New York City. Flanking a beautiful fountain, which has been afocal point in many movies are the Metropolitan Opera House dead ahead, AveryFisher Hall on the right, home of the New York Philharmonic, and New York StateTheater on the left, home of the New York City Ballet. Just outside of thehorseshoe is Julliard School of music.

Attended the Ballet. On the program were Concerto Barocco, Sinfonia,Symphony in Three Movements, and Carnival of the Animals. Music was by Bach,Stravinsky, and Saint-Saens respectively. The corps de ballet under GeorgeBalanchine was noted for its precision and beauty in the details and technique.Today that toe shoe should be handed over to the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago.

A new production of an old ballet was on today’s schedule, The Carnival ofthe Animals. The choreographer is Christopher Wheeldon, a great talent at theage of twenty-nine. He asked John Lithgow, star of “Third Rock from the Sun”,to write a narrative for the ballet. Mr. Lithgow has written numerouschildren’s books and jumped at the opportunity. His story is of a young boy,Oliver, locked in a Natural History Museum for the night. The animals comealive, but they resemble people from his own personal life. The costuming givehints of the animals depicted and the narrative brings the different partstogether seamlessly. Mr. Lithgow acts as the narrator and has the part of theElephant, Oliver’s school nurse. This ballet is very entertaining, both in itshumor and choreography.

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