September 9, 2017
We arrived in NYC on Wednesday evening, September 6. Had a pasta dinner and went to bed. Thursday we road the subway for the first time. Went from our hotel location at 7th Avenue and 51st Street to the end of the line at the ferry depot. The train was packed. Hardly had to hang on. Virtually no one talks, cell phones distract everyone. Made for interesting people watching. The day was clear, sunny and warm with a slight breeze. Perfect. Lovely ferry ride to and around The Lady. Did not get off at Liberty island. Seemed like we had the best view from the water. Continued on to Ellis Island, where we spent several hours visiting the whole building and listening to docents explain its history.
Both of my father’s parents came separately and alone through immigration here in about 1910. Unfortunately, they were both gone before I was born and I do not know their experience here. After passing through immigration they each took trains to Oakland, California where they had work already arranged — Manuel with cousins in the dairy business and Maria with a family as a maid. Not long afterward, they met and married. It was not a bad experience, but it must have been scary, not knowing the languages being shouted at you, why you were being physically inspected by doctors, questioned by lawyers with interpreters, or if you would get accepted or sent back. Of the 12 million people who came through Ellis Island, only 2% actually got sent back.
After leaving the building, we enjoyed sitting at a table on the grounds and looking at the city scape.
The Lady
Immigration Building on Ellis Island
The Registry Room on Ellis Island
Lower Manhattan Island from the ferry
Back in Manhattan, we walked uptown several blocks looking at the sights as we went until we got tired and took the subway back to 51st street.
Trinity Church
Mark and a New Yorker visiting in the Trinity Church garden
Inside Westfield Center
Exterior of Westfield Shopping Center
Times Square
That evening we went to The Music Box theater and saw “Dear Evan Hanson”. It was one of the best plays we have ever seen. Almost as good as Hamilton, and better in one way – the lead actor, Ben Platt – gave an extraordinarily fantastic performance. It is about an anxiety ridden teenager who finds himself enmeshed in another family’s tragedy that he complicates and makes worse. Hard to explain. Does end ok. No pollyanna here. Try to see it if you can. Fabulous theater. Afterward, we had some so so food in The Olive Green at Times Square.
Set in The Music Box theater for Dear Evan Hanson
Yesterday, We took the subway to 14th Street and walked to the Whitney Museum. It is a very contemporary place with much that was not appealing to us. One floor had some nice things including these two photos. Maybe we are too old already.
Entrance to the Whitney Museum
Photo of an immigration group
A photo by Walker Evans called “Westchester, New York Farmhouse, 1931
Next to the Whitney and under the High Line tracks, we had a very nice lunch at a Greek restaurant called Santini. Then we walked the entire length of the High Line, which is 30 feet above ground. It was constructed in 1934 to provide efficient and safe rail travel along New York’s west side for transport of meat, milk, produce and other products to and from the upper stories of warehouses and factories. It was very successful until the development of highways and the trucking industry caused the line to fall into decline. The last train rolled out in 1980 and the line was abandoned. With the help of city preservationists, the line was restored into new life as an elevated walkway full of vegetation, activities and city views. We walked the entire length from 14th Street to 34th Street and enjoyed every bit of it along with hundreds of other people. Quiet is not something we found anywhere in the city.
The High Line walk
A city view from the High Line
Landscape along the High Line
From the High Line we walked the rest of the way to our hotel on 51st and 7th, The Michelangelo. It is a boutique place Mark picked for its proximity to the theater district. We rested a bit and then walked to a restaurant named Butter on 45th Street, where we met Martina Reznick and her mother-in-paw to be, Lisa Limblad. We had a delightful conversation with them until they had to leave for a party. After a delicious meal there, we walked the short distance to the Lyceum Theatre for the farcical comedy, “The Play That Goes Wrong”. We did laugh a lot, but it was very silly and hard to catch all the words. We don’t recommend it.
Set in Lyceum Theater for The Play that Goes Wrong.
This morning we woke to another beautiful day in New York. We have had 3 days of perfect weather, with no humidity, light breezes, blue skies and temps in the mid-70s. I worked on the blog for awhile. Then we walked to Central Park and wandered around the park enjoying the families at play. It was packed with people, I guess because it is Saturday. We stopped to listen to a lady playing violin. She was quite good and Mark got her name. Then we headed for 5th Avenue and ran into a huge parade of union workers marching and making noise in their annual Labor Day Parade. We started to get concerned about the heavy traffic and getting to the airport with so many roads closed, so we left the hotel early in a cab that took the bell hop extra time to locate. He corralled the driver, stopped in the middle of the street, we ran with our bags and jumped in. The drive took more than an hour and a half to get to JFK airport. Now we are sitting comfortably in the airport lounge. No more to report until we get to Prague, after a stop in London Heathrow.
Music in Central Park, by Susan Keser, a retired professional violinist.
Labor Day Parade of all NYC unions. Sure closed the streets.