Gym's Ramblings: The New World

October 18 - 21, 2016

I know, I know what is this stuff from 2016???? The answer to that question is complicated. We can blame many things. But it boils down to a busy author. I want you to know though that I follow this posting up immediately with some 2017 stuff, so please read on bear with me.

Yes, this is Christopher Columbus, at Columbus Circle in NYC. We started the trip
looking up at the same guy in Barcelona, Spain, up on a similar pedestal, we had closed the loop.

We would finish our fall 2016 trip on a high note. How could you not when you ended a long voyage steaming into New York harbour past the Statue of Liberty and then are able to spend a few days in that great city? On top of that we had just re-discovered the New World.

We would arrive in the early morning and the ship would beat the sun to NYC. It was early but I need not have set the alarm because the passage smoothed out as we closed on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge. The ship's rhythm changed as we came out of the Atlantic and started cruising up towards the Upper Bay. It was smooth, most likely because the rising tide was overpowering the flow of the Hudson River. As we passed under the bridge we could here the early morning commuters zooming across the steel grating above us. Then, there ahead of us we could see her torch and the lights of Liberty Island. Now don't get me wrong, I am not a U.S. citizen but somehow the sight of that grand monument was a heart stirring moment. Perhaps it was a long sea voyage finally coming to its conclusion or it could have been the genes of my Chicago-born Grandmother, I don't know which. In any event, it was sort of a glorious moment that Mrs. Gym and I were able to enjoy from our spacious suite looking over the bow. We didn't even have to get out of our pajamas to take it all in but if you know Mrs. Gym, you know that there was no lollygagging about and we were dressed and ready to disembark.

Looking back on the Verrazano-Narrows Bridge from One world Trade Center the
day after arriving in the New World

It was cool to cruise up the Hudson River to our dock which was in Midtown Manhattan. As we passed Wall Street, we could see the newish skyline, now dominated by One World Trade Center. It was still dark but we could see the ferries filling up on the New Jersey side and zipping across the river past our ship, full of Manhattan-bound office workers . We would surely pass near the spot where Captain Sully landed Flight 1549. We past the USS Intrepid, a retired USN Aircraft Carrier, now serving as a museum. We then parked at the Manhattan Cruise Terminal and as our voyage had reached its end, we had to give up the Vista Suite. We said goodbye to the Sirena and all it's wonderful crew and passed into the terminal to be processed by a very professional group of U.S. Border Guards. And then we were standing on the streets of Manhattan with our luggage. We had finally come to The New World and all it was full of natives, native New Yorkers.

Luckily we already had a room booked for the next few nights and we quickly found a Christian Lebanese driver to take us to our hotel. It was only 12 blocks to our hotel and Mrs. Gym would have walked it but we were worried about the plastic wheels on our luggage, so we arrived at the Plaza Hotel by car.

We checked in and then we went for a walk. It was a beautiful fall day and Gym wanted to make up for taking a car from the pier. So we walked around Central Park! At the end of the hike, we were reminded that we had arrived in the New World. We had circumnavigated a huge urban park and had almost closed the loop when we found ourselves in Columbus Square. And looking up there was Christopher Columbus. The monument was quite similar to the one in Barcelona, where our journey began. We would return here several times over the next couple of days to be reminded of the discoverer of the New World.

Initially, I was sort of upset that our room in the Plaza was not an exterior room looking out into the city. But after a long and bumpy ride across the Atlantic, it turned out that our interior room which looked down over the stained-glass roof of the Palm Court restaurant, was just what we needed after our long voyage, a quiet and comfortable place to enjoy our first few evenings on terra firma.

The Plaza is pricey but so are all Fairmont Hotels. They are worth it though. Fairmont's properties include many iconic castles. The Chateau Lake Louise, The Banff Springs, The Empress, Le Chateau Frontenac and the Plaza are all the same. They are elegant, they are opulent and they are well cared for by the professional staff that Fairmont employs. We felt safe, comfortable and well looked after in this hotel. In addition though, the Plaza turned out to be walking distance from everywhere and even if you were late for an appointment on Wall Street, all you had to do was stroll over to Columbus Circle and get on a train that would get you there tout de suite. And that is what we did the next morning.

While we were in the Big Apple, we walked a lot. After visiting the new One World Trade Center (which is a must-see venue) we walked back to the Plaza stopping for lunch near the East River, just down the street from St. Patrick's Cathedral. We visited the Cathedral after lunch and I wasn't expecting much after seeing all the great European Modern, Renaissance and Medieval places of worship that we had seen. But I was very impressed. We also saw so many other sites on that jaunt through Gotham that it is just mind-boggling and as much as I would like to bore you with the details, I won't.

We saw two Broadway shows while we were in NYC and of course we walked to both theatres from the Plaza. We saw The Book of Mormon which was both hilarious and brilliant and we also saw one of the last showings of The Jersey Boys, a production that would have its last performance on January 15, 2017 after being on Broadway since 2005.

On our final day, we walked the entire length of the High Line walkway which starts near the entrance to the Lincoln Tunnel and ends in the Meatpacking District. It is built on the old elevated train line that delivered the livestock to the plants for processing. There are beautiful gardens flanking the nice pathway and there are several areas where modern artwork has been placed to further enhance the experience. The day we were there, an art class was set up beside the path and everyone was sketching the skyline through the plexiglass perimeter walls.

The New World was indeed a very cool place. Thank you Christopher Columbus.

Coming up beneath the new One World Trade Center from the subway

The Oculus at Westfield WTC Mall

Looking down over Brooklyn Bridge from the new One WTC

No it is not an earthquake, the building looks like that

The memorial to fallen towers of 9/11 where the names of the first responder
victims are etched into the granite on the perimeter of each of the two main towers that
collapsed during the terrorist attacks.