New York City… day 1… part 13… and yes, I am luring you in with a picture of Lady Liberty, and then will make you look at more photos of the Brooklyn Bridge, but hey, it is all lit up now, and I swear, this will be the last post with photos of the bridge… sort of… except for… well… never mind…

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There she is, calling you, lighting the way to…

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More pictures of that dang bridge.

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But look, it is getting dark.

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The lights are coming on.

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The bridge has adorned herself in sparkling jewels.

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Manhattan is lit up like a Christmas tree.

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Darkness descends over the East River like a cloak.

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Okay, I am trying too hard. That was just stupid. You put a cloak on just like a coat, only without the trouble of finding the arm holes… sleeves… I know because I have a cloak. I would like to say I only wear it on Halloween, but that wouldn’t be true.

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Remember those purple lights over there. They will be highlighted in the next few posts… but in a weird way.

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And really, can you blame me for taking so many pictures here?

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Even the bridge footing is lit up in purple. I love purple.

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That is a fancy restaurant on the East River, under the end of the bridge. It is lit up like a fairy tale. And Manhattan gleams in the distance.

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Because it is getting dark, you know what that means.

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You have survived almost to the end of the first day of our 3-and-a-half day trip to New York! You deserve a medal. You must be exhausted.

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New York City… day 1… part 12… Manhattan, as seen across the East River from Brooklyn… and yes, there might be some more pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge too. What am I supposed to do, not make you look at them? And I threw in a couple of the Statue of Liberty and some boats, so just look at those if you are tired of the bridge…

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Okay, well, yeah, that is the bridge, but look at the pretty lights in the trees.

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Ummm… look at the clouds? The top of that hill over to the right? I got nothing! I just like the way the cables look in that one.

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See, the Statue of Liberty. No bridge at all.

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Why does that stupid bridge insist on photo bombing a perfectly good photo of Manhattan? There is a nice little sail boat there.

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I swear, that bridge is following us.

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Yay! To misquote Led Zeppelin: “I’m just trying NOT to find the bridge”.

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Yup.

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I know, right?

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In my defense, I am not the one who built the bridge right there.

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Lady Liberty, surrounded by stormy, dark waters, and evil-looking, roiling dark clouds. If that isn’t a cynical commentary on the dark state of affairs under the current administration, I don’t know what would be.

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I know, but that one has a cool old boat in it, hearkening back to the rum-runner days of gangsters and prohibition.

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I was clearly trying to get a photo of that ferryboat. I will end it here, with the solemn pledge that the next few posts in this series will have a smaller percentage of bridge pictures, as we fade into posts that have no photos of the bridge at all!!!

 

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New York City… day 1… part 10… The Brooklyn Bridge…

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Okay, back to my recent adventures in New York City.

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My daughter and son-in-law live not to far from the bridge.

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No, that isn’t a bunch of dead Matadors who had a run-in with that metal bull from Wall Street, it is some part of a Filipino wedding celebration… I think…

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We have made it to dusk on the first day of our 3-and-a-half day adventure on the other coast of the United States.

 

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I should warn you that we stayed and watched the sun go down, and I took a lot of pictures.

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They aren’t all of the bridge. I watched the lights come on in Manhattan, across the East River, and I took a lot of pictures of that.

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But the bridge is pretty cool if you have never seen it up close and personal.

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And I will try to add in more posts of other weird things… you know…

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So the new people don’t get confused and think this is a travel blog.

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Or, at least, not only a travel blog.

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And empty window in an old, abandoned warehouse. The area is really quite gentrified now.

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But I seem to recall that, back in the 70’s and 80’s, they shot a lot of police and crime movies in this area, and it was a lot seedier.

 

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Just in case you forgot this isn’t a freekin’ travel blog… but I am pretty sure this is tRump’s view of the universe…

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Oh, wait, I forgot to put a ‘get out of jail free’ card in ‘god’s hand, as he hands the keys to the kingdom over.

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New York City… day 1… part 9… a historic tavern from before the Revolutionary war, some drunken photography, and a game involving subway rats…

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Congratulations! We have made it to lunchtime on the first day of my three-and-a-half day trip to New York city to visit my daughter and her husband. We said goodbye to Lady Liberty, and walked a short distance.

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The place we ate lunch, which I picked out after careful internet searches of historical sites, was certainly historical.

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This place was built before we were a country. I mean, we were a country, but it was England.

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I can’t begin to tell you all about the history represented here.

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But I can tell you this place had historic ambiance out the wazoo.

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There is my older daughter, Jessica, and her husband, my son-in-law, Jason. Do they look like they have walked for miles, because we did. My wife doesn’t ever want to be in this blog, so I cropped the photo a little. But you can see her hand as she raises a water glass.

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I just remembered I have a bunch of photos on my phone of the trip, so I will have to come back to those later.

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The thing is… hey thing, where you been hiding?… that I got a little drunk on some fancy adult beverages. And when I do that, I like to take selfies. I also like to call random people and say “I love you, Man!” But we can discuss that another time.

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The tables were held up by old Singer sewing machines, which is great, until you bang you knees after using the restrooms.

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The name of this magical place is Fraunces Tavern. You should Google it if you love history and great food… or getting drunk. George Washington used to hang out there, after the war. Remember, the British occupied New York for most of the war.

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We said goodbye to the tavern, refreshed and ready for more adventures… if that is what you call going back to your hotel to rest for a while.

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It turns out that another thing I like to do after a few drinks is get whimsically artistic. So I took some photos of buildings reflected in other buildings as we walked to another subway station to leave Manhattan for Brooklyn.

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Oh, drunken whimsical artistic expressionism.

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I love you, man.

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Okay, we are almost done with this post.

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Just a few pictures of another random subway station, because I found them fascinating.

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We invented a new game. It is like that game we play when the whole family goes to my mom’s house in the Bay Area for Christmas, and we see who can spot a deer first. Only this time, we substituted subway rats. Whoever saw one first would win.

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I never did see one, not the whole time I was there. I am strangely disappointed, like I missed out on a quintessential New York experience.

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New York City… day 1… part 8… a metal bull , Lady Liberty, and a message for Donald Trump…

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I hope you are enjoying this, because we are now almost up to lunch time on the first of our three-and-a-half day whirlwind visit to New York City. Look, it’s the Wall Street Bull, over there, behind that table covered with souvenirs, including small statues of that very same bull.

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A family is posing by the bull’s head for a photo… wait… what is going on at the other end of that bull?

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That guy is taking a picture of the North end of a southbound bull. That is just weird. That is like something I would do.

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My feet were beginning to hurt.

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Another old fort.

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Black smoke began to pour out of the top of a building. I thought the Pope had died, or maybe the president. But we asked around. It was just the heating system for the building. Still, it makes you wonder.

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We could still see the One World Trade Center Tower.

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The fort was called Castle Clinton. Somebody should Google that.

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And there she was, in the distance, the Statue of Liberty… which brings me to my message for tRump.

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Almost all of us are immigrants, you idiot.

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Only Native Americans are not immigrants.

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And each group that came was hated at first.

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And they built this country.

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That is my message to you.

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And the lady agrees with me.

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New York City… day 1… part 7… Trinity Church; a shout-out to history and the musical ‘Hamilton’…

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I see dead people…

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These are some pretty old headstones. I mean, by American standards, not by any other part of the world, but still.

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These people are buried around a very famous church in New York City.

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This is Trinity Church.

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If you are interested in history, you should Google it.

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Is that a European grackle… or a starling? I don’t know the birds in New York.

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If you are a fan of Hamilton, the name Angelica Schuyler should be familiar to you.

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A little plot of history, surrounded by now.

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Most of these people are forgotten, but not all of them.

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I poked my head inside the church, but there was a service going on, so I made it fast.

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Maybe a little too fast.

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Okay, so it is an old church.

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And some old tombstones. like that one over there, where Hamilton is buried.

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Why should you care? Maybe you don’t.

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But it’s my blog. Ha!

 

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New York City… day 1… part 6… random city scenes…

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We said goodbye to the 9-11 memorial site and the new World Trade Center Tower, making our way past the fire station just around the corner.

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We saw an adorable little park.
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I love the giant rose.

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I also loved the lights.

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Since it wasn’t even Halloween yet, I can only assume that the lights are there all year. I bet it looks awesome at night.

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We walked down a very narrow street… almost an alley… wait, is that a walkway up there???

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A tiny little bridge? No thank you.

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And then we were at a very famous spot.

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Especially if you are a fan of the musical Hamilton.

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A steeple and a man-bun.

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I will go into the history of this place in the next post.

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Because it has some history.

 

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New York City… day 1… part 5… 9-11 ground zero…

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The new World Trade Center Tower is amazing. When you look up at it from below, and are standing close to it, it seems like a highway that disappears into the sky.

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Supposedly, it was designed that way.  There it is, reflected in another building.

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The two reflecting pools, carved inside with the names of the victims, are literally ground zero, built in the footprints of the twin towers.

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A phoenix, rising from the ashes.

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And soaring into the heavens.

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There are other tall buildings to look at.

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I took this picture through the window of the 9-11 memorial museum. That is a piece of the steel skeleton of one of the twin towers.

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It is a little strange visiting this site of tragedy. There is a hush in the air, no matter how many people are there. Business still goes on, life goes on, but there is a collective realization that this spot is important, a dark part of history.

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Time to move on. We have a city to see.

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We had only walked around the corner when we saw this fire station.

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I don’t know for a fact that this station was here on 9-11, but if it was, or, even if it wasn’t, these men embody the spirit of those first-responders who gave their lives.

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You gotta love firemen.

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New York City… day 1… part 4… the wounded but still-strong heart of the city…

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The reflecting pool, carved on the inside with the names of the victims of 9-11, built in the footprint of one of the two towers. There are two pools. It is moving and heartbreaking.

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But I did skip ahead a little. To get from the subway station to the site of the twin towers, we still had to pass through that Oculus shopping center.

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And it was kind of cool.

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And we didn’t have to stop to do any shopping.

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And then we were there. That is the new tower, called the One World Trade Center Tower.

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It stands beside the two reflecting pools, and near the 9-11 museum.

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We didn’t go to the museum. My daughter has been. She says it is very moving and well done.

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But we had to see a whole city in three-and-a-half days.

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And I am not as young as I once was.

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But are any of us?

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I have some more photos of that building. When you get close to it, there is a weird optical illusion.

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So I hope I see you later.

 

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