Gallivanting Grandma

Tuesday – August 14, 2012

Today was a fun city day with my grand-daughters! After some research, the girls wanted to experience a boat ride on the Hudson River called: The Beast. Reviewed as:

     Hold onto your hats and get ready for the ride of your life aboard “The Beast” speedboat! Fast, loud and funny, “The Beast” delivers spectacular views and pumping music on a New York trip that’s a rollercoaster, water ride and 30 fun-filled minutes of high-speed cruising, all in one! 

The Beast Returning to Its Dock

We took the train into Grand Central Station and, since it was lunch time, we walked to a Japanese restaurant on 49th Street called Sushiden. The girls have sophisticated palates and enjoy eating unusual food like escargot, spicy dishes, kale, and Japanese sushi rolls. No “Kid’s Menu”! No Micky D’s or Bubba Gumps for them! At Sushiden, we enjoyed dried squash, salmon skin, real crab’s legs, and yellowtail rolls and miso soup.

Personalizing M&Ms

After lunch, the girls spotted the M&M’s Store near Times Square and wondered what was inside. Since we didn’t know, we stopped in to find all-things with Ms written on them: cups, hats, shirts, bags, jewelry, etc.  The best treat was on the second floor where people could personalize their own M&Ms. Well fortified with their names on their M&Ms, we continued westward toward the Hudson River and The Beast.

The Beast in Its Cage

The Beast lives next to the Circle Line Tour Boats on West 42nd Street. As we watched The Beast return from its previous trip, a man with wet hair & clothes walking off the boat said to us, “Plan to get wet! Everyone gets wet!” The girls laughed and Jeff and I put on our rain jackets. The Beast is an ocean racing boat with an open deck and modified with seats for about 60 passengers.

Instructing the Passengers

As we boarded, my older grand-daughter asked the crewman where were the wettest seats. He said to sit near the middle of the boat along the railing. She sat near the rail and we sat toward the middle of the boat. One of the crewmen introduced the crew and gave safety instructions. We buckled our seat belts and held on the hand rails in front of us.

New York Harbor

It was a windy ride down the Hudson River with the boat reaching a high speed of 45 mph. That’s fast on the water! Loud pounding music accompanied the ride along the Manhattan skyline. It was the fastest ride I had ever taken in a boat! And YES! It was FUN!!!  :-)

The Beast went to New York Harbor near the Statue of Liberty and stopped long enough for all us tourists to take lots of photos. There were many boats in the harbor. The crew on the old wooden topsail schooner, The Clipper City, had to trim her sails to avoid hitting The Beast. 

Another Way to Travel On the Water

We weren’t too wet at that time; just a little spray from the side of the boat. Then the skipper of The Beast announced to the passengers to “Hold on to the handrails. We’re gonna have some fun!” He turned the boat in a fast spiral going round and round and crashed through The Beast’s wake! A huge wave of water broke over the entire boat and we all were soaked! The skipper did that another time, spinning the boat into another wide spiral. Then another huge Splash! On the way back to the dock, The Beast skipped over other boats’ wakes crashing down and getting everyone more wet!  It really was fun!! :-)

Wednesday – August 8, 2012

Today was another quick day! It seemed to fly by. We all gathered at Nancy’s house in the morning and she drove into the city. We had talked about a variety of plans to see some more sights in New York City but visiting with other cousins won out. Francoise really wants to see as many cousins as possible.

French & American Cousins

We enjoyed a lamb & chicken shish-k-bob with pilaf lunch with my first cousins who are staying in Manhattan. One of the cousins is visiting from Maine. The Armenian diaspora is really spreading out.

Lunch Time at the Shawarma

Posing Outside

Afterwards we drove north to Rockefeller Center and parked the car in a garage. We walked around and looked at the sights and all the tourists! This is another popular tourist place in the “Big City”.

Rockefeller Center

We walked around to Fifth Avenue to visit St. Patrick’s Cathedral. We were among many more tourists visiting the famous church. It was also a cool place to sit and chat.

Inside St. Patrick’s Looking Out at Atlas Across 5th Ave.

Our goal for the evening was the Cirque de Soleil show of Zarkana at Radio City Music Hall. We had ordered tickets because we thought Francoise would really enjoy the performance of those amazing acrobats. It was a fabulous show and we all had a great time with our cousins!

Radio City Music Hall

The Rising Curtain in Radio City Music Hall

Tuesday – August 7, 2012

Most of our Armenian ancestors entered The United States through Ellis Island from about 1905 to 1920. First, they lived in New York City then gradually moved to Queens, the Bronx, Westchester, Connecticut, Long Island, New Jersey, Syracuse, Michigan, and California.

Liberty State Park 9/11 Memorial

I-Beams From the World Trade Center

Close-up of The Memorial

The Liberty State Park ferry to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty is much less crowded than the ferry from Battery Park in Manhattan. The line is usually short and it’s a quick and easy ride. Nancy drove to the park and we boarded the ferry immediately.

New Jersey Ferry Terminal to Ellis Island

Ferry to Ellis Island & Statue of Liberty

The view of the southern tip of Manhattan Island from any boat in New York harbor is always spectacular! This photo shows the Freedom Tower reaching upward.

A Display at the Ellis Island Museum

The museum at Ellis Island is well done and provides a good idea of the immigrant experience. It must have been an incredibly emotional experience to cross the ocean and arrive at New York Harbor carrying “all your worldly possessions”. All the immigrants must have been very courageous.

The Statue of Liberty

Cousins

The first Armenian immigrants kept in touch with their friends and relatives. Two generations later, we remember hearing names. The next generation will lose the family connections unless we keep written records for them.

Monday – August 6, 2012

The Armenian genocide of 1915 in Eastern Turkey divided my family and scattered them on both sides of the Atlantic Ocean. Now, two or three generations later, cousins visit each other whenever we can. This week, my cousin Francoise arrived from France. Her great-grandfather and my grandfather were brothers. Francoise’s grandparents had fled to Marseille after their parents were killed and my grandfather had immigrated to the U.S.

New York City Skyline From New Jersey

Another cousin, Carol, who lives in Syracuse, NY took the train to Manhattan order to see Francoise and spend some time with “the cousins”. We all gathered at Nancy’s house, who is another cousin who lives in New Jersey.

Cousins

One of the best treats of having French cousins is playing tourist and visiting the tourist attractions in New York City. This morning we met in New Jersey and rode the NY Waterway ferry across the Hudson River to the mid-town terminal. Then we boarded a bus which took us to “Ground Zero”.

The New Freedom Tower

The former World Trade Center site was one of the places that Francoise wanted to visit. There has been much progress on the construction of the Freedom Tower and its completion is expected in 2015. Three smaller towers are also planned, so it is interesting to watch the buildings rise up to the sky. There were many foreign and American tourists milling around the construction area.

Federal Hall

Following a “Lower Manhattan” theme, we continued past St. Paul’s and Trinity Churches to Wall Street. We took a short break on the steps of Federal Hall with the other tourists and looked across to the NY Stock Exchange. I remembered school trips to see the trading floor many years earlier.

Water Street Building

We discovered a satellite store of Tiffany & Co. on Wall Street and Francoise wanted to see “les bijoux”, so we stopped in. The Ambassador, yes that was his title, greeted us and gave Francoise a special souvenir card in a Tiffany robin’s-egg-blue shopping bag. We were sorry it wasn’t a glittery keepsake!

South Street Seaport

Then we continued east on Wall Street to Water Street and explored The South Street Seaport. The pier is more like a suburban mall now but there were many tourists and much to see. The weather was typical New York City weather: hazy, hot & humid. 

The Cousins Taking a Break

The Brooklyn Bridge

We took a break at the Seaport and rested for a short while. Francoise sat out on a lounge chair on the upper deck of the pier overlooking the Brooklyn Bridge and relaxed. It was a good day to be a tourist in The Big Apple!