Sunday, April 23rd --- BROOKLYN, THE OCULUS AND GRAND CENTRAL
We travel everywhere by subway ... it's easy, fast and a vast improvement over the New York subways of my distant youthful memory! No need for a taxi at all, y'all! Once you know the lines and the sign system, it's pretty easy to navigate. We each spring for a 7-Day Unlimited Ride Metro Card ... swipe and GO...
Of course... it can get quite crowded on a subway train!
An advisory note to all y'all -- New York City might not be your destination-of-choice if you (1) lack a sense of adventure, (2) can't walk, or (3) are highly phobic about being in crowds. If you don't suffer too badly from these maladies, 'tis a fine place indeed!
It is a brilliant clear day but it's COLD ... especially on the open-air top deck of a Gray Line tour bus. Our tour guide on our Brooklyn tour is a wise-ass named Alan. We like Alan ... he's smart, knowledgeable and he makes us laugh! Of course, his humor can be a bit...ah...caustic but we accept that circumstance as being the Way of the Brooklynese. Off we go, heading toward Brooklyn by way of the heavily-traveled Manhattan Bridge ... buses are not allowed on the venerable Brooklyn Bridge nearby.
With three million inhabitants, Brooklyn would be the fourth largest city in the U.S. were it an independent city ... which it indeed was until 1898 ... when it was absorbed into Greater New York City as the Borough of Brooklyn. Of late, it has become a haven for avant-garde artists and techie startups. As we enter Brooklyn, we roll above DUMBO* which morphed into a hipster art and design center a couple of decades ago (*DUMBO means Down Under Manhattan Bridge Overpass).
Unfortunately, Big Money is shoving out small money in Brooklyn. Rents and real estate prices are skyrocketing. Rents around DUMBO have risen to around 5 grand a month, forcing out the hipsters and artists in favor of the well-to-do ...landmarks such as the legendary Ebbetts Field of Brooklyn Dodger fame have been razed to permit erection of apartment complexes.
Residential "Block Tower" in Brooklyn ... each block is a completely equipped living-space unit which is hoisted into position by an immense crane ... it is then hooked up, ready for immediate occupancy ... this tower is not yet complete ...
Beautiful Old Brownstones are being renovated into upscale homes ...
We pass by the huge Brooklyn Museum of Art and sprawling Prospect Park. Alan shows us the road to Brighton Beach and tells us that is where the Russian Mafia live. Perhaps it is because of our freezing tushies atop the bus ... or maybe it's because of Alan's acerbic commentary... but neither of us feels a particularly good vibe about Brooklyn. We see no places that beckon to us to step off the bus and linger. Of course, we could find ourselves seriously lost in this area since streets don't intersect at right angles like in midtown Manhattan. We are relieved when Alan advises us all that we are returning to Manhattan ...
View of Brooklyn Bridge from Manhattan Bridge as we return to Manhattan...Goldilocks took the shot in wind and cold aboard a moving bus!
At the west end of the Manhattan Bridge sits Chinatown, a vibrant community of about 400,000...only Mandarin is spoke in this colorful place, we've been told..it is THE place to go for the best Chinese food ...
And so...our Brooklyn Tour has come to its conclusion ... we now head to the Oculus...that is, after we find a place to pee...that is no small feat in Lower Manhattan!
The Oculus Building ... or Oculus for short ... is to become, when completed, the transportation hub for the new World Trade Center. The stark-white ultra-ultra-modern wing-shaped structure, designed by futuristic Spanish architect Santiago Calatrava, is said to have more floor space than Grand Central Station!
Interior pano-shot ...floor to top of ceiling ... we access the interior by a side door shown us by Rob, our 9/11 Memorial tour guide ...
The building will serve as the headquarters of the New York Port Authority and serve as terminus for Port-Authority-Trans-Hudson (PATH) trains that come into the city from New Jersey.
Speaking of Grand Central Station ... it's time for us to swing on up there and grab some eats! We do exactly that, procuring generous gyros-in-pita sandwiches at Eata Pita on the furiously busy Dining Concourse. Afterward, we split a spectacular oatmeal cookie and amble around the crowded terminal until our bodies tell us...in no uncertain terms... that it's time to return to Phillips Club and take a rest!
We find that THE place to mellow out in grand style is the central courtyard of Lincoln Center...especially on a sunny Sunday afternoon. On an impulse, we buy tickets to Jewels, a classical ballet program ... for next Thursday at 7:30 pm ... something to look forward to prior to our return to San Diego on Friday ...
For Baldy, the Musician...ah, if only I had practiced harder...LOL!
Evening finds us wandering into a Sunday street fair on Columbus Avenue... the event seems to go on for miles ... as we enjoy soft ice cream from a street cart, we reflect that New York is a city of endless surprises!
See you tomorrow ... stay well!
Affectionately,
Baldy
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