Wednesday, June 11th and Thursday, the 12th

Kelley is an expert captain. We glided into NYC Harbor. The harbor is so busy with boats and ferries going what ever speed they want that the water is choppy, like being in the ocean on a windy day. But, we passed Miss Liberty and made our way to our marina.

We made a reservation at Liberty Landing Marina, NJ. When we came in the reservation could not be found – finally we were assigned a slip. We had the name of the person who had taken our reservation and our credit card number to hold it. Michelle. A magic name, indeed. She is the new dock-master. There is a shuttle that leaves the Landing and takes you across the river to the Financial District, Lady Liberty.

Walked around for about 4 hours through the Financial District and towards SoHo. Finally we got a map and we were able to make sense of it all.

Thursday morning when I got up Kelley has already mapped out the day. We would take the subway to Central Park. We wanted to walk around Central Park, hit West Marine on 37th, see Times Square and Rockefeller Center. I was hoping that we could meet up with my email friend, Natascha but the day flew by and we couldn’t figure out where we would be next. After 6 hours of walking around we both had had enough. We took the subway back to the Financial District and I had one more shop I HAD to get to. Yes, Seaport Yarn. I bought lots of sock yarn, making socks is my new passion.

And it was then time to leave. Did we want to stay another day? No, we enjoyed our visit, but New York is too busy for us. People walk by without seeing each other. They are listening to their iPods or talking on their cell phones. We watched 6 police cars race down the street and taxis barely moved, when the cars had to stop, people walked between them because the cars were in the crosswalks. Rushing all of the time. My heart races just thinking about it. But, their parks are filled. Young mothers (nannies?) with children playing, pool tables and checker games going on outside in the community centers – basketball, soccer. Citizens using their city.

I am glad we visited. I am glad we are moving on tomorrow. Natascha, I am sorry we didn’t get to meet.