New York City

Shortly after leaving Bar Harbor, we started getting reports that a huge low pressure was moving into the New England area.   Not the Perfect Storm but not good news for a bunch of people on a sightseeing trip.   We got to Boston and there was total overcast, rain and windy.   Well, so much for a great time in Boston but that's okay, we had been there before.   We were able to do something that we couldn't do before when we visited this city.   We traveled through “The Big Dig”.   Probably the biggest drain on Federal funds ever.   At least at this time it wasn't leaking, but no opportunity for photographs.

The above photograph on the left is of the Hancock Building in downtown Boston.   It is really two photos that were put together.   The building in the center is a city government building.   The architecture of this building is very similar to the City Hall building in Cincinnati, Ohio.   As we left Boston we passed an old fort used in days past to guard the city and harbor.

The galley staff are artist with foods.   This includes the preparation, presentation and carving.   There is one day or evening where they show off their skills.   Also, one never knows what will be happening leaving the dining room after the evening meal.   These two had regular duties in the stage shows.

Nightly entertainment is an enjoyable feature of cruises.   Stage shows with accomplished entertainers or the more intimate music in one of the several bars.   This cruise had the group “The Rosie Quartet.”   Rosie was a 62 year old singer who was very good.   Everyone in the quartet were very talented and each evening was spent listening to their program.

Newport, Rhode Island, also has a fort.   This time I know the name — Fort Adams and it is still in use today.   By the time we got to Newport, the clouds and rain had been driven out by some cold north winds so the skies were clear but very cold.   We had visited Newport several years ago and visited the Breakers, the Vanderbilt summer cottage, and other sights in Newport.   I also had spent four months in Newport in 1960 going to the Navy Officers' Candidate School.   We did take a tour of the area just to see a few things that had been missed in the past and recall some of the things that we might have forgotten.

Arriving in New York City, we settled in at the pier very early in the morning.   Some who were up early said that the Statue of Liberty was a beautiful sight.   I was not one of those up at 4 o'clock in the morning.   It was interesting to see the City coming to life at about the same time as sunrise.

Off the ship we boarded a bus for the airport.   Princess had setup the passengers and buses according to the departure time of flights.   No one on our bus had a departure time earlier than 3 p.m. so the bus driver ask if everyone wanted to take the time to drive by the site of the World Trade Center destruction.   From a bus, there is not really much to see there.   Some buildings are under repair, others the repairs have not been started and one or two may yet be demolished.   After the trip there the driver turned around and headed back to mid-town where we crossed over Manhattan to the east to continue on to the airport.   Traffic and people kept Mieko on alert.   A big tour bus looks even bigger on the streets of New York City.

The End

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