Return to New York

by Eunice Kirby

A visit to New York in the aftermath of 911

After a protracted time checking in to our hotel, we eventually got settled and set off for a walk along Seventh Avenue, reaching Central Park and The Lincoln Centre, before coming back along Broadway, via Times Square and Manhattan Mall for something to eat before having an early night to try and get used to the five hour time difference.

Sunday morning we had arranged to meet in the hotel coffee shop - freshly squeezed orange juice - wonderful, then we all set off for a diner in Herald Square for breakfast and to plan our day. We decided that as it was a nice day weather wise, we would head for Central Park. Last time, we had taken a horse and carriage ride round some of the park and said that we would like to see more of it, so off we went. We soon realised that there is a lot more of Central Park than most people realise; we spent most of the day just wandering round and only saw half of it. Three of us (the female three) went on the old wooden carousel, which boasts the largest wooden horses still in use - and seat belts! We wandered through the park, via The Dairy - now an information centre, then on to watch the skaters.

We then went in the Zoo which was renovated in the 1980s and is now divided into three zones, polar, temperate and tropic. We arrived just in time to watch the seals being fed and put through their routine, which is as much to check their health and wellbeing as it is to entertain and educate the visitors. The highlight of the polar region for me was the polar bears; their enclosure includes a plunge pool with glass sides, so that the visitor can not only watch them swimming under water, but also stand next to the glass and marvel at their size! The tropical enclosure is all inside and when looking at the various plants you wonder just how much wildlife you are not seeing. So many things are well camouflaged and we were all pointing things out to each other that we had not spotted ourselves. After a quick lunch in The Leaping Frog Cafe, we then visited the Children's Zoo (well, we are all children at heart) and enjoyed the chance to feed and pat the various cuddly creatures on show. We carried on with our walk taking in many lakes and wonderful views - many of the trees were still in full autumn foliage and looked lovely reflected in the lakes.

We saw the statues of Hans Christian Anderson and Alice in Wonderland, before heading for Strawberry Fields, the memorial to the late John Lennon. It was only a couple of days after the death of George Harrison so the memorial could not be seen for all the flowers and tributes to George. There were hundreds of people there paying their respects and a group of singers singing old Beatles songs; all in all it was very moving and I am glad to have been part of it although it does mean that I have not yet seen the memorial, oh well, we shall just have to visit New York again sometime. We then left the park and crossed over the road to look at The Dakota Building - identified by the guard on duty by his sentry box, with Dakota on his uniform. By this time we were all quite tired so we got the subway back to Penn Station - opposite our hotel, to have a rest and freshen up before heading off to Times Square and 42nd Street for something to eat, then back to the hotel via a few shops including Macy's.

Monday morning and Steve's birthday! After he had opened the cards and few small presents that I had brought with us, we went off to the same diner for breakfast, then caught the subway to Wall Street. We came up the escalators from the subway into the station building and you would have thought that you were in the lobby of a very expensive hotel! We all just looked and admired before heading out onto the street and walking down to South Street Seaport. We saw the second biggest sailing ship ever built - The Peking, the floating lighthouse, Ambrose and took in the views of The Brooklyn Bridge before sitting outside in the sun to partake of a beer. By this time, it was so warm all coats had been abandoned and those who were not wearing short sleeves were regretting it and planning to buy T shirts at the first opportunity - we had packed jumpers and fleeces expecting it to be cold! We spent a happy hour or so wandering round the shopping mall that is located in Pier 17 Pavilion, an assortment of shops on three levels, all with charming wooden decks outside offering views across to Brooklyn and also of the Statue of Liberty.

We left Pier 17 and walked along the waterfront to the ferry terminal for the Staten Island Ferry and boarded the next ferry. This has to be the best bargain in NYC. The ferry gives wonderful views of the Statue of Liberty, the Brooklyn Bridge and of course the city skyline and all for free. The best time to take the ferry is evening when you can see the city all lit up, but it is just as breathtaking on a sunny day. We did not spend much time on the island, just took a short walk from the ferry to look back across to the city, then we got another ferry back to the mainland and stopped in Starbucks for coffee and cakes.

We did not set out to visit Ground Zero but, as we were so close, we went to pay our respects. It is in this area that the city is much quieter, there are prayer stations along the way, and people who are there just to talk and help in any way. We stood in silence as we viewed the remains of the Towers, and I am not ashamed to say that tears were shed. We did not linger, but caught the subway to Grand Central Station where we split up. Steve and I watched the Christmas laser show that lit up the ceiling of the station, then wandered round both the craft market and the food market before leaving the station building and making our way back to the hotel along 42nd Street, shopping along the way. We met up with the others for a meal at Broadway Joe's Steakhouse, steaks like you would not believe (fond memories of our last visit made us go again) We did not have room for dessert so we walked back towards our hotel and stopped for a couple of drinks before turning in.

Tuesday morning: after our usual large breakfast, we caught the subway to Grand Central Station and then went inside the Chrysler Building just to look and admire the marble and chrome lobby. From here we walked down to the United Nations Headquarters - you can tell from the buildings, the water features and landscaping that this is a very affluent area. We carried on along 11th Avenue to the Roosevelt Aerial Tramway, but it was being repaired/restored so was not running. We headed back inland and 'came across' Bloomingdales, where we stopped for coffee and to stock up on their wonderful chocolate dipped mint sticks.

We admired all the Christmas decorations both in the store and in the window displays before heading off for the Citicorp Building where a model railway took up most of the lower level, we lost two of the men for a while so the rest of us looked round the shops - mostly a Barnes and Noble Bookstore, then found seats to sit and rest with more fresh orange juice. Once we had managed to get them away from the trains, we made our way to The Rockefeller Centre to watch the skaters. This is another typical New York Christmas scene, but there was something missing this time - we arrived while they were polishing the ice so there were no skaters. By now, we were all getting hungry so we went to Jekyll and Hydes for an entertaining meal. Anyone who has ever been to one of the Jekyll and Hyde restaurants will know what I mean; the statues talk to you, the pictures have eyes that move, the staff are all in character and the entertainment is almost non-stop. It is an experience to enjoy - oh, and the food is not bad either.

On our way back to the hotel we took the ride up to the top of the Empire State Building, this is the best time of day to go up, as you can see the city in daylight and watch as night descends and the city lights up. One thing that was more obvious to us all this time was the number of planes that we could see at any one time, usually well over a dozen, of varying sizes - it made us feel very vulnerable. It was from here that the absence of the Twin Towers was most obvious; the work on the site is going on twenty four hours a day and you can see a large black area with a circle of lights around it that seems to send a ghostly glow into the sky. We spent the rest of evening just wandering round some of the shops and buying souvenirs and Christmas presents before finishing up in an Irish bar.

The next morning we caught the subway with my sister and her husband to Greenwich Village where the first stop was a diner for breakfast - it was called Tiffany's, so we can say that we had breakfast at Tiffany's! (My niece and her boyfriend went off to spend the day in The Natural History Museum.) We walked through Washington Square, then made our way through Soho to Chinatown and Little Italy. At one point, we were at a street corner and looking at our maps, deciding which way to go, when a lady asked if we were tourists. When we said "yes", she just said, "Thank you for coming to New York". Visitors are still wanted and made to feel very welcome.

Thursday morning and we all met up for our usual breakfast. The three men and my niece went off to spend the day at the Intrepid Museum; my sister and I did not fancy spending a day on an aircraft carrier so we went shopping. We spent most of the day in Macy's but managed a few other shops too and I finished off all my Christmas shopping, which I had hoped to do. I had been checking on the Internet what shows would be on while we were in New York and when we saw that A Christmas Carol was on at Madison Square Garden, we all said that we would like to see it, so I booked the tickets direct with The Garden ticket office and Veronica and I collected them that morning before we hit the shops. The entrance hall to the theatre was done out as an old village, complete with shops and stalls selling refreshments and souvenirs all to do with the show, with all the staff in costume and carol singers to entertain us - it was all lovely and really festive. The show itself was wonderful; it was not only on the stage but also along both sides of the auditorium, so at times you did not know where to look. All in all, it was a very enjoyable evening.

Friday morning, our last full day. We all had breakfast then set off on the subway to Brooklyn Bridge and spent a very pleasant hour strolling over the bridge which has wonderful views of the city skyline, and is a marvellous sight in its own right with its twin gothic towers and many miles of cable. The walkway is along the centre of the bridge, above the traffic which thunders along beneath your feet. We spent some time wandering along Brooklyn Heights Promenade, at one point there is a framed photograph of the city skyline taken from that spot pre-September 11, showing the twin towers. The photograph is surrounded by flowers. It makes you wonder what the people who were standing there at the time of the attack saw and felt. I found myself looking at people's faces, and wondering just what they had been through and what stories they could tell. I felt very emotional standing there because it was so much more obvious here just what was missing.

We left the shoreline and headed into Brooklyn itself - a lovely place that I would like to spend more time in on another visit but we were on our way to Coney Island. This involved a long subway ride, a short ride on a bus then back onto the subway and when we got there it was shut! There was a notice to say that it had shut down early as a mark of respect to those who had lost their lives. It was nice just to look at the place - it probably looks better when it is open and there are hundreds of people there, and walk along the boardwalk and even venture onto the beach. We went into Nathan's for one of their 'world famous' hot dogs, this is the place where they were supposed to have been invented. We then caught the subway back to Times Square where we split up again, after some more shopping we returned to the hotel where I managed to pack everything ready to come home. We met up with the others for a meal in TGI Fridays in Time Square - the largest one in the USA Then we walked back via The Blarney Stone for a night-cap - you can rely on finding a good Irish pub almost anywhere these days.

Saturday morning and I popped down to the hotel coffee shop for two fresh orange juices and two Danish pastries, I could not face another enormous breakfast and we were not due to meet up with the others until lunchtime, so we could all finish our packing and have a couple of hours doing our own thing. Steve and I wandered down 5th Avenue to admire the windows again. I had not realised that all the Christmas windows in the big stores are done by the same company. I had supposed that each store did their own but no, one company does them all and the planning, designing and constructing takes them all year.

As we were walking back to the hotel, I noticed people going in and out of Trump Tower and saw a list of shops - very discreetly displayed on the wall. I asked the doorman if we could go in, and after checking our bags we entered the lobby and our chins hit the floor! The entire place was built of pink marble, glass and brass, with real trees lining the entrance hall which leads down to the atrium, the end wall of which, consists of a three storey waterfall cascading into a lower courtyard. We did not go in any of the shops (Cartier, Galeries Lafayette and such like) but we did go up to the fifth floor where there is a restaurant and roof gardens, unfortunately shut in winter. We had seen the trees growing on the terraces from the third to the eighth floors from the other side of 5th Avenue, but did not realise that they were open to the public, another reason to return to this city.

We are all glad that we went to this wonderful city and I for one shall return. Maybe we would not have gone had it not been booked well before 11 September, who knows, but I am very glad that we did not cancel like most people expected us to. The city welcomes visitors, yes there is a lot of sadness, all the fire stations that you pass have black and purple drapes and photographs of their lost colleagues on show. Our hotel was full of State Troopers and other volunteer workers; in the lobby there was a large Christmas Tree and an empty cot when we arrived, with a sign asking for toys for the children of NYPD and FDNY who had lost their fathers. By the time we left, there were four full cots, and yes, we had added to them. New York is not going to forget what has happened to it, postcards showing the destruction are on sale, as well as some with before and after photographs. There are books on the history of the twin towers, showing how they were built and how they were destroyed - all proceeds from sales going to charity. The stars and stripes fly from every available building and car aerial; the dreadful events have united the people of New York. They care more now and are not so self-orientated.

So, my advice to anyone who was thinking of going to New York, is GO. It is still a wonderful city, there is so much to see and do, buy a week long subway ticket and get around as much as you can and see everything. There are still lots of things that I would like to go back and see so we shall return again in a few years time, perhaps one Spring, to see the city at a different time of year. While we were there, both the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island were still closed, but I think everything else has now reopened, including the helicopter trips. We were lucky enough to go up the Statue of Liberty and take a helicopter trip last time we came, but we had hoped to visit Ellis Island this trip - one day perhaps. A week may seem a long time for a city break, but this is a city that needs at least a week to get to know it. This was my second visit and I still have not seen and done everything that I would like to.

First published in VISA issue 45 (Spring 2002)

Meet the Monuments

By Lynda Penhallow

For the last sixteen years New York has been my favourite place to visit. Subsequently, it was no surprise to anyone that my husband chose to take me there with a party of our family to celebrate my 50th birthday in September 2000. When the planes crashed into the World Trade Centre towers on 9/11/2001 my daughter telephoned me and asked if I had kept our entrance tickets to the buildings from the previous year and if I had, to look at them.
Our tickets were timed 10.15 for that same date. Our party arrived downtown at a subway station situated immediately under the Trade Centre buildings early on the morning of 9/11/2000, visited the ATM in the basement of buildings, leisurely looked at the shops, and had a coffee. If I had been born a year later we would have been in building at the time that the planes hit.

We visited New York again early in 2002 and were touched to see the change in the attitude of the people. My husband speaks slowly and more than once on previous visits he had been hurried up; once an impatient assistant in a delicatessen actually banged the counter and told him 'today guy, today!' However, this time, the famous New York brashness was temporarily gone; the people took the time to make small talk and there was a feeling that they were comfortable to share their experience. We were genuinely sad at their loss and disorientated by the huge hole in the ground and the changed landscape. Free 'timed' tickets were available to visit Ground Zero, to give visitors enough time and space to stand and just think or to look at the photos and reminders of the people who had died, which were in evidence all around the site. Anybody who visited the Trade Centre before 9/11 will remember the magnificent Globe sculpture set in the centre of a fountain which stood in the middle of the Plaza complex. The Globe was badly damaged in the attack, but was retrieved from the rubble and moved to Battery Park; early in 2002 it was a battered, almost defiant, symbol surrounded by candles, messages, and flowers. Last month, we went back to New York and were very sad to see that it now stands in the middle of a rather unkempt oblong of grass, and the eternal flame in front of it needs some care and attention.

On this visit we were spending nine nights in New York and five nights in Washington. We had arranged the holiday ourselves with the help of a tour company and, for the first time, had daytime flights both ways. The wonderful views as we flew down over Long Island were only outdone by the even more fantastic views as we flew home from Washington. The plane flew right over New York, and we could clearly see the buildings and Central Park. We were concerned after reading about the recent upgraded security checks, because flying into America has never been the most welcoming of experiences. In fact, the process this time was much better than we had experienced in the past, albeit that we did have to queue to be finger printed and photographed. There are taxi rank supervisors operating outside JFK airport now to stop the rogue unlicensed taxi drivers from ripping people off. We were silly enough to have been caught by one once, even though we had been warned they operated, and the taxi fare was outrageous; it certainly taught us a lesson.

Unfortunately, the day we arrived, two firemen had died in a fire at one of the buildings still being demolished at the World Trade Centre site. This dominated the local news and television for the entire visit and resurrected the debate about the site. The funeral of one of the men was held in St Patrick's Cathedral a few streets away from our hotel and the entire area around Fifth Avenue was closed for the procession of hundreds of police and firemen in honour of their colleague. The service was broadcast over loudspeakers and, although we obviously didn't know the man, we were caught up in the huge sense of occasion. When the fire engine carrying the coffin, which had been draped in the American flag left the cathedral, it was flanked in the front and at the rear by hundreds of police, ambulance and fire vehicles flashing their blue lights. A bagpipe band playing the American Anthem accompanied the procession; along with the thousands of people who were there, we were deeply moved.

New York is a wonderful multicultural city where anything goes. We enjoyed the sight of shop girls singing and dancing at the door of their store to attract customers (and very well too!). After a walk through Central Park, we called in at The Boathouse to watch the turtles and have a beer. We spent a very pleasant hour talking current affairs, politics and the customs of different countries with the two very well informed young barmen, one a Czech and the other a Croatian. They were happy and positive and full of plans to return home one day to their own countries, which they clearly loved. My husband had read that a visit to the 'Stage Deli' was a must, so we called in there for an evening meal. The sight of the house speciality, which is absolutely enormous mounds of greasy pastrami balanced between two slices of bread, held together with sticks, being eaten by everyone around me wasn't pleasant, but my husband manfully worked his way through one. I thought that I would be safe and have an omelette. Curiously, when it arrived, the omelette was served with a bagel and strawberry jam. It was an interesting experience, but never to be repeated by us, even though the atmosphere in the deli was fantastic!

We were surprised to see that the Plaza Hotel has been sold and is being turned into luxurious apartments with a starting price of $1.3 million. What a wonderful place to live, right next door to Central Park. At the weekend, the park is where the whole of New York seems to relax. We have always enjoyed the atmosphere on a Sunday: the traffic is stopped from driving through the park and the roads are taken over by cyclists, walkers and joggers. Baseball players enjoy the specially designated areas and groups of people either roller skating, dancing to their boom boxes, practising Tai Chi, or just reading seem to rub along side by side without any friction in the huge space the park provides. There are places to eat and drink and, of course, the Central Park Zoo is always worth a visit. It is small but very well presented and all the animals look cared for and happy. There are parts of the park that look so wild it is hard to believe that it is not natural. We walked around the track, which runs around the huge reservoir in the park and it is not hard to imagine Jackie Kennedy (whom the reservoir is now named after) and her entourage on their daily jog.

Thanks to my husband's well-thumbed book listing the best dive bars in New York we found 'Old McSorleys Ale House'. This pub is amazing! Opened in 1854, the pub refused to admit women because the landlords wanted it as a refuge for men after a hard day at work. They stuck steadfastly to this rule until a court ordered them to admit women in 1970. There is still a slight feeling that women are begrudged admission; this is demonstrated by the fact that there is only one large sign for the toilet, but it is for men. There is no indication that this is the case until women do as I did, and walk in off the pub floor and come face to face with a man!
There is sawdust on the floor and the only beer you can have is light or dark served in half-pint glasses. However, the dark walls are lined with old paper cuttings and pictures and it is a very interesting place. When the pub's regular customers were called up for national service during the First World War, a full turkey dinner was cooked for each man and the wishbone was hung over the light fitting on the bar, ready for them to collect when they returned. The enormous wishbones belonging to the soldiers who didn't come back still hang there. Pete's Tavern in the East Village is another pub worth a visit; it was opened in 1864 and the writer O Henry wrote Craft of the Magi in 1905 sitting in the booth by the door. Today there is a picture of him by the booth to help you to identify the spot.

My favourite pub was Jeremy's Ale House near the Fulton Fish Market. Jeremy offers beer in huge 32 ounce Styrofoam cups, but he is the friendliest barman in New York and warmly welcomes the British. For some reason the entire ceiling space is taken over by bras hanging like flags. I didn't like to ask why, just in case my curiosity cost me an instant penalty and I would have to forfeit mine to join the rest. Jeremy gave us a car bumper sticker, which now proudly sits on the rear of our Astra, and in turn we sent him over a British donation for his ceiling. If you do ever visit this bar, have a look for the Union Jack offering which is hopefully hanging somewhere.

We also re-visited Sammy's Romanian Restaurant which is situated downtown in basement premises that you could easily walk past and not notice. Sammy prides himself on being the rudest host in New York but actually he is very, very funny. There is always live and lively Jewish music and the guests are able to join in the dancing and singing, encouraged by a very jolly waitress. Sammy asked us what wine we would like and when we gave him our choice he told us what was available, from the choice of one, for us to have! Some of the food is not for the weak stomached, because it is liberally mixed with chicken fat at the table, but the steaks are definitely wonderful and the evening is always good fun even on a rainy Wednesday. My husband had arranged for us to eat in the Rainbow Room grill because it offers stunning views of the Empire State Building. The seating is arranged so that all the tables face the view.
The only thing that spoiled the visit was the rather haughty waitress presenting us with the bill for our meal and an additional bill for 44 dollars for her tip. Seems she thought that, as we were English, we needed to be especially billed for the tip. I have found this attitude on many occasions and it always disappoints me that the staff can't wait to see if you know how the system works before assuming that the English don't tip! Left to our own devices we usually over-tip rather than under value the usually excellent service we receive in America. The portions, the value for money and the attention from the staff make it worthwhile. We have also found that if you use the same bar a few times and tip the barman he will remember what you drink and often will buy you a drink in return.

We went over to Roosevelt Island on the cable car which leaves from next to the 59th Street bridge. The views are wonderful and the short trip is smooth and well organised; better still it only costs one subway ride each way. Roosevelt Island has a very interesting history and has been used in turn for isolation of contagious diseases, as a place of correction and as a nurses training centre. There is work due to take place to try to restore the old buildings and make the most of the space. I look forward to going back in a few years to see the result.

New York is always changing and the speed with which buildings appear is astonishing. Donald Trump seems to have taken over the space leading down from Riverside Park to the Hudson River and has erected what the locals refer to as 'Trump City'. Again, there is work here to improve the waterside and walkways planted with grasses and shrubs and a new pier have almost been completed for people to make the most of the river. Any visitor with time to spare should visit the Frick museum. It was a private house and the collection belonged to Henry Clay Frick, who bequeathed it to New York City when he died. The charge to go in is reasonable and worth paying. They have the painting of Sir Thomas More by Hans Holbein the Younger and facing it Holbein's painting of Thomas Cromwell, who was responsible for More's death, as well as other British and European works of art collected by Mr Frick.

The trip to Washington on Amtrak took three hours on a spotlessly clean train and we arrived to scorching heat and the very loud singing of the cicadas in the trees. I have never heard singing like it and spent days trying to catch sight of what was causing it. I eventually managed to photograph one of the enormous cricket- like things that fly.
I had been told that Washington was violent, but we saw absolutely no evidence of this at all. We stayed in the Mayflower Hotel, which is famous for its entire block long lobby. It is a very friendly, clean hotel with wonderful facilities. The restaurant serves delicious food, the clam chowder is a must and the staff are superb. Everything that we wanted to see on this trip was within walking distance and we spent five very relaxing days visiting some of perhaps the best monuments in the world.
We went to the top of the Washington Monument where the views are unbelievable. There are free timed tickets, a guide to tell you the history and you are able to spend as much time as you like taking photos and spotting the various landmarks. The Jefferson Memorial, next to the Monument, is built on the edge of the tidal basin and is a beautiful cross-shaped structure, even more so if viewed from the water on one of the pedal boats that are for hire. You are made to wear a safety jacket, which is understandable, but they were dirty and smelly. To be fair, we were there at the end of the season, so perhaps they started out clean and fresh.

On the other side of the Washington Memorial is the White House and, in a direct line from the Monument one way, are the Vietnam and Korean War Memorials and the Lincoln Memorial. In the other direction are the Capitol and the Smithsonian Museums, which are all free to visit and all within comfortable walking distance. The Air and Space Museum is fascinating and I was truly awed that John Glenn went into space orbit in such a tiny capsule. The gallery that contains the Wright Brothers’ plane and the accompanying film is interesting, especially when you think that man went from that flimsy type of plane to space travel in the space of a hundred years.
We walked over the bridge that crosses the Potomac into Georgetown, to look at and climb the flight of steps where they filmed The Exorcist, and to see the house that John Kennedy lived in when he was a senator. He went from there to the White House. Arlington Cemetery has his grave and that of Jackie and two of their children in a grand plot with an eternal flame. It is hard to stand still, concentrate and recall the images of his funeral, because of the crowds jostling for pictures. Just around the corner from JFK's family grave is a small simple wooden cross that marks the grave of Robert Kennedy; the guidebook tells you that it was his choice to have no headstone but it looks so poignant. A visit to Arlington could take an entire day, not only because of the historic and celebrity graves but because it also is the site of Arlington House, the home of Robert E Lee. The house is built on the highest point and was taken from Lee during the Civil War. After the war, it was impossible for him to return because the civil war dead had been buried in what used to be his wife's garden, so it was handed over to the government. It is free to visit the house and the slave quarters next door.

President Lincoln was a powerful American president, famous for his rousing speeches. We visited the theatre where he was shot and the house across the road from the theatre where he was taken mortally wounded. Again, it is free to visit the house where you are made welcome and allowed to look at the rooms where Mrs Lincoln waited and the actual room where Lincoln died. The most touching thing is that Lincoln was laid in a bed on the ground floor. He was a very tall man, and the bed was short, so the President was laid diagonally across the bed with his feet hanging off the side and this is how he died. There are some paintings depicting the moment of his death, lying comfortably in a large room, surrounded by important people. In reality the room was a very small, dark place that could only accommodate the bed and the doctor: a very sad end for such a powerful man.

The Washington underground system was such a surprise after New York. In contrast to the dark, grubby spaces in Manhattan, the Washington system is spotlessly clean and runs on time. There is a strict rule banning eating and drinking in the subway, and this was absolutely adhered to, without exception, from the outset. I read that the result of this tough stance has been that the citizens respect the system. They believe that, if the authorities could be so tough on such a small issue as breaking the eating and drinking rule, then what would they do if a real offence against property or person were committed? The authorities have taken control and it has produced a system that is pleasant to use. They have a row of lights embedded in the platforms that light up and flash when the trains are near which is such a nice touch.
Back at the Mayflower Hotel on our last evening, we were talking to a Vietnamese waiter called Tam, who has lived in Washington for 11 years, and his Cambodian colleague who has lived there for 25 years. We ended our holiday as it started - discussing the World Trade Centre, this time with Tam who wanted to share with us his impressions of that day and the effect it had on the infrastructure of Washington when the Pentagon was hit.

Our plan is to return for longer next time, as we really only scratched the surface of a very interesting city. From the time we arrived to the time we were put in the taxi arranged for us by the concierge at 5.00am to leave for the airport, we were treated extremely well. The hotel left a different little treat for us in our room every evening and made us feel welcome. We look forward to going back.


First published in VISA 78 (April 2008)

Walk the High Line

by Malcolm O'Brien

With a sunny Friday afternoon free in February in New York City, I decided not to wander from my usual hotel to Central Park: but instead to take the Westbound bus across Manhattan to the Jacob Javits Convention Center, and from there to stroll in a new park I’d read about on a previous visit, but hadn’t had the chance to visit.

This park is quite unusual in that it’s not a wide expanse of grass. Instead, this is an elevated section of railway track that was formerly used to connect factories and warehouses to the rail network. The original rail track opened in 1934, and allowed rail freight wagons to roll straight into buildings above street level, giving a huge decrease in accidents between freight trains and road traffic. The last train ran in 1980, and a few years later many property owners of land underneath the line called for its demolition. Some local residents recognised the opportunity to create an unusual and welcome public space, and lobbied for it to be turned into a park.
Not all of the High Line park is yet open to the public; I arrived at the Convention Center a few months too early, as the park is only open from 20th Street south to Gansevoort Street. The part from 20th up to 30th Street opens in spring 2011, with the plan to open it eventually to the West Side Yard next to the Convention Center.

However, walking along 34th Street, just south of the Convention Center, and then following the track southbound along the regular sidewalk, it’s possible to see part of the line in its original state, but now with weeds growing through the sleepers as the track curves south. This sight will presumably be lost when the park is fully opened and made pedestrian friendly. The architects of the park are trying to keep memories of the 25 years of abandonment since the trains stopped running by basing their planting plans on the natural landscape that grew between the tracks, and with photographs of how it used to look.

Finally reaching 20th Street, where I could climb the 30 foot or so staircase to get onto the High Line, I was immediately conscious of how different the park was to any other park I have been to in New York. It’s not simply because of its shape, being based simply on the route of the original train tracks, but also due to the thoughtful layout of plants, lights and benches, an elevation that gives you a good view of the surrounding streets, the different smells and sounds wafting around as you walk through the park, and a sense almost of isolation, looking down on some busy streets from a peaceful park. There are still some meatpacking companies operating in the Meatpacking district, though many of the building have been turned into art galleries, studios and restaurants.

There are areas in the park where the original rail tracks have been left in situ, and it’s possible also to see where the tracks had formerly entered buildings. In many ways, it’s possible to imagine how things were when the line was operating, as many of the visual clues have been intentionally left.

Further south in the park, there’s a tall building that is built above the old railway lines. I assumed that it housed some expensive apartments, as from the park I could see people on bikes and running machines on the top floor looking out over the Hudson River as they exercised. I later found out that the building is actually a boutique hotel, the Standard Hotel.
A short walk later, a large viewing platform marks the southern end of the park, as the elevated railway tracks had already been demolished.

National Geographic calls the park a 'Miracle in Manhattan... a wonderful idea was not only realized but turned out better than anyone had imagined'– and this is a perfect description of the park.

For a very nice way to spend a relaxing couple of hours doing something quite different in Manhattan, I recommend walking the High Line. I’m heading back as soon as I am in the city again.

First published in VISA 98 (Aug 2011)