9-7-12

Hello Folks!

Today I am totally smug, we drove from Essex to our hotel in NYC without a map. One of the side effects of this is that we spent so long in Brooklyn that Philip now has a slight accent which is a little embarrassing in the Upper East Side - but hey we'll sort something out.

All went well on our trusty I95. We went over the toll bridge to Long Island with the intention of crossing to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge. It is here that we became locals with people commenting that if we spent so much time in town why not rent an apartment, it would save on gas...

Much of the run in New England continued to be in the forest - quite spectacular. It is difficult to describe just how green New England is - England  - the old one - looks quite bare by comparison - the only place I can think of that looks in any way similar in the south of England is the Forest of Dean, and whilst beautiful it's tiny by comparison to New England where you drive hundreds of miles in deep green woods.

Anyway as we passed through the Western New England cities it became clear we were getting ever closer to the Big One. As we crossed the Toll Bridge we had the most fantastic views of Manhattan. It really is a magnificent achievement - the men and women who have built Manhattan have done a remarkable job. It is difficult to convey just how many huge buildings have been constructed on Manhattan, lyrics in songs describing canyons of glass and steel don't really do the place justice - the variety of huge buildings is quite awesome - in the true sense of the word.

Off the Toll Bridge things became a little  tricky. We often went in loops (rather like this piece) in attempts to keep the compass pointing South West - heading for the Brooklyn Bridge. This was more difficult to achieve than it would seem as the CIP and the Union Parkway - and some other Parkway - there are lots of trees on Long Island too kept conspiring to take us East and we needed South West.

That's why we got to know and love Brooklyn...

Brooklyn is lovely, we know we have seen most of it. Signage is not a strong point on the minor roads on the suburbs. We spent a reasonable amount of time enjoying the real estate around this part of town - which is actually really-really nice. Long straight tree lined avenues. Street side cafes of considerable style and a calm and politeness in driving which is absent in many places, though it seems that this is the style in the US.

Anyway, we are still in Brooklyn. Actually, we were under the Beltway on 3rd Avenue. Imagine an underground Jamaica Rd with the Hammersmith elevated section stuck on top, only 10 times as long.

We get to the very south of Brooklyn and turn and get on the Beltway itself - on top. And we see the Statue of Liberty as well as amazing views of the Lower East Side - Wall St. The Beltway kept on wanting to take us to the tunnel - we didn't want to enter Manhattan underground. We kept on going - it was slow... Very slow. And hot.

And then it all came into view the Brooklyn Bridge, a slip road and signs sending us in the direction we wanted to go. We were on...

Up and over the bridge, it was an outstanding view, United Nations building, Met Life (Pan Am building) Chrysler, Empire State and Rockerfeller buildings - just there all in a single view.

Off the bridge in Manhattan and just follow the street numbers - go west to Madison ad up to 48th and job done - even when we overshot it was s easy to do a loop and get onto 48th St.

Checked in parked the car as smooth as you like.

In the evening we went to Madison and Vine - great fish - huge burger and great ravioli. After that I thought I'd try a Martini - my first ever. It was awful - I'll not have another!

Tomorrow is another day.