The Big Elephant - 2 - And Robert's 40th

Monday was Brooklyn Bridge, Downtown Manhattan and Top of the Rock day. Brooklyn Bridge is famous, if only for the number of times it has been sold. The history of its construction has been told many times. The easiest way to get to it from Williamsburg is to go into Manhattan on the L train and back out to Dumbo on the F train and then ask people who look like locals where the steps up to the bridge are located. After a great almond croissant and the best hot chocolate Roger has ever had outside of our home (Café Bar in Dumbo) we visited the park between the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges for a view from the bottom.

Vancouver could take a lesson from New York about moving pedestrians and cyclists over a major waterway. The Brooklyn Bridge has an elevated walkway/cyclists path between the opposing lanes of car and truck traffic.

As with most bridges, maintenance is an ongoing project. Here's a great tightrope walk.



There are some great views from the BB.







The suspension system is intriguing. How rigorous has the maintenance programme been? Will we end up on an outbound tugboat?





Right off the bridge, the Downtown includes the City Administrative Center seen here to the left of the tall Verizon building







and the City Hall with its tight post 9/11 security.
St. Joseph’s, the ground zero church, and its cemetery where any damage has been repaired.





In the background the site of the former twin towers.






Business goes on in the vicinity of ground zero and we escape the noise of reconstruction for lunch in a converted bank vault in this building.












Then it was off via the 1 line subway to the Top of The Rock (the Rockefeller Center) in the Uptown. Magnificent 360 degree views from the enclosed and open air floors after a 50 mph elevator ride to the top in a glass-ceiling elevator. Imagine flying up a vertical subway while watching out the front window beside the driver - but with no control. Fantastic.
















Two Empire State Buildings?










We call the shot below our gargoyle perspective of New York.























Year round skating in Rockefeller Plaza. A $5.00 prize to the first person who can spot Marie-Claire.

By now the day was waning and we were taking Robert out for supper to celebrate his 40th birthday. Gees - how did that happen? It seems like only last night that Roger was changing diapers and warming bottles in the middle of the night. It was only yesterday that he and Roger were going through the long why, why, why series of explorations that only a four year old can launch while his 27 year old father tries to offer reasonable answers. Wasn't it only this morning that as a 9 year old he was asked by the RCMP for his license when Roger gave him his first driving lesson on Crescent Beach? As it turned out the beach was considered a legal roadway. From supper it was on to Donal’s for desert and a surprise party where we would hook up with friends we had already met and others we had still to meet.

























Robert – and Donal with the cake.