Reflections on NYC Tour

Now that we are on the bus poised to leave NYC at the end of a whirlwind five day tour, I’ll take a few moments to reflect on all that I’ve seen and done while here. We began our touring late Saturday afternoon with a subway ride from Fulton Street to Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn. We walked to Fort Greene Park and in addition to learning the history of the park we got to observe people from the Brooklyn neighborhoods recreating, or working out on a beautiful spring weekend afternoon. From there we went to enjoy a garden party at the apartment of Scholar Charles Calhoun. That was a wonderful way to end the afternoon.

From there, Terry Martin and I went by subway to find Teresa’s Restaurant in Brooklyn Heights. This was not as much of an adventure as I thought. We found this restaurant on Montague Street at dark. We both enjoyed white borscht which was delicious. I had a plate of pierogies which was equally good. We debated walking back across the Brooklyn Bridge, but decided to ride the subway instead.

Ellis Island as seen from the ferry boat.

Sunday morning we had beautiful weather as we walked to Battery Park. Ed O’Donnell led this walking tour. The entire day was great, not too warm, as we completed the ferry trip to Ellis Island and back. Afterward, we walked up Broadway and toured our way up to Wall St. Our last stop, the 9/11 Memorial was a fitting way to end our first day, reminding us of the costs of liberty in our modern world.

Monday, we took a subway to the Lower East Side and toured the the Tenement Museum. The tour guides who were both named Rachel were gracious and knowledgeable. We went to Katz’s Deli on East Houston Street for lunch. We did a walking tour led by Ed O’Donnell through some of neighborhoods of the Lower East Side and learned about how to tell the age of an old tenement building based on the presence or absence of air shafts, windows, and the proportion of the area the building’s footprint occupies on the lot. The lower this percentage is, the newer the building. The afternoon became quite warm, and several of us took refuge in some shade near a water fountain in Columbus Park. We ate dinner at Ginger Joe’s in the heart of Chinatown. One new interesting fact I learned is that New York’s Chinatown is the largest one in the Western Hemisphere.

Neon sign in the window of the delicatessen.

Tuesday, we took the subway north again, this time to Harlem. It was another gorgeous day with blue skies as we took our walking tour. Although the Harlem nowadays is a vibrant community with few abandoned and dilapidated buildings to be found,the old Renaissance Ballroom standing boarded and deteriorating, with trees growing on the roof, contrasts to the renewal surrounding it. One footnote to the story of this building is the story of the Rens, a touring basketball team that played all comers and won over 2,500 games during its existence.

The Renaissance Ballroom was once a gathering place for African-Americans in Harlem.

Wednesday, we went over to Grant’s Tomb on the west side of Manhattan. The morning started out chilly, but with bright sunshine that didn’t last long. The tour here was in two parts, a walk through the tomb itself and a lecture at the visitor’s center. The next leg of the trip was to take a subway with Terry Martin up to Fort Tryon Park to visit the Cloisters. This museum of medieval art, has many impressive religious relics of the early Catholic Church. Most impressive were the massive tapestries that hung on the walls of the various rooms. Many of these appeared to exceed 15 feet by 20 feet in dimensions with incredible details that tell a story. One room contained only unicorn tapestries. Our tour guide spent many minutes in this room, pointing out the intricate details and explaining the various interpretations of the visual narrative.

This tapestry is titled "The Unicorn in Captivity."  Little is known of its origins, but the letters A and E are interwoven into the tapestry. Perhaps these letters represent the link to whoever was involved in its creation.

Thursday morning, getaway day, we had to be all packed and ready to leave by 8 a.m. for our last walking tour to the High Line in Chelsea. This old raised railroad bed that has been converted into a walking path and park-like space represents a change in approach to the previous pattern of tearing down infrastructure that no longer seems useful to commerce or society. It is also a symbol of the power of a grassroots neighborhood effort. The Friends of the High Line worked for many years to convince the city’s politicians not to tear this structure down.

The High Line is a pedestrian green-space that connects W. 30th St to Gansevoort St.