Jet Lagged

I woke up at 4am today, and went back to sleep until 5.40am. At this point, recognised that my body clock was still not catching up with me and so started drafting this blog.

Yesterday was spent largely downtown. We went first to see the Statue of Liberty. The intent was to take the cruise which would ferry us to Liberty Island itself – but there were no admissions to the statue that morning. So, we took the free Staten Island Ferry to see the Statue of Liberty. No complaints personally but its truly amazing that this ferry service is free. It is heartily abused by all these tourists round-tripping from Manhatten to Staten Island just to see the Statue, and from a distance at that. (That’s why it turned out pretty small in my photo.) However, there were 3-4 people dressed up as Lady Liberty around Castle Clinton (Ticketing Station for the Cruise to Liberty and Ellis Islands) and that was close enough for me. But the ferry ride was fun – and with the cold winds blowing in our face as we went back to Manhatten from Staten Island, quite exhilarating. Having said that, the weather right now is not the greatest. Temperatures are quite ok (about 20 degrees C or so) but there are overhanging clouds and it gets a little nippy. But we should count ourselves lucky. There is flooding in Norfolk, Virginia. Thanks to Tropical Storm Ernesto.

After the Statue of Liberty, we went to the World Trade Centre site. It was sobering to see the massive site where so many people had lost their lives, but the new construction work has started, and we could see some trains (the subway?) going through the site. The fire station next to the site has a huge memorial on its outside wall which I think said it well – acknowledging both “those who fell and those who carry on”.

I went on to Greenwich Village for a walk in the afternoon (other members of our party went their separate ways). The Village is an older part of New York and the houses built reflect the architecture of their times (see photos). It is indeed a pleasant part of NY which has a warm feel of community about it. One neighbourhood adopted a street corner and turned it into a little garden. People walk their dogs (but there is no trace of you-know-what on the ground) and pop into the "neighbourhood" shops (Bleecker Street ranges from craft shops to designer clothes, with one rather nice bookshop - Biography Bookshop).

Jet lag struck in the evening (about 6pm) and I slept for an hour before going out for dinner. Probably the main reason behind my early start this morning!