We have ridden the New York subway and lived to tell the tale! Actually, it's wonderful, and so much faster than any surface means of travel. Not nearly as scary as all the stories we've heard.

As you may recall, today was REMEMBRANCE DAY. It also turned out to be our COLDEST DAY (28 degrees) and "LONG-LINES" DAY, as well.

Breakfast at our usual place (...we're actually chatting with the staff there now; the cashier plans to fly out to CA next year and check out the "metal" scene in Southern California). Then two blocks to the 28th St. Station of the yellow subway line, headed Downtown.. (Unlike London, you have to make sure you go down the right staircase from the surface for each station to end up on the right side of the tracks.) The train came within minutes, and there were plenty of seats and a real live driver in the middle of the train. We whooshed all the way down to the southern end of Manhattan (see photo #2...the station I initially thought we'd get out at was closed due to the events of 9-11.)

We made our way to Fulton Street, where we knew the brand new viewing platform was. Hmmmmm...there's a huge line. We follow the line one block, two blocks, three blocks, around a corner, another block, around two more corners, and finally found the end of the line. We ae SO COLD! At one point, darling Gil went and found a little coffee shop and bought out 4 cups of cocoa for us and the groups in front and behind us, so we could warm our collective hands and insides. As we filed past the Woolworth Building, several of us went through the revolving doors just to get a little warmth, not to mention adviring the gorgeous interior. After nearly two hours, including time filing past walls of mememtos (photos, flowers, flags, hats and sirts from fire/police depts around the nation, many were from California), we made it onto the plywood viewing platform. We walked slowly by the Trinity Church cemetary, then out overlooking Ground Zero.

It is mostly a huge empty zone now; nothing recognizable remains. Adjacent buildings are draped in 50 stories of what looks rather like mourning. The cold was so intense (the wind, unobstructed now was merciless), and the police insistent (naturally) on keeping us moving, that we didn't stay very long. Gil snapped quite a few shots and has assembled a collage for you (photo #3). Sorry about the size, it's a bit larger than our usual photos, but it's the only way we could capture themoment (and not have AOL cut us off again for "spamming").

So chilled we could hardly walk on our frozen feet and ankles we shuffled as quickly as we could manage to a McDonald's restaurant, just to warm up. I somehow ended up ordering burgers and GIGANTIC cups of coffee for us. [note: being asked unintelligible questions by persons with sometimes heavy accents in noisy situations, responding by guessing what the question was, and having my responses be unintelligible to the staff person became a too-familiar pattern for me in New York City...sometimes one has to be content with whatever one ends up with and be happy about it...and so it is I came to enjoy tea with milk].

We spotted our THIRD man-wearing-fur-coat - Gil bagged him from the vantage point of our upstairs table (see photo #4). After I waited in line for the women's bathroom for about 20 minutes, we emerged into the cold concrete canyons of Broadway once more, heading south. We stopped at the famous "charging bull" statue. The bull's nose and, um, most private parts are shiny from being rubbed (for good luck??).

Our goal was Battery Park, and the 1811 round building there known as Castle Clinton (named for DeWitt Clinton, former Mayor of NYC and later Governor of NY State...not Bill or Hillary). Through this building in 1859 came great great grandfather Henry Hug from Switzerland, and (I think) in 1877 my great grandfather Jan Kalal and great grandmother Antonette Benda in 1883. Unlike Ellis Island, this hugely important immigration center (8 million immigrants from 1855 to 1890) gets almost no attention. There is a hideous statue called The Immigrants outside the main entrance - rough hewn and chained downtrodden people looking desperate and ugly.

There is a teensy "museum" with 4 dioramas inside of Battery Park and a few photos. What used to be a great hall, where immigrants were processed, and could wash, sleep, change money, buy railroad tickets, and find jobs, now has no roof and is just a bare concrete circle open to the skies, where you can buy tickets to the Ellis Island ferry.

We then walked over to the Staten Island ferry, which is huge and free and gave us a great view of the Statue of Liberty (see photo #5) and Ellis Island. We zipped over to Staten Island, then zipped right back.

Then we found our way back to our subway (managing to swipe our cards properly after one or two tries) and home.

Tomorrow is New Year's Eve, and if you think we're going to be at Times Square with half a million people, a thousand police, and temperatures in the low twenties, you have to be kidding! We've still not decided what we're doing, but it may involve a TV and our own warm and cozy room.

Tomorrow's plan is as yet undetermined...it will be our last day in NYC and we are hoping to hit some spots we've yet to see...there is some buzz for Midtown including Greenwich Village, Little Italy and Chinatown.

Until then, Becky and Gil

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