I'm sending this from AOL because my regular email won't work here in the hotel. Don't send any mail to this address. I won't get it. Reply to RodNL@charter.net
Dec 29-31 The Trip Begins. After driving 13 hours on the 29th and 10 hours on the 30th we arrived safely in Allentown, Pa. The evening of the 30th we had dinner and visited with my cousin Darrell and his wife, Connie. We had the traditional Pennsylvania Dutch New Year's dinner, pork and sauerkraut with mashed potatoes. It was fun to catch up and share a great meal.
Author's Note: For those of you who are new to this journal, anything written in italics is usually non-travel related and sometimes very politically incorrect. If you might be offended, please skip over anything in italics. In this case it's a personal note. Darrell is my double cousin. His mother is my mother's sister and his father is my father's brother so we are cousins on both sides of the family. When my mom died he and my Aunt Irma took me in until I finished high school so Darrell and I also lived together for a while. I think of him more as a brother than a cousin.
On the 31st we drove our rented Dodge Journey, a mid-size SUV, into Manhattan.
Automotive Note: I don't know how reliable they are but the Journey is a great car, smooth, quiet, stayed where you put it in the lane, unaffected by wind, comfortable and for a large, square, tall vehicle got an average of 24mpg on our 1,700 mile trip. Only minus was the rearward visibility. The center mirror was only good for the lane directly behind you. Fortunately the side mirrors were large and could be adjusted to show the right and left lanes to the rear as well as vehicles not yet visible at the side of your car through the windows. If I were ever in the market for a vehicle of this size, and given that they are proven to be reliable, I would consider this car.
I dropped Diana off at the hotel, the Doubletree in the financial district, and then drove to mid-town to return the car. The trip up was pretty easy but the return trip by taxi was long and slow. Preparations were being made for New Year's Eve in Times Square and police checkpoints were up everywhere. They weren't checking anyone yet, it was only 2:30pm, but the barricades were up and only one lane of the street remained open. Later they will close that lane and the area will become pedestrian only. It's cold and windy, 32 degrees and gusty winds up to about 20mph. Pretty raw. The streets were already crowded with bundled up people.
The throng is multi-everything, linguistic, national, ethnic and cultural. On the street you see it in the faces, posture and the gestures but in our hotel you hear it in the accents and languages. I'd say I've been in the elevator with maybe 35 people in my various trips up and down. I greet almost everyone while I'm traveling especially in close quarters like an elevator. Of these 35 people only 4 have been identifiably US. The rest have been Germans, British, Chinese, Russians, Hungarians, Southeast Asian (probably Laotian), Indian (Asian type) and Caribbean islanders of several kinds. I'm pretty good with accents but for some of them I have to hear certain words. For example, to differentiate Australians and Kiwis I like to hear the word 'pen'.
When I was teaching at UNT I had a student from New York named Oswald. He was a sturdy but small black man and after talking to him for several days I told him over lunch I knew which island he was originally from. He gave me his best smile and said that he didn't think I could. When I said St. Kitts, his eyes got big and his jaw dropped, as he asked, "How did you know?" This was early in our cruising career and we had been on a number of cruises in the Caribbean Islands. I'm pretty sure he thought I'd say Jamaica because at that time they made up the largest contingent from that area in NYC. Our visit to St. Kitts had been one of my favorite stops at that time and I spent a lot of time talking to the locals. The accent is similar to Jamaican but much less harsh and slang filled, more lyrical.
If you've never been to the ball drop in Times Square, it's insane. The crowd is huge and the problem is there are few if any restrooms. Usually they bring in some portable toilets. The real problem comes after midnight. The subway system is totally impacted and it could be hours before you are able to get a train to go anywhere. If you ever want to do it, get a hotel very near Times Square so you can walk home. With the crowd, that's sort of a problem too early on.
It's been a tiring three days so we ate at the Chipotle across the street and retired to read and watch football. The meal we often get at the Chipotle in Irvine costs about $16. Here the same meal is $22. Welcome to NYC!
