An East River Ferry Ride in NYC

East

I was away for a week--did you miss me? My husband and I flew in NYC last weekend to attend the wedding celebration of a friend's son in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and then to spend a few days celebrating my birthday and seeing family and friends back in Brooklyn and Manhattan.  It is always good to go back to the city where I lived in most of my life!  When I am there, I feel as if I have never left. (All photos in this post will enlarge if clicked on)

The photos I'm showing you today, were actually taken on a visit we made to NYC last summer, that I never had an opportunity to blog about.  I wanted to share them with you now, as taking a ride on the NY Waterway Ferry is a wonderfully affordable way to see some of the sights of New York from the East River, plus it is a nice way to cool off on a hot summer day.

My friends and I picked up the East River Ferry in Brooklyn Bridge Park. I blogged about Brooklyn Bridge Park when I lived in Brooklyn--click here to read that post.  It is definitely worth a visit if you travel to New York City, as it has many new attractions and features and magnificent views of lower Manhattan.

We saw lots of new construction going up in both Brooklyn and Manhattan on our last visit, and the same was true this visit. The skylines of both boroughs are growing higher and changing. 

The ferry has a nice topside seating area which allows one to have a good view of both sides of the river and enjoy some cool breezes.

It's always fun to sail under the bridges!  First we sailed under the Brooklyn Bridge.....

...and saw the lower Manhattan skyline receding in the background.

Next, we sailed under the Manhattan Bridge.

The river is always full of both commercial and recreational vehicles.

We sailed past Jane's Carousel located in Brooklyn Bridge Park--you can read about a visit I made to this wonderful attraction on my blog on this link.

The American flag at the end of the ferry made a nice focal point with the city skyline behind it.

The next bridge we sailed under on the East River was the Williamsburg Bridge.

There has been a lot of new growth on the Brooklyn side of the river in this area, as you can see by the large condominium complex above.

People were waiting on the dock to board the ferry.

A good view of the Empire State building

The midtown Manhattan skyline.

It was fun to see jet skiers enjoying the river!

The Queensborough Bridge in the distance.

We were now approaching Hunters Point South Park and Pier in Long Island City.

It looked like a beautiful place to relax by the water....

...and enjoy the views!

The United Nations building in the middle of the photo above.

Many more high condos along the Long Island City shore.  I stayed on the ferry for the entire round trip and it soon turned around at this point.

A view of the very ornate top of the Chrysler building on our trip back to Brooklyn Bridge Park

Back to the Brooklyn Bridge Park Ferry stop...

...where again, we had a wonderful view of the lower Manhattan skyline.  You can see the different ferry routes New York Waterways offers on this link.  The East River Ferry website is here, and the fare rates can be viewed here.

As always, I enjoyed my trip to New York City and will show a little more of what I did on some future posts.  Now it is good to be home again in Colorado.  We are having a bit of a heat wave here--how has the weather been where you are?

I'm linking this post to the following blog events:

Seasons, Amaze Me Monday, Blue Monday, Monday of Many Blessings, Through My Lens Monday, Mosaic Monday, Life Through the Lens Monday, Mellow Yellow Monday, Inspiration Monday, Good Random Fun, Nature Notes, Grand Social, Our World Tuesday, Ruby Tuesday, You're Gonna Love It Tuesday, Wordless Wednesday, Oh My Heartsie Girl's Wonderful Wednesday, Outdoor Wednesday, Share Your Cup Thursday, Thoughts of Home on Thursday, Travel Photo Thursday, Friday Photo Journal, Skywatch Friday, Friday Features, Share It One More Time, Pink Saturday,

Thank you to all the blog hosts!

A Brooklyn Bride

So where do a girl and a guy who were born in Brooklyn, New York, go to have wedding portraits taken? Of course, they go under the Brooklyn Bridge in Brooklyn Bridge Park! My daughter and son-in-law wanted to have this iconic landmark as part of their wedding shots, even though they now call the state of Colorado home.

Their professional husband and wife photography team went to great lengths to get their shots, and we were so happy the weather cooperated with us.

I had brought along my point and shoot camera and was able to take these photos while we waited. In this shot, my daughter is waving to people cheering their congratulations from a Circle Line Sightseeing cruise passing by in the East River.

Because we were in Brooklyn Bridge Park on a beautiful day, we were sharing our photo opportunity with quite a few park goers. On the other side of the park were picnickers and Jane's Carousel in full use. I've blogged about this wonderful new addition to the park on this post.

The bride and groom -- my hope is that the construction fence in the background isn't seen in the professional shots!

 I captured the bridesmaids having a good time as they waited.....

...and one of the groomsmen took this photo of me with my son and husband.

Just look at this spectacular view only surpassed in beauty by the gorgeous line of young women standing in front of it!

At one point I caught my son and daughter-in-law smooching--I'm sure they were thinking about their own wedding day almost eight years prior!

The photographers moved us all into the historic ruins of the Civil War-era Tobacco Warehouse in the park.  It is a another popular place for photos, as you can see by my daughter glancing at another bride and groom having their photos taken.

Our photographers had the bride and groom stand still while the bridal party had to run, jump and leap behind them.  I'm sure there will be fun shots to see!

  I could not take my eyes off my darling daughter and handsome son-in-law.

I also took the opportunity to take some more candid shots of my son and husband and daughter-in-law.

Finally, always being in a blogger mode, I couldn't resist taking this artsy shot of the Manhattan Bridge through the window frame of the warehouse.

I

Jane's Carousel, Brooklyn Bridge Park

I recently blogged about the beautiful new Brooklyn Bridge Park, in Brooklyn, New York, which you can read at this link. A brand new edition to the park that opened last week on September 16, 2011, is a wonderful vintage carousel, called Jane's Carousel. If you look closely at the photo above, nestled on the end of a peninsular portion of the park, in front of the Brooklyn Bridge from this perspective, is the acrylic building that houses the carousel. Let's walk closer....

Now you can see how the carousel is situated in the park between the Brooklyn Bridge to the left....

....and the Manhattan Bridge to the right.

The charming Jane's Carousel is housed in a spectacular Pavilion designed by Pritzker Prize winning French architect Jean Nouvel.  According to the website: "Jane's Carousel is a completely restored historic Carousel made by the Philadelphia Toboggan Company (PTC #61) in 1922. It is a classic 3-row machine with 48 exquisitely carved horses, and 2 superb chariots. The wood carvings, often attributed to John Zalar and Frank Carretta, are among the finest of their kind. In addition, the scenery panels, rounding boards, crests, center pole and platform are all original to the Carousel. It was the first Carousel to be placed on the National Register of Historic Places."

"In 1983, as the designated developer of Empire Fulton Ferry State Park, David Walentas had commissioned a Master Plan for the park that called for an historic carousel to be installed. Jane and David Walentas purchased the Carousel at auction on October 21, 1984.

When purchased, the Carousel was in poor condition. Jane Walentas began its restoration at her studio here in Dumbo in 1984. Her initial tasks included making necessary carpentry repairs and hand-scraping away 62 years of "Park Paint" with an X-acto knife to reveal the original 1922 carvings, color palette, and designs. The discoveries were carefully recorded with photographs, color matches, and detailed drawings that guided the repainting of the Carousel. The horses were rendered in faithful detail. The highly decorative carved trappings were newly painted and re-leafed. Missing embellishments such as faceted jewels, small beveled mirrors on the bridles, and delicate pinstriping were restored."

"The Carousel's rounding boards, scenery panels and structural pieces were also repainted, stenciled, and re-leafed. Blackened varnish was removed from original paintings to reveal their true colors. Dozens of old beveled mirrors were reglazed. Mechanical systems were updated with new gears, motor and an electronic controller. Totally rewired, the Carousel now dazzles with 1200 brilliant lights."

The entire story of Jane's Carousel is inscribed on this mirrored monument at the site. The Carousel and the Nouvel commissioned Pavilion are a gift from the Walentas family to the people of the City of New York. It was truly a labor of love by Jane Walentas, and now, after years of restoration and storage, the carousel is finally a wonderful reality!

The day I was there to see it there were lines of happy children waiting to take a ride for a modest price of $2.   I think the children's parents were just as excited to see and ride the carousel.

Who wouldn't love to be a child again, even it is for just a few minutes of a carousel ride?  I know I enjoyed my ride!

You can watch a minute of the carousel ride on my video above or at this link.

You can watch a minute of the ride on my video above or at this link.

The carousel is open everyday except Tuesday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. More information about hours and directions can be seen at this link.


I'm linking this post to the following blog events:
Whistlestop Cafe Cooking's "Traveling Tuesday"
"Outdoor Wednesday"
"Alphabe Thursday" -- the letter this week is "W" and I can't think of many more things more Wonderful than a carousel
"Pink Saturday" for all the color pink in the painted horses

Click on the links to go to the events -- many thanks to all the blog hosts!