Monday, September 2, 2024

A Joyful Drive Around Manhattan, NYC!

A view of lower Manhattan from Brooklyn, New York


Usually, the word "joyful" doesn't usually match well with the phrase "driving around Manhattan in New York City," due to heavy traffic, lack of free parking, and expensive parking garages. However, my husband and I enjoyed a wonderful sightseeing car tour of a part of Manhattan when we returned to Brooklyn, New York after our East Coast Princess Cruise in June. We had spent a few days visiting family and friends in Brooklyn and Long Island, and on this particular day, my dear friend Rosemary wanted to spend the day with us and offered to drive around to show us all the old and new sights we had not seen in quite a while. If you have been a long-time reader of my blog, you will remember I lived in Brooklyn, NY all my life until we moved to Colorado eleven years ago to be closer to our children and grandchildren. The first five years of this blog mainly focused on my life in New York City.




This brand new luxury condominium building called Olympia in Brooklyn faces the East River with sights of lower Manhattan.





We drove over the East River on the famous Brooklyn Bridge.






We're now in Lower Manhattan.

Rosemary and I were happily chatting about many things as we drove along, and all the while, I snapped photos with my cell phone.





Rosemary drove on the West Side Highway where we passed many new high-rise buildings and a new elevated park along the Hudson River at Pier 55 called Little Island (photo in the upper right of the collage above)




We continued driving north on the West Side Highway, passing numerous tall penthouse-type buildings and an exclusive-looking senior living facility. (All photos will enlarge in size for easier viewing of details if clicked on)  We drove a bit further north and then traffic became heavy and slow so Rosemary drove east crosstown.






We passed  one of the entrances to Central Park





Some of the buildings surrounding Central Park and one of the many horse and carriage rides that can be hired for a tour inside the park.





As we continued driving south on 5th Avenue, we passed many familiar buildings: St. Patrick's Cathedral on the upper left, the Apple Store on the right, Tiffany & Company on the lower left, and Cartier on the lower right.





Saks Fifth Ave on one side of 5th Ave and Rockefeller Center on the other side





In the distance, I could see the Empire State Building. What was that figure ganging onto the antenna on top? Could it be King Kong??  No, it turned out to be a large dragon that was promoting a HBO TV show called " House of the Dragon."




We next passed the large New York Public Library main branch on 5th Ane with its iconic lion statues, Patience, and Fortitude, in front.






The triangle-shaped Flatiron Building in the upper left was covered with netting as it is being extensively renovated to turn it into luxury condos. The New School building is on the lower left of the collage.





Next, we drove through the Greenwich Village neighborhood and passed the Washington Square Arch and New York University.
We stopped to buy some delicious gelato cones to eat and stretch our legs a bit.




We returned to the West Side where we passed more new very tall apartment or condominium buildings in Battery Park and the elite Stuyvesant High School building which requires an entrance exam for admission although it is a public school.



We were very close to the new World Trade Center complex at this location. The largest building in the complex is called the Freedom Tower. It is hard to see it all when one is close up!




We drove east towards the Brooklyn Bridge and I could see the Brooklyn East River waterfront.




We drove across the Brooklyn Bridge again...






Once we were back in Brooklyn, we had a view of Lower Manhattan in the distance, and we passed the large ETSY headquarters.





We treated Rosemary to dinner at one of our favorite restaurants in Brooklyn. I've missed their wonderful fish salad! She took our photo but wouldn't allow us to take hers because she had tears in her eyes knowing that we were leaving the next day to fly home to Colorado. She promised me that she would visit us in Colorado again soon, and asked us to wait until then to take photos. I am holding her to that promise!

I hope you enjoyed riding along with us in Manhattan in this post! I have a lot to catch up on this blog with what has been happening this summer in Colorado and I hope you'll be back again next week!  
Happy September!

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Sunday, August 25, 2024

Charleston, South Carolina

The last stop on the Princess Cruise East Coast trip was Charleston, South Carolina.  As our off-ship excursion, my husband and I decided to take a bus tour of the city, including a few stops at historical places. 

Charleston was founded in 1670 as Charles Town, honoring King Charles II, at Albemarle Point on the west bank of the Ashley River but relocated in 1680 to its present site.   Charleston adopted its present spelling with its incorporation as a city in 1783.


Charleston is now the most populous area in South Carolina in the US.  Its predominant antebellum architecture was charming to see as our tour bus drove around the city.


We drove around The Citadel's campus. 

The Citadel Military College of South Carolina is a public senior military college established in 1842.  It is the third oldest of the six senior military colleges in the United States. The Citadel was initially established as two schools to educate young men from around the state, while simultaneously protecting the South Carolina State Arsenals in both Columbia and Charleston





We could see some co-ed students participating in drills on the large central campus as the bus drove around the grounds.



Charleston is known as the “Holy City” for its skyline punctuated by steeples and is home to some of the most historically and culturally significant churches in North America. Our tour stopped at the Second Presbyterian Church of Charleston. It was built in 1809 by James and John Gordon, this edifice is known as the oldest edifice of the Presbyterian faith of Charleston. The church, built in the Jeffersonian style is the fourth oldest church structure in the city.



Please click on the photo to enlarge it to read the informational placard.

We also stopped to tour the Joseph Manigault House. 
 
The Joseph Manigault house was built in 1803 and was designed by Joseph Manigault's brother Gabriel, who also designed Charleston’s current City Hall. Joseph was a wealthy rice planter who inherited several rice plantations and over two hundred slaves from his grandfather, and married into a wealthy family. His wife's father, Arthur Middleton, was one of the signers of the Declaration of Independence. The house was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1973 and is now a museum. It reflects the urban lifestyle of a wealthy, rice-planting family and the enslaved African Americans who lived there.


The Gate Temple entrance to the Joseph Manigault House Museum--enlarge the photo above to read the informational placard about it.




Please click on  the photo to enlarge it,



The Manigault house's focal point is a "flying" staircase in the hall. The numerous rooms have been restored to their original color schemes and adorned with an exceptional collection of American, English, and French period furnishings.




I enjoyed seeing some beautiful flowers, window flower boxes, and  moss hanging off the many live oak trees in the city,




Our tour bus passed a horse-drawn carriage tour--I made a note to do this tour if we ever return to Charleston in the future.





A carriage ride would be a pleasant way to slowly pass all the magnificent Charleston mansions!




Another thing I regretted not being able to do was pick up a handwoven basket or other braided sweetgrass handicraft that was for sale! For more than 300 years, the Gullah people in Charleston have been weaving baskets using locally harvested bulrush, a strong yet supple marshgrass that thrives in the sandy soil of the Lowcountry. Originally used as winnowing fans to separate the rice seed from its chaff, sweetgrass baskets are regarded among the nation’s most prized cultural souvenirs.



The day we visited Charleston was my birthday so we celebrated at one of the specialty restaurants on our cruise ship and I enjoyed a delicious lobster tail!



We enjoyed watching sailboats outside the windows of the restaurant as we dined.


That evening we enjoyed listening to a fun Elton John impersonator's concert in the ship's theater.

 It was the end of a beautiful day!


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