A Tangle of Bright Moments: Shining Banks of Light

Far below ran the silver ribbon of the East River, braceleted by shining bridges, flecked by boats as small as flyspecks, splitting the shining banks of light that were Manhattan and Brooklyn on either side.” ―  Cassandra Clare, City of Ashes (2008)

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On the 5th of May, spouse and I met a college friend of mine in New York and took the Circle Line “Best of NYC” boat tour around Manhattan, something none of us — including my lifelong New Yorker friend — had ever done. It didn’t seem the most auspicious of mornings, raining, with a high in the mid-50s, but our enthusiasm was not dampened (except literally). Along the hurried wet walk from Grand Central Station to Pier 83 on West 42nd Street I rejoiced in these bright tulips, and even in unnaturally bright Times Square in the rain.

orangetulipsnearBroadwayNYC5May2019TimesSquarerainNYC5May2019

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As you can see, though our cruise was full, not many ventured to the outside deck in the rain and wind. (The bar was closed.)

cruiseboatdeckchairsWereAllForCleaningOurCabinetsbutSeriouslyDonaldbillboardskyscrapersNYC5May2019GerogeWashingtonBridgecruiseshipchairsHudsonRiverNYC5May2019

These are some of the highlights for me:

ManhattanskyscraperslowerWestsideNYC5May2019
Manhattan skyscrapers in the fog and mist, lower West side
JerseyCityNewJerseyHudsonRiverNYC5May2019
Jersey City
BatteryParkLowerManhattanbuildingsNYC5May2019
Battery Park and Lower Manhattan
StatueofLibertyparkdocksNYC5May2019
Statue of Liberty

StatueofLibertyheadcrownflameNYC5May2019

StatenIslandFerryorangeshipNYC5May2019
Staten Island Ferry from NJ to NYC or vice versa
QueenMaryshipBrooklynNYC5May2019
The Queen Mary 2 docked in Brooklyn
NewJerseyNewYorkriverNYC5May2019
New Jersey on one side, New York on the other
CastleWilliamsroundbrickGovernorsIslandBrooklynbackgroundNYC5May2019
Castle Williams on Governor’s Island, with Brooklyn in the background
JanesCarouselglassedBrooklynbuildingsEastRiverNYC5May2019
Jane’s Carousel and Brooklyn buildings
JanesCarouselglassedEastRiverBrooklynNYC5May2019
Jane’s Carousel
BrooklynBridgeEastRiverNYC5May2019
Brooklyn Bridge
blueManhattanBridgeEastRiverNYC5May2019
Manhattan Bridge
PepsiColasignskyscrapersQueensboroBridgeislandnestingbirdsvistaLongIslandCityNYCEastRiverNYC5May2019
Pepsi-Cola sign, Long Island City in Queens, Queensboro Bridge, island with birds
unusualbuildingsEastRiverNYC5May2019
unusual architecture, East River, not sure where
conjoinedskyscraperAmericanCopperBuildingEastsideEastRiverNYC5May2019
conjoined skyscraper – American Copper Building, 626 First Avenue, East Side
UnitedNationsBuildingskyscrapersmistEastRiverNYC5May2019
United Nations et al., East Side
RooseveltIslandruinbEastRiverNYC5May2019
Roosevelt Island ruin in foreground
RooseveltIslandtramwayEastRiverNYC5May2019
Roosevelt Island tramway across East River to Manhattan
psychiatrichospitalWardsIslandHarlemRiverNYC5May2019
psychiatric hospital on Wards Island, which, with Randall Island, is separated from most of Manhattan by the Harlem River, from Queens by the East River and Hell Gate, and from the Bronx by the Bronx Kill
GeorgeWashingtonBridgesupportHudsonRiverNYC5May2019
George Washington Bridge, Hudson River
downtownskyscraperspyramidHudsonRiverNYC5May2019
VIA 57 West, a residential “superblock” in midtown

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We finished off our visit with a nice nosh at the Landmark Tavern nearby (at 626 11th Ave.), an Irish tavern on Cinco de Mayo.

cocktailHellsKitchenSourLandmarkTavernNYC5May2019
Hells Kitchen Sour cocktail at Landmark Tavern

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Featured image: from the boat 
This is one in a series of posts revisiting field trips taken from January to June 2019, as described here.

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