The day I took 332 pictures September 18, 2007

I’m a pictures addict, but I think I’ve never taken so many pictures. Today started early because some of my roomates woke up at 7.00 and then I did the same.
I started with a church close from my hotel (the Christian Science Church), then Trinity Church, then I went to Boston Commons (the park) and followed again the Freedom Trail. This time I did it all, from Boston Commons to Bunker Hill And the USS Constitution. Here’s the whole list: the State House, Park Church, Old Granary Burial Ground, King’s Chapel, the Old Corner Bookstore, the Old State House (I did visit it, but it was forbidden to take pictures), the Boston Massacre site, Faneuil Hall Marketplace, the memorial for the victims of World War II (I know it’s not in the Freedom Trail, but I saw it anyway), Paul Revere’s House (did visit it too, no pictures again!!! the house is so old, simple and nice), Old North Church, Copp’s Hill Burying Ground, Bunker Hill (294 steps to get to the top, without lift to have a wonderful view on Boston) and the USS Constitution (did visit it too, and also the Cassin Young, another - and more recent - navy boat). All this was a very long walk but I finished visiting the Cassin Young around 1.30pm, wich allowed me to do other things: I went to the aquarium because I could get my ticket for a short cruise in the harbor. Instead of waiting stupidly 45min for the next cruise, I decided to take the time to visit the aquarium before and took a ticket for the 3.30pm cruise.
The aquarium is small but great. I took a lot of pictures there (like in all the other places today).
The cruise was fun too but the sun wasn’t on the right side to take pictures. You know what? Boston is small!! I shouldn’t have come here after NY!!!
I went to the Science Museum to get a ticket for the “Boston Duck Tour”, a fun tour of the city by car, but it was already too late: almost everything ends at 5.00pm here in Boston!!! It’s incredible!
After this, I went back to the hostel, had something for dinner and went to the top of the Prudential Center , and guess what? It was open today!! It was already the night and the town is just wonderful with all its lights!
Now, I let you because I really need to sleep.

The day I took the Staten Island ferry September 16, 2007

Today was my last day in NY before I move to Boston (I will come back here for one day at the end of my trip, but I don’t think I will have the time to visit a lot of places).
The weather forecast was right: today, we’ve had a wonderful day and I don’t regret I planned my visit of Staten Island for today.
I left the hotel at 8.30, which I thought was very late as I had to stop at the bank, but I arrived just in time to take 9.30am ferry at the extreme South of Manhattan. The Staten Island ferries are some very big boats: you have at least 3 decks, You have a lot of seats inside and also outside (that’s great when you want to take pictures). It was quite cold anyway and I stayed inside most of the time because I was having breakfast (a huge muffin and a surprisingly good coffee, both for a very reasonable price).
It took only 25 minutes maybe to arrive in Staten Island… this was much earlier than I thought. That’s why I decided to walk to the botanical Garden, which was the first of the 3 places I wanted to visit (the other 2 was opening at 1.00pm only). On the way I saw the SI Yankees Stadium (baseball), and a tribute to the the WTC victims.
Did you know that Staten Island was a BIG island???? The road was looong before I arrived a the botanical garden, which is located inside Snug Harbor, the cultural center of the island. The place is extremely quiet and beautiful, with a lot of flowers, trees, benches, cottages (one of them was a restaurant and 2 guys were playing jazz outside). It was perfect to relax and take a million pictures. They even had a Chinese Garden with a wonderful pavillon.
At 1.00pm, I went to the Noble Maritime museum, also located in Snug Harbor and dedicated to a printmaker (John A. Noble). It exhibits his work, his houseboat sudio (!!!! - they’ve put a part of a boat inside the museum!!!!), and a collection related to Sailors’ Snug Harbor, a retirement home for mariners.

After this I went back to the ferry terminal (by bus this time) to take the bus to the Historic Richmond Town museum. This museum is a trip into the past. It was like the Van Cortlandt house yesterday, but with 28 buildings dating from the late 17th to the early 20th centuries. Some people with historic costumes were explaining the history of the house they were in. I also took a million pictures there (several shots per room, they probably thought I was mad!!).

It’s time to pack my luggage now (it’s already 10.00pm and I have to leave the hotel at 7.30 tomorrow morning). I’ll try to post a message tomorrow, but I don’t know yet how it will be like at the hotel in Boston.

The day I saw the Statue of Liberty September 13, 2007

Another busy day has ended here in NY. This morning, as I planned, I went to South of Manhattan and took my ferry ticket to go to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The sky was bright and the temperature just perfect. The Statue of Liberty is a must-see as it’s one of the most famous monuments in the world, but the most interesting part of the stop on this island is the view: you have a breathtaking view of the south of Manhattan. A little further you can also see the Empire State building. I took the time to sit down, drinking slowly a good cappuccino and admiring the panorama. Un-for-get-able

After this, I took the ferry to Ellis Island. The 1st thing I did was to search for members of my family on the computers installed at the entrance. It returned 1 answer: Angelo Bonzi. but these computers do not give all the names of the immigrants (only the name of ‘honored’ people). That’s why I went to the American Family Immigration History Center, which allows you to pay 5 dollars to search (during 26 minutes) the whole list of immigrants who have arrived in Ellis Island. I got 4 other names, all from the small Italian village where my grandfather was from.
The visit of Ellis Island was very interesting and longer than expected. When I took the boat to go back to NY, it was to late to catch the ferry to Staten Island (I wanted to visit 2 museums on that island). It was too late for Staten Island, not for NY. Being in the South, it was only a short walk to Wall Street and the NY Stock exchange (you can see the pictures), which of course I only saw from the outside.
If you know me, you also know that I love a few american series like CSI (Les Experts), Chips and FBI portés disparus (sorry, i don’t know the US titles) and of course, you guessed I didn’t miss the visit of the NY city Police Museum.
I then headed to South Street sea port (a few blocks away to the north). From there, you have a wonderful view on Brooklyn and Brooklyn bridge (remember, I was there yesterday). Last year (or 2 years ago) I’ve seen a documentary on Arte about Fulton Market (a huge fish market) which was moved to the outside of the town. Before this, it was right there, on South Street sea port. It was strange to be there because I knew the story of the place, saw interviews of people who had worked there… it was like I was back home after a long while. In the gallery, you can see the 2 boats I have visited (I also did visit the museum located on Fulton Street).
I was already really tired, but there were too many things to see in the area to go back to the hotel. I walked to the Church of St Peter, Ground 0 (see the picture), Trinity Church, Chinatown and 1 crowdy street of Little Italy, all decorated for the San Gennaro Feast, and I bought some zeppole (du sucre glace avec des beignets bien gras dedans).
It was a long looong looong walk. You can guess I was happy to arrive at the hotel tonight!!