Tour de Loop Scoop: New York, New York Is A Wonderful Town

Coming around Sandy Hook.

Entering Great Kills Harbor in Staten Island.

We know what is sitting underneath the mast on the right...the rest of the sailboat. Thank you Sandy.

Heading to our marina.

Many thanks go out to John Calascibetta for sponsoring us so we could stay at the Great Kills Yacht Club. What a fabulous experience. We enjoyed meeting John, John, John, and Johnny. No lie. The first 4 people we met were John's and they all had slips by each other! The Great Kill Yacht members were warm and friendly and were shocked that after 2 months of cruising on our boat that we were still talking to each other.

Mom, dad and their cygnets. Do you know swans mate for life?

Somewhat closer view of them and their little ones.

Our new found friends at the Great Kills Yacht Club suggested Cole's Dock Side Restaurant down the street for 2 reasons. One, the food was good and two, they had pre-fixed dinners during the week. For $21.99 we got a salad, appetizer, entree, dessert and to wash it all down a carafe of wine. We ordered an extra salad and split a meal. By the time our entree arrived our bellies were so inflated from the bottomless pit of bread, salads and an entree size appetizer we opted to bring the main dish back to the boat. Of course, we were able to squeeze enough room in our bellies for the scrumptious chocolate crepe and a couple cups of coffee. If someone had a needle they could have popped us and we would have ppffttd our way back to our slip.

Having a cold one at the Marina Café Tiki Bar before the storm blows in .....

...from the east.

Had you looked only to the west (above) you would be totally caught off guard to the impending eastern storm.

We dropped off my niece, Brooke, at the hair salon next door and Mary and I slipped into the Country restaurant for a bite to eat.

Combination of stressed and unfinished wood on the wall and ceiling, brushed silver table tops, counter and chairs and the clear pendants gives this rustic restaurant a cozy feeling. Food was excellent as well.

Mary treated me to a night of ballet at the Metropolitan Opera House to see Sleeping Beauty. Above are chandeliers inside the opera house. They don't look real, do they.

Before the curtain opened.

Finale. The clump of white are cast members coming out for a bow.

Mary and I on the fly bridge. Had planned on a boat ride by the Statue of Liberty but high winds stopped us before we even got started. So we chilled out on the deck along with 3 of her young, beautiful daughters before returning back to their home to celebrate the 4th with a tasty barbecue.

Seated are Madeline and Brooke. Standing are Claire, Bill and moi.

The twins, Claire and Brooke, have a story to tell but that's for another day and time.

This is another family member, Chocolate. She likes wine and what is with the human hands too, huh?

July 5th came and we were on the move again. Dead ahead is the Verrazano-Narrows bridge .

The tidal straits from the Narrows and East River converging with the Hudson River along with all the boat traffic made the harbor act as a percolator! The picture belies all of the turbulence.

Ohhh, we're getting closer to Lady Liberty and lower Manhattan! I'm getting chills.

Hustle and bustle on the New York Harbor!

"The statue, designed by Frédéric Auguste Bartholdi and dedicated on October 28, 1886, was a gift to the United States from the people of France (which we all know). The robed female figure represents Libertas, the Roman goddess of freedom (I did not know), who bears a torch and a tabula ansata (a tablet evoking the law) upon which is inscribed the date of the American Declaration of Independence, July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet."

The statue is an icon of freedom and of the United States.

"Give me your tired, your poor, Your huddled masses yearning to breathe free, The wretched refuse of your teeming shore. Send these, the homeless, tempest-tossed to me, I lift my lamp beside the golden door!"

I too represent liberty. The liberty to pursue a workout even on our boat. My fellow SWA (Strong Woman's Association) members would be so proud!

Lower Manhattan

The One World Trade Center (was known as Freedom Tower) is the primary building of the new World Trade Center complex in New York City's Lower Manhattan. Standing at 1,776' it is the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere.