Friday 29th May 2015
The last time we were in New York was 1975. We sailed from England on a Soviet Union ocean liner. ( Here we are getting our little Fiat ready to load up on the deck. The trip took 10 long, long days. (Poor Rose was horribly seasick on that wavy Atlantic ocean.)
Our ship, the Mikhail Lermontov, in the background hit some rocks off the coast of New Zealand and sunk in 1986. It apparently is now one of the biggest diveable ship wrecks in the world.
We meet the Captain of the ship the last night aboard. That’s Dean wearing a tie and I’m wearing a dress I bought in Morocco. The staff spoke hardly any English and the library only had books on Lenin. Classes on learning to play the balalaika were one of the most interesting pastimes. However, there was all the vodka and caviar you could scarf down.
We sailed into New York harbor. There are the Twin Towers behind Dean
Here is the new One World Trade Center in the background.
Just by my (right) pigtail is the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island on my left side. I was not allowed off the ship until the immigration officers had checked my X-rays. I had to stop in at the US Embassy in London and get sets of fingerprints also. We had been married for a couple of years by this time but maybe the USA was afraid of another British invasion.
The Lady and I got older but we are still hanging in there.
Our $85 a night plus tax campground is a parking lot but we can see the Statue of Liberty and are next to a marina. No complaints for such convenience.
The 9/11 Memorial was a sobering experience.
The best part was seeing this pear tree. It was reduced to a 8ft stump at Ground Zero but was nursed back to health and is now over 30 feet tall.
We walked uptown, downtown and everywhere in between. The subway and ferries were handy extras.
Since Dean is my personal stockbroker, a trip to Wall Street was in order.
Oh dear, this was as close as we could get to the New York Stock Exchange. Barricades everywhere.
At least Dean got a new friend, the Bull of Wall Street. Hopefully he got some good stock tips. Diesel fuel is going up and we still have a long way to go on this trip. Buy oil stocks. Don’t buy oil stocks ???????
None of that bad NY attitude for us. We had a nice long chat with this very nice officer guarding the stock exchange.
I was surprised to see so many fresh produce stands. The stuff looked good and prices were better than we had been seeing at supermarkets.
These guys were everywhere delivering food to?
Dean, think carefully about those oil stocks!!!
We had to stop at the Apple store.
Down a glass staircase was the hugest Apple store I have seen so far and packed to the gills. We own a bit of Apple stock and enjoyed seeing all those shoppers.
Times Square was, well Times Square.
A good stop for a coffee and bagel.
A nice shot of the city from one of our ferry trips.
Of course we had to have pizza, and of course it was delicious.
We hoofed over the Brooklyn Bridge with about another million tourists. I saw thousands of locks attached to every available surface. Had to google to find out these are “love locks”???
Still a neat bridge to walk over.
This is REAL city parking.
Our poor feet are worn out. Onwards to Connecticut.
THE BUS STOPS HERE 
Thank you for a great adventure. I was in NY in May. Yes, feet wear out first so much to see. Good your picture is of the correct end of the bull. Safe travels you two. Diana S
Thanks Diana. It was amazing how many people were trying to get their picture by the bull. Hopefully Dean will get some good Karma from his hug.
Virtually traveling with the ageless Kirkwoods – priceless ! So Dean, buy oil, sell Apple ? – what about Gold and pork bellies ? Did you have lunch with “the Donald” or Rudy ? Waiting on your back story.
Thanks for sharing your exploits – keep em coming !
Gus
Hi Gus, Hold oil (I’m still buying SLB on pull backs). buy AAPL if your in for the long term. Commodities are a crap shot for now. The Donald and Rudy are so far right there out in the middle of the Atlantic now. Trump Towers was pretty neat looking though.
What a great post! You guys really know how to “do” a city. Now that you guys are so far north and east, what about going up to Canada and driving the Trans Canada Highway from east to west? Then you could stop in at our cabin at our beautiful Minaki. We have a separate semi-detached guest cabin waiting for you. We are north of Kenora (which is right on the Trans Canada highway at the very west edge of Ontario). On google earth, you can actually see our island. It is about 4 kilometers SSE of the tiny town of Minaki (where our marina is located, and where there is a tiny RV park where you could store your RV while you are visiting). The name of our island (Dog Island) actually comes up on google earth if you zoom close enough. We would love to have you. Thanks for keeping us up on your travels. Keep safe. Tom & Jan
Date: Fri, 29 May 2015 12:04:14 +0000 To: tom.laidlaw@hotmail.ca
What a great offer. We sure do appreciate the invite. Can’t get our minds past Maine. Got reservations by Acadia NP in July. So many of the roads out east are very horrible, almost as bad as our trip to Alaska. Waffle between doing Maine and then back down to Florida for Winter and just booking it back to West coast. Will keep you posted.
Good times in the big apple. Glad it’s you there not me. Hope you can make Chicago in August
You two haven,t changed a bit….Honey hand me another drink….JJ
Very Cute. In our poorly lit camper mirrors we still look young.
We follow every step of yours and are still waiting that you may come to PEI for a visit….a lovely honeymoon suite is waiting for you! Didn’t you tell us that you never had a real honey moon??? Time to go for it now! You 2 are amazing and we really hope for some good swings and a good meal and a few drinks in GC this coming winter….don’t go to Florida…that’s where the bugs are!!!
Barbara and Wolfgang
You guys are so sweet. What a lovely offer. Still not sure of our plans other than 4th July in Winter Harbor, Maine. Hope your summer is starting to pick up.
So cool! Love it!
This has got to be the BEST post you’ve ever posted! I’ve read it several times! Feel like I was right there with you! Your definitely living your dream! Hey?? Loved the photos from the 70’s! Love of travel really started then, for you as a couple didn’t it?
Hope to see you guys in Chicago! Love you
That should say —– Merlene says!!!