Day Trippin'

The other day I was thinking "Is it really still January?" It sure seems like winter should be over by now. While I wait for spring, went on a day trip with my friend Jen down to visit our college friend Lisa and her family in New Jersey.

We took the Sea Streak Ferry, which is a lovely way to travel. Besides the joys of traveling by water this also means getting to New Jersey without the Holland Tunnel, the New Jersey Turnpike or Penn Station.

The Sea Streak Ferry stops at Pier 11, near Wall Street, and East 34th Street, for midtown travelers. I took the subway to Wall Street (2 stops on the train from my station), and walked a few blocks to the water. I hadn't been in the caverns of Wall Street for a while. While the large buildings do convey a sense of impressive power, I think I would find it completely suffocating to live or work here. You have to tip your head back to see a patch of sky.

Pier 11 is at the southeastern tip of Manhattan, in the financial district, near the South Street Seaport. I also live directly across the river from this part of the island and every weekday morning watch the 'traffic' in the East River and harbor -- barges, cruise ships, sailboats, small motor crafts as well as ferries, water taxis and helicopters bringing Wall Street commuters into the city. And this is a mere fraction of the volume of people that pour in, daily, in cars and trains from all the boroughs, Long Island, Connecticut, New Jersey and Westchester County into a small dense island.

This is the view of Brooklyn Heights from the dock. I was shooting into the sun so its harder to see but I live in the shorter building that's nearest to the large building on the far right (my car is in a garage in that one).

Waiting on the dock for the ferry reminded me a bit of being at the Farmers Market at the Ferry Building in San Francisco. I always thought it would be very civilized to live in Marin and travel across the Bay by ferry when you wanted to get into the city, cup of coffee or glass of Chardonnay in hand.

Welcome to New Jersey.

And hello Atlantic! Smelling the sea air and being near the water just makes my heart soar. Hard to make out but a solo surfer is out there, waiting for some waves, presumably in his winter suit and some booties.

Haven't seen Lisa too much since I've been back as she has very limited time as a mother of three, but the wonderful thing is that when we do, we just pick up where we left off.

Of course have many college and post college memories with Lisa, what I thought of on the way home was that Lisa was the person I was with during September 11th. She was living in Soho, where I was working, and had unexpectedly showed up at my office when she was outside and saw one of the Twin Towers fall and needed to see a familiar face. We were going to walk to my place in the East 50s but ended up going to her apartment to watch television and make calls and just never left. I remember that entire day, and the evening when we were walking around Soho, fire trucks traveling north from the site, and the brilliant red smokey sky.

Sometimes I can't believe I live here again.