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Well, as if we didn’t have enough to do in NYC, I’ve been researching the Circle Line Tour. Come along with me and discover a new way to see NYC. First of all we will leave the pier at 42nd street at 11:30 on Friday (or another day of your choosing – I’m not picky.) We will head south towards the tip of Manhattan and pass the “Frying Pan”, a light ship built in 1929 and salvaged from the bottom of the Chesapeake Bay; we will catch a glimpse of the second tallest building in New York, the Bank of America Tower completed in 2009, and then the tallest building, the Empire State Building. We will also notice the Met Life Building, originally known as the Pan Am building; and the New York Times building, tied with the Chrysler building as the fourth tallest building in New York. And don’t forget to look over to the west as well to the Jersey side of the river where the Goldman Sachs Building towers 44 stories. We also see the octagonal Colgate Clock 50 feet in diameter, built in 1924 – are you excited yet? We will continue down the Hudson River to Lower Manhattan, cruising within sight of Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty. The Castle Clinton at Battery Park will be seen on the Manhattan side of the boat…built in the beginning as a fort for the War of 1812, the building has served several purposes and is now a museum. I do not remember this from our first trip to Battery Park. We will cruise over the Brooklyn Battery Tunnel. I believe we took the Lincoln Tunnel the last trip to NYC. We cruised over it at the very beginning of this tour. When we look far to the south we will see the Verazzano Narrows Bridge which held the title of the longest suspension bridge in the world until 1984. I remember seeing this bridge from the top of the WTC and the interesting fact that the towers are so high and so far apart that compensation for the curvature of the earth had to be made. The tops of the towers are one and five eighths inches further apart from their bases.
We will proceed up the East River under one of the oldest bridges in Manhattan, the Brooklyn Bridge, at the time of its construction it was the longest suspension bridge, and now one of 21 bridges we will go under or see from the boat. There are several different kinds of bridges that we will see (Mrs. Cannon will be proud – did you all build a bridge in her class or was that just Jeffrey and Michael?) Some of the moveable types we will see are two retractile bridges, seven swing bridges, four lift bridges, and twelve bascule (drawbridge) bridges. We will also pass under the Roosevelt Tram that is another connection between Manhattan and Roosevelt Island. I thought this might also be a fun activity, but decided otherwise after watching a youtube video. Mallory, you can thank me later. As we continue, we’ll see the Alexandria Center – named after Macy – like the famous NY department store (jk I guess Macy is not quite that old), the United Nations Building, and Sutton Place a two block avenue, the most affluent in Manhattan. We’ll continue making our way up the East River, past the Bronx and Yankee Stadium – the original stadium built in 1923 was known as the House that Ruth Built.
The Harlem River that we are now on is the home course of the Columbia University heavyweight rowing crew. I checked, Meredith – A&M has a rowing team, but I don’t think they are quite up to competition yet…just give them time. We will see the Columbia Crew’s boat house located at the confluence of the Harlem and Hudson Rivers. Continuing along the Harlem River we will arrive at a canal named Spuyten Duyvil -- "Devil's whirlpool" - by the Dutch. This will take us under the Henry Hudson Bridge to the Hudson River for the last of our tour, where we will pass under the gigantic George Washington Bridge and see the very red, round and proud little lighthouse under the great gray bridge. We will also pass Riverside Church, Grant’s Tomb, Columbia University, and on the New Jersey side, the beautiful Palisades.
Happy Sailing! Have I convinced you to take this three hour tour? All sailors welcome – and I don’t think we’ll get stranded on ANY desert isle!
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