Wednesday, June 11, 2008
The Benjamins and Standiford Descend Upon NYC
Well, Gar's summer vacation in MD was rather short this year. On Sunday (June 8), we all headed up to NYC to drop Gar off for the rest of the summer. He is enrolled in an intensive program in Ancient Greek through the Latin/Greek Institute, part of the Graduate Center of the City University of New York (CUNY) and also hooked in with Brooklyn College. His school is located at the corner of Park Avenue and 34th St. in Manhattan, right next to Macy's and also the Empire State Building. Pretty nice location!
He is living, however, in the Brooklyn Heights section of Brooklyn. Although we had been to NYC many times, we had never been to Brooklyn. Brooklyn seems to be a very nice place, with lots of big brownstone homes with wide steps, like the kind you see in movies like "You've Got Mail" and shows like "The Cosby Show." There are lots of trees lining the streets and it seems like a very nice place to stroll around - plenty of restaurants, shops. It actually seemed more like a small town than a big city.
We spent Sunday moving Gar in to the St. George Hotel (a hotel converted to dorm-type living for college kids from colleges all over the city) and then strolled around Brooklyn. Just up Henry St. from Gar's place is the 1st Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn and on Sunday, they were having World Arts Day. We just happened to be walking past as their choir was belting out broadway-quality music from the front steps of the church. It was really a cool thing. The choir was made up of all different types of people, but they were all very energetic and enthused about what they were doing. Really neat. If I lived there, I think I would try out that church.
We had a late lunch at the Heights Cafe and sat outside. The food was good and they had lots of things for the vegetarians to choose from.
We walked down to the Brooklyn Promenade, where you can look across the water at lower Manhattan, where the twin towers used to stand. It is an eerie feeling looking across there and thinking how horrible it would have been to have been standing there and looking across on 9/11. You can also see the Broooklyn Bridge from there and the Statue of Liberty.
Before we left, we took a test ride of the subway over to Manhattan to check out Gar's school. It takes around half an hour all together, between walking and subway riding. Manhattan was really crowded and not anywhere near as clean and relaxing as Gar's Brooklyn Heights neighborhood! We located the school and walked around a bit and then headed back to the peace and quiet of Brooklyn.
Right across from Gar's hotel is a park with an artificial turf surface. We strolled over there and the Garys got into a pickup game of Ultimate Frisbee with another father and son. The Garys proceeded to kick the other guys' butts. Of course, those other guys claimed they had just finished running across the Brooklyn Bridge.
We had a nice day in NY and hope to head back up soon for a visit.
He is living, however, in the Brooklyn Heights section of Brooklyn. Although we had been to NYC many times, we had never been to Brooklyn. Brooklyn seems to be a very nice place, with lots of big brownstone homes with wide steps, like the kind you see in movies like "You've Got Mail" and shows like "The Cosby Show." There are lots of trees lining the streets and it seems like a very nice place to stroll around - plenty of restaurants, shops. It actually seemed more like a small town than a big city.
We spent Sunday moving Gar in to the St. George Hotel (a hotel converted to dorm-type living for college kids from colleges all over the city) and then strolled around Brooklyn. Just up Henry St. from Gar's place is the 1st Presbyterian Church of Brooklyn and on Sunday, they were having World Arts Day. We just happened to be walking past as their choir was belting out broadway-quality music from the front steps of the church. It was really a cool thing. The choir was made up of all different types of people, but they were all very energetic and enthused about what they were doing. Really neat. If I lived there, I think I would try out that church.
We had a late lunch at the Heights Cafe and sat outside. The food was good and they had lots of things for the vegetarians to choose from.
We walked down to the Brooklyn Promenade, where you can look across the water at lower Manhattan, where the twin towers used to stand. It is an eerie feeling looking across there and thinking how horrible it would have been to have been standing there and looking across on 9/11. You can also see the Broooklyn Bridge from there and the Statue of Liberty.
Before we left, we took a test ride of the subway over to Manhattan to check out Gar's school. It takes around half an hour all together, between walking and subway riding. Manhattan was really crowded and not anywhere near as clean and relaxing as Gar's Brooklyn Heights neighborhood! We located the school and walked around a bit and then headed back to the peace and quiet of Brooklyn.
Right across from Gar's hotel is a park with an artificial turf surface. We strolled over there and the Garys got into a pickup game of Ultimate Frisbee with another father and son. The Garys proceeded to kick the other guys' butts. Of course, those other guys claimed they had just finished running across the Brooklyn Bridge.
We had a nice day in NY and hope to head back up soon for a visit.
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