Casa New York

We went to the Parade on an beautiful Thanksgiving Day in Manhattan. Pictures below.

Hundreds lined the route. Kids and adults. It was magical.

In 1858, Fredrick Law Olmstead and Calver Vaux set their sites on an unpromising piece of land in upper New York to create what has become the landmark in Manhattan. No picture of New York is complete without at least a glimpse of the infamous Central Park. In the 1840s this area was an area full of quarries mining granite, pig farms, swampland and squatters tents. Today, it is 850 acres of scenic hills, lakes, and lush meadows, with more than 500,000 trees in formal and natural plantings, playgrounds, ball fields, skating rinks and innumerable other activities. Central Park is the “backyard” of many New Yorkers who flock to the park on weekends to get away from the city.

The interesting thing about Central Park is that after the design was completed, Olmstead and Vaux were unhappy with some aspects of the design. When commissioned to design a second major park, Prospect Park in Brooklyn in 1865, they set out to correct them.

The site of this new park had an important history. Brooklyn had its beginnings as the Dutch colony of Breuckelen in 1646. Funny how a lot of Dutch names were converted to English after the Duke of York took over in 1664.

A hundred years later, in 1776, the area became the site of the first major conflict of the Revolutionary War. In late August 1776, the Continental Army under George Washington fortified passes along a section of Flatbush Avenue that now serves as the Park’s Drive. As British and Hessian soldiers approached from the south, the Americans fought in vain to hold them back at Battle Pass. Although the Continental Army lost the battle, they held the British back long enough for Washington’s forces to make a moonlit escape from Brooklyn Heights to New Jersey. This battle is commemorated by plaques and statues along the northern edge of the park where Washingtion made his stand.

We discovered similar areas within Central Park, small hills on which defences were established to defend against those who threatened the colonization and then growth of America. One small hill at the north end of the park contained fortifications used by the Americans in the War of 1812, although I don’t think anyone showed up at Central Park. But I digress – back to Brooklyn.

The original park design was for a rural retreat for a growing Brooklyn and as such it had only minor buildings. However, by the turn of the century it was becoming more of a civic space – a place to erect busts of famous citizens and build imposing neoclassical structures. During the next 30 years, the renowned architectural firm of McKim, Mead, and White was hired to formalize the park’s major entrances with columns and statuary. The Boathouse, Tennis House, Picnic House and a Model Yacht Club were constructed, as were several bridges and comfort stations. In 1912, the carousel was added.

Today, a 20 minute subway ride will take you to its main gate – the Grand Army Plaza. The plaza is a huge oval sitting in the middle of Flatbush Avenue and containing the Soldiers’ and Sailors’ Arch comemorating the Union soldiers who died in the Civil War. Vaguely reminiscent of the Arc de Triumphe.

Proceeding past the arch, you proceed through the very formal entrance to Prospect Park, a 580 acre parcel in the middle of the residential area of Brooklyn, containing woodlands – the last remaining virgin forest in Brooklyn – meadows, bluffs and ponds. Located on the highest land in Brooklyn the park entrance also provides view out toward the Atlantic Ocean.

The main feature of Prospect Park is Long Meadow, a broad expanse of open grass space of variable width that extends from the entrance to the bottom of the park more than a mile away.

The meadow cascades down over hilly ground, working its way through a natural depression and bordered by forest and wooded areas. Interspersed along the meadow are playing fields and ball parks. On Monday when we were there – a partial holiday for Veterans’ Day – the meadow was full of Brooklynites enjoying the balmy weather, flying kites, playing football and croquet or just walking the kids and/or the dog. At the bottom of the park is Prospect Lake, about triple the size of Lost Lagoon and filled with ducks, geese and swans. Around the lake there were kids and adults fishing (barbless hooks, catch and release). Three horses carried their riders along the dedicated riding trail.

Throughout the park are unique little areas for relaxation and organized sport. And like Central Park, there are no vehicles allowed on the roads which are marked for pedestrians and bicycles. Only park vehicles are allowed. As we walked around the park, hundreds of people of all ages and abilities, walked, ran and rode their bikes. In a beautiful area at the north end of the lake is the Boathouse, which houses a small cafe and the programs run by the Audobon Society. There are classical gardens, rocky outcroppings and small streams running throughout. And of course, typical of larger New York parks, there is the a children’s zoo and carousel.

One of the very sad parts of our visit was to witness the damage that Hurricane Sandy left in the Park. Hundreds of trees were blown over at their roots or had major limbs broken off like they were match sticks. Beautiful oaks and elms and maples, many 4 feet in diameter at the base and some of them older than the park are down or damaged throughout the park. It is a bit like the damage to Stanley Park in the wind storm a few years ago, except the damage is more selective and widespread around the park. Fortunately the forests in the park are significant enough that they will recover.

Bordering the Prospect Park is the Brooklyn Public Library and the Brooklyn Museum which is one of the great museums of the new world and behind them the Brooklyn Botanical Garden. The institutions were closed on Monday for Veterans’s Day but we did get an hour to walk through much of the BBG. Even though it was off season, it was a very peaceful and tranquil place in the middle of an urban jungle. Like Central Park, once entered, these places in Brooklyn take you to a completely different world.

We had a great day walking through this second great park in New York, one that is unknown to most who visit here.

If you walk around Manhattan, and we are sure the outer boroughs as well, you will find Italian everywhere. Delis, food stores and restaurants, selling or serving Italian fare of every kind and region are everywhere. Chelsea is well know for its great Italian restaurants. We have eaten a two excellent ones. Eolo, a Sicilian style restaurant on 7th Ave at the end of our block was the first place we ate when we arrived in New York. Le Zie is a block down and is a Tuscan style eatery where we have eaten twice. Food is excellent and the wine lists go on for pages. There are many more in the neighbourhood, up and down 7th Avenue and over on 8th, no matter where you go, Italian food is everywhere.

Given the predominance of the Italian heritage here it is no wonder there are entrepreneurs who have taken the market to places you would probably only see in New York. Enter Eataly at 5th Avenue and 23rd in the Flatiron District, across from Madison Square Park. Eataly is a one-of-a-kind experience you should not miss if you are in New York and one you will never forget. This 50,000 square foot “store” is part restaurant, part grocery store, part street fair, and part eating circus. They have everything Italian for you and for your kitchen and to top it off they have a cooking school that never seems to stop turning out great food and a wine shop selling only Italian wines.

The operation is the brainchild of Mario Batali, a very well known New York chef and Oscar Farinetti who lives in Turin, Italy. The space is set out to recreate the an Italian country fair accommodating hundreds of people shopping, grazing, browsing, drinking and enjoying every minute.

The complex includes: 7 restaurants – yes 7 – a fishmonger, butcher, patisserie, bakery, chocolate bar, espresso bar, wine store, cheese store – we watched them making mozzarella cheese – produce stand, including a vegetable butcher who will help prepare vegetarian purchases in the most attractive manner – a gelati stand, a kitchenware section and more.

Located throughout the store and blended with the grocery areas, are the seven very different eateries which are themed around food types. Given that all the signage is in Italian, it is good to have a guide that they provide at the door for the newbies. There is La Piazza, where you can stand at cocktail type tables and enjoy cheeses and Italian sausage and prosciutto; Manzo which is devoted to meat, La Pizza, La Pasta, Il Pesce, serving every kind of fish you can imagine, Le Verdure for vegetarians, and Pranzo featuring regional lunch specials. Fifteen stories above the store is La Birreria a rooftop restaurant and brewery with a retractable roof for those great New York days and evenings. Each restaurant has its own kitchen open to the store where you can watch the food being prepared from beautiful marble counters or you can enjoy your meal at table areas unique to each restaurant.

This is an incredible place to visit, shop and to eat. New Yorkers and tourists flock here from early in the morning until late at night. If you choose, you can get a glass of wine which you are free to carry around the store while you shop or choose a restaurant. At the end of your meal, the dessert and espresso bar serves traditional Italian treats and, of course, Lavazza coffee.

We ate at the vegetarian restaurant last evening. The bread and olive oil was excellent and the bottle of wine was a great compliment to Penny’s grilled vegetables and my potato and vegetable cake and greens with anchovies. As you can see from the pictures, the place was buzzing. We finished off the night with a cappuccino and a couple of cakes.

Only in New York can they take the love of good Italian food and turn it into one of the most unique eating experiences in the City.

I feel compelled to write something about the recent US election although I think that most has already been said in the newpapers and on television over the last few days. And in light of the devastation in the New York area as a result of Hurricane Sandy and then the Nor’easter last night the election doesn’t seem immediately important. As these impacts are addressed, that will certainly change in this area and we will catch up with the rest of America and the world.

We are very happy Obama won, it is the best result for this country. And in a state that is heavily Democratic, there is obviously as sense of relief and satisfaction among most New Yorkers. That Obama was seemingly very vulnerable to a “surging” Romney was very concerning for most we talked to here. They were afraid much of the progress that had been made following 2008 would come undone and that a right wing Morman who has successfully portrayed himself as a moderate during the campaign would actually win. The proliferation of red states in the middle of the country are just one visible indication of the divisions in this country. There are many factors involved, but there seems to be a consensus here that the Republicans have badly misread the country and may not recover in time for 2016.

And interesting story we heard is that after the destruction of Sandy, the President asked to come to New York to inspect the damage and meet some of the affected. Mayor Bloomberg and Governor Cuomo told him to stay away, that the City and State did not need the distraction and resource diversion that would have been necessary. He ended up in New Jersey instead where the Republican governor welcomed him with open arms. The President’s quick response to the requests of the states may have had an influence on the vote, however, probably not enough to make a major difference. Other more fundamental demographic and ideological issues made the difference.

Things in New York City seem to be going pretty well, so why change now. I have noted the scaffolding on hundreds of building that are undergoing significant maintenance that has obviously been put off for years, or major renovation. Both residential and commercial buildings. I wish I had shares in Empire Scaffolding!! There is a 40 storey building in the financial district that is completely empty and has been for a couple of years as Brookshire Properties upgrades it. There are also several new buildings under construction including the World Trade Centre (unbelievable development) and the residential tower on 57th Avenue that lost its crane in the storm. There are 50,000 restaurants in the City that all seem to be doing well: imagine how many people they employ! Tourism seems to be very high, although not as busy as earlier in October. Retail stores are very busy with great sales attracting lots of traffic. We are helping out with the success of the retail industry!!

Election Day was also interesting here. We looked hard and saw very few visible pollling stations although we are sure they were around. There were continual announcements of voting arrangements leading up to the vote but in many areas there was no power for the voting machines and alternate arrangements had to be made. Officials brought in generators and erected tents in which to hold the vote. People stood in very long lines waiting for the opportunity to vote. Even those badly affected by Sandy understood the importance of taking time to vote. As we walked the streets, many buildings had the location of the appropriate voting place posted on the door. We ran into a polling place at Riverside Church way up the west side with a steady line of voters.

Polls here did not close until 9pm and even then, there were line ups are many polls. If you are in line by closing time, you get to vote, no matter how long it takes. There were reports of people voting after the Obama win was projected by the networks. Of course there was many more items on the ballot, including those of a very local nature. Not like elections in Canada. Officials here and in other states are saying that the delays at the polls were caused by complicated ballots with too many initiatives. Say what? Isn’t it the job of election officials to make the vote available to everyone wanting to vote?

If you watched CNN or NBC from New York you would have seen the incredible displays they organized here. NBC turned the Rockafeller Centre Plaza into “Democracy Plaza” complete with hundreds of American flags, red and blue lighting on the buildings and a US map on the temporary ice rink.

In Times Square, CNN streamed their coverage live. Thousands of folks braved a cool evening to watch and cheer at every projection. As the results came in and Electoral College votes awarded, the Empire State Building lights reflected the standings. When Obama was projected to have won the election, the ESB changed blue and these venues errupted. And very few left in the almost three hours it took for Mitt to concede and for the President to make his acceptance speech. In our neighbourhood shouts of O-BAM-A and Four-More-Years rang out. Obviouisly, many New Yorkers liked the result.

Two days after the election, New York has pretty much returned to more pressing issues. 250,000 people are still without power in the City and surrounding counties. Hundreds are living in homes along the coast that are not repairable, gasoline is in short supply in the boroughs and some subway and bus lines are still not in service.

These are much more immediate concerns here.

It is raining again today in New York. Sandy is gone and gave us a few days of beautiful sun along with cooler temperatures and wind. But today, we are expecting the first Nor’easter of the season. This is a storm that moves up the east coast but enough offshore to only tease the mainland with high winds, rain and perhaps snow and high waves. Little comfort to the hundreds of thousand of people on the outer coast of New Jersey, Staten Island and the Rockaways who still don’t have power even if they have a house left to connect it to. The devastation is beyond belief as we are sure you have seen on the television.

Before we leave Sandy behind, one last picture. You may have seen this on the TV or elsewhere, but it is a telling one that is worth contemplating. It looks to have been taken on Thursday evening and looks up Manhattan from the Hudson River. It shows Manhattan and the Bronx and lights beyond. Over 3 million people live in the area included in the picture. In addition, if you use the average tourism to New York, there would have been about 140,000 tourists in hotels over the entire area. On Monday nite, Consolidated Edison announced it was turning off power in the Financial District and Battery Park City as a preventative measure. This would have included an area at the tip of Manhattan maybe up as far as the lights on the west side (left) are on.

At 8:30 a ConEdison substation at east 14th Street flooded unexpectedly and there was a terrific explosion. If you haven’t seen it, go to YouTube and look up ConEdison New York City Explosion. The water was 6 – 8 feet deep on the adjacent highway and the plant was not protected. That explosion left the entire area that is dark without power: Below 25th on the west side and below 39th on the east side, and including the lit area at the bottom of the picture. An estimated 1 million people were without power until Friday nite at 6pm. As we walked down 7th Ave from our daily adventures uptown to eat, charge our phones and do a little sightseeing, we walked into a wall of dark at 25th. The only light was from vehicles on the street. As shown in the picture, Battery Park City park got power the night before, although many buildings had water damage and could not be energized.

We travelled down to Battery Park and the Financial District on Saturday and it was an interesting sight. Tourists walked the streets working their way around the massive pumps taking water out of the Battery Tunnel, the subway tunnels and many of the larger office buildings along the East River. The Corp of Engineers were managing the process and they had set up a significant camp near the Staten Island Ferry Terminal. There are buildings on the Hudson River side that still don’t have power because they suffered signficant water damage to their electrical systems.

On Monday, Penny and I walked through the gallery district of Chelsea – the area west of us from 14th to 26th – and saw a remarkable thing. Restoration crews were in every building stripping wallboard up 3 to 5 feet from the walls. Don’t want to think about the asbestos that might be in these buildings. Not just a few buildings but hundreds of building were being dealt with. Generators still powered tools in many buildings. The sidewalks were covered with soggy wallboard, books, furniture and other belongings, waiting for the garbage trucks to take it away. Despite the setbacks of major flooding, and without any consideration of how soon it could happen again, remediation is underway. Time to get back to “normal”.

I will blog about the beautiful days we have had since Thursday last week, and especially our day in the area around Columbia University yesterday.

However the reality of Mother Nature has brought us back to earth. Athena has begun to bring its havoc. Winds are up and are scheduled to be steady at 40 to 50 miles per hour. The temperature is 37 but with the wind it feels like 30. And it just started SNOWING!!! It is wet and sloppy but it is snow. Waves and storm surge in the already battered outer coast areas are expected to reach 8 – 10 feet, likely bringing a second punch in the gut. Already there is some flooding and the worst is not yet here. Interesting that Athena was Zeus’ daughter, and virgin diety of greek mythology who was worshipped as the goddess of wisdom, fertility, the useful arts and prudent warfare. Interesting in this case she is delivering a very low and unfair blow.

We will survive this one much better than the last and are not concerned about power loss. Hopefully the weatherman is right and this will only last through tomorrow because we have things to do.

Weather and FEMA officials were convinced of the seriousness of Sandy and municipal officials in New York paid heed. They made continual announcements on the media for a couple of days before Sandy was predicted to hit, warning people of high winds, heavy rains – up to 4 inches – and a storm surge. Folks here had heard that before. Hurricane Irene arrived a year ago and failed to live up to its billing so New Yorkers were skeptical about the warnings this time.

As the hours went by and it was clear that Sandy was coming ashore in the New York vicinity, the messages changed from rain and winds to the impact of the likely storm surge, a concept that was not really understood by many in the City or outer boroughs. The warnings were for wide spread flooding as the surge pushed by Sandy, the highest tides of the year and outflow from the Hudson River all came together every 12 hours.

If you stand on the waterfront at Battery Park at the south end of Manhattan and the junction of the East and Hudson River, the water level at high tide is usually about 4-6 feet below the boardwalk. The storm surge was predicted to raise this level by 8 to 11 feet. And as predicted, the high tide and surge came together about 6 o’clock on Monday nite. Along with these were winds at the Battery of 60 – 70 miles per hour.

In the Battery and adjacent financial district, there are road and subway tunnel opening and subway entrances that are completely unprotected. MTA did its best with the subway entrances but they were overwhelmed. Stretching up both rivers are low areas with major roads and a lot of warehousing and housing. Manhattan rises up a spine down the middle so most of this area is not as exposed. The lower areas, which the Mayor ordered evacuated were not so lucky.

As the surge built, water began to come over the waterfront board walks. The lower deck of the two deck FDR highway down the East River was 5 feet under water in places before the surge really built. No one expected this. The water came over the boardwalks on the Hudson River up as far as 20th Street. No one expected this. At its height the surge is reported to have crested the waterfront by 4 to 5 feet. As I reported earlier, the western edges of Chelsea, the West Village and Tribeca had 5 feet of water in the streets. No one expected this.

By Tuesday morning most of the water in the streets was gone. However, a couple of the pictures attached show the lingering impacts. Water marks 4 feet up outside and inside walls of many buildings, flooded basements and underground lots filled to the top. Almost all of the tunnels from lower Manhattan to New Jersey and Brooklyn affected by salt water. A bad mix for electrical systems controlling traffic and trains. It will be weeks and many billions to repair this. Measures to prevent this from happening again next time will be gazillions!

Power has started to return to Manhattan. The financial district went up Wednesday morning and some small spots have been restored. The balance of the City between 25th Street and the financial district is scheduled to come up Thursday afternoon and Friday morning. We are in that group. In the meantime, our lifeline to the outside is our rocket radio/fan/flashlight.

A few buses returned yesterday, no fare until the system is mostly repaired. More stores are opening in the powered areas. This morning they were taking the rotting produce and meat out of Trader Joe’s down the street. The girls have gone find a place to get their hair washed and dried. Life takes a turn toward normalcy.

We have more pictures of the damage but little capacity to get them up. Hope you enjoy these. They are taken along the Hudson River in west Chelsea. Note the water lines on the windows and walls and the car floating in the flooded parking lot.

Cheers for now.

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And this morning we awoke to bright sunshine, just like Annie predicted as if nothing has happened here in the last 36 hours.

But that is very far from the truth for many New Yorkers. There are really two “camps” here today. There are those who live above 25th Street – agonizingly close to us but just a bit too far – who almost don’t know what just happened. They had some wind and rain, a couple of broken trees but for the most part Sandy was little more than an inconvenience. Some stores in midtown and the upper east and west sides didn’t open yesterday, mostly because employees had no way to get to work. As I noted in my post yesterday, 5th Avenue and Broadway from 30th up into Times Square was busy with tourists. In Time Square itesef, the signs were belting out advertisments like a normal day, the buskers were trying to make a living and the cameras were flashing. Those restaurants that were open had long lines to get in and by mid afternoon many didn’t have any food left to serve. The discount theatre ticket outlet which attracts lines around the block starting at 2pm each day was also closed because Broadway and off Broadway theatres were closed again last nite.

Interspersed with the tourists were a lot of people like us, those from below 25th who have had no power since Monday nite and for anyone above the 6 or 7th floor of most buildings, no running water. Almost everything here is closed, from Home Depot to the Chelsea Deli down the block. And cell service here is spotty at best. As a result, many have migrated uptown with their cellphone chargers looking for a place to plug in and a free WiFi network to connect to. In some buildings, people have been asked to leave voluntarily because of the lack of water. We met a man from Floriday who works in Manhattan during the week who had spent four hours trying to find a hotel room. He was very realistic about what was going on, “It is what it is” he told me stoically. Fortunately, while sitting having a drink with us, he got a call from a hotel offering a room. He asked me to watch is drink and phone (which was charging along with ours) while he ran to the hotel to give them his credit card.

I posted a picture on Facebook yesterday of people lining the windows at every Starbucks – all of them closed yesterday – jumping aboard the free WiFi. On our walk home from Time Square last nite we got to 26th where the area at the front of the TD Bank where the cash machines are was wall to wall people sitting on the floor with phones plugged into a series of joined powerbars from the single plug. In Greenwich Village at NYU, students and professors sat on the sidewalk outside the student building with their phones and iPads plugged into to a power plugged into an outside plug passing the time with a group game of cards. At a local store we found the proprietor with a generator offering anyone with a cord 10 minutes of free charging time: there was a line up. When the generator burpped like it was going to stop, there were looks of horror all around. People find a way to do what is necessary to help themselves and other.

Five blocks into the blacked out zone, we are relatively comfortable. We don’t have power and all the conveniences it provides, but we do have running cold water and a gas stove. Interesting side note is that the natural water pressure that delivers water to New York is only strong enough to raise the water to the 6th or 7th floor of buildings. Buildings use pumps and water towers on the roof to provide pressure above that level. We have water but by the time you get to the 8th floor, there is no water. This morning we heated water up in the stove to bathe and shave. It will be interesting whether this lasts. We have to go up past 25th to find supplies but they seem to be available. Lucky compared to other areas.

South of us and on both sides of Manhattan things are significantly worse. I blogged about the flooding on the west side in the lower areas along the Hudson. This continues down to Battery Park and then up the lower east side. Basements and parking garages filled up like bathtubs except there are no drains. Many people with cars in underground lots may have to wait a considerable time before seeing them rescued. The New York Stock Exchange opened this morning after being closed for 2 days by weather, the first time in recent history.

It is almost shocking to consider the impact that the storm surge had here. Every tunnel under the East River to Brooklyn and Queens mostly subway tunners, was affected by salt water. There was no way to stop it. The Battery Tunnel which carries traffic and subway lines at the very south tip is completely filled with salt water – 2 tubes with an estimated 43 million gallons of water in each tube – that will have to be pumped out. Others were not so badly damaged but think of the damage that salt water will do to the electrical and subway control systems. There is lots of speculation about when these issues will be resolved, but no one from the MTA, the City or state are making any statements. Mayor Bloomberg has been very quite over the last 24 hours after being front and centre leading up to the storm. Neither have we heard anything from ConEdison, the power supplier in the New York area. These officials are completely overwhelmed. This situation makes the problems we have experienced with exercises and events in Vancouver seem like a kid’s birthday party.

And as bad as things are in Manhattan, this area is way better off than areas along the outer coast in Brooklyn and New Jersey and across the East River in Queens. In the later community, over 100 homes burned to the ground after an electrical tranformer blew and flames were fanned by the wind. Parts of Hobboken across the Hudson River in New Jersey are still under water.

We bought a battery powered radio to try to stay informed. I will try to post a picture because it is a real gem: combined flashlight, fan and AM/FM radio complete with a compass. Problem is that there isn’t a lot of information out there yet. What we do hear are the sound of sirens, fire police and ambulance dealing with continuing fall out of the storm. I expect people will start to lose patience and get frustrated pretty soon. We have not seen or heard of any looting or other problems but there is a concern if things don’t improve soon the City may see some of that.

Throughout all of this, one of the biggest isses being discussed is Halloween: to proceed or postpone. The Governor of New Jersey just announce postponement until Nov 5, ironically the day before Election Day. The Halloween Parade in Greenwich Village, which attracts up to 2 million people has been cancelled for the first time in 39 years. There is talk of rescheduling it next week, perhaps to give folks something to look forward to, almost like Sandy never happened. Some communities around Manhattan and the boroughs are proceeding with the celebrations, others are saying no. The closest we may get is the pumpkin pie I had for breakfast, not because of Halloween but because without refridgeration there are consumption priorities.

We are sitting in a coffee place on Broadway at about 40th having coffee we don’t want so we can get wifi and charge up the phones. I hope you find this interesting. I will try to get some pictures up as well but service is still pretty sketchy in from midtown down.

Cheers

Penny, Monika and I are sitting in a restaurant off Time Square charging up our cell phones and having a bit to eat. We expect the charge will cost us 9 glasses of wine, a pizza and a Caesar salad. Luckily there is a Starbucks WiFi in range so I can post this update. Sorry but I can’t get pictures to the iPad so they can be attached. I will try to this later.

Sandy went through New York with a fury. It was relatively calm here until about 5 o’clock when the wind and rain started to pick up. The streets around our place at 21st and 7th were pretty deserted when Monika and I took a quick trip outside to check things out. It was warm – about 55 degrees – but the wind was whipping down 21st in good strong gusts. A significant branch had broken off a street tree across the street and an entire tree was blown over a block up 7th. We ventured to the corner where steady winds were blowing. I would guess the speed but I would probably be a way out. The street was empty, only a couple of people taking in the last supplies from the very few corner stores still open. There wasn’t a lot of rain then but that certainly changed.

Mayor Bloomberg and the head of the power company announced they were shutting of power in the financial district about 6 o’clock. You may have seen the very erie pictures from Brooklyn of the south end towers in darkness. There was also talk of turning of the power south of 14th as a preventative measure. That is just 7 blocks – a 10 minute walk – below us.

I noted in the earlier update about the concerns of the “surge” in the harbour. By 7 the water was coming over the boardwalk in Battery City which is adjacent to the World Trade Center on the Hudson River. This is part of the area that was supposed to have been evacuated. There was real concern about flooding her and real concern that salt water would get into the subway system which has many stations in the area. There was also concern that the World Trade Centre site would flood and there are subway lines running through it as well.

Wine was consumed and dinner was cooked and just when it was ready the power in our apartment. We had seen pictures of flooding on 23rd Ave and 10th, just three blocks from us. Water was coming over the boardwalk and flooding the streets. Apparently a transformer was affected and our power went out. This morning we walked over that way. West of 10th Ave, there were flooded basements and closer to the water there were water marks 4 feet up the outside walls and corresponding marks on the wall inside the doors. Some places had pumps going but it was almost a hopeless cause.

We walked over to the major sports complex at Chelsea Piers and south along the waterfront. The Hudson River was very high and there were signs of flooding everywhere. Debris was scattered on the roads and sidewalks and garbage cans were everywhere. We walked up into the Meat Packing District and found more flooded basements. On underground parking lot was completely flooded to the street level and a car was half submerged in the entrance. Several owners stood and looked in horror while their kids played in the water. Not sure how they will every empty this out.

Very few places here are open because there is no power. A couple of delis with gas stoves were making coffee but there was nothing. Lots of people walking around taking in the spectacle, but otherwise dead.

We walked up to 8th Ave and saw the building I mention in the last blog where the front collapsed. Penny and I were in the deli next door just a couple of hours earlier.

We have subsequently walked up into Times Square looking for lunch and a place to charge the phones. Most stores are closed even though there is power above 25th. No buses and no subways but lots of people on the streets: Mostly tourists. The side streets are covered with debris: tree limbs and at once intersection a major piece of somebody’s roof. Sanitation workers are everywhere, sweeping and cleaning. Police and traffic authority are also in full force, driving up an down every street to ensure things are under control.

This is an very interesting time in New York. Communications is compromised: we only have had spotty cell service. It is really interesting to watch the people – okay us included – huddled at the Starbucks windows getting the free WiFi service. Even this blog is enable by Starbucks!

The restaurants that are opened are running short of supplies as there has been no deliveries since Saturday. We can’t even get dessert.

We are hearing from some sources that power may not be restored for three or four days and that it could take a week to get the transportation system up and running. We expect that some services will start to recover over the next few days and life will return to normal. New York will survive. We feel for those who have been affected because recovery will be much longer. We have food and light and the stove is gas so at least we can cook.

What we need now is a television set so we can get an update on what to expect. Who would have guessed when New York came up on the bucket list we would experience this?

This was written just before to power went out last nite. I will post this and try to get something up later today, although we have no power, no TV and no internet at the apartment. Big storm damage in parts of Manhattan, mostly flooding and power failures that may take days to fix.

Things are coming to a head in New York. Extensive flooding has occurred in the outer boroughs of Brooklyn and Staten Island. Power has been shut down in the entire financial district which is at the bottom of Manhattan – Wall Street in the dark. There are very surreal pictures of darkened towers in the whole south end of Manhattan. Along the Hudson River from Battery Park up to 23rd Avenue the surge has breached the banks of the boardwalks and caused flooding like it has never been seen in this City. 23rd Avenue where Penny and I walked on a beautiful afternoon a couple of weeks ago when we walked the HighLine is under a foot of water from the river to 10th Avenue, about 2 long blocks. Nobody expected this . . .

Okay the power has just gone out in the neighbourhood and we are in darkness. No lights, no internet or phone and no TV to watch the agony everyone else is going through. Dinner is just ready: pasta and sauce with chorizo and a big salad. Luckily, we still have gas although from now on it will have to be lit with lighter or matches. Did we buy them? I think I have the emergency plan in place for coffee in the morning.

Thanks to the females in this trio, we have supplies. Food, water, snacks and wine. They have even hard boiled half of the eggs. Thanks to me we have the Brooklyn Lantern – as seen on TV for $12.99 . . . “but if you call now get two for $12.99, thats right two Brooklyn Lanterns for just $12.99. Call 1-800 . . . . now”. We also have 3 LED puck lights – pickings were pretty thin at DuaneReade, the local drugstore – although we have determined they will make great “under cabinet” lighting once the emergency is over. And Monika picked up a flashlight, a headlamp (an Energizer Pro 7) and a candle (apple – cinnamon scent) at Home Depot. When we visit the “facilities” we have our choice of light!

Maybe the best part of this is that suddenly, after two days of almost non-stop coverage and the last 12 hours where that’s all that is on the local news, we have no TV at all. After hours of being on top of the situation, we realize how vulnerable we are. No TV, no wireless, no cell network. It is very quite, more so than anytime I can remember in New York. All we can hear are the sounds of sirens racing up and down 7th Ave. The cops and firemen must love this, free range on the streets of New York. We have the windows open and there is the constant sound of the wind: not blowing hard but there and almost soothing. Its like there is nothing going on around us although we know there is much.

Today, Penny and I walked down 8th Avenue to 15th. Tonight, the entire front of a four storey building at 8th and 15th collapsed onto the sidewalk. I don’t think there is any connection but one has to wonder. The Speaker of the New York City Council blamed the collapse on this potentially being an illegal hotel. Not sure of the what this has to do with building integrity, but she was elected so I guess she knows. The building looks like a doll house, all the furniture intact and completely open to the street.

We will survive as we are sure the City will. It may take all of us a few days to recover but before we know it, it will be like this never happened. But this will be a part of our adventure that we will not forget. As Eric Fergie said in his e-mail to us, “The Big Apple, a Yankees game and Broadway Theatre and now a hurricane. What could be better than that?” From my perspective, very little!

Don’t know when this will be posted but considered it was written in one of the darkest nights in New York history.

Cheers

Just back from a walk. It is raining quite hard now and the winds are picking up, especially up high. Flags are whipping in the wind and gusts are building. Report are that gusts up to 70 miles per hour among the towers have been reported.

Uptown, at 6th Street and 57th Ave, the crane on a 90 storey condo building under construction has collapsed and is dangling over downtown. Reports are that it is moving in the wind and is in danger of collapsing.  Engineers are currently planning to go to the top of the building to examine its stability. Neighbouring buildings have been evacuated in case the boom falls from some 1,000 feet up.

Here are some shots taken this afternoon on 7th and 8th Avenues in our neighbourhood. Remember this is 3pm on Monday afternoon on one of the major north/south arterials. Normally this street is busy with traffic and the sidewalks full of people. Despite the weather, some New Yorkers are a pretty hardy bunch!