Manhattan, Circled

Ada and Andrew were visiting with us in New York at Christmas, and as we were looking to do things that did not involve the midtown Manhattan Christmas madness, we decided to take the Circle Line boat which goes all the way around Manhattan island.   I have memories of doing this at some point in my life, but most likely in prehistoric times.    It was a grey and frigid day, with dark threatening clouds and winds whipping up the Hudson river.  Only a hardy few people stayed on the outdoor deck for the entire two and a half hour trip.  It's a fascinating trip, not only for seeing the expected landmarks, but also for discovering all the diversity of the shoreline, which ranges from densely cluttered high rises to industrial waterfront to wasteland.   And, for me, a major feature was the chance to see all twenty-one of the bridges which connect Manhattan to the rest of the world.   And, of course I took photos.   The boat starts at midtown, heads south on the Hudson River, then around lower Manhattan and the Statue of Liberty.   It then heads north on the East River and Harlem River, around the northern tip of Manhattan and back down the Hudson to midtown.  The pictures appear in that order.  The pictures are not intended to give anyone a sense of what you see when you do the trip; they are just pictures of things that intrigued me.


I liked these protective screens at the Chelsea piers:

The Erie Lackawanna ferry terminal.   My father used to take the train here and took the ferry across to lower Manhattan where he worked.

In lower Manhattan, the buildings are all squished together:

Walls of glass:

This is the old New Jersey Central railroad terminal, where trains would arrive and the passengers would transfer to ferries for New York.   It is a ruin which has luckily been preserved.  I plan on visiting soon!

A forlorn lady:

Looking closer, perhaps for signs of dismay towards a certain politician's attitudes towards immigration:

And Ellis Island:

New York is a harbor, and I like these colorful cranes in Red Hook:

The Brooklyn Bridge, with the Manhattan Bridge in the background>

The base of the Manhattan Bridge, with Dumbo condos and condos-to-be in the background.

Not all the waterfront in Brooklyn has been turned into condos yet.  There are still  industrial parts.   There are extended electrical facilities:

New condos seen through the Williamsburg bridge:

The old Domino sugar factory, a ruin which will somehow be turned into condos or something like that:

A closer look:

The smokestacks of a Con-Ed electric plant on the East Side of Manhattan:

Flashy architecture.   Would you want to live in a crooked building?

The UN, another institution under siege:

Gothic ruins on Roosevelt Island:

The Queensboro Bridge as it enters Manhattan:

I have always liked the Queensboro Bridge structure.  When you take pictures of it, it's impossible to figure out what's going on, structure-wise.

Underneath the bridge, with Roosevelt Island tennis courts:

A passing barge, with the bridge and the Roosevelt Island tramway in the back.

I have never been sure what this rollercoaster-like structure is:

Modern facade:

A drawbridge:

More old industrial buildings with faded old signs:

The Triboro Bridge, with the Hell Gate railroad bridge in the background:

Here are red, yellow, blue pictures of a sort:

An orange abandoned building:

Mixed use:

The Macombs Dam bridge:

 with great little towers on top:

I have no idea why there appears to be a lighthouse on top of this building:

I love bridges:

Made with an Erector Set?

I don't know what this is.

Subway guys in the subway yards in upper Manhattan:

More industrial clutter by the river:

Another drawbridge tower:

The George Washington Bridge:

And the famous little red lighthouse underneath it:

(The lighthouse was featured in the 1940's noir "Force of Evil"):

I like the four layers of subway and roads here on the Upper West Side:

Grant's Tomb and Riverside Church:

When you get back towards midtown, we are back in the world of wall to wall high rises:

These condos are colorful for the moment, but will soon become more anodyne glass boxes:

Glimpses towards the "Billionaire's Row" high rises, with the old IRT generating plant and the triangular VIA 57 building in the foreground:

From a slightly different angle:

And yet another angle:

So ends my version of the around the Manhattan tour.   I must say that, despite the cold numbing my fingers, I was very happy to do this on a grey winter day, rather than suffering in a hot sun in the summer tourist season.   I did get a greater appreciation for the extraordinary variety of the urban landscape of Manhattan.  Vera, Ada, and Andrew seemed to enjoy it, though some eventually retreated to the warmth of the interior of the boat.