A view of lower Manhattan from the Red Hook Marine Terminal in Brooklyn, New York. If you enlarge the photo, you can see the Empire State Building, the Chrysler Building, Pier 17 at the South Street Seaport and the Brooklyn Bridge.
It's still weird to see it without the twin towers. To me, it's unrecognizable. If you don't know which building is the Empire State Building, or you're not familiar with the Brooklyn Bridge or the Chrysler Building, it looks like anywhere, really. Right off, it doesn't have the instant recognition it once did. Not from this angle, anyway. Looking at the picture, it takes a minute or two to say, "Oh yeeaahh, now I see it - that's New York."
But it's still a city full of surprises. Today after leaving the marine terminal, we got turned around trying to find the BQE (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway), so Ed got on the CB and tried to ask one of the local garbage truck drivers (he was in a semi) for directions. The guy answered, telling him what to do and then, as a second thought said, "Follow me, I'll show you."
Well, we were in shock - no one ever does that. But when Ed said, "OK, you're in truck seventeen, right?" using the number on the back of the truck as reference, the guy said "No, I'm between you and seventeen." Well, the only thing between the truck in front of us, number seventeen, and us was a cop car. "You're in the cop car?" Ed said. "Yeah." said the voice on the CB.
Ohhhhhhh. Double wow. Cops NEVER help. They either ticket you or get annoyed that you are stopping to ask them directions; as if serving the public wasn't their job. This guy not only gave us directions that were accurate, he took us there. He led the way all the way to the BQE and told us exactly where to get on and gave us a tip about the next exit which had a clearance of 12' 9" posted. He told us to ignore the sign and keep going, we'd have no problem getting through. Normally something like that would bring you to a screeching halt; our truck is 13' 6" tall, so going through something shorter would obviously damage our truck. So with his help, we got out of the city lickety split.
We're on the way up to northern Vermont now and I can't wait to drive that route. We'll be delivering just a few miles away from Lake Champlain. As the Vermont web site states, "2009 marks the 400th anniversary of French explorer and cartographer Samuel de Champlain’s travels by sail, oar and paddle to the lake that now bears his name..." The lake spans 120 miles in length and 12 miles in width. I'm hoping to have some time for pictures.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
1 YEAR AGO: Gives Red, White And Blue A Whole New Meaning
2 YEARS AGO: Eddie Warhol Friday
3 YEARS AGO: Conscious But Very Disoriented
4 YEARS AGO: Stuck In A Southern Vortex
It's still weird to see it without the twin towers. To me, it's unrecognizable. If you don't know which building is the Empire State Building, or you're not familiar with the Brooklyn Bridge or the Chrysler Building, it looks like anywhere, really. Right off, it doesn't have the instant recognition it once did. Not from this angle, anyway. Looking at the picture, it takes a minute or two to say, "Oh yeeaahh, now I see it - that's New York."
But it's still a city full of surprises. Today after leaving the marine terminal, we got turned around trying to find the BQE (Brooklyn-Queens Expressway), so Ed got on the CB and tried to ask one of the local garbage truck drivers (he was in a semi) for directions. The guy answered, telling him what to do and then, as a second thought said, "Follow me, I'll show you."
Well, we were in shock - no one ever does that. But when Ed said, "OK, you're in truck seventeen, right?" using the number on the back of the truck as reference, the guy said "No, I'm between you and seventeen." Well, the only thing between the truck in front of us, number seventeen, and us was a cop car. "You're in the cop car?" Ed said. "Yeah." said the voice on the CB.
Ohhhhhhh. Double wow. Cops NEVER help. They either ticket you or get annoyed that you are stopping to ask them directions; as if serving the public wasn't their job. This guy not only gave us directions that were accurate, he took us there. He led the way all the way to the BQE and told us exactly where to get on and gave us a tip about the next exit which had a clearance of 12' 9" posted. He told us to ignore the sign and keep going, we'd have no problem getting through. Normally something like that would bring you to a screeching halt; our truck is 13' 6" tall, so going through something shorter would obviously damage our truck. So with his help, we got out of the city lickety split.
We're on the way up to northern Vermont now and I can't wait to drive that route. We'll be delivering just a few miles away from Lake Champlain. As the Vermont web site states, "2009 marks the 400th anniversary of French explorer and cartographer Samuel de Champlain’s travels by sail, oar and paddle to the lake that now bears his name..." The lake spans 120 miles in length and 12 miles in width. I'm hoping to have some time for pictures.
~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
1 YEAR AGO: Gives Red, White And Blue A Whole New Meaning
2 YEARS AGO: Eddie Warhol Friday
3 YEARS AGO: Conscious But Very Disoriented
4 YEARS AGO: Stuck In A Southern Vortex
3 comments:
Watch the water it is still very cold according to my neighbor that was working on his dock up there last week.
Cool cop.
What a great story. I love it when law enforcement folks get to be the "good guys"!
Have a great time up north.
Great story! And we went to Lake Champlain in October of 2006 - my boyfriend is taking online college courses through Champlain College (or.. was actually, he just graduated!) and we went for a visit. It is beautiful, you will enjoy it. And I can't wait to see your pictures! :)
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