We’d booked Norwegian to NY (cheap premium) it worked despite ridiculous early start we were heading into NY by 1000.
We dumped bags which were heavy with flight gear at Penn Station then went walkabouts.
First stop was a building I’d seen on the way in call John Murray House 220 Madison Ave.
Wanted to get a photo of the entrance awning in all its glory. When we got there (past the Empire State) there was a great big truck in the ruddy way.
Hey ho – Back past Times square and Broadway. Jumped on metro down to World Trade Centre
Had to see gound zero. It is very moving – the footprint of the two building are now great big square hole with water cascading from the top pf the sides running down to a square hole in the base of which you cant see the bottom giving a sense of infinity. Certainly makes you think of falling to infinity. Poor buggers.
Back to Penn Station (utterly unimpressive – this is not Grand Union or whatever) it is underground low height busy busy, smells and rumbles
we were escorted to the sleeper through a madly crowded concourse like a Japanese touring crocodile. The ‘service agent’ was bored and disinterested but the funniest thing was he stopped at the bottom of an escalator to talk to a mate and the whole crocodile concertinaed up the escalator
On the train the attendant was an older sad Julie who was nevertheless very nice.
The accommodation is straight out of the 50’s
this is Maggie trying to find room for me to enter in the ‘roomette’ on the train. believe me I was pressed the other side of the corridor taking this one
departing we saw the back sides of Newark Trenton, Phildelphia Baltimore and Washington before retiring to the ‘roomette’ . The meal in the dining car was very acceptable if the eleventeen bottles of pinot grigio were a bit steep.
Once south of Washington Amtrak doesn’t own the rails and it shows. Our carriage had a steel wheel ‘flat’ characterised by rapid ‘click click clicking’. Never mind once on the freight operators railroad there might as well not have been any rails at all – I feared for derailment every set of points we crossed. Indeed I began to think that in the words of the song’ the night they drove ole dixie down’ that the ‘Yankees had ‘tore up the tracks again’ Not much of nights sleep then. I manged to miss my footing on the bunk ladder inn the middle of a night pee – lucky not to twist or break it
Anyway we’re here now – 0700 and the light just coming up – had to wake a taxi driver at the station in Savannah (its more like freight yard sidings – they just don’t know how to do trains – a one off experience never again)
We booked in at the Westin and spent the morning round the pool
In case you can’t see it – yes that is a huge containership – and indeed there was one going the other way.
The hotel is situated on the north bank of the Savanah river. the Port is upstream from the town and on hightide there is a regular flow of large container ships. There is one bar on the city side of the river shore which offer free shots of bourbon or vodka whenever a container ship passes . This is from the very pleasant hotel pool terrace – trust me its not what it seems (holidaying in Tilbury) it’s actually very charming.
