New York Tours

Page 2 of 3 -- THREE: Pier 45, Greenwich Village. On the second leg of our journey, we were again informed the upper deck was closed and the second crew had called in sick. We reluctantly took our indoor seats.

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The Pier 45 dock has been restored as part of the larger Hudson River Park, which, when finished, will offer 550 acres along 5 miles of riverfront from Battery Park to 59th Street. Trees and benches line this pier, which looks across at Jersey City and Hoboken. Maps and impressively clean public restrooms are available near the jogging path. We crossed the highway and headed down Christopher Street toward the shops and restaurants of the Village.

FOUR: World Financial Center. We were at last allowed on the upper deck of the taxi, and the fresh air was glorious. We sped past airshafts for the Holland Tunnel at Canal Street and stumps of decaying piers. The Statue of Liberty glinted in the distance.

Getting off, we walked along Hudson River Park past a waterfall and lily pond, with a poem of ''The Continuous Life" by Mark Strand etched in stone at one end, and on to the Irish Hunger Memorial, a quarter-acre site designed by artist Brian Tolle commemorating the Great Famine and migration of 1845-52. We followed paths through a rugged landscape planted with ling heather, bearberry, and other native Irish flora, among stones inscribed with Ireland's 32 county names. From the 25-foot summit, we had a grand view of the river and Ellis Island. From the North Cove Yacht Harbor, we entered the restored Winter Garden in the World Financial Center, with its 45-foot-tall palm trees, and found restrooms, shops, and restaurants. Also inside, the Lower Manhattan Development Corp. has mounted a wall exhibit titled ''From Recovery to Renewal" that provides a timeline from 9/11 to the present. Leaving the center on the east side brought us to the gaping hole where the twin towers once stood.

FIVE: South Street Seaport. On this trip, the upper-deck seating was open again, and a personable crew member, Chris Girgenti, offered ongoing commentary about lesser-known sights. We sped past the Colgate Clock (the world's largest, and a remnant of the former factory), a train station in New Jersey designed by Frederick Law Olmsted, Battery Park (where there is a Holocaust Memorial), Governors Island (formerly a dairy farm), and the Brooklyn Army Terminal (where Elvis Presley left for Germany). The next exit offered myriad touring possibilities, including the New York Stock Exchange on Wall Street, the South Street Seaport Museum, and the shops and restaurants in the seaport mall. The museum includes tours of three historic vessels, the sailing cargo ships Peking (1911) and Wavertree (1885) and the lightship Ambrose (1908).On the top floor of the mall, we stopped for cocktails and a snack at the Harbour Lights Restaurant. A north-facing deck offered a dazzling view of the Manhattan and Brooklyn bridges and the East River. We ended the day here, having missed the last boat back to the West Side, and took a subway to our hotel.   Continued...