New York City Day 1

We had an uneventful ride down to NYC on the bus.  I as usually traveled inside a backpack in the overhead compartment.  Ms. Edwards curled up in one of the seats and slept for the majority of the trip down.

The group of about 32 people checked into the hotel at the Seaport Inn Best Western at 33 Peck Slip.  The hotel was amazing.  It was right near so much interesting buildings and places to visit.  Ms. Edwards and I got our own room.  Below is a picture of the room.

At the end of the Seaport is a monument for the RMS Titanic.  The Titanic was supposed to sail from Southampton UK to New York City.  It set sail on April 10, 1912 and hit an iceberg on April 15, 1912.  It is estimated that 1,514 people died.  There were 885 crew members and about 1,317 passengers on board.  Passengers at this time period in history were considered to be part of the cargo.  There were 324 people in First Class, 284 people in Second Class, and 709 in Third Class.  More on the Titanic later.

We took the metro or the subway system to Brooklyn and walked to an area called Fort Greene.  We met up with Charles Calhoun who has been a part of the program since the beginning.  We walked around Brooklyn some and heard about some of the different buildings.  We also stopped in a park and heard about the area.

 

Fort Greene was named after General Nathanael Greene who fought during the American Revolution.  This area became Brooklyn's first park due to the help of people such as Walt Whitman.  It was originally called Washington Park.  Within the park is a monument to Prison Ship Martyrs.  During the American Revolution any prisoner of war that the British captured was put on ships in the harbor.  Around 11,500 American prisoners died from disease and malnutrition.  Soldiers were buried in shallow graves that over the years were discovered.  The bodies were reburied in a crypt below the park and the monument was put up to honor those who served and died.

 After learning about Fort Greene we started to walk towards Charles' house.  Along the way we learned about Brownstones.  They are made of a sandstone that came from New Jersey.  

 Here is a random picture that Ms. Edwards took of a group houses in Brooklyn.  

 We had a nice gathering at Charles house in Brooklyn.  Below is a picture of the garden that is attached his house.  The group was able to relax and get to know each other better.  Some of the group was even able to talk to Martina through skype.

 After the gathering Ms. Edwards and members of the group took the subway back to the Seaport and had dinner at a Restaurant called Red.  It was a Mexican restaurant.  Ms. Edwards had nachos.

Below are some pictures of the flowers that were in bloom in the Brooklyn area.

 

Here is a picture of a clock tower in Brooklyn.  It is the landmark that the group used to get back to the subway.  Interesting story....while walking to the subway stop a few members of the group were talking about going to a Polish restaurant.  They figured that it was about one stop up from the metro stop.  A lady walking near the group overheard the conversation and told the group that it was a fifteen minute walk down a certain road.  She seemed shocked that the guys decided to take the metro for one stop and not just walk the 15 minutes.  Walking seems to be such a part to living in New York.  In Maine, people hop in their cars to drive down the street (less then a mile) to pick up a gallon of milk.

 After dinner, Ms. Edwards and a few of the ladies walked down to the Seaport to admire the view.  Below are pictures of the Brooklyn bridge and the skyline at night.