Staten Island Sojourn

I went to New York City recently. I do that fairly often these days, but usually it's a day trip. This time an overnight stay was necessary.

I'd like to thank Russ again for his assistance. And thank you to your friends, most of whom I didn't get to meet. (Weather and an adverse development in the business rationale for the trip cut it short.) Thanks too, to the hens for the eggs.

I stayed on Staten Island, which induced some nostalgia, because I lived on Staten Island, in the St George area (right near the ferry terminal) beginning in the autumn of 1982 and well into 1983.

The thing to remember about the north end of Staten Island is -- it rises up from the sea quite steeply. Everything in the St George and surrounding neighborhoods is on an impressive hill. Commuters get the benefit of that hill when they walk down toward the ferry on the way into work in the morning, then they curse it on their way up the hill after they're done for that day.

This trip also created the opportunity for my first time driving over the Verrazano Bridge. (That's one "z" and two "r"s, not the other way around.) The view of the harbor on the way across is breathtaking. What is also breathtaking is the price of the trip -- $13 to get from Brooklyn to Staten Island! The way back is free, which is usually the case these days. Still, $13 for that round trip is a good chunk of change. No wonder they can afford to give away the ferry rides.

My own navigation abilities proved better than expected. I suspect Russ expected that I would drive around his neighborhood, get confused by the warren of 1-way streets, and call him on my cell phone in frustration. Instead I was able to call him to say, "I'm on your street now," which seems to have surprised him.

It's good to be an old SI hand.