July 4 to July 8 New York City

We spent this time with David and Louis, who were kind enough to
give us the apartment’s bedroom. Their apartment was a bit cramped with
all four of us, but everything was fine. Dave actually took some time off
from his job at Sullivan and Cromwell, the Wall Street law firm. We went
to eat at some great places: The Empire Diner near their apartment, a
fantastic Indian restaurant, and some others. Matt and Chanté came up from
Princeton and joined us at the Indian place on the 7th. We took it easy on
the 5th. The next, day, the four of us (Bruce, Penny, David, and Louis) went
on a walking tour of Chelsea and Greenwich Village. We went to a furniture
store named Room and Board, where we got some ideas about what to do
with our living room at home in San Francisco. Bruce and Penny took tours
of the Statue of Liberty and of Ellis Island. Bruce had been to the Statue of
Liberty in 1970. Ellis Island was just great. Bruce’s grandfather, Paul
Cichon, had come through there several times. This is the grandfather who
got married in Abeline, Kansas. Penny’s grandmother immigrated from
Russia (Ukraine), but that was before the U.S. federal government
established immigration stations. Anna Brodsky probably entered through
the New York facility at the Battery, Castle Clinton. The park ranger at Ellis
Island gave Penny some leaflets with information about tracking those
earlier records.

Manhattan viewed from the south.

Battery Park has a monument made from the wreckage of the World Trade Center, and of

course, the ubiquitous snack stands.

On the eighth, we packed up everything, mailed a large box home to
San Francisco, and used the car service to the Brooklyn Cruise Terminal,
where we boarded RMS Queen Mary 2 and began the second phase of our
odyssey.