DAY 1, MARCH 22, 2009

After a very short night, we took a cab very early and intentionally arrived at the Kemper Street Station an hour early. The train arrived on time at 6:10 AM. It was just below freezing early in the morning and sunny all day. We did a lot of snoozing on the train. The AMTRAK ride, in several respects, falls into two parts, namely Lynchburg to Washington, and Washington to New York: (1) diesel-electric locomotive to Washington, electric engine thereafter (overhead power lines), (2) essentially full load to Washington, fewer and fewer passengers thereafter (3) only two stops in Virginia, namely Charlottesville and Alexandria, more and more stops later, especially through New Jersey, and (4) nice scenery through Virginia, lots of slums, junk yards and the like farther north. The train was clean and very comfortable with luxurious, spacious seats and adequate toilets close by. The normal stops were very short. But in Washington, it was announced that we would stop for about 20 minutes for “servicing” (which includes change of locomotives) and we could stand outside beside the train to smoke or not. (No smoking in the train, thank goodness.) But in this instance we were stopped for an hour. It seems that the big diesel engine was mistakenly allowed to shut down, and they couldn't get it restarted to move it away so it could be replaced by the electric locomotive, and it had to be towed away. We had a small cooler of snacks with us. We arrived at New York's Pennsylvania Station at 2:30 P.M.

Our very-long-time friend Hans Schmuck met us at the station. He looks as strong and healthy as ever. We thought we were going to stay in his apartment. But, saying his apartment is a mess, which wouldn't bother us at all, he took us across the street to Hotel Pennsylvania, where he had booked a room for us on the tenth floor. It looks like Penn Station and Madison Square Garden are together across the street from our hotel. We feel bad about his spending what must be a lot of money for that. It's approximately midway between the Hudson and East Rivers on 7th Avenue between 32nd and 33rd Streets. After checking in and chatting a little in our room, we took a bus ride to the Hudson River where we could view where “Sully” “landed” on the river, right out from a ferry terminal on the New Jersey side. It was cool and blustery (windy). We walked down the river to and through the Chelsea Piers, where there are a lot of recreational/athletic facilities. There is a nice, fairly new, paved two-lane way along the river for bikers, runners, walkers, and roller bladers – you have to watch out for the high-speed bikers. We had dinner at a brew house restaurant there. Hans filled us in on his own activities –- doing a lot of plumbing these days (self-employed) -- and filled us in on his siblings, nieces and nephew, mother, uncle, and aunt (all of them in Austria), and also his 8-year-old friend-since-birth and her mother here in New York City. Philip is 19 and doing his 6-month military stint in “security,” living in a camp in Vienna. Elizabeth and Francesca are like 10 and 9, and Elizabeth plays the piano; Gabriella takes them skiing. Angelika “lives in the old days” and is forgetful. Thomas still lives with Angelika and is still delivering the mail. Walter's cancer is 'throughout his body,' but he stays in “good spirits.” We took a cab back to the hotel where Hans left us from the lobby and will meet us again at 5 PM today (March 23). We went to bed early and slept in late. It's sunny again this morning.

Interesting history about the house Hedwig Maurer (Hans' maternal aunt) has lived in since her marriage to Mr. Maurer (long deceased): Hedwig's daughter-in-law has recently sold the house, which she inherited from her husband Martin Maurer (Hedwig's deceased son) and moved out, but Hedwig is permitted to live out her life there. Going back much farther, Hans' mother's mother was born in the house out-of-wedlock. Thereafter, the grandfather of Hans' grandmother lost the house in gambling with a Mr. Maurer. So the family of Hans' ancestors had to move out. Then, some time later, the house, having come down through the Maurer family, belonged to the Mr. Maurer who became Hedwig's husband.

We are here in New York until Wednesday evening, March 25. I wish we had not come to New York so early, but that was Helen's plan. It will be expensive, and I was thinking: What will I do with myself for three days here? But, of course, Helen is right. There are many things to do in New York City.

I haven't been able to get on the Internet. I'm writing this off-line to put on the Internet later, which would be a good idea anyway. There are three possibilities: (1) You can use the hotel's computers. VERY expensive. (2) With your own computer in the lobby, you can get on the Internet, charging to your credit card. Moderately expensive. I tried, planning to send just a short message. Couldn't get on. Wouldn't accept my credit card expiration date. (3) Our room does not have wireless. It is a small room. I suppose more expensive rooms have wireless. But you can get on the Internet from the room by dial up, using the telephone jack. Hey, we use dial up at home. I could select a New York phone number to avoid long distance charges and be in business. But, so far, I can't make that work either. We have our MAC computer. I didn't think it had a telephone slot, but now I see it seems that it does. But I don't know how to get to the AOL with the MAC. It's not like the IBM-clone system I am used to, where the icons come up when you turn on the computer. But now I have the solution: Starbucks down the street two blocks. I'll put this on the blog at Starbucks.

Bernie