Views and Brews Wrap up 6/26/5

[Tom Rankin]

Sunday turned out to be about 93 in New York City. Add that to the humidity and the hot pavement, and it was - HOT!

In spite of the heat, we met as planned at the entrance to the South St. Seaport. We tried to stay in the shade as we walked over and up to the pedestrain entrance to the bridge, which is several blocks west and north of the SSS. The Bridge is an amazing structure. The walkway is up over the cars. At times the cables are below you, so you have an unobstructed view of New York. There was a pretty good breeze blowing most of the way across the river. Hundreds of people were crossing the bridge, and quite a few bikers. The bikers have 1 lane, and the walkers have another.

After we crossed the bridge, Papa Bear lead us on a loop thru some of the nicer sections of Brooklyn. We stopped at a friend of his, who let us re-fill our water bottle. We ended up coming back towards the Bridge on the Brooklyn Promenade. This has a spectacular view of lower Manhattan, and the statue of Liberty, etc. All the houses along here are nicely restored, and a lot of the promenade was in the shade.

Once back at the car, we drove up to the West End pub. I had forgotten the address, but we found it. (Doh! icon here!) It turned out they were open but their brewery had broken down! (Doh! icon here!) So, we contented ourselves with more traditional brews. During lunch, Coldfeet showed up.

After lunch, we walked around Columbia University (which is right across the street). My daughter wants to go to school here starting in 2006. Then we drove David down to JFK and checked him in for his flight to Russia. The drive back from JFK to upstate NY was slow, owing to beach traffic, Billy Graham traffic, and Yankee Stadium traffic, but we eventually made it back around 11:00 PM. It was a long, hot day, but worth it. If I'm motivated, I'll post some pics. Papa Bear has some of his at web page, but I don't have the link handy. One of us will post that eventually...

 

[Papa Bear]

Yes it was a hot day in the Big Apple. When I suggested to Tom that the Brew part of the trip "didn't count" since they weren't brewing, he said "It counts! I'm not coming back here!" Actually the West End hadn't changed much in the 30 or so years since I was last in there - not a bad place. I may go back when ther get their brewing stuff working.

Here's the Views (our rendition of the V-F-T-T song):

(click for larger version)

And here's the Brews (us at The West End - Tom's the one not smiling ):

(click for larger version)

And here's the album with the rest of the pictures (not actually on my web site): album

 

[ExploreTheEast]

Here's the Views (our rendition of the V-F-T-T song):

That is REALLY funny! Hopefully you'll all be performing live at the next Gathering! lol

 

[Tom Rankin]

That is REALLY funny! Hopefully you'll all be performing live at the next Gathering! lol

It was done to the tune of "Y-M-C-A!!" It was pretty funny...

BTW, Papa Bear, I didn't mean the West End was a bad bar. I was just tired. What I really meant was I did not want to have to do another hike in this type of weather, only to show up at a place that is serving regular beer. They were very friendly, and even gave me a free pint of Harp!

 

[Papa Bear]

It was done to the tune of "Y-M-C-A!!" It was pretty funny...

BTW, Papa Bear, I didn't mean the West End was a bad bar. I was just tired. What I really meant was I did not want to have to do another hike in this type of weather, only to show up at a place that is serving regular beer. They were very friendly, and even gave me a free pint of Harp!

OK, I believe you. By the way, as I was leaving they said when they get going again, they might brew up a special one time brew: "VFTT Amber Ale".

 

[Tom Rankin]

Pics

http://viewsandbrews.com/WestEnd.html