New York City May 7 to 10th

Thursday
We travelled by VIA Rail from Ottawa to Montreal and they took Amtrack to New York City. This is a 16 hour trip. Plus we then had to take the LIRR to Mineola on Long Island.

Friday
We stayed home and late in the afternoon drove out to Jones beach on the Atlantic side of
Long Island. It is about a 20 minute drive. Jones Beach is a great place to walk on the 2 mile
boardwalk. The beach is great also. They are getting ready for the Memorial Day weekend as they have put out a few thousand wire garbage containers. It is always interesting to walk along the seashore edge and watch the waves roll in.

Saturday
We went into Manhattan on the Long Island Railroad and viewed the Frick Collection at 5th Avenue and 71st Street. This is a fabulous painting collection from the Frick family who were into Steel producton. Lots of old masters paintings. This is worthwhile seeing.

It was warm and humid and there were lots of people out in Central Park just strolling and taking in the almost summer like air. We walked around Central Park for about an hour. One item we noticed was the pond called Conservatory Water. People were sailing minature sailboats on the pond. There was a guy there renting the model boats. Everyone seemed to be having fun.

Sunday
Today we went for a drive across Long Island towards New York. We traveled into Brooklyn on the Belt Parkway past JFK and then took the Varrezano Narrows Bridge to Staten Island. The idea of the trip was to visit Historic Richmond Town on Staten Island. A few of my Huguenot Ancestors lived there in the early 1700s. Their surnames were Perlier, Renaud and Rezeau.

It took use about 1 1/2 hours to get there. We thought the return journey would be longer but it only took an hour. Heavy traffic both ways but not to bad a drive. We had a guided tour and since it was Mother's Day my wife got in free. The tour guide was great but the historic village itself was just OK. Maybe I have seen too many of them. Anyway, we did see inside the Voorlezer's House built c. 1695, where some of my Rezeau ancestors lived later in the 1700s.

The Staten Island Historical Society has a room there as well. I will have to write them and see if I can gets copies of some baptisms and marriages from their records.

The weather today was sunny but rather cool due to a strong west wind.