At any rate, the trip was quite fun. Mostly because I went with my very good friend Ali, who happens to be from my hometown, and whom I've had the pleasure of knowing since I was a wee 16 year old. What I particularly like about Ali is that despite both of us being unnecessarily over-educated, when we get together, our collective IQ plummets 100 points. And we spend hours being silly and crude, and offensive. Needless to say, this field trip was Ali's brain-child and it was brilliant.
We met in Brooklyn and walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, then proceeded to stroll through the financial district, and then to the Staten Island ferry where two young Israelis asked us where the tickets for the Statue of Liberty were sold. I felt good about myself when I flippantly directed them over to Battery Park.
Then it was on to the boat the Captain Spirit of America (Boo-Ba-Da-Boop!). The boat, and yes it is a "boat," since as Sailor Dave once explained, ship's are vessels that carry boats (call me Sailor!), had three floors and possibly a snack bar. Honestly, I didn't really look around the boat since the minute we were bull-penned onto it, Ali and I bee-lined for a seat on the outside deck like proper tourists and were already scouting guidos and trying to identify various landmarks (I the former, she the latter). In light of all of this we saw nary a guido, but did determine that Governor's Island is haunted. 20 minutes after cruising the Hudson, we finally landed on Staten Island, and were surprised at how quaint it was - kind of like the Monaco of New York!
Granted we only walked in a radius of ten blocks from the ferry terminal into, what we aptly called Staten Island Village, but what is probably called something else. This is mostly becuase I was scared. But Ali is brave and held my hand and we traversed the four blocks away from the ferry dock. None the less, it felt as if we were on vacation in some New England shore-town. We even had lunch in a restaraunt named Karl's Klipper, which was a total yokel bar. At the Klipper, which is what I'm sure the local's call it, we were given fun and educational placemats that showed all the US presidents up to George Walker Bush (racists!). Naturally, after we realized that there are presidents we've never even heard of, we commenced a rousing game of "Who would you fuck?" And if I may, James Monroe is one sexy piece.
After lunching we headed back to the ferry. As per usual, I was suffering a bloated belly, and Ali did not feel obligated to indulge me in a little tummy rub. On our way back to the port we were accosted by a bus driver, who surreptitiously snuck behind us and hissed "do you need a ride?" I was startled. But Ali, ever the wayfaring traveller, understood what this man was implying, and politely said, "No thanks."And after that it was pretty much back onto the boat and back to Manhattan. The trip back was kind of romantic - it started to rain as we passed by Lady Liberty - and had Ali been a guido I would've totally put the moves on her. But despite all the fun we had on Staten Island, we were both subdued with melancholy. See, part of the impetus for this little excursion is due to the fact that Ali will be moving to San Fransisco in August. Which is to say that my circle of friends will be reduced significantly, thus leaving me all alone in this cold-cold world...
At any rate, for your pleasure, just some interesting facts about Staten Island:
The Indian name (that's the term that was used on the site where I pulled this fact, and its staying) for Staten Island is Monacnong, or Enchanted Woods.
The first recorded European contact with the island was in 1524 by Giovanni da Verrazzano (an absolute guido, no less) who sailed through The Narrows.
In 1609, Henry Hudson established Dutch trade in the area and named the island Staaten Eylandt after the Staten-Generaal, the Dutch parliament.
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