NEW YORK, NEW YORK
It was lovely to see Gilly and her partner, Peter, after a long absence from the Rotary Club of Canterbury. Illness forced her to resign her membership from the Rotary Club of Canterbury, so it is good to see her once again restored to improved health.
Both of her children have lived for extended periods in New York. She, of course, has been there on multiple occasions. The purpose of her presentation tonight was to present a section of her travel discussion about the favourite parts of New York which her daughter, Lucy has given her.
In this exposition, we were given several useful tips about climate and her favorite locations. New York is divided, in terms of her weather, into specific seasons and weather types - spring and fall ( beautiful), winter is bracing, summer is hot and humid, very different from Melbourne's weather. She told us about Central Park, the meat packing district of New York, the American Museum of Natural History and all the shows which are available on Broadway.
She very deftly used a detailed map of New York to highlight the best features. For example, the Tenement Museum in the Lower East Side, which tells the story of the various nationalities who came to call New York home. The sheer beauty and creativity of the Grammercy Tavern features the season in its menus and in its decorations. What a wonderful image Gilly conjured up in describing this particular location.
Within the Wall Street - Financial District- is found a very special monument, The Twin Tower Memorial. It was very touching the manner in which Gilly described her emotions as she entered this very special zone. I love the way she described walking through the different stages. It was so compelling for her that she spent half a day there.
Other aspects of Gilly's description of New York emerged during question time at the end of the presentation. The most interesting feature of New York was the way so many forgotten people are visible in the city, especially service people who are clearly homeless and in trouble emotionally. This article covers some of the information which Gilly dealt with in her full presentation. If any of our members are interested in obtaining the complete details of the locations within New York, she will be able to email it to them in a pdf format.