October 13th – The tour of Manhatten

We are sitting at the airport on our way back to Austin.

The tour turned out to be organized by “Corporate America” and the office, reminded me a lot of my days in the hotel business: the dress code, the lack of mindfulness towards people, the cutting remarks, the impatience clouded in kindness and all about making the buck (dollar).

The participants were nice, down to earth and I think they enjoyed themselves, although I realized I did not know nearly enough to be a good tour guide, even though I spend hours and hours preparing.

My partner, who invited me and is a friend of many years, absolutely did not inform me, help me, supported me. He has been in this business for 30 years, but for some reason or another just assumed I would “fall” into this.

Two things I learned about myself: how utterly uncomfortable it is for me to be doing something while not knowing what to do. To the point of nausea.

Secondly, the corporate world is not for me any longer. Where once it had a shine to it, the glamour of riding limousines and dressing up, now feels violating and I actually felt abused and battered afterwards.

What did we see on the tour? Like usual on tours,everything feels like a flash and herding 45 people in and out of a bus on a schedule is like herding cats in the jungle. If you want to read about New York City, read the following paragraphs:

First day: “orientation tour” which was pretty much up to me, which came as a shock. I had assumed I would get instructions on where to take them and when, but none of that. So, where to take them? I ended up driving around and walking “Ground Zero” (which is largely a big construction site at the moment) and having coffee at my beloved Union Square, where there are more cafes you can count and a delicious market.

Second Day: A walk through Central Park and the Metropolitan Museum. Needless to say, the Dutchies started wandering off and we arrived just in time to meet our guide at the Met. Once again I was awestruck by the enormity of it all. We saw, amongst other things, some amazing Rembrandts and Vermeers I had never seen – work related to the girl with the pearl earring - , not to mention the 3000 year old Egyptian Temple. At the request of one of our guests they also showed us American Art (there is an American Wing), which many of use tend to forget about altogether.

I will skip all the lunches and dinners we had, most of the restaurants were around Time Square, an experience in itself and much changed since I lived here.

Third Day: Skyscraper tour. I studied to get all the dates and facts under my belt of places like the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building and the likes, but in the end we ended up going to the Highline, an architectural gem. Old train tracks that were raised above the city in the 30ties to avoid accidents with cars and pedestrians, are now converted in a delicious walkway with trees, flowers, grasses and of course, a view. It is now 20 blocks long, but will be extended another ten, as far as the old tracks run, all protected and funded by “the friends of the Highline”, which are simply concerned citizens who want greenery.

Afterwards a wonderful Helicopter Tour and yes, I got to go too!!Lovely, interesting, gives you real perspective.

Fourth Day: Harlem. We had an African American tour guide and if you ever wondered what reverse racism is, there it was.

Some people have decided that the world is created by and for black people and that the whites are coming to Harlem to see how it is done. They looked down on us and were rude and demeaning.

I was to translate what she said, but she had no interest in that,

She just carried on, so much of the tour got lost to those who did not speak a lot of (black American) English.
(yes, amazingly, at least 25% of the people ( Achterhoek ) did not speak any English and many more only” book- English”).

And Harlem? Some parts are attractive, tree lined and upgraded, many areas are still showing the run down and dangers of not so long ago past.

At night we herded them on a boat, which was more like a floating Carnival with loud music, raffles and contests. The part that was surprisingly moving for me, was unexpectedly, to be very very close to the Statue of Liberty,seen from the water, what a beauty indeed and since I know more history, it is more meaningful . Did you know this was originally a gift from France to Egypt and was supposed to have stood by the Suez Canal? Egypt could not afford it, so France decided to give it to the US, who could pay for the base and transportation.