The Bronx is up…

Posted on 14 April 2011 by Fr. John Zuhlsdorf

… and the Battery down.

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35 Responses to The Bronx is up…

Thomas G. says:

14 April 2011 at 2:51 pm

What is the Battery? And why is it down?
pseudomodo says:

14 April 2011 at 3:01 pm

Welcome to the BIG APPLE Father!

What’s up? why are you there?
pseudomodo says:

14 April 2011 at 3:03 pm

It’s a hell of a town… yes we know.
Random Walk says:

14 April 2011 at 3:12 pm

@Thomas G:

I’m assuming he means Battery Park – it should (I think) be that patch of greenery in the lower-right part of the photograph, which would put the Bronx up top somewhere (I’m on the other coast, and it’s been a zillion years since I’ve been to NYC, so I’ll happily defer to anyone living closer :) )
Banjo pickin girl says:

14 April 2011 at 3:17 pm

It’s an old song, New York, New York, it’s a wonderful town, the Bronx is up and the Battery’s down… My mom used to sing it for me when I was a kid. One of those songs that used plays on words back when people understood that kind of thing and it could be done in popular music.
Brooklyn says:

14 April 2011 at 3:31 pm

The Bronx is the borough just north of Manhattan and the Battery is at the end of Manhattan. The song is from “On The Town”, music by Leonard Bernstein. It’s a great movie to watch just to see what NYC looked like in the 1940′s (filmed on location). I always think of Gene Kelly and Frank Sinatra standing at the statue at Rockefeller Center singing that song. There is an old fort at the Battery from the Revolutionary War, and it’s where you go to take the boats to see the the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island.

I think Father is here for the Triduum, which is going to be the Latin Rite at Holy Innocents. A lot of people are very torn on Good Friday. We want to go to Our Saviour to hear Father Rutler, and we also want to go to Holy Innocents. Since none of us are Padre Pio with the ability to bilocate, I hope the times don’t clash!
danielinnola says:

14 April 2011 at 3:36 pm

My rents lived in Manhattan for a few yrs in the 70′s they loved it and talked about it non-stop. Last year I spent the month of January, then July and August there. I was less than impressed. Bitter cold in the winter, hot and muggy in the summer add to that breathtaking prices! Cigarettes were 13-15$ a pack! Otoh the people were really friendly and nice, without exception. I used to walk past Holy innocents every day on my way to the gym.
Brooklyn says:

14 April 2011 at 3:48 pm

And don’t forget – “The people ride in a hole in the ground!”
Choirmaster says:

14 April 2011 at 3:52 pm

@denielinnola: I have also noticed that New Yorkers are exceptionally friendly and nice, contrary to the popular caricature. As for the cigarettes, you should roll/load your own. The loading machines cost less than a cheap carton of cigarettes, the tobacco is cheaper and available in better qualities, and the paper/filter tubes are non-FSC. You can buy the best tobacco around, and still pay around $3 for a “pack”, or about $1 a “pack” if you get the regular stuff.
Joan M says:

14 April 2011 at 4:20 pm

Choirmaster and denielinnola, when I was an air-hostess with Aer Lingus, Irish International way back in the late sixties, seventy and seventy one, I fount New Yorkers were the absolute worst I ever experienced! We were warned, when overnighting in New York (stayed in the Statler Hilton on 7th Avenue) – never walk near the edge of the pavement because you could be pushed off into the street; never walk close to the buildings because you could be grabbed and hauled into a building and robbed and raped; and never, ever, run in the street because the police would shoot first and ask questions later.

I found both Boston and Chicago to be much friendlier cities, but best of all was – Toronto. I was amazed at how friendly and helpful people were there!
The Astronomer says:

14 April 2011 at 4:31 pm

Hey Fadda!!!!! Hey Fadda!!!!!

Sorry, couldn’t resist the Bowery Boys reference……welcome to the Big Apple, FrZ.
samgr says:

14 April 2011 at 4:59 pm

The Battery was for more than a century a coast defense fort with a battery of guns at the southern tip of Manhattan. Before Ellis Island, the disused-as- a-fort fort served as the immigrant station, through which passed some of my ancestors. The fort still stands as a historic site and it loaned its name to a subway stop and, oh, yeah, a park familiar to draftees who once upon a time passed through the nearby Whitehall St. induction center.
samgr says:

14 April 2011 at 5:03 pm

J0an M, New Yorkers are by and large the nicest people in the world , once you slow them down enough to get their attention. And, by the way, all the Aer Lingus stews I ran into a little later in the 70s were to be found in a bar with an Irish name at Park Ave. and 39th or 40th, alas long gone.
benedetta says:

14 April 2011 at 5:38 pm

I would wish I was there but for the moment contented with the pretzels we baked (and boiled) this afternoon. We used the King Arthur recipe with the King Arthur flour.
P.McGrath says:

14 April 2011 at 6:09 pm

We hope you enjoy your time in the Great City, but we also hope you can join us in the middle of the “magic forest,” which is also part of New York (State).
treeloop says:

14 April 2011 at 7:42 pm

@pseudomodo He celebrates mass there at Holy Innocents. So he knows the city
frjim4321 says:

14 April 2011 at 7:58 pm

Wishing you a great time. If that is your own snap, my hat’s off to you. Beautiful!
Joseph says:

14 April 2011 at 8:06 pm

Even the fresh 4inches of snow here today could not make me wish I’d rather be down there. I prefer frozen ground to pavement any old day.
I hope you won’t get mugged Father.
PostCatholic says:

14 April 2011 at 8:37 pm

That is such a fun approach to JFK.

If you ever get the chance, I promise you that nothing beats the water landing in the Hudson for the NY Skyports seaplane base. You fly in over the Williamsburg Bridge with the east side skyline on your left… it’s unforgettable.
Andrew Saucci says:

14 April 2011 at 8:38 pm

I have often spent Good Friday afternoon in Manhattan; I have a feeling I shall be doing so again this year. I developed a bit of fondness for St. Michael on West 34 St, because the liturgy there is straight, and it isn’t crowded on Good Friday, but if Fr. Z is in town for the Triduum… and I never did get to sit through Fr. Rutler’s Seven Last Words either… so much to do… so little time.
Lirioroja says:

14 April 2011 at 8:53 pm

That is a beautiful shot Father. You can see everything downtown so clearly, even the hole where two large towers used to stand. It still makes me sad.
ErnieNYC says:

14 April 2011 at 10:03 pm

That photo’s at a weird angle…”up” is really northeast…so Brooklyn’s really up!

The Battery is indeed the patch of green on bottom right…so named because it was the site of a Revolutionary war Battery (of cannon), called Castle Clinton.

The Bridges, from bottom to top, are the Brooklyn Bridge, Manhattan Bridge, and Williamsburg Bridge…all connecting Manhattan to Brooklyn for FREE!
a newly consecrated virgin says:

14 April 2011 at 10:06 pm

New York is a great place to be during Holy Week—there are lots of beautiful liturgies in different places.

If you go just a bit farther north to Yonkers, St. Joseph’s Seminary (Dunwoodie) has amazing Tenebrae services on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday mornings, all of which are open to the public. It’s something I look forward to every year.
APX says:

14 April 2011 at 10:30 pm

@Joan M
best of all was – Toronto. I was amazed at how friendly and helpful people were there!
LOL!!! Sorry, I’m Canadian, and spent a month living in southern Ontario in the Greater Toronto Area. All I can say is I’ve traveled all over throughout Canada and the US, and the rudest people I’ve ever met was when I was in the GTA. I can see now why so many Americans have found me so friendly, despite being dog tired and grumpy after several days of driving.

I was so close to going to New York last summer. I was right there in Niagara Falls, it was my days off, I had just got paid, so I had money, and the bridge was right there, but alas, I left my passport back at my place in Hamilton. (Despite all my travels, I’m geographically challenged and didn’t realize how close I was to the US. Had I known, I would have brought my passport.)
anna 6 says:

14 April 2011 at 11:20 pm

Native NYer here…
We really are pretty cuddly when you get to know us…rude, but in a charming sort of way!
Another beautiful Good Friday experience is the Way of the Cross over the Brooklyn Bridge to Ground Zero… http://www.wocbrooklynbridge.com/
Nathan says:

15 April 2011 at 7:03 am

I’ve got to give the New Yorkers credit, too. When we lived nearby, we had a our third and fourth children, and all four were infants or toddlers. We would occasionally travel into the city; without fail, someone would offer us a seat on the subway or help us out in some way. Now if only we could break them of being Yankees fans….

In Christ,
Charivari Rob says:

15 April 2011 at 8:11 am

JFK? Maybe. It’s hard to tell if Father is looking back out of a left-side window on a southbound plane, or forward out of a right-side window on a northbound plane. The prevailing wind and the runway orientation at the area’s major airports determines the air traffic pattern for the region, so it could be JFK in either case. For some reason, though, I’m guessing LaGuardia.

@PostCatholic – how is it that an approach over the Williamsburg Bridge (East River) ends in a Hudson River landing? Or is the Williamsburg bit part of a sightseeing circuit?
benedetta says:

15 April 2011 at 8:44 am

P.McGrath, Can you imagine, Fr. Z coming to one of the other regions of NYS? The local thought police would throw a nutty. Blognic at the Magic Forest…Very funny. Don’t forget to come disguised. No really. To be held at 3 a.m. at a secret location. Check in as “Mr. and Mrs. LowKey”…
PostCatholic says:

15 April 2011 at 12:33 pm

Charivari Rob, you’re totally correct; I said Hudson and should have said East River–now that’s some mistake! Anyway, the seaplane terminal is south of the UN off of FDR in the 20′s, an art-deco building on a marina. It’s an awesome experience to land there–you fly over Governor’s Island and come in low over the Queensboro Bridge before the splashdown landing.

I remember having a similar view on approach for JFK, but I’m sure you’re correct that this photo could just as easily be part of a LaGuardia pattern. Perhaps Rev. Zuhlsdorf will settle the mystery for us.
PostCatholic says:

15 April 2011 at 12:51 pm

I need to bone up on my Manhattan geography… I just said Queensboro and I meant Williamsburg… 2 for 2.
Brooklyn says:

15 April 2011 at 12:58 pm

Nathan – you just need to get in the right areas of NYC. Almost everyone in Queens is a Mets fan, and a good portion of the people in Brooklyn love the Mets and hate the Yankees. I can’t really say how the people in Staten Island feel, but since it seems most of them are from Brooklyn, they are probably Mets fans. Manhattan is not the be all and end all of NYC. Brooklyn is actually the most populous borough (2.5 million people, I believe, compared to 1.5 million in Manhattan). Trust me, there are a lot of people here who hate the Yankees.
Fr. John Zuhlsdorf says:

15 April 2011 at 1:36 pm

This was taken with my iPhone (in airplane mode) on a LGA approach, not JFK. We went up the Hudson and then turned over the Bronx to head back south.

Sometimes you fly over midtown, past the Empire State Building. Odd.

I also got a great snap of Central Park.
irishgirl says:

15 April 2011 at 1:49 pm

I’m with PMcGrath-you got to come to Upstate New York sometime, Father Z!
Nice view from the airplane. I think I saw that view the last time I flew into New York, back in 2002 when I went to a ‘Magnificat Magazine Gloria Congress’.
Have a nice time in the Big Apple! Wish I could go either to Holy Innocents to hear you, or else to Our Saviour and hear Fr. Rutler. Can’t bilocate like St. Padre Pio, though…rats….
PostCatholic says:

15 April 2011 at 8:29 pm

Thank you! It is an arresting photo.
Charivari Rob says:

16 April 2011 at 9:49 am

Thanks, PostCatholic, that was interesting. For all my travels around New York City, I don’t think I’ve ever been aware of the seaplane terminal. It has been a long time since I took the Circle Line, though.

I believe the only recent water landing in the Hudson involved a pilot name Sully…

It was indeed a beautiful photo, Father Z. The last time I flew that corridor was probably pre-September 11th, and it was part of a zig-zag approach to the shortest runway at Newark that seemed to have enough banks and turns to evade anti-aircraft fire. Uggh – turning queasy just at the memory.