I should be in the city before 8:00, so—even allowing for getting-lost time—I should be able to be there well before 8:45.
8:45 at the Peking works for me.
Apparently there’s a 5:21 train that’ll have me at Penn Station at 7:35. Anyone have directions on how to get from Penn St to South Street via subway?
Alto and Mehitabel, we haven’t heard from either of you recently. Are you both still planning on joining us?
Trains are easy–take anything that stops at Fulton Street, which is nearly everything. Get out and walk towards the East River (look for the Brooklyn Bridge) and away from Ground Zero, which is on the West Side. If you see the short white Titanic lighthouse, you’re almost there. Or walk south from the Brooklyn Bridge as close to the waterfront as you can and you’ll run into it in a few blocks.
Sorry, I just got a call today from the Maritime people–it’s sold out! I sent in my check last Saturday after waiting a week and a half for them to respond to my e-mail, which they never bothered to do, and they called me today to tell me no dice. Maybe there’s something in that cemetery in Queens I can go to, but I’d rather be with you guys 
Let me know how it goes.
Maybe there’ll be scalpers.
I just watched a special on PBS about the General Slocum. They had interviews with Adella Wotherspoon and several other survivors as well as Edward O’Donnell.
StuyGuy, I guess you’re screwed, then, too, as you hadn’t gotten your ticket yesterday and there’s no mail today? Who’da thunk this would become a sold-our event?
Are you a descendant of one of the survivors, Eve?
I actually didn’t get a ticket, either. I’m going to show up and try to get aboard anyway.
Just wanted to chime in and express my intense envy at your trip. I read Ship Afire and found it to be a thoroughly moving story–and I’m amazed that it has never been seared into the national consciousness as foreign nautical disasters like the Titanic and the Andrea Doria have been.
And Eve, what kind of New Yorker admits to being unable to navigate downtown? You folks are supposed to be able to handle any situation. 
Those of you who sent away for, but didn’t receive, tickets, e-mail karen.lamberton@spyral.net and complain vociferously.
Oh, I will.
I’ve decided not to try to get aboard tomorrow, but was wondering if anybody else stuck on the dock waving hankies at Eve et al. wanted to take the walking tour in the East Village that morning instead?
It’s being given by NY Talks and Walks and it costs $15.00, and will take in the sights like the Lutheran church and the Memorial. The first one starts at 10:30, so if you’re going to be up and about then, we can meet in front of the Second Avenue Deli (at 10th Street, catty-cornered from St. Mark’s Church; the 6 train at Astor Place stops closest to it, at 3rd and Ninth). Then we can have a nice little lunch somewhere in Alphabet City.
Let me know ASAP if anyone wants to come in the morning, or if I can be a lazy slob and take the 1 or 3:30 tours. Thanks and see you soon!
OK, well, since I can get a ride to the subway this morning I’ll be at the 10:30 tour in front of the Second Avenue Deli. Hope to see some Dopers! The rest of you, let me know how the cruise goes.
Had a lovely time: myself, Little Nemo, Oxy, Billdo, Rocking Chair and a surprise visit from Weirddave, Ginger and offspring. Lovely weather for the cruise, there were fire and police boats to either pluck us from the water or pay tribute . . . Afterward, we walked to Chinatown for dim sum, then toured the tenement museum on the Lower East Side (Eve’s dead grandparents: “You paid HOW much to look at a slum?!”).
I was starting to fade and had a migraine—was wondering why Oxy and Billdo were so solitious about getting me to Port Authority, then glanced in a mirror and realized I looked like Death in a Microwave. Staggered home, found bed full of cat puke, took pills, collapsed and am now fine, thanks.
Will post photos next week!
i finally got home at 8:pm. good day. nice weather.
i did swing by the memorial on my way to the boat. mostly dog walkers and tai chi groups in the parks. i went by the temple on my way back to the train to check out the plaque.
how was the tour, mehitabel?
my cat left something other than puke to clean up.
Once again my decision to live a feline-free life has been affirmed.
Sorry we missed you Mehitabel, but by the time we returned to the dock it was past 11. A good time was had by all; probably, in fact, a better time than one should have at a memorial cruise and a tenement tour. Many good questions were asked.
“That’s a good question!” as our tenement tour guide invariably said to anyone who asked anything. Giggles were provoked on the Slocum when a guy with a guitar got up and sang a terrible song (in his terrible voice) about the disaster: one of those “It was sad when the old ship went down” sort of things, but really, really bad, and the chorus consisted of him going, “General . . . Slo . . . Cum,” which had us in stitches.
Then they played a tape of Liza Minnelli singing “New York, New York.” Yes, when you think “huge, flaming disasters” you think Liza!
except when oxy asked a “great question!”
is that a smiley!!?? how on earth did i get a smiley??!!
And the final line of the song was “And none of them were ever the same.” To which Weirddave commented, “Of course they weren’t the same. They were dead.”
Well, I would have been annoyed at the song…guess there were extra tickets, sorry I missed it, but I spent the $35 bucks to hear a Gershwin program last night at the 92nd St. Y, so it was cool.
Interesting little tour, about 7 people, lasting over 90 minutes–Dr. Phillip Schoenberg is a big, cheerful guy who trapised us up and down Second Avenue and St. Mark’s Place, ending up at the old Lutheran Church on Sixth Street and the monument in Tomkins Sq. Park. We also stopped at the Public Theater to rest our feet and hear about the Astors of Germany, who Astoria was named after. He went into detail about how the disaster affected ‘Kleindeutschland’ and how it essentially dissolved
It was very poignant to look at the few old buildings left with German architecture and German words carved into their facades. There’s a shooting gallery (for guns!) on St. Mark’s Place, with a fierce eagle holding up a target in the facade. There’s also a German Lutheran church now used for Korean, Spanish, and Creole services. Finally, the plaque that’s going to be dedicated today is already bolted onto the facade of the synagogue on 6th Street (between 1st and 2nd) that used to be St. Mark’s Lutheran Church, which sponsored the ill-fated expedition 100 years ago Tuesday and lost countless parishoners. The folks coming out of there for their own Sabbath services were quiet and respectful and most of them knew that the building had been a Christian church before 1940 and were interested in the history.
When the tour broke up at the little memorial to the children in the Park (we were able to see it being washed and the grounds prepared for tomorrow) I went back to 6th and ate in an Indian restuarant (Sonali’s) across the street from the old church, and looked at it thoughtfully for a while. After I bought my tickets at the 92nd St. Y., I spent some time in Carl Schurz (another German!) Park, gazing through the Hell Gate, and imagining the ship ablaze 100 years ago, before the Triboro and Hell Gate bridges were there.
I never did watch the news last night (had to take an Aspirin and lay down in my cat-puke covered bed), but I wonder if the cruise was on the news? There were enough camera crews there.
“Crews,” “news,” “cruise,” I should write a song about it. "General . . . Slo . . . Cum . . . "
We have arrived home. Thank you to the NY Dopers for the opportunity. Thanks especially to our sweet Oxy and OxyBF for our very own “Chelsea Hotel”.
It was very nice to meet Eve. She is every bit as charming and gracious in person as she is online.