Traveling back to New York, a wedding and an unexpected meeting

After two days in and near Boston we travelled further to the South. Without a road map and a GPS that had poor or no satellite reception, we tried to reach Jersey City, where we would have a last night in the RV. After departing Middleboro it was difficult to find the Interstate to NY but the failing GPS became really annoying when we approached New York City. We almost took a road through downtown Manhattan but a friendly policeman stopped us at a toll gate, telling us that RV’s were not allowed on this road. He advised us to make a U-turn at the next exit where after he would give us proper directions when we would pass the toll gate for the second time.
So we were suddenly driving our RV in the Bronx where people were asking themselves what we were doing there. After a few traffic lights we were back on the highway were our police officer was waiting for us. He allowed us to pass the toll gate without paying and told us how to reach the George Washington Bridge. After passing the Yankee Stadium we crossed the bridge and drove into New Jersey. This was not the end of our misery because the GPS lost contact at the most crucial moment in which way we almost found ourselves in the Holland Tunnel, leading into Manhattan. We were able to take the last exit and there was this nice man on a bicycle who brought us to the campsite, where we had made a reservation. While registering at the office, we heard that he was waiting near the exit on a regular basis to assist lost campers like us against a small fee! Free advice to GPS owners: be sure to have road maps with you!
From the campsite we could see the Statue of Liberty and Lower Manhattan, on the other side of the River.
On 1 October, we delivered the RV at El Monte in Linden (see picture on left: Margreth and Martina) and booked us for six days in the "extended Stay America" Hotel in Elizabeth, where we had a good room.
The reason that we were in New York, was the wedding of Farrah and Jordan, on 3 October in the Botanical Gardens of Brooklyn. Farrah is the daughter of Hidi and Sheila, who we visited in Bangladesh last February (see our blog www.jan-margreth2.blogspot.com ). We know Farrah from childhood, and we felt that we had to attend her wedding.
On the night before the wedding Hidi and Sheila invited us and some friends for a dinner where we met a number of old friends.
The wedding ceremony was impressive in a beautiful environment and was witnessed by more than 160 people. The reception was great and the diner and ball were unforgettable. We are thankful that we could be present at such a beautiful day.

We received a response to our first report in this blog by Luigi Schiano, a former colleague of Jan from Italy and after an email it appeared that we both would be in New York by the end of September when he and his wife Annemarie would visit their son, daughter-in-law and grandchildren in West New York.
West New York is 18 miles away from Elizabeth, where we stayed and therefore we joined them on Sunday morning for a brunch.
Together with our spouses we have attended may conferences all over the world and have visited each other in Italy and The Netherlands. However, we had met last in 1991 so we had a lot to talk. Time flied and we had to say goodbye too soon but not after we had promised to maintain contact.

The following days we have visited Ellis Island, where the immigrants set foot on American soil for the first time, the Statue of Liberty and, of course, we held a pilgrimage to “Ground Zero” where a new WTC is being built. Of course we have walked the streets of Manhattan until our feet hurt and our necks were stiff.
On Wednesday, 7 October we fly with Continental Airlines to Buenos Aires where we are scheduled to arrive on Thursday morning at 9 o'clock.