By Bob Van Leer

  (NEW YORK, June 13, 1987) - Today was a low-key day of sightseeing around Manhattan. Our hotel is the Mayflower on Central Park West near Columbus Circle. It is a good starting point for a morning walk down Broadway to Times Square.

  New York has its share of contradictions. Times Square isn't a square, it's a triangle. Most Broadway theaters aren't on Broadway. They're close, but on side streets. The Times Square area appears to be on the road to improvement. A lot of old buildings are being torn down for new construction. The neighborhood has been pretty sleasy in recent years, but now there aren't nearly as many porn shops as the last time we were here a few years ago.

  We took a cab down to the tip of Manhattan Island, getting out at Wall St. and walking from there. This is the old New Amsterdam, the original Dutch settlement, and Wall St. was where the wall was to protect the town. We spent a couple of hours at Battery Park watching the traffic in the port. The Statue of Liberty is just a short distance offshore and ferries leave from the park area for the statue, Ellis Island, Staten Island and Governors Island. The park is a busy place, with street musicians performing and hundreds of people out for a Saturday at the park.

  Returning to our hotel, we decided to be brave and try the subway. With the coaching of some of the locals, we managed to get off at the right stop without any problems.

  Manhattan appears to be a little cleaner than at our last visit but it has to be classed as a dirty city. There is trash all over. Both Athens and Istanbul are cleaner cities than New York.

  In the evening we attended a performance of A Chorus Line at the Schubert Theatre. This is the longest running show on Broadway (actually a half block off Broadway). It is a good musical and is still packing them in. There didn't appear to be an empty seat in the house.

  Tomorrow it's back on the road again. We catch a 10 a.m. flight at JFK and will be home in the evening. Betty and I agree that we are ready to go home. We've been gone almost three weeks and have gone through a tremendous amount of new places and new impressions. It will take a while to get this all sorted out mentally.