The Staten Island Ferry

Now that I have ridden the Staten Island Ferry at least 500 times I have come to the conclusion that there is no end to the variety that is to be experienced on the Ferry. This variety includes where you sit on the boat and what vantage point of the passing outside world you have, the amount of passenger noise you hear, how smooth the actual ride is, what you read while you are traveling on the ferry, what conversations you overhear as you look up from your reading, the weather conditions, and, most definitely, whether the boat you are shuttled onto is modern with vinyl seating or relatively ancient with wooden benches and trim all around. All of these variations have an impact on your ride, and although almost every ride is satisfying, my ideal would incorporate all the following: 1) Seeing the Statue of Liberty as you emerge out of the harbor; 2) very low, almost inaudible passenger noise; 3) a smooth, effortless, rumble-free journey; 4) reading a non-fiction book regarding a topic I am thinking about a lot; 5) one short conversation punctuated with a lot of enthusiastic profanity; 6) lots of sun and little wind; 7) a more modern boat in which the men's room is readily accessible. You might think 2) conflicts with 5) but I'm thinking of a very short, but very Staten Islandly conversation between hard working stiffs. In a short burst, always amusing to hear these guys wail.

That's pretty much it, my perfect Staten Island ride. But I should point out that because of all the variations that are possible on these rides, I haven't really come close to that perfect one yet. But each day brings new hope.