A response to your “ill-advised trip into NY City”.

You begin your little communiqué by explaining how you oriented yourself using the sun, but then you failed to go in the proper direction. Long island is to the east of Manhattan. Anywhere you are on Manhattan, long island is to your east. This is not something to brag about. Next you criticize the bridges for being, well, bridges. “However, the entrances to the bridges are several blocks in from the shoreline amongst a maze of one-way streets and dead-ends” The bridges over the East River must be high enough for boat traffic to pass underneath them. This requires that they gradually rise to a height above the river. This is why they start inland, other wise you would need a car elevator to get you to the proper height. While you may consider this to be a stupid concept you will notice that there are many bridges around the world that follow similar logic. You go on to say that you failed to bring a map. This was your mistake, not New York’s. Also, next time I would suggest wearing your glasses, as there are tons of signs on how to get onto the bridges and tunnels. You state that “eventually I got there”. I would certainly hope so, considering that there is more than one way across the river. In fact there are many:

1. Triboro bridge.
2. The 59th street bridge.
3. The Williamsburg bridge.
4. The Manhattan bridge
5. The Brooklyn bridge.
6. The Brooklyn battery tunnel.
7. Midtown Tunnel

Had you been on the FDR (The highway on the east side of Manhattan) you would have also noticed that half the signs were for the next bridge or tunnel over the river.(the other half being exits) This highway is the major thorough fair for the east side of Manhattan. Logically it follows that from this thorough fair it just might make sense for the city to enable motorists to be able to cross the river into Long Island. Do not get all mad at the city because you failed to properly use the transportation system. Next time, do not be so quick to criticize an entire city, when you get frustrated and lost due to your own stupidity. City forum members will post that if you are smart enough to post on the internet on a BB then you are smart enough not to get lost, or die in New York City. But then you couldn’t brag about how you are a good ‘ol country boy could you?