Typhoid Sandi

I've got typhoid on my mind.

I'm knee-deep in preparations for my 11-day group tour of Morocco with Michelle, and in my research I realized I should catch up on some of my vaccinations, namely tetanus and Hepatitis A. But one guide I read also mentioned typhoid, and although my doctor doesn't think it's necessary, I'm thinking I might become a carrier for it.

On our Audubon Eco Cruise last Sunday, we passed through a number of islands up the East River and into Long Island Sound, including North Brother Island which still holds the relics of a typhoid hospital that once housed Typhoid Mary. Of course, given my fascination with abandoned buildings, I'm dying to go back there for some unstable exploration, but I have a feeling I would catch a case of the heebie-jeebies knowing the disease that once lurked within those walls, like I did at the Ellis Island hospital.

Actually, most of those islands kind of gave me the creeps, sailing on a water taxi so close to Riker's Island, passing tiny little islands made up of piles of rocks and dead branches, and lots of birds - like U-Thant Island, where the laughing gulls with black heads sail high above you and cormorants perch with their heads held high.

Someone who had never been to New York City asked me recently what the one thing is that I would recommend to a tourist, and I said - to Edith's surprise - "Get on a boat." There's so much you can see of the city from a boat, whether it's the Circle Line, the water taxi, a private charter, a kayak or a canoe. This week we got to see the Waterfalls under the Brooklyn Bridge on our way up the river, as well as the Roosevelt Island smallpox hospital pretty up close, but the highlight was definitely that typhoid hospital, which looks terrifying.

Can't wait to see the toxic sights on our Newtown Creek cruise this Sunday.






view of the Waterfalls facing Brooklyn from the north side of the Brooklyn Bridge