I (heart) New York

Ok, maybe it’s more of a Love/Hate relationship.

It’s an interesting town. Visiting was neat but I definitely wouldn’t want to live there. One of the first things that I learned is that pedestrians are completely nuts. They just walk right out in front of cars and hold up traffic — no worries about getting hit because, after all, they own the joint. There were plenty of cars in the city, but not as many as I would expect given New York’s reputation for traffic — the problem is the pedestrians.

A lot of the New Yorkers we encountered were rude. They shouted instructions and showed absolutely no patience for tourists. We arrived on trash day, which definitely didn’t smell great. We also encountered protesters of all types which was a bit hairy. My sister got mad because I started a debate with them. It really wasn’t my fault; one of them was following us as we exited our hotel, trying to shove a flier in my hand and yelling about the hotel’s labor practices. I simply informed her that unions have long outlived their usefulness and will be the death of the republic. What can I say? I was a bit cranky from having spent $75 to sleep on a hardwood floor. LOL

But that’s all part of the New York experience. Despite the negatives which I seem quick to remember, it’s an interesting town with lots of great history and beautiful buildings. I really wish I could have spent more time there. John suggested planning a weekend trip up there sometime in the future. I think I’d like that — I just don’t want to live there.

So, what did we actually do?

Well, I spent 2.25 hours (in the rain!) waiting for my sis and her friends to arrive as their plane from Reagan National was delayed. We had lunch, then did the Sky Ride, which is an indoor simulation ride at the Empire State Building. It’s really weird, you’re in a spaceship doing an aerial tour of NYC. And Kevin Bacon is driving. After dropping some stuff off at the hotel, we headed toward the Staten Island Ferry terminal in the hopes of getting over to see the Statue of Liberty. Alas, the last ferry departed at 4:30 and we were just a few minutes late. So from there we visited the WTC visitor’s center and got some pictures of the crater that remains. After a ride on the subway (the tour buses stopped running at 6pm), we hopped on an evening harbor cruise where we got our only “up close” view of the Statue of Liberty. Once the cruise was done, we walked and walked and walked back to the hotel to actually check in. It was at that point that we discovered that our “2 queen beds, 1 sofa bed” room was actually “1 king, 1 sofa bed”. With no rooms left at the hotel, some would end up drawing the short straw for the floor, and that someone was me. Actually, there were no straws. I just volunteered since that’s what I do. With the sleeping arrangements settled we walked over to the Empire State Building because my sis wanted to see the city at night. And then it was after 12am.

After a refreshing night on the floor, we got up around 6:30am hoping to get to Times Square in time to see Cris (sp?) Angel bust out of a concrete block. And we missed it. Figures. We hopped a Greyline bus and headed over to Rockefeller Center (aka “30 Rock”) in hopes of catching the NBC Studio Tour. After lunch we futzed around in the Studio Store and then found out that the Tour was sold out until 5pm. Oh well; that’s the story of our trip. (ROFL) From the Rock, we caught a bus to Central Park. While there we saw Strawberry Fields (the John Lennon memorial) and rode the carousel. If you’re ever in Central Park, you need to ride the carousel. It’s pretty cheap ($1.50) and wicked fast. And after that we went our separate ways. They had a plane to catch and I had some time to kill before my train was due.

I hopped a Greyline bus back to Times Square and visited M&M’s World and the Hershey Store. I checked out Toys R Us and found a huge ferris wheel inside. The cars on it were … well… CARS! They were large replicas of Fisher Price cars and Barbie corvettes and stuff. I had time, so I took a ride ($1.50). I also browsed in the Bubba Gump Shrimp Factory gift shop. And then it was time to catch my train.

You can see some of the trip pictures in my photo gallery. They’re really low resolution; sorry about that, but I’m stuck on dial-up out here in moooo country.

BTW, if you’re considering a quick trip to NYC, the train is definitely the way to go. While the trip from Baltimore was 3 hours, the train arrived at Penn Station on time and presented zero security hassles. When I wasn’t in the cafe car grabbing some water or a snack, my (unassigned) seat was very comfy and had plenty of reading light. Additionally, Penn Station seems to be right in the middle of the downtown area so it would make a good starting point. We bought the “New York Pass” which cost $125 and included unlimited Greyline bus tours for 48 hours as well as admission to all of the popular landmarks and attractions. We only rode one of the tour routes during our stay, but they’ve got some great loops that I’d like to have had the opportunity to do.

Did you enjoy this post? Why not leave a comment below and continue the conversation, or subscribe to my feed and get articles like this delivered automatically each day to your feed reader.