Day Two: Rockefeller Center and the Top of the Rock
What to see first, is the question of the day! We decide to start with the Rockefeller Center. We take them on their first subway ride and Eddy begins to figure out how we maneuver around the city. We make our first stop Grand Central Station as it is a gorgeous old building. We decide to grab something to eat in the food court before walking the city. We agree to just walk to Rockefeller Center as it's only about a half hour walk. You can't really "feel" the city if you don't walk it a bit.
They seem excited to just look at the shops and we stop if something catches our fancy. Finally, we make our way over to Rockefeller Center. Jim and I have done this tour before but I never get tired of it as each guide gives some new tidbit of information . It's a great tour as you learn what New York City was like during the depression and Rockefeller dream for the buildings. It's quite and impressive tour as the history behind the art work alone is fascinating. They give you headphones so you can listen to your guide as we walk the streets around the buildings.
After it is over, we take the tour to the top of the building known as the Top of the Rock. The view here is the best in the city. On one side you can see as far as the Statue of Liberty and on the other, a perfect view of Central Park. We began to take our "Japanese Pictures" and try to capture the vastness of the city.
We take a walk up towards Central Park as it is a beautiful day for walking. We decide that is enough for one day and hit the subway at Columbus Circle as the C train goes there and we won't have to transfer this time.
We decide dinner will be at the Bagel Bits in Brooklyn and have an American hamburger and fries.
All in all a perfect day for being in the movies...
Day Three: A Rainy Day Doesn't Stop Us!
I knew it was coming--our first dreary day. It is our third day in New York Yesterday was so gorgeous and today so gloomy. It wants to rain off and on so I suggest we do the Ellis Island trip and end with Circle Line cruise. We borrow two umbrellas from Marina and I have one plus my raincoat so off we go!
It doesn't get really rainy till we get off the subway in lower Manhattan. I have this great little app my client told me about, HopStop and all I do each day is tell it where we want to go and it tells me the subways to take and where to walk once off! Love that thing! I think Eddy is catching on to the C train route and I kid him "now I'll never lose you!"
There is a small crowd to get on the Ferry to Ellis Island but not much of a wait. At least we wait in a covered terminal as the Ferry pulls up to take us to Ellis Island. The water is choppy but we go right by the Statue of Liberty and we all get some great pictures of the Lady. I am always moved when I see her as I know she was the symbol of hope for so many taking that horrible ocean voyage to the US in hopes of a better life.
The Ellis island tour offers some great insight into what the procedure was to get into the United States. You read about a grandmother who caught some disease on the voyage and was then sent back. How heartbreaking is that? The percentage not allowed was small, but still, imagine all the sacrifices made to get you here, the horrible voyage and then to be told you had to return....
By the time we get back to Lower Manhattan, the rain has stopped for a bit. We take the subway to Port Authority. As we come through the tunnel to the bus station, we see the police station there. Eddy goes up to the officers and ask for a photo op which they happily oblige and when he tells him is a retired policeman from Belgium, they invite him into the station for the photo.
What a great friendly city New York is if you give her a chance! There is a Pax restaurant down the street from Port Authority and we make our way there as they have nice soups, sandwiches and salads. And as Jim is fond of saying, "and it's reasonably priced too!" We walk around Time Square a bit afterwards and I suggest we take a taxi to the Circle Line. The weather is still cloudy and it's a long walk I tell Jim who thinks we will never get a taxi! Hello!! Look around, the city is filled with taxis! I just step off the curb, hold my hand up and we have a taxi. It's worth $6 not to walk the distance there!
Funny thing happened on way to cruise ship. They just told us to follow the signs and when we saw a ship with the gang plank down, we figured our ship and went on. Everyone behind us followed us! Then 5 minutes later we hear "no no, not this one, everyone off, the ship is further down"! So we get back off and sure enough, there is a sign saying "Circle Line cruise "this way"!" We have a good laughing thinking how everyone followed the Belgians!
Due to the weather the water was pretty chopping and they tell us we might not get to go all around the island. Turns out we did get to all around. The guide explains the sights to you as we go along. But while his information was excellent, his voice was low and lacking of enthusiasm. I have gone on this tour before and when you have a great tour guide who is informative and witty, it's a real treat. Once again though we have these funny moments we talk about later. ""Remember how he fussed at that girl to put her cell phone down as some people wanted to hear what he had to say?"
Plus, the weather is crappy so these were good things to do on a rainy day. My HopStop tells me to take the crosstown bus to Port Authority and we can use our metro card as no taxi to be found. I tell Eddy and Betty now they have flown to New York, taken the subway and the crosstown bus. Him and Betty are becoming quite the New Yorkers!
We are quite proud of ourselves for not letting a gloomy day take away our fun! By the time we get home it is rainy again and no one wants to go out and find a place to eat. I suggest we order deliver and we choose Chinese food. We are all so hungry that we order too much food! But the great thing about an apartment is you can put it in the fridge and eat it another day. Eddy is amazed someone would deliver in all the rain!
New York is a city of "deliver" as people get home from work late and if you are single or a young couple, it is often cheaper to just order delivery than cook when you are tired. They even have websites devoted to signing in and choosing your restaurant based on type of food--Italian, Chinese, Indian, Middle Eastern--you name it, New York has it!
Tomorrow we tackle the Wall Street area.
Day Four: The Beginnings of Wall Street and The Dave Letterman Show
The sun is back out and the air is crisp but comfortable. We are doing the walking tour of Wall Street and I'm not sure what to expect but at least it isn't something a little unique. Hop 'n Stop gets us to our meeting place which is great because the streets in lower Manhattan twist and turn and there's no real grid to follow.
We meet our guide who turns out to be interesting, funny and full of history of this area. It isn't a tour of Wall Street as in the Market but in the history of the area of Wall Street. We discover how it got it's name, the merchants that first established the area (the Dutch), where the gold is stored from countries around the world and other interesting tidbits. We are amused when we pass by another tour guide giving information and after we get a distance away our guide tells us that "guy is wrong!" and tells us the truth. It was a beautiful day to walk around the area and the two hours goes by quickly.
We have our favorite place to eat near Port Authority called PAX. You walk through the line and order sandwiches, soup or salads. It's also inexpensive and we all get something we like.
This is also the day that Matt managed to get us tickets to the Dave Letterman's Late Show. It's quite a treat as usually you have to wait in line for an hour in the am to get tickets that night. Letterman has a dry wit and we find out later the previous night President Obama was on and it took a long time to get everyone in due to security. As it is, we wait in line outside and later inside for at least 45 min while the tv crew runs around getting ready for the show. We have our pep talk CBS pages who "warm us up" and get us ready to be an enthusiastic audience and pass on a few rules.
It is a unique experience as during commercials you see all these people rush up to Dave giving last minute news or instructions. It's amazing how many people it takes to put on the show! There is a technical difficult when the time comes for the band. We watched in awe as how quickly they set up all the electrical equipment for the guitars, drums, amplifiers, etc. All has to be done by the end of the commercial break. The band proves to be fantastic but very very loud!
When it is all over we walk back to Port Authority to take a subway home. It's a great time to see Times Square all lit up, sidewalks crowded with the late night people and it's an experience all in itself. Rather than try and find something to eat we decide to go home and eat left over Chinese food.
It's been an interesting day and we talk later how fast the time has gone as we only have one more day in New York City!
Day Five: The Tenant Museum and Ground Zero
It is our last day in New York City and we line up two things to see: The Tenement Museum and Ground Zero. I think Eddy is quite the pro now as we walk to the subway line and tell him where we transfer!
I really didn't know what to expect as this was something new for me too. It turns out to be very interesting as you see a short film as you wait for the tour about what life was like in the early days of immigration. Each neighborhood had it's own ethnic group but often it was intermixed as all struggled to find lodging they could afford. It wasn't an easy life at least compared to what we are used to in today's world. But the struggle of getting into America, not all were legal, finding work which usually was at the lowest level, or just having grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins living in one small apartment, sounded all too familiar.
Our tour begins with a guide who knows the history of our building due to extensive research by the foundation to document who lived there based on census reports. Sometimes by interviewing relatives from that era. We walk into the apartment and she tells the story of this young family, the struggles as the mom takes in sewing or laundry to help make ends meet. It seems like very cramped quarters to us with little conveniences and safety issues at a minimum. But we are reminded that in time and era, this probably wasn't a bad place to start.
We leave with a real feel of what life was like in the beginning years of Manhattan. We are hungry and find a quaint little Greek diner, Olympia. Eddy buys his souvenir Wall Street Journal at the new stand next store. The owner/manager has time to talk to us and we are amazed as always to the friendliness of New Yorkers and who are all willing to share their story too.
We manage to find the subway that will take us to Ground Zero. We have signed up for tickets which gives you a time slot. It's a nice day and the crowd not too bad so we get into it fairly quickly. There are no words to describe the feelings of standing where America was attacked on its own soil. It's only the second time but the damage left a mark never to be forgotten. We know the story of the survival tree from the pamphlet and displays in the museum where we pick up the tickets. When clearing the rubble, one small tree with branches gone but still standing with leaves. They carefully dug it up and planted it in Central Park with a plague. A few years later an ice storm hit New York and many trees were damaged beyond repair but the Ground Zero tree survived. When the time came for the memorial to be finished, they dug up the tree and planted it in Ground Zero with a small fence and plague attached. Pictures are taken so we don't forget the survival spirit.
We will end this last night having dinner with Matt, Marina and Matt's parents Joe and Debbie. Jim has never met them so it's great timing. Marina picked out an Italian Restaurant, Graziella's that is not too far from our apartment and we will meet them. When we get to our area Jim and I decide to go and meet them and see the kids a bit before we have to leave. Eddy and Betty said they can find their way home so we stay on for the next stop. When we get back to the apartment, we are all quite please with how knowledgeable we are in find our way around these last 4 days!
We meet everyone at the restaurant and new friendships are started. Joe keeps kidding Eddy that "he's really disappointed he didn't bring his glock"! Joe really liked Betty and Eddy and we shared some good laughs. Little did we know one week later Joe would be in the hospital fighting for survival. The diagnosis is still not certain nearly 45 days later. He still can't walk without a walker, his one side still hasn't recovered with full feeling and they are still guessing what happened as neurological problems are hard to pinpoint. You just treat the symptoms. So to have this one last night which Debbie said later was their first time out to relax, has a nice dinner, meet new friends in a long time.
We are all packed and ready to take a taxi over to Penn station and a train to Washington, DC tomorrow!
We asked Eddy and Betty did they feel like the knew New York City just a bit? They agreed it had been a total adventure "just like in the movies".
What to see first, is the question of the day! We decide to start with the Rockefeller Center. We take them on their first subway ride and Eddy begins to figure out how we maneuver around the city. We make our first stop Grand Central Station as it is a gorgeous old building. We decide to grab something to eat in the food court before walking the city. We agree to just walk to Rockefeller Center as it's only about a half hour walk. You can't really "feel" the city if you don't walk it a bit.
They seem excited to just look at the shops and we stop if something catches our fancy. Finally, we make our way over to Rockefeller Center. Jim and I have done this tour before but I never get tired of it as each guide gives some new tidbit of information . It's a great tour as you learn what New York City was like during the depression and Rockefeller dream for the buildings. It's quite and impressive tour as the history behind the art work alone is fascinating. They give you headphones so you can listen to your guide as we walk the streets around the buildings.
After it is over, we take the tour to the top of the building known as the Top of the Rock. The view here is the best in the city. On one side you can see as far as the Statue of Liberty and on the other, a perfect view of Central Park. We began to take our "Japanese Pictures" and try to capture the vastness of the city.
We take a walk up towards Central Park as it is a beautiful day for walking. We decide that is enough for one day and hit the subway at Columbus Circle as the C train goes there and we won't have to transfer this time.
We decide dinner will be at the Bagel Bits in Brooklyn and have an American hamburger and fries.
All in all a perfect day for being in the movies...
Day Three: A Rainy Day Doesn't Stop Us!
I knew it was coming--our first dreary day. It is our third day in New York Yesterday was so gorgeous and today so gloomy. It wants to rain off and on so I suggest we do the Ellis Island trip and end with Circle Line cruise. We borrow two umbrellas from Marina and I have one plus my raincoat so off we go!
It doesn't get really rainy till we get off the subway in lower Manhattan. I have this great little app my client told me about, HopStop and all I do each day is tell it where we want to go and it tells me the subways to take and where to walk once off! Love that thing! I think Eddy is catching on to the C train route and I kid him "now I'll never lose you!"
There is a small crowd to get on the Ferry to Ellis Island but not much of a wait. At least we wait in a covered terminal as the Ferry pulls up to take us to Ellis Island. The water is choppy but we go right by the Statue of Liberty and we all get some great pictures of the Lady. I am always moved when I see her as I know she was the symbol of hope for so many taking that horrible ocean voyage to the US in hopes of a better life.
The Ellis island tour offers some great insight into what the procedure was to get into the United States. You read about a grandmother who caught some disease on the voyage and was then sent back. How heartbreaking is that? The percentage not allowed was small, but still, imagine all the sacrifices made to get you here, the horrible voyage and then to be told you had to return....
By the time we get back to Lower Manhattan, the rain has stopped for a bit. We take the subway to Port Authority. As we come through the tunnel to the bus station, we see the police station there. Eddy goes up to the officers and ask for a photo op which they happily oblige and when he tells him is a retired policeman from Belgium, they invite him into the station for the photo.
What a great friendly city New York is if you give her a chance! There is a Pax restaurant down the street from Port Authority and we make our way there as they have nice soups, sandwiches and salads. And as Jim is fond of saying, "and it's reasonably priced too!" We walk around Time Square a bit afterwards and I suggest we take a taxi to the Circle Line. The weather is still cloudy and it's a long walk I tell Jim who thinks we will never get a taxi! Hello!! Look around, the city is filled with taxis! I just step off the curb, hold my hand up and we have a taxi. It's worth $6 not to walk the distance there!
Funny thing happened on way to cruise ship. They just told us to follow the signs and when we saw a ship with the gang plank down, we figured our ship and went on. Everyone behind us followed us! Then 5 minutes later we hear "no no, not this one, everyone off, the ship is further down"! So we get back off and sure enough, there is a sign saying "Circle Line cruise "this way"!" We have a good laughing thinking how everyone followed the Belgians!
Due to the weather the water was pretty chopping and they tell us we might not get to go all around the island. Turns out we did get to all around. The guide explains the sights to you as we go along. But while his information was excellent, his voice was low and lacking of enthusiasm. I have gone on this tour before and when you have a great tour guide who is informative and witty, it's a real treat. Once again though we have these funny moments we talk about later. ""Remember how he fussed at that girl to put her cell phone down as some people wanted to hear what he had to say?"
Plus, the weather is crappy so these were good things to do on a rainy day. My HopStop tells me to take the crosstown bus to Port Authority and we can use our metro card as no taxi to be found. I tell Eddy and Betty now they have flown to New York, taken the subway and the crosstown bus. Him and Betty are becoming quite the New Yorkers!
We are quite proud of ourselves for not letting a gloomy day take away our fun! By the time we get home it is rainy again and no one wants to go out and find a place to eat. I suggest we order deliver and we choose Chinese food. We are all so hungry that we order too much food! But the great thing about an apartment is you can put it in the fridge and eat it another day. Eddy is amazed someone would deliver in all the rain!
New York is a city of "deliver" as people get home from work late and if you are single or a young couple, it is often cheaper to just order delivery than cook when you are tired. They even have websites devoted to signing in and choosing your restaurant based on type of food--Italian, Chinese, Indian, Middle Eastern--you name it, New York has it!
Tomorrow we tackle the Wall Street area.
Day Four: The Beginnings of Wall Street and The Dave Letterman Show
The sun is back out and the air is crisp but comfortable. We are doing the walking tour of Wall Street and I'm not sure what to expect but at least it isn't something a little unique. Hop 'n Stop gets us to our meeting place which is great because the streets in lower Manhattan twist and turn and there's no real grid to follow.
We meet our guide who turns out to be interesting, funny and full of history of this area. It isn't a tour of Wall Street as in the Market but in the history of the area of Wall Street. We discover how it got it's name, the merchants that first established the area (the Dutch), where the gold is stored from countries around the world and other interesting tidbits. We are amused when we pass by another tour guide giving information and after we get a distance away our guide tells us that "guy is wrong!" and tells us the truth. It was a beautiful day to walk around the area and the two hours goes by quickly.
We have our favorite place to eat near Port Authority called PAX. You walk through the line and order sandwiches, soup or salads. It's also inexpensive and we all get something we like.
This is also the day that Matt managed to get us tickets to the Dave Letterman's Late Show. It's quite a treat as usually you have to wait in line for an hour in the am to get tickets that night. Letterman has a dry wit and we find out later the previous night President Obama was on and it took a long time to get everyone in due to security. As it is, we wait in line outside and later inside for at least 45 min while the tv crew runs around getting ready for the show. We have our pep talk CBS pages who "warm us up" and get us ready to be an enthusiastic audience and pass on a few rules.
It is a unique experience as during commercials you see all these people rush up to Dave giving last minute news or instructions. It's amazing how many people it takes to put on the show! There is a technical difficult when the time comes for the band. We watched in awe as how quickly they set up all the electrical equipment for the guitars, drums, amplifiers, etc. All has to be done by the end of the commercial break. The band proves to be fantastic but very very loud!
When it is all over we walk back to Port Authority to take a subway home. It's a great time to see Times Square all lit up, sidewalks crowded with the late night people and it's an experience all in itself. Rather than try and find something to eat we decide to go home and eat left over Chinese food.
It's been an interesting day and we talk later how fast the time has gone as we only have one more day in New York City!
Day Five: The Tenant Museum and Ground Zero
It is our last day in New York City and we line up two things to see: The Tenement Museum and Ground Zero. I think Eddy is quite the pro now as we walk to the subway line and tell him where we transfer!
I really didn't know what to expect as this was something new for me too. It turns out to be very interesting as you see a short film as you wait for the tour about what life was like in the early days of immigration. Each neighborhood had it's own ethnic group but often it was intermixed as all struggled to find lodging they could afford. It wasn't an easy life at least compared to what we are used to in today's world. But the struggle of getting into America, not all were legal, finding work which usually was at the lowest level, or just having grandparents, aunts, uncles, cousins living in one small apartment, sounded all too familiar.
Our tour begins with a guide who knows the history of our building due to extensive research by the foundation to document who lived there based on census reports. Sometimes by interviewing relatives from that era. We walk into the apartment and she tells the story of this young family, the struggles as the mom takes in sewing or laundry to help make ends meet. It seems like very cramped quarters to us with little conveniences and safety issues at a minimum. But we are reminded that in time and era, this probably wasn't a bad place to start.
We leave with a real feel of what life was like in the beginning years of Manhattan. We are hungry and find a quaint little Greek diner, Olympia. Eddy buys his souvenir Wall Street Journal at the new stand next store. The owner/manager has time to talk to us and we are amazed as always to the friendliness of New Yorkers and who are all willing to share their story too.
We manage to find the subway that will take us to Ground Zero. We have signed up for tickets which gives you a time slot. It's a nice day and the crowd not too bad so we get into it fairly quickly. There are no words to describe the feelings of standing where America was attacked on its own soil. It's only the second time but the damage left a mark never to be forgotten. We know the story of the survival tree from the pamphlet and displays in the museum where we pick up the tickets. When clearing the rubble, one small tree with branches gone but still standing with leaves. They carefully dug it up and planted it in Central Park with a plague. A few years later an ice storm hit New York and many trees were damaged beyond repair but the Ground Zero tree survived. When the time came for the memorial to be finished, they dug up the tree and planted it in Ground Zero with a small fence and plague attached. Pictures are taken so we don't forget the survival spirit.
We will end this last night having dinner with Matt, Marina and Matt's parents Joe and Debbie. Jim has never met them so it's great timing. Marina picked out an Italian Restaurant, Graziella's that is not too far from our apartment and we will meet them. When we get to our area Jim and I decide to go and meet them and see the kids a bit before we have to leave. Eddy and Betty said they can find their way home so we stay on for the next stop. When we get back to the apartment, we are all quite please with how knowledgeable we are in find our way around these last 4 days!
We meet everyone at the restaurant and new friendships are started. Joe keeps kidding Eddy that "he's really disappointed he didn't bring his glock"! Joe really liked Betty and Eddy and we shared some good laughs. Little did we know one week later Joe would be in the hospital fighting for survival. The diagnosis is still not certain nearly 45 days later. He still can't walk without a walker, his one side still hasn't recovered with full feeling and they are still guessing what happened as neurological problems are hard to pinpoint. You just treat the symptoms. So to have this one last night which Debbie said later was their first time out to relax, has a nice dinner, meet new friends in a long time.
We are all packed and ready to take a taxi over to Penn station and a train to Washington, DC tomorrow!
We asked Eddy and Betty did they feel like the knew New York City just a bit? They agreed it had been a total adventure "just like in the movies".
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