Sunday, June 01, 2008

A Great Place To Visit...But I could NEVER live there

The streets are crowding, everyone in a hurry, very fast paced. Some people appeared to be heading to work, some heading home, some at work out on the streets either advertising their product or trying to sell it, those people flocked to the many obvious tourist, including us. You can look left, right, up or down, no matter which way you look there's something to see and the views are breathtaking. Parts seem dirty, and grungy while others felt clean and classy, you knew that's where the stars were. (Nope didn't see anyone famous). During the day the mood felt all business like, while at night the atmosphere around us wanted entertainment. Seeing the sights I had only seen a gazillion times on TV felt surreal. Knowing I was walking on the same streets that many, many famous, well known icons has walked on was enough to complete my visit to the city. The overall effect of it all was stunning.
That's it in a nutshell really. Obviously, we loved NYC, not enough to live there, couldn't pay us to live there, but a visit every once in awhile is a must and a recommendation to all.
I hope you all didn't get up early just to try and see us on the Today Show cause it didn't happen. Our original reason for going to the big city was to drop my sister in law's car off to be shipped to Italy as they are in the Navy and are being re stationed there. We couldn't drop the car off until 8:00 and after waiting 2 hours with inspection and everything it was too late. Oh well. Next time.
What did we do though...Well, we walked.....a lot! I also had a great visit with an old friend in Bryant Park. We went to the Top of the Rock, paid our respects to Ground Zero, walked down Wall Street, took a ferry ride to Staten Island just so we could get a good view of the Statue of Liberty, rode the subway, walked some more, did some shopping, had some guy say he was going to pop us in the ass right here on Broadway (yikes), got approached by lots of street vendors, rode the subway some more and walked some more too of coarse. My favorite part, walking down Times Square....wait for it....at night. I could have stood there all night going around in circles just looking up. Wow, amazement really. And the only thing that our trip lacked in was sleep, but that was OK, sleep is overrated anyway.
Don't worry, I'll get to the pictures really soon, but before that if you are planning on making a visit to the Big Apple here are some of my tips for you:
1. DON'T BRING A STROLLER. While it's great to store all your stuff in, and it does make it nice to have your child strapped in securely and not running all around. Almost none of the subway stations have elevators and you will be left lugging the stroller down stairs. It gets old real fast.
2. DON'T DRIVE IN THE CITY. Take the bus, take a taxi, take the subway. It puts too much stress on anyone trying to drive in the city. It should be outlawed really.
3. GET FAMILIAR WITH THE SUBWAY. If you have no idea what you're doing when it comes to the subway, you can waste a lot of time trying to figure out where you're going to go and how you're going to get there. We bought a all-day pass, which costs $7.50 and we could use as many times as needed, highly recommend.
4. SKIP THE EMPIRE STATE BUILDING. You don't go all the way to the top anyway, and it's way too expensive. Instead, do what we did and go to the top of the rock. You actually go to the top, it's cheaper, and you can get a combo ticket and get a tour of NBC Studios. And if you go this way you can get a picture of the Empire State Building from that height.
5. FERRY TO STATEN ISLAND. Don't pay to go to the Statue of Liberty, you can't go up in it right now anyway. Instead take the free ferry to Staten Island which goes right by Lady Liberty and in my opinion was close enough to get some great pictures. (stay tuned, almost done.)
I'm sure I could come up with a ton more tips, like if you're going to Central Park, don't go past 59th street(scary) and if an vendor approaches you with something and you may be interested, chew 'em down, they'll most likely go down, but I don't want to blabber too much. So, now onto the pictures.

5 comments:

Kristin.... said...

I lived in NY for college and visited the city several times. I went back in 2003 and went to Ground Zero. It was haunting.

Glad you had a good trip!

mozartktty said...

I love NYC and of course, I have free room and board when I visit, as Kelli lives right in midtown Manhattan. We always have a great time when I stay there. We always see a "show" and wander the city. Glad you were able to connect with her while you were there. It is a fun city.
Kelli's Mom

Anonymous said...

How FUN! I agree with you though...nice place to visit. But our good ol' Portland is almost too big for me, lol.
Great pictures!

Unknown said...

I'm glad you had a fun trip! You couldn't pay me to live there either and I must admit that even visiting there doesn't really appeal to me...although I would like to see the Macy's Thanksgiving Day parade, so maybe I will get there someday after all.

Thank you for your comment on my blog the other day. It's nice to receive encouragement and support from other moms. :-)

Kelli said...

Yay!!! I'm glad I got to see you, glad my suggestions worked out for you, and glad you had fun. Can't wait to see you again next month. =)