New York City - City Tour

New York City!!! Where do I start? NYC has a population of over 9 million people and is made up of five boroughs; but we will visit only three - Manhattan, Brooklyn and the Bronx (Harlem) on this trip. Neither George nor I knew what to expect here. We had heard some pretty scary stories, but we can honestly say that the experience was very memorable and at some time we hope to be able to return to do the things we didn’t get a chance to do this time. The people here were great, willing to help anytime you asked a question, and we never got run over on the sidewalks once, even at lunch time. Yes, it is expensive, more so than anywhere else we have visited, but we had expected that so we were not surprised. Anyway, let’s get started with our experience!

We arrived at Croton-on-Point, a county RV park about 35 miles outside New York City on Friday, August 4th. This will be our home for the next 10 days. The sites are really large with lots of room; and thru the trees lies Croton Bay and the Hudson River. On Saturday, we took a walk along the beach and McKenzie ran her little legs off, scampering over the rocks and even diving into the water to cool off a bit. She’s always been a bit scared of the water and wanted nothing to do with it. So needless to say, we were flabbergasted when she jumped right into the water and started swimming out. The park is just about a mile from the rail station, but since the weather is quite hot, we’ll just drive the truck to the station, park it there and catch the train into the city. It’s a little more expensive here than in Washington. Train tickets into the city are $19.50 round trip at peak time per person. Once you arrive at Grand Central Station, you can take a subway almost anywhere for $2.00 per person one way. We decided we’d spend four days out of the ten in the city. Our first day would be Sunday, since we had tickets to see the Broadway Play, “Mary Poppins”.
To get the “feel of the land”, we went into the city early on Sunday to just look around a bit. The train ride took about an hour and was very pleasant. The trains are clean and free from graffiti and most of the ride is above ground until you get to Harlem, which then starts the underground part. That part was a bit spooky as it reminded me of being in catacombs. Though the trains and subways are air conditioned, the stations are not and are very warm while you are walking to Grand Central Station. Grand Central is one of the world’s most famous and busiest train stations and its main concourse has a majestic staircase and vaulted ceiling. From there, we had our first experience riding the subway. It took a bit to get used to reading the maps, but we finally got the hang of it and found our way to Times Square. There, sure enough, was the “Naked Cowboy” in all his glory. George had just seen a documentary about this guy who evidently has become reknown for singing and playing his guitar on the corner of Times Square in nothing but his underwear, boots and cowboy hat. Looked to me like he was getting more tips from his photo opportunities than his singing, but we were glad we did not miss this NYC icon as he is not always out on the corner. Hopefully he has another “day job” to tide him over! Mary Poppins was playing at the Amsterdam Theatre which has one of the finest art noveau interiors in the United States and was home to the Zigfield Follies from 1913 – 1927. The theatre was closed in 1985, restored to its original splendor by the Walt Disney Company and reopened in 1997. Almost every seat in the theatre would have been good and the sound was great. We thoroughly enjoyed the play with the actors being excellent and the stage props being the best we have ever seen. The grand finale with Mary Poppins flying up thru the theatre in 3-D fashion was spectacular!

On Monday, we decided to go on the Gray Line Sightseeing tour. This double decker bus gave us 48 hours of hop-on, hop-off fun. We rode around the Uptown Loop first which consisted of sites such as Harlem, Central Park, the Dakota Apartments where John Lennon was gunned down, Lincoln Center, Cathedral of St. John the Divine, Grant’s Tomb, the Apollo Theatre, Fifth Avenue and the museums. Yes, I took pictures of all of it but then couldn’t remember what was what. The guide explained that Harlem was in the process of being renovated. Many of the buildings there have been turned into expensive condominiums and classy little shops. It is becoming the “up and coming” place in NYC. The Cathedral of St. John the Divine is an Episcopal church which is roughly the length of two football fields. It is the largest cathedral in the world and the statue of liberty would fit comfortably under its central dome. It continues to be a “work in progress” and will likely be under construction decades from now, which makes getting a picture of it pretty difficult.

The second part of the tour consisted of the Downtown Loop, which included Greenwich Village, Soho, Chinatown, Little Italy, East Village, Times Square, Rockefeller Center, Empire State Building and the World Trade Center Site. We got off and walked to the World Trade Center Ground Zero. Currently you can see nothing but a construction site, but a fenced walkway around the perimeter allows visitors to pay their respects and try to comprehend the enormity of the devastation. Near Ground Zero is the Tribute World Trade Center which opened on September 18, 2006 and will be replaced with a permanent museum and memorial in the future. The mangled centerpiece of the fountain, “The Sphere for Plaza Fountain” which adorned the WTC plaza prior to the 9/11 attacks now stands in the Battery Park, just a few blocks away with an eternal flame which was lit on the first anniversary of the attacks. From there we headed over to the Financial District. Unfortunately, since the 9/11 attacks, you can no longer take a tour through the New York Exchange, but we were glad to get to see it. The Financial District is very heavily guarded and protected. From there, we decided to take a walk across the Brooklyn Bridge. The weather was cloudy and trying to mist rain on us all day, but we figured it was worth it even if we got wet. The bridge was built over the East River and connects the boroughs of Brooklyn and Manhattan. When it was completed in May 1883, it was the largest suspension bridge in the world. It is considered one of the greatest architectural accomplishments of the nineteenth century. At each of the arches, the walkway widens into a large square plank. There are plaques on the corners of the plank which tell the history of the bridge.

A very unique building in the city is the Flatiron Building on 23rd Street at the intersection of Fifth Avenue and Broadway. It is named for its distinctive triangular shape (which was determined by the unusually shaped plot of land on which it was built). This building has been immortalized in countless photographs.

The last part of our Gray Line tour was the Brooklyn Loop, which included the Botanic Garden, Brooklyn Museum of Art, Brooklyn Museum, Grand Army Plaza and 5th and 7th Avenue boutiques, restaurants and shops. As in all of NYC, property is at a premium and we saw a very innovative way of parking cars by stacking them on top on one another. The guide explained that when you entered the parking lot, you informed the attendant how long you would be gone and he parked your car accordingly. Better not tell him that you’d be gone all day and then come back in a few hours!! Fortunately, we decided on this day to do this tour because two days later, a tornado ripped through Brooklyn, destroying homes and property and leaving thousands of people without electricity.

We arrived back at the truck around 6:00 p.m., stopped by to get a New York pie (pizza that is) and drug ourselves home. Tomorrow looks like a better day weather wise, so we will probably go back to the city to see some more sites. They are predicting some pretty bad weather for the week, so we’ll have to try to select the best days to do the things we want to do. Stay with us and we’ll have another exciting adventure tomorrow!