New York In a New York Minute

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New York In a New York Minute

Dawn had to go to New York to pick up her kids who were returning from Greece after staying with their father for the summer. She decided to make a little trip out of it and made reservations for two days before they arrived to spend a little time sightseeing and asked if I wanted to go as well. I thought, “What could we do in just two days?” But we always manage to have a spectacular time wherever we go so I started looking for cheap airfares on Priceline and Expedia.

Dawn booked the Hilton Newark Airport since the kids were flying into Newark Liberty Airport. I managed to get a good fair into on Priceline on Continental and even managed to get on the same flight coming back to Houston. I arrived before her on Saturday August 16 and used the time to plan our adventure in New York. We had both been there on separate occasions before but neither one of us had gotten to see much. We really only had a day and a half so I knew it was going to be hard to get in all the attractions we wanted to. The hotel room had a New York travel magazine with a good map so I tore it out and mapped out our day. With many of the most famous sights to see clustered in Midtown Manhattan I felt we had a good shot at seeing most, if not all, of them in one day.

Sunday morning the weather was beautiful. There was not a cloud in the sky and there was a nice breeze with temperatures starting out around 70 and peaking at about 85. The concierge at the hotel told me about New Jersey Transit. NJ Transit will take you from Newark airport to Penn Station in New York for $15 each way. We caught the hotel shuttle at 9am, along with a young family venturing off like us for a day of sightseeing, to the P4 parking area which is where you catch the free AirTrain monorail that takes you to the airport and the various terminals. Thus began our adventure in the Big Apple as we practiced our “fugettaboutit”, “wha?”, “Hey, I’m walkin’ here!”, and “you talking to me?” with as good a New Yawk accent as we could muster.

You first take a short ride on the airport monorail to the NJ Transit train station. When there, we bought our tickets from the automated ticket machine with a little help from a NJ Transit employee. It seemed they were always there and always helpful. There you get on a NJ Transit train to New York. It stops along the way at other towns and stations and gets you to Pennsylvania Station in the heart of Manhattan in about 20 minutes. When we arrived we just headed for the first exit to street level that we saw. When we emerged we were treated to a spectacular view of Seventh Avenue and 32nd St. New York was bustling with tourists on a beautiful summer day. Even though it was Sunday it was packed.

Penn Station shares the same block with Madison Square Garden so I just wanted to get a glimpse of the famous sports venue before heading towards Times Square and did just that. As we headed north on Seventh Avenue our senses were overwhelmed by the sights and sounds, and sometimes smells, (and sometimes not so pleasant smells) of New York.

This is the garment district and there were names of the largest and most famous clothing companies in the world on buildings at every turn. The sidewalks were crowded with tourists. The streets were clogged with taxis. It was a sight and sound sensation. We bought a couple of silk scarves from a street vendor for just $5 each thinking we had gotten the deal of a century only to see the same scarves at the same price in many places around town the rest of the day. But we were still happy with our purchase.

As we got to Times Square once again we were overwhelmed, but this time it was by neon. It’s an amazing place. You definitely realize that commerce is king when you see Times Square. One of the things we wanted to do in Times Square was to go to the “Tckts” place where you can get half price tickets to Broadway Shows. With some construction going on it had been moved to a location one block west on 42nd Street. There were hundreds of people in line to get tickets. To our surprise half price was still $60 so we passed on going to a show especially since our time was so limited. But we did enjoy a huge soft pretzel and a hot dog from a street vendor right there. I highly recommend getting onions on the hot dog, they were soooo good! Then we headed back to Times Square, past the singing, guitar playing “naked cowboy” (he had underwear on) and towards Rockefeller Center.

Street vendors are a big part of Manhattan’s ambiance and buying something from one of them can add to your overall experience. We had our caricature made by a sidewalk artist for very reasonable $15 and he did a good job. Of course, you can’t take a charcoal drawing without it being matted. Cost, another $10 (we talked her down from $15). Still a good deal.

On the way to Rockefeller Center from Times Square you walk past Radio City Music Hall on Sixth Avenue. There we posed while a fellow helpful tourist took our picture with the famous landmark in the background. Rockefeller Center is a large development that includes many buildings. What I wanted to see most was the skating rink (an open air restaurant in the summer) where the “Prometheus” statue is that you see in so many movies like “When Harry Met Sally”. With the restaurant consuming the entire rink area you can’t get up close to Prometheus without becoming a restaurant customer but the view from the steps did not disappoint and we got some great pics of the area.

Directly across from Rockefeller Center on Fifth Avenue is St. Patrick’s cathedral which has seen many famous weddings and funerals. We went inside to take in its grandeur when we were reminded that it was Sunday as a mass was going on. Surprisingly, they still let tourists come and stand in the back to gawk at the beauty of the gothic architecture, massive sanctuary, stained glass windows and incredibly high ceiling. We lit a votive candle, made our small donation, said a little prayer, and respectfully left the devoted to their worship.

Exiting the church I noticed something I had forgotten was there, the Atlas statue in front of Rockefeller Center so I had to stop and take a picture. We started up Fifth Avenue towards Central Park. Along the way we noted once again all the names of large and famous companies from around the world on the buildings. As you get to 59th Street on Fifth Avenue you are at the southeast corner of Central Park. There you can see the famous Plaza Hotel which has also been featured in dozens of movies. Crocodile Dundee comes to mind. FAO Schwartz is also at that intersection. There are plenty of horse drawn carriages awaiting you if you want to take in the perimeter of Central Park. But we wanted to go inside and enjoy the fabulous weather with the other thousands of New Yorkers and tourists. Central Park is very big and surprisingly beautiful in the midst of all that concrete and steel. It provided a much needed respite from all the walking and noise of the big city.

We made our way to Eighth Avenue and Columbus Circle where there is an impressive monument at one of the entrances to the park. I wanted to get to the United Nations Building and the Empire State Building so that meant heading back towards Fifth Avenue. Keep in mind we have been on foot since we left Penn Station. But now that we were basically back tracking all the way to 42nd Street we started looking for a subway station. But it was lunch time so we stopped at Mickey Mantle’s restaurant on 59th Street (called Central Park South along the south edge of the park). We got a sidewalk table and so it was a delightful way to rest, eat, and take in the sights and sounds of Central Park South.

You can’t get official New York Yankee merchandise at Mickey Mantle’s, they only sell it at official Yankee stores. I wanted to get something for my son so we got directions from the waitress to the nearest store and headed towards it at Lexington and 59th which is three blocks east of Fifth. Along the way you pass the famous avenues of Madison and Park. Madison Avenue is known for its advertising firms and Park Avenue is known for…well… we couldn’t resist singing (attempting to sing) the theme from the 60’s Green Acres sitcom in which Eva Gabor proclaims “Darlin’ I love you but give me Park Avenue”. I’m sure Park Avenue is famous for much more than that. After finding just the right gift at the Yankees store we headed down Lexington once again looking for a subway station.

We were treated to a nice surprise on Lexington. During the summer it is converted to a giant open air market closed to traffic from about 57th all the way down to 42nd. The smells of Greek food filled the air as sellers of all kinds of merchandise sold their wares. It was a kind of an international flea market. We finally found a subway station at 51st with the help of one of New York’s finest (policeman). We purchased a MetroCard for each of us giving us unlimited use of both the subway and buses for the rest of the day for just $7.50 each and we rode the rest of the way to 42nd Street and Grand Central Station.

Grand Central is an amazing place. The stately architecture that surrounds you makes you wonder why they don’t build places like this any more. You can start a trip to anywhere in the world from there as well. There is a dining concourse where you could spend much of your day trying all kinds of delicious treats. But we maintained some will power and only stopped to use the restrooms, which, by the way, definitely needed some cleaning.

As we emerged from Grand Central we were treated to a great view of the Chrysler Building which is known for its art deco architecture and at one time (just a matter of weeks) was the tallest building in the world until the Empire State Building was completed. From there we hopped on the bus heading down 42nd Street to First Avenue and the United Nations Building. It was closed on Sunday but since we were on a tight schedule we didn’t have time for anything but a walk past it to take a picture anyway.

We managed to get the same bus and bus driver now heading west on 42nd Street. This time we were headed all the way to Fifth Avenue to find the New York Public Library and then our final destination of the day, the Empire State Building. As we got to the Library at 42nd and Fifth we were disappointed to find that it had just closed at 5pm., after all it was Sunday and things tend to close early on Sunday. I guess that will have to wait until our next visit.

The Empire State Building is at 34th and Fifth so we probably should have hopped on a bus right away but we just kept walking. By this time of the day we were feeling the miles we had walked and were getting tired. When we arrived there was about an hour wait at security which is like you endure at the airport except you don’t have to take off your shoes. Since one of us has a problem with heights they whisked us to the front of the security line. ( I don’t get the connection either so we just smiled and nodded and move to the head of the line.) Then there was the 20 minute wait to buy tickets which were $19 unless you were willing to pay an additional $25 to be whisked to the front of that line and the elevator line which was another half an hour wait. This was all a surprise to us and there were no indications either posted or announced as to how long the waits would be with the exception of the 20 minute wait at the ticket window. Add this frustration to our fatigue and we were not so enthused about the incredible panoramic view that awaited us on the 86th floor. Yes, you can go to the 102nd floor, and yes, it costs extra. The weather was perfect and I got some great pics so I would say it was worth it but I don’t think we’ll be doing that again…ever. I don’t see how Tom Hanks and Meg Ryan would have gone through that to meet in “Sleepless in Seattle” but that’s Hollywood for you. Perhaps the lines are much shorter during the off-season. Coming down there was another 20 minute wait at the elevator which is only accessible by going through the gift shop. We actually felt a bit thankful for what we endured when we left the building because the line to get was out the door and around the corner at 7:00pm. I guess more people want to see the view of New York from the top of the ESB at night. The observation deck is open until midnight.

After the ESB ordeal we were ready to head back to the hotel which meant walking two long blocks west to Penn Station to catch the NJ Transit to Newark Liberty Airport and then hop on the AirTrain to P4 where we get on the hotel shuttle with the same family we saw in the morning! All told it was about 40 minutes including wait time and we arrived at the hotel at 9:00pm exactly 12 hours from when we left.

We ate in the hotel restaurant that night. We were tired and there aren’t any restaurants within walking distance of the Hilton. I think the same could probably be said of most of the airport hotels.

I saved the Statue of Liberty and the World Trade Center site for the next day since they were close to each other near Battery Park and not close to all the other attractions we saw the day before which were in midtown. So once again we did the hotel shuttle, AirTrain, NJ Transit thing to Penn Station. This time, however, we got on the number 1 subway train to go to the South Ferry exit in Battery Park which was very close to the Statue Cruises dock. That train ride took about 25 minutes.

I was very glad that I had called for reservations the day before because the line for those who didn’t have reservations or had a flex reservation was very long. You can get their pamphlet at most hotels. The price is very reasonable at $12. We still had a wait in line to actually get on the boat but it was only about half an hour. That wait time included going through an airport type security again. Monday was a bit hotter and without the nice breeze of Sunday. That along with us being tired from yesterday’s trek and being on a tight schedule to get back to the airport by 4:00pm made us a little edgy. It took about 20 minutes to load everyone on the boat and about 15 minutes to get to Liberty Island. We were only interested in viewing the statue. You can go inside the pedestal for a little extra but again our tight schedule precluded that. We spent about a half an hour walking around the perimeter of the statue and taking pictures and taking in the view of Manhattan. By then we were ready to head back. Unfortunately, we had to wait in line about half an hour to get back on the boat. While in line we noticed a separate dock for a boat going to and from New Jersey. That looked like a nice option at this point since their line was very short. I’m guessing that the frequency of departures is far less though and I’m not sure how you would get to their New Jersey location if you don’t have transportation but it’s worth looking into.

Upon returning to the dock in Battery Park we proceeded towards the World Trade Center site. But, first we had to have a little lunch. We found a nice little Irish tavern that had a lunch buffet that proved to be very good and fast. We now had very little time though to get all the way back to Penn Station and then the airport so we had to just look at the World Trade Center site as we walked by and then find the nearest subway station. There is not much to see at “Ground Zero”. It is still just a big hole in the ground and is completely fenced off. There was a lot of construction activity going on inside but the only way to see inside is from the pedestrian bridge that spans the intersection at the northwest corner. A security guard told me it could be seven years before the new center is completed.

Fortunately, there was a subway station close by and we were told to use the E train to get back to Penn Station by the employee in the glass booth. This station was not cooled so it was hot down there and the several minutes we had to wait for the E train seemed much longer. The train got us back to Penn Station on the west side, the Eighth Avenue side, so we had quite a walk to find the NJ Transit train. Somehow, probably because we were in a hurry, it was much harder to find the right track today than yesterday. We ran around hurriedly and getting more frustrated by the second until we realized that there is a track 13 and a track 13W and they are on opposite sides of that particular hallway. Once on it, the train got us to the AirTrain station at Newark Airport about the time the kids’ plane was supposed to be landing so we were not just hurried but harried. Then, as we got to the Continental terminal to find out what gate their flight would be coming into, we found out that this flight was coming into another terminal altogether. We ran back to the AirTrain, rode it to the other terminal and rushed to the waiting area for that gate just in time to greet them.

We had left our luggage at the hotel for the day of sightseeing so I went back to the Hilton using AirTrain and returned to the airport for a last meal in the New York/New Jersey area before getting on the plan to Houston. Our adventure was complete. We were exhausted but jazzed. There is so much to do and see in New York. When we return we’d like to see a couple of shows and go into a couple of museums and have a bit more leisurely trip. I’m disappointed that I won’t get to see Yankee Stadium before they tear it down and build a new one, but, we crammed as much as possible into a day and a half and had a fabulous trip. Now we needed a vacation from our New York minute vacation in New York.

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Photos

Dawn taking a break in Central Park
What a beautiful day!

Comments

[Tomi]

Wow!
What a delightful diary, John! Your photos and commentary were magnificent, and I loved it all! How wonderful that you were able to join Dawn and the kids, and now all of you have some great memories of New York. Thanks for sending this!