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Published: October 28th 2013
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October 26, 2013
We’re in NYC, the Big Apple, first time for the boys although Steve and I have been a few times before.
We flew in late last night after leaving a rather dull and overcast Vancouver. We couldn’t say goodbye to the mountains for they were nowhere to be seen but a Vancouver like this is definitely easier to leave than the Vancouver we’ve been seeing over the last few days. And we’ll be back. Canada is our second home.
We arrived in Newark Airport just after midnight (Eastern Time) and checked into the Marriott just across the way. Being such a late arrival it made more sense to have the first night here. It was a good choice (although next time it would be tempting just to walk across to the hotel, luggage and all, instead of trying to find the courtesy phone, waiting for the bus and then going around mulberry bush to get to the hotel). It was a good, comfortable room and quiet room (and apparently a pool) although we didn’t use the hotel for much besides sleeping.
Jet lag is an annoying but inevitable fact of life for
Empire State Building
And a handy sign in case you weren't sure. the weary traveller that has to be overcome, especially when you’ve only got a few days in a new and exciting city. So we set the alarm and forced ourselves up and about by 9am.
We did consider all options when it came to how to travel into New York City but we decided to push the boat out and get a car, a step up from a taxi but without the dreaded meter! We knew up front what we’d be paying (£115) which included a tip and the cost of the Lincoln Tunnel & other toll roads (of which there seem to be many between Newark International and Manhattan!). We also had a really friendly and chatty guy, which makes all the difference when he contributes towards your first impressions (we may have visited before but it was about 16 years ago!).
He dropped us at the Hotel Beacon on Broadway & 73
rd in the Upper West Side, our home for the last 3 nights of our 3 month trip. We have a spacious two-room suite with a kitchen area, lovely furnishing (lots of great artwork on the walls) and a great view over Upper Manhattan from
It's M&M World!
Times Square, NYC our 12
th floor suite. Of course a view the other way would be nice but we can’t have everything. This is not bad at all. I remember the hotel (although sadly not the name) we stayed in when it was just the two of us. A little modern, boutique style hotel with a nice room but barely big enough to swing a cat and certainly no view. I guess I was expecting a similar size but this is good and not too expensive (by New York standards anyway). We were able to leave our luggage at the hotel and go explore.
I know it’s been said many times but NYC really is an assault on all your senses. From the vibrant colours and flashing lights to the combination and variety of so many (usually good but sometimes less fragrant!) smells and the amazing cacophony of sounds from machinery to human.
We walked across and around Central Park, a hive of activity for the very young this weekend because of Halloween. We dodged little ones in fancy dress, watched others paint pumpkins (carving was presumably deemed too hazardous!) and others playing a version of Harry Potter’s Quidditch! All the
View from Hotel Beacon
Upper West Side, Manhattan activities appeared to have substantial queues.
In fact we saw a lot of lines during the day. Either there’s a lot of stuff worth queuing for in this city or New Yorker’s really don’t mind waiting around. We saw queues outside bakery’s, queues outside restaurants and, best of all, queues outside shops with no sign of a sale! Personally I think you’ve got your priorities all wrong if you’re prepared to wait on the sidewalk to get into an expensive shop only to spend way too much money on something you don’t really need. But that’s just me; each to their own I suppose.
Intending to walk across the park from our Upper East Side hotel to the Upper West Side we walk past the ice-skating rink (which I must admit I hadn’t expected to see in October) and come out alongside the souvenir stalls and hot dog stands. Sam declares we’ve already passed these but we patiently explain that stands like these are everywhere, especially at the entrances and exits to the park.
I comment to the boys that we’re now on the East Side of the park and these are the fancy, expensive apartments. Sam
however is still adamant that we’ve passed this before and won’t give up the argument. We’ve been patient but we’re starting to get a little cross now. Although I have to admit I was surprised (and did comment) that one of the hot dog stands we can see from the road is in an almost identical mirror position this side of the park. Sam insists it’s because it is the same one!
And then Steve noticed the street number and realizes something isn’t quite right. But Sam is, of course. My eldest sure isn’t perfect but his sense of direction and observation skills are close to being. Turns out we’ve taken a tour of the park and have exited by the same way we entered!!
After many (many) apologies and a great deal of laughter we continue down Broadway and enter the Times Square, taking in all the novelty stores on the way. There’s a Hershey Store (yummy place but don’t bother with the pumpkin kisses, they’re not worth it. In fact, on the subject of pumpkins, there’s pumpkin in everything at the moment. DQ are doing a pumpkin pie ice-cream blizzard and coffee shops are doing pumpkin
spiced lattes and teas to name a few. I did try a pumpkin latte from Tim Horton’s and it was NOT good. I didn’t get past the first sip. Pumpkin Pies of course are everywhere and delicious! The best we had was one from Thrifty Foods in Mill Bay which was gorgeous!)
Where was I? Novelty stores. We also found a M&M’s store. The fact that you can build an entire shop based on one chocolate product is crazy but the fact that they can produce so much merchandise as to necessitate 3 storeys is incredible! Just about every possible flavour of M&M’s imaginable plus non-edible M&M’s merchandise galore.
We enjoy a Starbucks under the Empire State Building and then finally come back to the hotel. Just across the road from The Beacon is The Fairways Grocery store and it’s great. It’s got everything we could possibly want as well as a load of things we didn’t know we wanted. Having a little kitchen in our suite means we have a bit more choice as to what to get but finally come away with a host of foods. The variety of breads is incredible. Steve selects pumpernickel and
we choose bagels for breakfast. The boys pick a couple of “flagels”, which, as the name suggests, is just like a flattened bagel! More than happy we return to our room and enjoy a relaxed meal, knowing that we’ll be more than happy to do the same thing tomorrow night.
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