Chapter 7 – New York City
Saying farewell to the great historical city of DC was tough but exciting as we were beginning our next greatest adventure soon to be arriving in New York City. For those who have never experienced this magnificent site of skyscrapers towering above your head casting their huge shadows miles in every direction making you feel like ants scurrying around the sidewalk, you need to go. Words are never going to be able to explain or even describe accurately just how magnificent this great big city truly is. Although there were still frustrating elements with it – as in all major cities – we thoroughly enjoyed the visit. Arriving via our illustrious transport of greyhound thankful to be in the big apple and looking forward to getting to our hostel and offloading so we could quickly head out and begin exploring this amazing place. 461 43rd Street between 9th and 10th avenue was our eventual destination and we made it only walking for 10 minutes with our huge bags.
Then we were off, heading into Times Square where we planned to have dinner and were speechless at the sight that came before us only 2 blocks from our hostel. Towering buildings surround this intricate and sensational sight, streets blocked off during the summer for tourists to sit in the street and absorb the sight, plenty of action and attractions, more impressive billboard displays with awesome neon signs than we witnessed in Vegas, and so much more. We spent this first evening learning the area but more we were simply feeling a little overwhelmed with the sights and the simple realization that we were in this great American city from some of our favorite movies and TV series. WOW!!!
Our first full day was Sunday the 31st May and we were told that Central Park was the place to go and explore on a Sunday because of all the action that takes place in the park. So we grabbed our 7-day subway tickets and hopped on our very first subway going away from Times Square towards the famous Central Park. Arriving we set out in the bottom right corner finding the Wolman ice Rink which wasn’t icy and full of amusement equipment. But we saw the amazing sight and managed to even see the Central Park zoo where the penguins escaped from. We moved on walking around the right hand side of the park finding the Alice in Wonderland statue and Balto’s statue. Eventually we managed to come across the huge ground fields of the park where everybody seemed to be sitting around and enjoying the diverse games being played on this Sunday. Games like softball, baseball, Frisbee and many other smaller family fun games. We spent some time chilling and enjoying our lunch while watching some action and sports before moving on to reach the Jacqui Kennedy Onasis reservoir dam at the more northern end of the park. At this side of the park there was a huge Japanese day celebration happening with tents set up and many diverse cultural attractions available for us to enjoy. To chaotic and over the top for us, we quickly moved further into the park and walked up and around and along and in and out and… Seeing this park was more about spending the day enjoying and walking around gathering in how amazing the park is. We finally began the return trip back down where we managed to find Strawberry fields and more playgrounds and fields and then finally ending at the bottom left corner. On the far left from us as we exited the park was an Israeli parade happening to celebrate their special day as well. Can you believe it?
This was the beginning of the long yet unbelievably awesome week that we had in New York City. Continuing with the adventure, we became typical tourists in the big city as a result of the pace and race of these bustling get out my way Yankees. We headed down south to the ferry point of Battery Park on yet another subway trip coming up from underground to be surrounded by and almost engulfed by these monstrous buildings. We decided that since the sun was shining and the water seemed calm we were excited to go across and visit the Statue of Liberty as well as Ellis Island with our newly purchased City pass tickets (6 attractions for one outrageous price). With these tickets we were granted a short queue pass which got us on a ferry in 25 minutes and to the Statue of Liberty Island within the next half hour from when we actually arrived at the ferry park ride. WOW WOW WOW!!! An unbelievable sight awaited us as we climbed on board our ferry and found some amazing seats with 100% visibility of the entire harbour and Island areas. The insanely historical and famous figure of lady liberty overlooks the city with an unimaginable view and this whole experience almost overpowered us both.
We eventually arrived on the island and began walking and discovering the beautiful view which liberty gets overlooking the New York skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge. Seeing her from distance and then walking up towards her glistening green towering exterior was awesome. We just sat in awe of the significance of what the statue symbolized and for how amazing this experience was for us. Well unfortunately we couldn’t spend all day here and so we moved on catching our next ferry towards the famous and historical Ellis Island where all the immigrants used to have to enter into the States – now changed. The island is full of history and says as you arrive that there is more than 80% chance that one of your ancestors possibly traveled through this immigrant post to get to the states. We found some Turner’s but unfortunately no Beddy’s. They were the clever ones.
We came back on our ferry some time in the afternoon arriving to a warm welcome from the Positive dancing trio who wowed us with there display of street dancing and more with their epic sense of humour. Not feeling sure where to head next and still feeling a little overwhelmed by the sight of these towering skyscrapers, we decided that we needed to enter the dark underworld of Wall Street and began to search for ground zero – the twin towers. As we quickly found out, there was a huge amount of development happening in this southern section of Manhattan and we got lost very easily. Turning around and stumbling back towards ground zero we managed to peak at the devastation caused by the planes on September 11 so many years ago. We found out that we couldn’t actually see the spot for the buildings as construction had already began for the new memorial building in that spot and so our view was obstructed. But what a powerful and somber sight walking around the block where two towering monsters used to exist and exploring the surrounding area for stories and memories of the past. From here we moved onward to Wall Street and found the New York stock exchange as well as the federal buildings and the Federal Reserve Bank – no money or gold for us though. Bronze bull up next as we captured a very good photo for some other family to use as bribery on someone’s next birthday – head meets bulls bum.
Tuesday came and we went to our next city pass event to explore the Museum of Natural history from the movie a Night at the Museum. It wasn’t as amazing as the movie because they had given the plaque away and so nothing came to life while we were present – except the history of course. We enjoyed the museum which was very different to some of the others we have explored in DC and other areas of America. One of the highlights had to be our free planetarium show which explored the results of collisions in space – the good and bad results of these necessary collisions. An enjoyable time before we found a spot in central park to sit and relax watching people steer boats on a small pond as we ate our lunch. From here we spotted our second museum for the day which is known as the Guggenheim museum and was displaying a Frank Lloyd Wright architectural highlights package from level 1-7. Basically there was nothing else on display but this mans amazing architectural highlights, designs and drawings. We found out that nearly 85% of what was on display had never actually been built due to the timing and economic instability of certain jobs he had worked on. WOW! We both thoroughly enjoyed this exhibit and I got busted for taking photos which I wasn’t allowed too. Oh well!! My bad!
During our walk we managed to discover the Lincoln performing arts centre and Julliard studio’s where some of the greatest dancers, entertainers and musicians are currently studying. We also decided to go and visit the United Nations buildings which were a 6 block walk from Times Square and took us past or into the unbelievable Grand Central Station – just like the movies. Disappointingly we were unable to see the flags displayed outside the UN buildings as they had just been taken down and for some reason ever time we managed to come across the UN we never got the sight of the world’s flags blazing outside these buildings. After our dinner we wanted to go across and get a glimpse of the Hudson River where the pilot had landed that one flight amazingly. We both tried to imagine standing there and seeing a plane come lower and lower till it hits the water. Scary!
Ang and I didn’t want our only experience of New York to be centralized to Manhattan and so we got on a subway and headed into the Bronx to go and visit the famous Bronx zoo. Possibly the best zoo we have seen on our travels but still not really managing to outdo the Joburg zoo yet we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Bronx. On return we managed to find the big Bloomingdales store in Manhattan where Ang and I hiked up the 7 floors to see that everything was nicely priced at $25 and up. We decided that since we saw Bloomingdales we then had to visit the biggest Macys known as the biggest store world wide. One super result from this idea was that we got our first glimpse of the next towering structure which we would visit properly the next day – the Empire State building. Having been shopped out and starting to get rained on we rushed back home before deciding to try one last trip after dinner and after the rain to see Rockefeller centre and the illustrious St. John church which stands across the way. Impressive!!
Having seen the Empire state up close and personal we decided that if the weather permitted, we would have to go up and see just how great the view truly was from up there. So luckily and thankfully, the next morning we awoke to a beautiful sky and began our adventure of seeing the New York skyline from above. Unimaginable!! Thankfully we didn’t have to climb the 86 floors to the top and got to ride the elevator really quickly as a result of the time of day we arrived at the Empire state. The view from up top is amazing and you can see the entire city of New York with Manhattan, Brooklyn, queens and even as far up as the Bronx. Spending a good while listening to some historical facts and interesting information from our free audio tour, we gradually progressed to observe every inch of the view seen from the empire before leaving feeling like giants towering over this spectacular city. Coming down from the top we decided that we would head down towards some of the more interesting sights we had seen from above like the Flatiron building, the Union and Washington squares, the cage basketball court and even Bob Dylan’s house. These are all movie sites which were loads of fun to visit and explore.
Our last full day in New York was to be the dreariest day as the weather changed and God decided the earth needed saturation for the whole day. It wasn’t to be a sad day for us as we were able to go and explore our last two museums namely the Metropolitan museum of art (MET) and the Museum of modern art (MOMA). Both of these museums were exceptional with amazing exhibits and brand new contemporary art displays, Ang was in her element. We spent a good part of our day indoors enjoying the artistic expressions of Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Pollock, Dali and many others. I eventually tired of the art and got restless pleading with Ang to give me a break so we headed back to our room to chill and while we were relaxing decided that we really needed to go to the Brooklyn Bridge and get some pictures of the skyline from the park on the other side. So we changed to stay warm, if you have forgotten it was still raining outside, and we headed for the subway to Brooklyn. So worth the trip as we got some really cool pics and had fun being in Brooklyn, we arrived back in our room close to 2 hours later drenched, soaked and dripping with water but happy for being successful. And with that we were getting ready to pack and leave this spectacular city and start our trip towards Philly and finally Glenolden.
Saying farewell to the great historical city of DC was tough but exciting as we were beginning our next greatest adventure soon to be arriving in New York City. For those who have never experienced this magnificent site of skyscrapers towering above your head casting their huge shadows miles in every direction making you feel like ants scurrying around the sidewalk, you need to go. Words are never going to be able to explain or even describe accurately just how magnificent this great big city truly is. Although there were still frustrating elements with it – as in all major cities – we thoroughly enjoyed the visit. Arriving via our illustrious transport of greyhound thankful to be in the big apple and looking forward to getting to our hostel and offloading so we could quickly head out and begin exploring this amazing place. 461 43rd Street between 9th and 10th avenue was our eventual destination and we made it only walking for 10 minutes with our huge bags.
Then we were off, heading into Times Square where we planned to have dinner and were speechless at the sight that came before us only 2 blocks from our hostel. Towering buildings surround this intricate and sensational sight, streets blocked off during the summer for tourists to sit in the street and absorb the sight, plenty of action and attractions, more impressive billboard displays with awesome neon signs than we witnessed in Vegas, and so much more. We spent this first evening learning the area but more we were simply feeling a little overwhelmed with the sights and the simple realization that we were in this great American city from some of our favorite movies and TV series. WOW!!!
Our first full day was Sunday the 31st May and we were told that Central Park was the place to go and explore on a Sunday because of all the action that takes place in the park. So we grabbed our 7-day subway tickets and hopped on our very first subway going away from Times Square towards the famous Central Park. Arriving we set out in the bottom right corner finding the Wolman ice Rink which wasn’t icy and full of amusement equipment. But we saw the amazing sight and managed to even see the Central Park zoo where the penguins escaped from. We moved on walking around the right hand side of the park finding the Alice in Wonderland statue and Balto’s statue. Eventually we managed to come across the huge ground fields of the park where everybody seemed to be sitting around and enjoying the diverse games being played on this Sunday. Games like softball, baseball, Frisbee and many other smaller family fun games. We spent some time chilling and enjoying our lunch while watching some action and sports before moving on to reach the Jacqui Kennedy Onasis reservoir dam at the more northern end of the park. At this side of the park there was a huge Japanese day celebration happening with tents set up and many diverse cultural attractions available for us to enjoy. To chaotic and over the top for us, we quickly moved further into the park and walked up and around and along and in and out and… Seeing this park was more about spending the day enjoying and walking around gathering in how amazing the park is. We finally began the return trip back down where we managed to find Strawberry fields and more playgrounds and fields and then finally ending at the bottom left corner. On the far left from us as we exited the park was an Israeli parade happening to celebrate their special day as well. Can you believe it?
This was the beginning of the long yet unbelievably awesome week that we had in New York City. Continuing with the adventure, we became typical tourists in the big city as a result of the pace and race of these bustling get out my way Yankees. We headed down south to the ferry point of Battery Park on yet another subway trip coming up from underground to be surrounded by and almost engulfed by these monstrous buildings. We decided that since the sun was shining and the water seemed calm we were excited to go across and visit the Statue of Liberty as well as Ellis Island with our newly purchased City pass tickets (6 attractions for one outrageous price). With these tickets we were granted a short queue pass which got us on a ferry in 25 minutes and to the Statue of Liberty Island within the next half hour from when we actually arrived at the ferry park ride. WOW WOW WOW!!! An unbelievable sight awaited us as we climbed on board our ferry and found some amazing seats with 100% visibility of the entire harbour and Island areas. The insanely historical and famous figure of lady liberty overlooks the city with an unimaginable view and this whole experience almost overpowered us both.
We eventually arrived on the island and began walking and discovering the beautiful view which liberty gets overlooking the New York skyline and the Brooklyn Bridge. Seeing her from distance and then walking up towards her glistening green towering exterior was awesome. We just sat in awe of the significance of what the statue symbolized and for how amazing this experience was for us. Well unfortunately we couldn’t spend all day here and so we moved on catching our next ferry towards the famous and historical Ellis Island where all the immigrants used to have to enter into the States – now changed. The island is full of history and says as you arrive that there is more than 80% chance that one of your ancestors possibly traveled through this immigrant post to get to the states. We found some Turner’s but unfortunately no Beddy’s. They were the clever ones.
We came back on our ferry some time in the afternoon arriving to a warm welcome from the Positive dancing trio who wowed us with there display of street dancing and more with their epic sense of humour. Not feeling sure where to head next and still feeling a little overwhelmed by the sight of these towering skyscrapers, we decided that we needed to enter the dark underworld of Wall Street and began to search for ground zero – the twin towers. As we quickly found out, there was a huge amount of development happening in this southern section of Manhattan and we got lost very easily. Turning around and stumbling back towards ground zero we managed to peak at the devastation caused by the planes on September 11 so many years ago. We found out that we couldn’t actually see the spot for the buildings as construction had already began for the new memorial building in that spot and so our view was obstructed. But what a powerful and somber sight walking around the block where two towering monsters used to exist and exploring the surrounding area for stories and memories of the past. From here we moved onward to Wall Street and found the New York stock exchange as well as the federal buildings and the Federal Reserve Bank – no money or gold for us though. Bronze bull up next as we captured a very good photo for some other family to use as bribery on someone’s next birthday – head meets bulls bum.
Tuesday came and we went to our next city pass event to explore the Museum of Natural history from the movie a Night at the Museum. It wasn’t as amazing as the movie because they had given the plaque away and so nothing came to life while we were present – except the history of course. We enjoyed the museum which was very different to some of the others we have explored in DC and other areas of America. One of the highlights had to be our free planetarium show which explored the results of collisions in space – the good and bad results of these necessary collisions. An enjoyable time before we found a spot in central park to sit and relax watching people steer boats on a small pond as we ate our lunch. From here we spotted our second museum for the day which is known as the Guggenheim museum and was displaying a Frank Lloyd Wright architectural highlights package from level 1-7. Basically there was nothing else on display but this mans amazing architectural highlights, designs and drawings. We found out that nearly 85% of what was on display had never actually been built due to the timing and economic instability of certain jobs he had worked on. WOW! We both thoroughly enjoyed this exhibit and I got busted for taking photos which I wasn’t allowed too. Oh well!! My bad!
During our walk we managed to discover the Lincoln performing arts centre and Julliard studio’s where some of the greatest dancers, entertainers and musicians are currently studying. We also decided to go and visit the United Nations buildings which were a 6 block walk from Times Square and took us past or into the unbelievable Grand Central Station – just like the movies. Disappointingly we were unable to see the flags displayed outside the UN buildings as they had just been taken down and for some reason ever time we managed to come across the UN we never got the sight of the world’s flags blazing outside these buildings. After our dinner we wanted to go across and get a glimpse of the Hudson River where the pilot had landed that one flight amazingly. We both tried to imagine standing there and seeing a plane come lower and lower till it hits the water. Scary!
Ang and I didn’t want our only experience of New York to be centralized to Manhattan and so we got on a subway and headed into the Bronx to go and visit the famous Bronx zoo. Possibly the best zoo we have seen on our travels but still not really managing to outdo the Joburg zoo yet we thoroughly enjoyed our visit to the Bronx. On return we managed to find the big Bloomingdales store in Manhattan where Ang and I hiked up the 7 floors to see that everything was nicely priced at $25 and up. We decided that since we saw Bloomingdales we then had to visit the biggest Macys known as the biggest store world wide. One super result from this idea was that we got our first glimpse of the next towering structure which we would visit properly the next day – the Empire State building. Having been shopped out and starting to get rained on we rushed back home before deciding to try one last trip after dinner and after the rain to see Rockefeller centre and the illustrious St. John church which stands across the way. Impressive!!
Having seen the Empire state up close and personal we decided that if the weather permitted, we would have to go up and see just how great the view truly was from up there. So luckily and thankfully, the next morning we awoke to a beautiful sky and began our adventure of seeing the New York skyline from above. Unimaginable!! Thankfully we didn’t have to climb the 86 floors to the top and got to ride the elevator really quickly as a result of the time of day we arrived at the Empire state. The view from up top is amazing and you can see the entire city of New York with Manhattan, Brooklyn, queens and even as far up as the Bronx. Spending a good while listening to some historical facts and interesting information from our free audio tour, we gradually progressed to observe every inch of the view seen from the empire before leaving feeling like giants towering over this spectacular city. Coming down from the top we decided that we would head down towards some of the more interesting sights we had seen from above like the Flatiron building, the Union and Washington squares, the cage basketball court and even Bob Dylan’s house. These are all movie sites which were loads of fun to visit and explore.
Our last full day in New York was to be the dreariest day as the weather changed and God decided the earth needed saturation for the whole day. It wasn’t to be a sad day for us as we were able to go and explore our last two museums namely the Metropolitan museum of art (MET) and the Museum of modern art (MOMA). Both of these museums were exceptional with amazing exhibits and brand new contemporary art displays, Ang was in her element. We spent a good part of our day indoors enjoying the artistic expressions of Van Gogh, Monet, Renoir, Picasso, Pollock, Dali and many others. I eventually tired of the art and got restless pleading with Ang to give me a break so we headed back to our room to chill and while we were relaxing decided that we really needed to go to the Brooklyn Bridge and get some pictures of the skyline from the park on the other side. So we changed to stay warm, if you have forgotten it was still raining outside, and we headed for the subway to Brooklyn. So worth the trip as we got some really cool pics and had fun being in Brooklyn, we arrived back in our room close to 2 hours later drenched, soaked and dripping with water but happy for being successful. And with that we were getting ready to pack and leave this spectacular city and start our trip towards Philly and finally Glenolden.
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ReplyDeleteHi Ross and Ang - this is great - had such fun reading it. You must be counting the days. You still seem to be making the most of every minute. Missing you
ReplyDeleteLove Lyn
(ignore "kirsten" comment. My gmail was used by a friend and it defaulted to her name)