New York City

New York is a wonderful place to visit. Contrary to "popular belief", the people of New York are very friendly. New York has plenty of sights and attractions to keep someone busy for weeks.

 

 

 

Marriott Courtyard

Courtyard Midtown East While in New York, we stayed at the Courtyard Midtown East. We really enjoyed the Midtown Courtyard. It is in a PERFECT location. It is near 3rd Avenue and 52nd Street. There is a variety of restaurants within a few blocks and the subway is less than a block away. It is an easy walk to 5th Avenue, Times Square and Central Park.
	Our room was nicely furnished with a King size bed. We were on an upper floor so we were treated to a pretty awesome view.  The hotel staff was very pleasant and we thought the rooms were very quiet. Our room came with a buffet, made to order, breakfast each morning. This was a nice little extra. We used Marriott Rewards points for the week, so we didn't have to shell out any cash, but I believe the rooms normally run around $400 a night, which is pretty pricey. But this really is a nice place and I think just about everywhere in New York is pretty expensive.
We used the Subway as our main mode of transportation. In fact, we never used a taxi the entire trip. We took the new AirTrain from JFK to the Jamaica Station Subway Terminal to get into Manhattan. We purchased a 7 day unlimited ride card for $24 per person. This was a great value. We could ride anywhere in New York for the one price. After a few days we got the hang of the train schedules and routes.
Oftentimes there will be "street performers" in the subway tunnels. We saw a guy singing opera songs and a midget doing a Michael Jackson impersonation. (See picture above)

Things to Do

United Nations We really enjoyed touring the United Nations. The cost of the tour was only about $15 and it lasted about 45 minutes. Before entering the building everyone goes through a pretty thorough security check.
When you enter the UN, you step on to "International Territory". You are technically no longer on U.S. soil. The tour guides are from all over the world.
During the tour you visit all of the meeting rooms. We had just seen "The Interpreter" with Nicole Kidman, so it was fun to actually see the rooms after watching the movie.
Top of the Rock Another fun activity is to go to the "Top of the Rock", which is the top of the Rockefeller Tower. There was no line and the elevator ride to the top was a hoot.  It was a little pricey at $17.50 a person, but the view was awesome.
	Natural History Museum We also visited the Natural History Museum. We both thought that it was "OK", but there were tons of screaming kids everywhere! (OK, now I'm sounding old.....)
McSorley's If you want to experience a real old fashion ale house, then visit McSorley's. McSorley's is one of the oldest bars in New York. They only serve beer. (Dark and Light) When you order a beer they automatically bring you two. (But they aren't really that big). The beer was very good and it was very reasonably priced. This was one of our favorite places because it was uniquely different.

Cheap Things to Do in New York

New York is full of "thing to see and do" that don't "cost" anything. This page lists some of the stuff we did and saw that was free.
	Wall Street is a pretty cool place to visit. They do not allow visitors inside, but it is nice to see the exchange.  Wall Street is in downtown New York. Oftentimes I've been told that I'm "full of bull" so I thought I should make it official!
Central Park is another free attraction that can keep you busy for quite some time. The day we decided to tour Central Park it rained! So our walking was somewhat cut short, but we still did get a feel for the beauty of the park.
We took the subway to City Hall which is where the Brooklyn Bridge is located. Near the Brooklyn Bridge is a nice little shopping district by the water.
Walking around Chinatown and Little Italy is another great way to spend the day. We really like Little Italy. Around the corner on Canal street are tons of vendors selling "knock off" purses. It is a great place to shop for cheesy stuff.
New York is full of very cool architecture. It seems like everywhere you walk their is a "picture" that could be taken.
The picture to the left shows the Puck Building in Soho. Soho is a nice little neighborhood that has some pretty high end shopping. The picture on the right is the piano that was in the movie "Big" with Tom Hanks. It is in FAO Schwartz. They actually have "shows" on the hour where they place songs on the piano.
Times Square was a fun place, although we thought that it lacked the charm of a lot of the other areas within the city.
During the summer, New York has parades going almost every weekend. The two pictures above are from the "Pilipino Parade".  The picture to the right was from a "Jewish Pride Parade". These parades both took place during the same day.

The Statue of Liberty

We really enjoyed the trip to the Statue of Liberty. We purchased our tickets on-line ahead of time and we were glad we did because we were able to secure the first boat of the morning. We took the subway down to the Bowling Green stop which is only about one block from Castle Clinton.
Before boarding the ferry everyone had to go through security. It was very well organized and pretty painless. Afterward we boarded the ferry.
	Our first stop was the Statue of Liberty. Once inside the building, we listened to a tour guide tell the story of Lady Liberty. He was a very good storyteller and it was very interesting. After the talk we went into the museum and then went up to the base of the monument.
The park service limits the amount of people that get the opportunity to take the elevator up to the base of the statue. The walk up to the torch is closed because of safety considerations.
	The view of Manhattan from the statue is beautiful.
After visiting the Statue of Liberty, the ferry makes a second stop at Ellis Island. We decided not to visit the museum since we had a full day of New York touring to do! (But we have heard that it is a very interesting place)
	When we arrived back at the park, the line had grown tremendously. By 11:30 AM it stretched all the way around the park. This is an attraction that you should do as early as possible to avoid the crowds.

New York Yankees Game

We attended a Yankee game on Friday night. The Yankees were playing our Oakland A's. We took the subway up to Yankee Stadium. Just outside the park there are lots of neat bars and shops.
	Our seats were upper deck. We purchased them online before leaving for NY. The game was the Friday before the Belmont Stakes so the opening anthem had a horse racing theme....
Around the Seventh inning it started pouring. The game was almost ended, but after an hour or so play resumed. The Yankees staged a comeback, but the A's remained victorious.
	Carroll was having a great time with some Yankee fans.  If you go to New York, you really should see a Yankees game, if you can.

TV Shows

We went to the Late Show website and requested some tickets when we book our trip to New York. They called about a week before the show, asked us a "trivia question", and because we answered it correctly, we secured two tickets. We had seats in the front row but we were way off to the right so we really couldn't see much. The show we saw had Michael Keaton as the guest. The show was free so we can't really complain, but the show was a little bit of a disappointed for us.
	On Friday morning, we decided to get out of bed early and walk over to Rockefeller Plaza. (Home of the morning Today Show)
This summer they are filming everything outside because the studio is "under renovation". When we arrived at around 8:30 AM the place was packed. It was very cool being able to watch the show on TV in the hotel room and then walk down the street and see the same show being taped live.
Matt and Ann looked like genuinely nice people. The outdoor concert featured Natasha Bedingfield.
	We went to two Broadway Shows and they were both awesome. Wicked was a clever musical about the Wicked Witch of the West from the Wizard of Oz. The music, acting and storyline were fantastic. We also saw Monty Python's Spamalot. This is of course a comedy, but it was very well done and also had some really good songs. We were laughing the entire evening...

Carroll's New York Blog (June 2006)

Saturday, June 3 2006

SFO to JFK

We awoke at 4:30 am for our 8:00 flight to NYC. We wanted to have plenty of time to make the 90 minute drive to SFO from Dixon, CA. It was a good thing we left early because we were stopped on the Bay Bridge for about a ½ an hour. Who would have thought that there would be a traffic break on the bridge at 5:45 in the morning? We got to the airport and had just enough time for a quick bite to eat.

Our flight took off right on time. We flew on a United Premium Service flight. Basically you get food. If you were in Business or First Class, I’m sure you got more, but alas we were only in steerage with the rest of the commoners. (Like we aren’t commonersJ)

We arrived in New York without incident. We took the Sky Train to Jamaica Station ($5 each) and then purchased a MetroPass for the subway and bus system for the week. We then took the subway to Manhattan to our hotel. All was painless.

We got to the Marriott Courtyard at about 7:00 pm. Check in was quite easy and our room was on the 27th floor facing 3rd Ave. After unpacking we went out and found a cute little Irish pub for dinner. New York has a boat load of Irish pubs. The one we stopped at was on 2nd Ave. between 51st and 52nd. Jameson’s came recommended from a friend of a friend (thanks Greg) who used to live in NYC. We each had a bowl of Manhattan clam chowder and then we split an order of fish and chips. We felt this we the perfect amount of food for 2.

We walked down to Times Square after dinner to see the lights at night. Times Square is quite the tourist spot. There were people all over taking pictures, looking up and over all quite excited about the New York experience. It really was quite stunning and I can’t imagine how it must be on New Year’s Eve.

Sunday, June 4, 2006

We decided to kind of sightsee close to our hotel for the day. Since we slept in and had a late breakfast we had a late start to the day. We took the subway to the Port Authority and then walk over to the Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market.

The Hell’s Kitchen Flea Market was interesting but not really our cup of tea. It was really just a bunch of second hand stuff. Kind of like garage sale stuff but a little more upscale.

We then walked back to Times Square to see it during the day. Pleas note that Times Square is much more spectacular at night. After Times Square we walked to 5th Ave. and made our way to the New York Public Library (remember the Lion Statues in Ghost Busters?). We snapped a few pictures.

After the NY Public Library we visited Grand Central Station. The building is absolutely humongous and also stunningly beautiful. It was also very busy for a Sunday.

We made our way back to 5th Ave. and stopped at the NBA store for some fun browsing. We also stopped at FAO Swartz (yes they still have the big floor piano from Big) and the Disney store.

We ended our day at the St. Regis Hotel. The King Cole Bar is where the Bloody Mary was first made in the US. It is known as a Red Snapper there. They are expensive, but well worth the price at $18 a piece.

During our day we saw a couple of parades that seem to be common during the summer months. One was the Filipino Parade and the other was some Jewish Pride Parade.

We decided to eat dinner at PJ Clark’s down the street (55th & 3rd). The place is pretty popular…lots of locals and tourist alike. We both ordered the special of the night which was the lasagna. We also ordered a side of creamed spinach. The meal was great. This is a very crowded, noisy and cozy pub/restaurant. Wine and beer were fairly expensive. A glass of house chardonnay was $9. Beer was only $6. The experience, however, was simply to say “fun”!

Monday, June 5, 2006

We woke up early to go to the Statue of Liberty. We were on the first tour. We took the subway down to the Bowling Green Station and then walked over to Battery Park. We were early so we had to wait around for about 30 minutes to get our tickets. They were already prepaid on the web so all we had to do was get the tickets at 8 am. We then got in line at security. Security opened up at around 8:15. 

Once through security we waited in a holding area to board the boat. Once on Liberty Island we proceeded directly to the statue for the monument tour that we got with our monument access pass. Be advised that backpacks, large bags, etc. are not allowed so you must rent a locker for $1. We had to go through security again to gain access to the base of the monument.

The park ranger gave an informative talk about the statue and also the “folly” of the torch. It was quite interesting and entertaining. We toured the museum and then took the elevator up to the highest point possible which is the base just below her feet. The views of Manhattan are quite breathtaking. We walked around awhile and then took the boat back to Battery Park.

Wall Street was our next stop. We took a photo of the famous bull and then walked over to the NY Stock Exchange. Since “9/11” there is quite a bit of security everywhere. We took pictures of the buildings but we weren’t able to go in.

We then walked over to the World Trade Center Site. There are placards up that show the devastation of that horrible and fateful day. You can’t help to stand there and get a lump in your throat thinking about the losses to so many that day. At this point there is construction going on to build a permanent memorial. There is a memorial at Battery Park at this time. It is the battered remains of the piece of sculpture, ironically called Peace, which stood at the World Trade Center.

We took the subway back to our hotel to rest up before our evening out. I took a nice nap.

We had to be to the Ed Sullivan Theater by 4:30 to pick up our tickets for the Late Show with David Letterman. Once we got tickets we had a good amount of time to kill before returning at 6:00. We went and had a drink at Applebee’s (good happy hour prices) and also to use the restrooms. They don’t let you use the restrooms at the theater. Ironically, Dave made a joke about Applebee’s on Times Square and how you should be kicked out of NYC if you frequent the place. (Whoops!)

We returned to the theater and waited around for a while more. They seated us at about 6:45. We were seated to the right of the stage about three rows back. If you are on the main level you have obstructed views due to all the cameras, monitors, directors, crew, etc. They have monitors everywhere so you can see what the camera sees.

They first introduced the band. They then introduce the announcer and some of the other VIP’s. They then introduced Dave. He warmed up with a few jokes. As I said earlier our favorite was that anyone eating at Applebee’s on Times Square should be told to go home. Please note that we didn’t technically eat there, we only drank.

The guest for the night was Michael Keaton. He told some funny anecdotal stories. The musical guest was some upstart group from Australia called Mother Wolf. As quickly as the show started it ended. We walked back to our hotel area. We stopped at a place on 2nd street called Redemption for appetizers and drinks. Food good…service slow…Young…Hip…Trendy!

Tuesday, June 6, 2006

We slept in this morning and then had breakfast. We left the hotel around 9:30. We walked over to the Rockefeller Center. There were just finishing up the taping of the Today Show. We purchased tickets ($18 each) to go to the “Top of the Rock”. WOW! The views were fantastic. We took way too many photographs of the Empire State Building and Central Park.

We then took the subway down to Chinatown and Little Italy. It was fun to walk along and see all the stores selling knock-off handbags, perfumes, watches, etc. We made our way to SoHo and walked around there for awhile.

We ate lunch at a little place called Miro’s. We split a sandwich and each had a drink.

We walked around SoHo some more and then headed back to the hotel to rest for a few hours before another big night at the theatre.

We ate dinner at Angelo’s on 2nd street near our hotel. Pizza (NY style). The Pizza was good…thin crust…not too much sauce…just the right amount of char…yum! We then took the E line down to 50th so we could go see the show that we had tickets for.

Wicked was a “10” on the WOW factor. It was the story of how Glenda and the Wicked Witch of the West knew each other before Dorothy dropped in. The sets were so dramatic. The show was superbly executed. This is not a show to be missed.

Wednesday, June 7, 2006

We woke up to a rainy day. Because of the rain that was forecasted to last all day we decided that it would be a good museum day. We went to the Museum of Natural History. The Subway dropped us right at the door so we didn’t even get wet.

The museum is of course very large. There are several options for ticket purchase that you must decide before going in. You can buy the whole package for $30 or you can buy admission plus select special exhibits.

We bought admission plus the planetarium show for $22. The show at the Hayden Planetarium was called Cosmic Collisions. It was quite interesting. After the show we walked around the museum and viewed the multitude of exhibits. One of our favorites was the Pacific Islander exhibit that was created by Margaret Meade. Be warned that there are many school groups so the place can be quite noisy.

Once we had seen enough of the museum, we decided to brave the rain and see a bit of Central Park. The park is very easy to get turned around and lost. We made our way to Belvedere Castle. They were filming a sponsor piece for Nick at Night at the lookout. We then walked down to the Hans Christian Anderson statue and the Alice in Wonderland statue. We continued on to Strawberry Field before giving up and taking the subway back to our hotel.

We had enough time to do some laundry. We really only had packed enough clothes for 6 days so we could get away with carry-on luggage.

We then headed over to Broadway to have dinner and see Spamalot. It was still raining so we didn't spend much time shopping for a place to eat. We ate a place called The Blarney Stone Pub. It was cheap and the food was OK.

Spamalot was a riot. It was basically a Monty Python Parody of the Holy Grail... just non stop laughter and silliness.

Thursday, June 8, 2006

Today was a free day. We walked over to the United Nations. The tour cost $12 per person. It was absolutely amazing that on our tour there were only 5 of 18 people from the United States. It was quite an international group. We learned much about the history of the UN and also go to see an abundance of art that was donated from various nations. 

After the UN we walked down 42nd street and had lunch at a pub called McFaddens. We both had salads. I also had the Seafood Chowder. It was quite salty so I wouldn't recommend it.

After lunch we took the subway down to the Brooklyn Bridge. There is a trendy shopping area south of the bridge. I had a fun custom sign made for my classroom.

Bar hopping was the itinerary for the rest of the afternoon. Our first stop was the Bridge Cafe. It was pretty dead but we had a nice quiet drink.

The next stop was McSoreley's on 7th street between 2nd and 3rd. You could only order beer (light or dark) in 2's. We had a couple of rounds and our tab was only $18 + tip.

We had planned to stop at the Burp House down the street but they weren't open yet. We decided to return to our hotel to rest for the afternoon before our evening out.

For dinner we walked back over to 2nd street. We decided to eat at a little place called Pooket Thai on the corner of 50th and 2nd. We had a great Pad Thai dish and a Chicken Garlic and Pepper dish, which came with Jasmine rice. We split both dishes and walked away totally satisfied. Dave had a Thai beer that was very good. Our total bill was under $30. We relaxed the rest of the evening.

Friday, June 9, 2006

We woke up early and walked over to the Today Show. It was only a 15 minute walk from our hotel. We arrived in time to see most of the 2nd hour. Since it was Friday we got to see the Summer Concert. The star was Natasha Bedingfield.

It was fun to see Matt Lauer and Anne Curry. Al Roker was on location in Chicago.

We walked back to our hotel and had breakfast. After breakfast we took the subway down to Macy's. Macy's in NY is the "largest department store in the world". Of note was the escalator that had wooden stairs (not metal). I had a 20% off coupon so I had to purchase a few things. :>)

After shopping we returned to our hotel area and had lunch at Jameson's Pub on 2nd. We really weren't that hungry so we just split an order of onion rings and a sandwich.

Because our feet were aching, we decided to rest in our room for a while before venturing out for the evening.

We then headed uptown to the Bronx for the Yankee's game. We stopped at a few bars before going into the stadium. One bar was adjacent to a bowling alley. How fun!

Once in the stadium we found our seats. We visited with our neighbors. It then started to rain... Yes there was a rain delay. I had the opportunity to visit with a guy named Scott. We actually hung out at the stadium until it stopped raining and the A's won. Yahoo!

We took the Subway home and bought some food from a corner street vendor. Rice and chicken and some sort of Greek Mediterranean sauce. Yum.

Our week in NYC is almost finished. We have thoroughly enjoyed the experience. Yes, we have had some disappointments but many positive experiences also. Dave Letterman shows was a disappointment for us. The Broadway shows, Wicked and Spamalot, were great. People were very helpful and gracious. We found everything was much more expensive, but even hole in the wall places had good and decent food. The subway at first seemed confusing and scary. Once you got to understand the system it was not nearly as daunting. We found NYC to be a truly gracious and wonderful city.