Whew. Another exhausting day in the Big Apple. It's a good thing that I don't live here all of the time, cause' it would wear me out. But we had a great day today being tourist-type people. We started with doughnuts at Dunkin Donuts for some quick morning energy. Then, we hoped on the subway and rode down to Battery Park and stood around for 2 hours in the blazing-hot sun trying to figure out if we should get on one of the ferrys that go over to have a talk with Miss Liberty. No, we were actually waiting in a terrible terrible line while we were asked not once, not twice, but NO LESS THAN 20 TIMES if we wanted to buy a pair of Oakley sunglasses. We finally made our way to the front of the line and rode the ferry over. Nice breeze. When we got to Liberty Island, the crowds were herendous, which I expected. So, considering the lines to go up into the statue, we opted for the exterior point-and-shoot-and-click tour. I couldn't imagine that we would be able to get any better pictures from inside the statue, plus they had access to the crown restricted to the early morning hours..and it was too late. So, we walked around the island, took some pictures, then got back on the boat and left.
When we got back to Manhattan, we rode the subway back up to midtown and stopped at the Empire State Building. After an hour of waiting in line for tickets and then another hour waiting to actually get up to the observation deck, we made it. It was just how I remembered it from many years ago, although a lot less chilly. It was December the last time I was here.
Tonight, we got dinner at the food court-type area a couple blocks away and then sat and watched traffic. People are so fascinating here. Very enjoyable to watch walk and drive. So, here's my list of things I learned while here:
When the opposing light turns green, get your ass accross the street.
Don't bring external drinks into snotty upscale lounges.
When a random guy acts like he knows you at the coffee cart, be nice; he'll give you a quarter
The toy section at Macy's is gone. Damn.
When getting on the "1" train, you'd better get all the way in, or you'll get beat down by some big black dude.
When on the "1" train, if you want to exit the train at South Ferry, you need to be in one of the first five cars. If you're not, join the clan of people who hop out at preceding train stations and quickly run the the next car before the doors close again. It's a fun game.
Don't try to use the ethernet connection in your hotel room. They'll charge you $9.95/day for it. Owch.
Wear comfortable shoes (and socks) when out walking. You never know where you'll find a Conway store that has nice selection of ladies' socks.
If you see some people in the street breakdancing, stop and give em' a hand (and a buck, if you've got it) They're talented and very entertaining people.
That's all. Thanks to Olivia for some of those. We check out tomorrow morning and fly out of LaGuardia at around 5pm. Hopefully, we'll be home in time to go pick up little Gizmo before 8pm. :)
By the way, Happy Birthday to this site. This is entry #100. Yay!
Posted by Jeff at July 22, 2001 01:41 AM
Comments
What interesting things you learn in NYC! Sounds like you did as much as you could do while you were there. What's this about women's socks?
Have a safe trip home! We go to Portsmouth on Tuesday after Dad gets off work. Rose has cataract surgery on Wednesday. We'll come home on Friday, maybe stopping at Glen Allen on the way home. Would that be OK? Are you home by 6 PM?
