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City Skyline from ferry
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We went up New York City on May 11
th for a one
day photography workshop on Ellis Island (see other blog post:
Finding the Light on Ellis Island) and decided if
we were up there to just spend the weekend and take in the city. We spent a mere day and half exploring the
city, and only saw a few of the big attractions.
We flew into LaGuardia, which was closer to our hotel then
JFK. Our hotel was in lower Manhattan near the Financial District and Battery
Park. We chose this area because it was the area the workshop recommended, we
also found it was quieter section of the city. Arriving at the airport and
grabbing a taxi was fairly easy. The taxi fare was a bit expensive, but I was
expecting that, and it let us check NYC taxi experience off our bucket list. We
had a nice view of the harbor and the Statue of Liberty, from our hotel room on
the 34th floor. We grabbed a
light dinner at Bill’s
Bar & Burgers after we dropped luggage in our room and then went to
bed, because we had to be at the ferry at 5:45 AM for the workshop.
The workshop went from 5:45 Am till about 3:00PM when we
took the ferry back to Battery Park. After we got back, we stopped at the
hotel, which was about a 5-minute walk from Battery Park to drop our gear off before
heading out again. We went back to the
park to walk around, see a few statues and ride the Sea Glass Carousel. Sadly, the Sea
Glass Carousel broke while we were riding it, so they gave us complimentary
tickets to come back. We also stopped by
the “Charging Bull” statue,
which had super long line of people waiting to take a picture touching the
bull’s balls. It says a lot about the human population when they want selfies touching
bull balls. No, I did not take a picture with the bull balls. After that we grabbed some New York pizza and
cannoli from a local place and headed back to the hotel. We were really exhausted after the workshop;
it was a super tiring day.
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| Line to take pictures with bull balls |
The next day we slept in (for us anyway) until 7:00AM. We
got our stuff and headed out to see at least the lower part of the Manhattan.
Our first stop was Liberty Bagels, to
get breakfast. It was right across from the bull statue, which didn’t have a
line this early in the morning. From
there we figured out part of the subway system to go up to Grand Central
Station, and then walk the rest of the way up to Rockefeller Center. We had tickets for “Top
of the Rock” so we could get a 360 view of the city. It was bit hazy in the
morning so the visibility was good but not spectacular, plus the sky was
boring. I picked the “Top of the Rock”
over the top of the Empire State building because 1) it was cheaper overall,
and 2) I could get the Empire State building in my photograph. If I ever go back, maybe I’ll go the top of
the Empire State building. Also, for
those that know me, know I’m not a big fan of heights but I felt fine on the
top of the building due to the big glass panels surrounding the open-air
observation deck. I also didn’t look
straight down, that might have been bad.
From there we headed over to Central Park, passing Radio City Music Hall
on the way.
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| Charging Bull |
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| View from Top of the Rock |
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| Radio City Music Hall |
Central Park is large. We walked around the lower fifth of
the park. We saw some of the main
features like the Cop Cot, Central Park Carousel, The Dairy Visitor Center, the
mall, Bethesda Terrace and fountain, Cherry Hill, and the Bow Bridge. After walking around a bit, I was starting to
get hot and needed to start looking for a place to cool down. It was cooler by our hotel due to a breeze but
there was no real breeze the further we traveled from the harbor. So, we decided to make our way over to where
my husband’s family was staying to give them the complementary tickets from the
Sea Glass Carousel. It was a complete
coincidence that they were on vacation in New York City the same time we were
there. After that we got lunch at Beer Authority. From there we walked part of the way to Time
Square, which was a dumb idea on my part.
It is just too crowded and not very interesting unless you are into
billboards and being run into by tons of people. From there we walked to Bryant Park and the New York Public Library -
Stephen A. Schwarzman Building. The
library is beautiful building, with lots of white marble. After that I called it a day, because I was
just too tired and hot. So, we got back
on the subway to head back to our hotel.
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| Bow Bridge |
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| The San Remo from across lake in Central Park |
After spending some time in the hotel room to cool down and
just relax for a bit we ventured out again for dinner at Schillings Restaurant and Bar. They
had one of the best veal schnitzels, I
have ever had. Jim and I actually split
it because neither us can ever eat a whole schnitzel on our own, they are
always so big. We also walked over to
see the 9/11 Memorial. It is a very
tasteful memorial, and the area was quiet compared to the rest of the city. We
didn’t feel the need to go into the museum.
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| World One and Memorial |
The next day we had a few hours in
the morning before our flight, so we ventured back down to Battery Park to walk
around and then over to New York Stock Exchange, where the “Fearless Girl” statue is located.
On the walk back to the hotel we saw Trinity Church and Alexander
Hamilton’s gravesite. After getting back
to the hotel we packed up and took and Uber to the airport. The Uber was a lot
cheaper, plus I had a 20-percent off code.
We had a couple hours to kill at the airport, you never know with
traffic better early then late, so we hung out in the Delta Lounge. The flight home was uneventful.
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| Fearless Girl |
If I ever go back to New York City
it would have to be in the early spring or fall because it was just too warm
for me walking around. The temperatures were in the upper 80’s while we were
there, which is not a great temperature for me without a breeze. Also, I would spend longer than a day, and
get the city pass to visit the museums.
One of the reasons we didn’t do a lot of the museums was because of
cost, since I was looking at about $25 a person for each museum. Also, I would
take better advantage of the subway system.
We didn’t use it as well as we could have, to save walking and travel
time. I also would plan a little better.
While I was looking at a bunch of things to do before the trip, I didn’t
develop an itinerary, which would have been helpful. Lesson learned. At least I went and saw a few things, so I
can check New York City off my bucket list.
You can see pictures from our day in New York City, here.
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