I can sum up our trip with this quote by Miriam Beard:
';Certainly, travel is more than the seeing of sights; it is a change that goes on, deep and permanent, in the ideas of living.';
Let me be painfully honest with you...it was never my life long dream to visit NY, or my husbands either, for that matter. Some of our friends and family have gone to NY, and they did not like it. They said they were glad to get back home. They told us that New Yorkers were the rudest people they had ever met. The only reason we felt inclined to go now, was because of what happened there at the WTC.
We have been to Chicago probably a hundred times, and we figured New York was just another big city....WRONG!
From the first time I came to this forum, I was overwhelmed by all the helpful New Yorkers who went out of their way to give me the best advice...where to stay, where to eat, where to go, etc. I started to get really excited about NY. And I have been to a lot of places, but I never got this over the top excited before, not even for Europe!
Still, I worried about my husband...he%26#39;s not a Broadway show kind of guy, or even a big city guy, for that matter. Would he like New York? Would it overwhelm him? Would it eat us alive?
Something happened to us in NY. Something changed us. We will never be the same. We started off the first day by taking the Staten Island Ferry to SOL. I can%26#39;t tell you how deeply it affected me to picture myself coming to this country on a ship or a boat, and what it must have felt like when the immigrants saw that glorious statue that represented a freedom like they had never known before.
Something else moved me too, and it wasn%26#39;t any landmark or statue, but the very heart of New York - the people. I found myself taking pictures not of the tourist attractions or buildings, but of the construction workers, the policemen standing around the sidewalks, wearing black boots and a badge of pride. We felt so proud of the firemen and policemen - and we weren%26#39;t even New Yorkers! And you know what? It never failed - everytime we pulled out our map to find our way, someone always stopped and asked if we needed help. This happened over and over again. Once we stopped at a street vendor for a hot dog. I asked my husband what those square pot pie looking things were next to the hot dogs. The man next to me (in an awesome NY accent) explained to me that those were kniches (sp?). He explained what they were made of, and then he said ';You%26#39;re not from around here, are you?'; We got to talking for a while, and we were impressed by how likeable and friendly this guy was.
At one point during the day we were looking for a Staples or Office Max where we could print out our tickets for that night%26#39;s show at the Comedy Cellar. We saw a sign on a building that just said ';Printing Shop.'; So we walked inside, hoping someone would be willing to help us. Turns out this was a Jewish printing shop. The men were all wearing the Yamikas (sp?) and had the curl by each ear (well, you know what they look like). I was suddenly embarassed to be there. A comedy show seemed so silly now. But the man at the counter took us to his computer, typed in the web address I gave him, and it turns out the free tickets were all gone. We humbly thanked him and started to leave, when he said ';Wait! There is another show at 11:00. Do you want me to try and get tickets for that?'; Wow!
The most hauntingly beautiful thing we saw was Ground Zero. We had no idea how moving and touching the memorials would be. If anyone walked out of there with a dry eye, they must not have had a heart. We saw all the pictures and stories of the people who%26#39;s lives forever changed in one day, and it was both heartbreaking and beautiful all at once (guess you have to see it to understand that comment).
We walked the Brooklyn Bridge, and it was more fabulous than anything we had ever done before, it took our breath away. Of course we ate at Grimaldi%26#39;s....!!!! I LOVE the pizza! I wanted to go back there everyday for more, but my family insisted we keep moving on to the next place. Only next time I%26#39;ll skip the ice cream factory, and get a cookie/ice cream sandwich at Jacques Torres. I brought home the box mix for the French Kiss cookies, can%26#39;t wait to make them!
And for the benefit of anyone who hasn%26#39;t been to NY before - it was somewhat of a pain going to the Empire State Building, and especially the %26#39;Sky Ride%26#39; rip-off. Don%26#39;t do it! Save your money and go up to the top floor of another tall building (Beekman Towers, for instance) for a free look at the Manhattan skyline. The Beekman, by the way, was a great deal. We had a huge room, and an awesome view of Manhattan. The employees were the most genuinely nice people we have ever met! I have never in my life been treated this nice at a hotel.
We thought the fireworks were a bit of a wash out. Not just because of the rain...we didn%26#39;t think the fireworks were all that great. Probably because there was so much smoke you could hardly see the fireworks. But no regrets...we shared our umbrella with a man who just moved to NY from Brazil, and had a very nice conversation.
It was kind of funny because everytime we felt like we were rushing too much and wished we could have slowed down some, someone in our group always made this comment ';Next time.'; Next time we come here we%26#39;ll do this, or next time we%26#39;ll do that. We had no idea New York would make such a big impact on us, that we would have to come back again and again and again (which I know we will).
We really loved the Kenny Kramer %26#39;Seinfeld%26#39; tour too! This is a must do for any Seinfeld fan. I got a great picture of Kenny passing out Junior Mints on the bus.
We had a few drinks at ';1849'; in Greenwich Village. This place was awesome! We loved the wood floors, antler lights, buffalo head...the ambiance was sublime, and the drink prices were extremely reasonable.
We ate lunch at %26#39;Jing Fong%26#39;s%26#39; in China Town. It was recommended in my Fodor book. With all this talk of Dim Sum, I just had to know what it was. After we were seated, a Chinese women brought a cart to our table of some, ahem, delicacies. We thought it all looked disgusting. We tried some anyway, and then ordered off the menu. I told the waiter I would like to try %26#39;Dim Sum.%26#39; He looked at me as if I was having some sort of break down. He then explained that we already had Dim Sum. Ooh, THAT was dim sum? Oh, ok.
Of course we had to have the peanut butter shake at %26#39;Peanut Butter %26amp; Company.%26#39; Awesome! I just had to take home of their peanut butter too - white chocolate and dark chocolate peanut butter. Unfortunately I didn%26#39;t give any thought to putting it in my carry-on bag, and they found it in the security line at the airport. You would have thought I had hidden a gun in my suitcase! They told me I could leave it there (yeah, right. I saw the way they were eyeing up my peanut butter! They wished!) It was worth the hassle of going back in the check-in luggage line to hang on to my peanut butter for dear life. (Well, actually my dh suffered in that line while I relaxed and sipped on a margarita further down the aisle). After all that commotion over my peanut butter, I felt I needed to chill for a while...
The breakfast at Norma%26#39;s was superb! Unfortunately we didn%26#39;t realize how much time it would take to walk there, and how expensive a breakfast could be (a whopping $17 plate of waffles!) We wasted too much time at some of these restaurants, looking for them, getting there, waiting to get served, yada yada yada. Oh well, next time!
I would like to thank everyone on this forum for all of your help. New York is in our hearts now. It%26#39;s a part of us, and there%26#39;s no way to explain it, but it%26#39;s in our blood . We just have to go back......we just have to!
NY: A life-changing experienceHi
Very nice writing and I know exactly how you feel....we are coming back nine months later, once you get a taste of it...you are hooked.
Thanks for sharing
Matte75
NY: A life-changing experienceGulp. You%26#39;ve made me teary. So glad it was a great trip. Come back soon. ;)
PS
Knishes
The curls on the sideburns of the Jewish man are called payes (pronounced pay%26#39; ess)
I have to admit this made my eyes tear up a bit too. I hope no one was looking!
great report !!
We were a little confused at Jing Fong too, but two nice young couples sat with us and steered us in the right direction!!
A lot of the things you did are on our ';next time'; list..........
glad you saved your peanut butter!! LOL!!
When taking carry-on luggage these days, I always have to remind myself that things have changed. Glad you got to save the peanut butter! I think it%26#39;s great that you were willing to give NYC a chance. Thus you were able to enjoy all it has to offer. And, yes, you do have to make a return trip--so much more to see and do!
Promise ..... Promise ..... Promise ..... yeah ..... yeah ..... yeah ..... we all know ..... NYC is awesome ..... New Yorkers are great ..... we know ..... we know ..... we know.
What I want to hear about is ..... Did your guys get to see Joss Stone ..... and did they wear the adult Depends as planned ? Inquiring minds want to know. My wife has been studying for an exam all week ..... so there were no fireworks for us (everyone please get your minds out of the gutter) this year. But we watched them on TV ..... along with the concert ..... which was at the SOUTH STREET SEAPORT ..... I might add - just like I told you (nice catch Lotus ..... and another successful travel tip to an out-of-towner from the most knowledgeable travel adviser on the forum ..... ahem ..... big pat on the back ) ..... he shoots ..... he scores. I actually told my wife to keep watching the crowd to see if there was a black and white dairy cow wearing a beanie with a propeller on top ..... somewhere in the audience. I think we would have noticed you.
But glad you had a great time in NYC ..... loved your touching trip report ..... so when are you coming back ?
You gave me some great ideas for places to eat ';next time.'; And I wouldn%26#39;t have thought twice about peanut butter in my carry-on. I would have thought it was like food rather than liquid.
Promise,
The Heart of NY keeps me coming back each year. I kow exactly what you mean. If its OK with the rest of you guys, I%26#39;d like to nominate this for post of the year!
Chipper
What a wonderful, eloquent trip report!
It was an absolute pleasure to read and it%26#39;s great that you%26#39;ve picked up on and used one of the most frequently recurring phrases in all the trip reports posted here - ';next time...';! ;o)
Thanks for sharing and have fun planning your ';next time';!!
No comments:
Post a Comment