We ended up eating at the California Pizza Kitchen (I know super adventurous). It was yummy and pretty fast. Then we walked down to Trader Joes and picked up some stuff for breakfast and some cheesecake for dessert.
Day 1
We decided to stop by the Empire State Building (we are staying a block away from it) and see if we could go up to the 86th floor. It wasn't too busy so we went ahead and got tickets. Went up to the top and took some pics. It was pretty neat and nice and sunny so you could see really far. The whole thing took us about an hour to do.
Here we are standing on top of the empire state building.
View from the top of the empire state building
Then we got on a GreyLine bus tour of downtown and stayed on for the whole thing (about 3 hours worth). We went through times square (shown below) and Wall Street and every other part of downtown. It was incrediblly nice outside and made for a very nice tour.
Day 2
We started out Day 2 by going out to the Staten Island Ferry to get some views of the Statue of Liberty. It was an adventure because the line 1 Metro was down for the weekend. So we had to take a different way and then walk down Wall Street. We got on the Ferry with no problems and had planned to get off on Staten Island and hop right back on; but that was not meant to be. The 10:30am Ferry broke down and we were stuck with an absolutely huge mass of people waiting impatiently for the 11am ride.
Once we finally got back to the Manhatten area we hopped on another Grey Line bus to do their uptown tour. This was another very nice tour and showed us where all of the museums are and Central Park, etc. We had a great tour guide but it was windy and cold.
When this was done we went to the movies again to see Priest. Since my son is staying at home with my parents being able to go to adult movies (something rated higher than PG) is a big deal for us. Again the movie was mediocre, but kind of fun. Then we ate some dinner and hopped on the Metro to go to The Strand bookstore. The Strand isn't the prettiest book store but it had a ton of books. I found the $1.99 ARC section and picked up some good ones; Shimmer by Alyson Noel and Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari. Trying to keep in mind that I will probably get more books at BEA.
Then back to the apartment to do what I am doing now!
Tomorrow we expect to go to the Natural History Museum in the morning and then stop by the convention center in the afternoon to get our badges and check out the remainders pavilion.
Things that I've noticed about NYC:
- It's very easy to get around; the Metro is easy to use and people are very helpful
- Lots of people smoke; which I barely ever see in MN
- Lots of people honk their horns, despite the signs aroudn that say there is a $350 fine for honking
- It's not a very clean city. Paris and London were way cleaner.
- People aren't as in a big of a hurry as they were when I visited London
- There are a billion places to eat.
There was also some excitement going on back in MN. We had some tonadoes tear through our area. I've been in contact with people back home and it looks like our house is fine and there wasn't much damage to the boat or anything like that. So we are relieved to here that all is well; at least with people that we know.
More updates to come!
We decided to stop by the Empire State Building (we are staying a block away from it) and see if we could go up to the 86th floor. It wasn't too busy so we went ahead and got tickets. Went up to the top and took some pics. It was pretty neat and nice and sunny so you could see really far. The whole thing took us about an hour to do.
Then we got on a GreyLine bus tour of downtown and stayed on for the whole thing (about 3 hours worth). We went through times square (shown below) and Wall Street and every other part of downtown. It was incrediblly nice outside and made for a very nice tour.
After that we went to catch a movie (Pirates 4) at the theater. It was a decent movie but not as good as the previous ones. Then we took the Metro down to Soho and did some shopping. After all that we were tired and decided to get some sushi for dinner near our apt and then go back to the appt to wind down.
Day 2
We started out Day 2 by going out to the Staten Island Ferry to get some views of the Statue of Liberty. It was an adventure because the line 1 Metro was down for the weekend. So we had to take a different way and then walk down Wall Street. We got on the Ferry with no problems and had planned to get off on Staten Island and hop right back on; but that was not meant to be. The 10:30am Ferry broke down and we were stuck with an absolutely huge mass of people waiting impatiently for the 11am ride.
Once we finally got back to the Manhatten area we hopped on another Grey Line bus to do their uptown tour. This was another very nice tour and showed us where all of the museums are and Central Park, etc. We had a great tour guide but it was windy and cold.
When this was done we went to the movies again to see Priest. Since my son is staying at home with my parents being able to go to adult movies (something rated higher than PG) is a big deal for us. Again the movie was mediocre, but kind of fun. Then we ate some dinner and hopped on the Metro to go to The Strand bookstore. The Strand isn't the prettiest book store but it had a ton of books. I found the $1.99 ARC section and picked up some good ones; Shimmer by Alyson Noel and Ashes, Ashes by Jo Treggiari. Trying to keep in mind that I will probably get more books at BEA.
Then back to the apartment to do what I am doing now!
Tomorrow we expect to go to the Natural History Museum in the morning and then stop by the convention center in the afternoon to get our badges and check out the remainders pavilion.
Things that I've noticed about NYC:
- It's very easy to get around; the Metro is easy to use and people are very helpful
- Lots of people smoke; which I barely ever see in MN
- Lots of people honk their horns, despite the signs aroudn that say there is a $350 fine for honking
- It's not a very clean city. Paris and London were way cleaner.
- People aren't as in a big of a hurry as they were when I visited London
- There are a billion places to eat.
There was also some excitement going on back in MN. We had some tonadoes tear through our area. I've been in contact with people back home and it looks like our house is fine and there wasn't much damage to the boat or anything like that. So we are relieved to here that all is well; at least with people that we know.
More updates to come!
Have fun in NYC and thanks for the fun posts. Can't wait to hear how BEA goes. Have fun!
ReplyDeletereally curious. did you rent an apartment for a week or what? i would be interested in doing something like that my self.
ReplyDeleteHI PAmk,
ReplyDeleteWe rented an apartmant through homeaway.com. We were able to rent it by the night and it was cheaper than a hotel room. Plus it has a kitchen and stuff so we can make food at "home".
We love renting when we go on vacation and have used homeaway.com to rent a house in the Black Hills, a house in San diego, and a flat in London. Eveytime things have worked out great. So for us it's our favorite way to stay places. Usually the people renting the place out are really helpful too!
- Karissa
NYC is pretty dirty, but after a while you just stop noticing the dirt. I got to a point where I had to leave and come back to realize: wow, this place needs cleaning!
ReplyDeleteAnd that's weird about people not being in a hurry. Could they have been tourists?
Hi Janicu,
ReplyDeleteI think it was mostly because we were there walking around over the weekend. There were a lot, like a ton of tourists. In fact English speaking people were the minority by a fair amount; I felt like I was in Europe again!
- Karissa