After nearly two years of talking about it, Kim finally managed to get us to New York this weekend. Her mom "volunteered" to come out and watch Henry and Megan while I whisked Kim away for a romantic weekend in the Big Apple (
way to steal my thunder, Obama).
Kim: And after two years of thinking about it, New York City is awesome. There is no place like it. Just walking in the city is an experience, and every borough has its own feel and unique personality. Mike said he liked the city because it is a working man's city.My intention, as always with my vacations, was to avoid the big tourist traps and get to know the real place. We failed miserably at that, but still managed to have fun.
Here was our itinerary:
Friday morning we took the
Bolt Bus from D.C., because there is really no reason for anyone, especially tourists, to try and drive around Manhattan.
Kim: And the bus ride is almost cheaper after the tolls, gas and parking and a lot more relaxing than driving. I would highly recommend the bus.The ride is about 4.5 hours, and they dropped us off right by Penn Station. We took the subway up to our hotel on the Upper West Side, dropped off our bags and headed out to Central Park.
It was a gorgeous day -- not too hot or humid. We wandered around the park, grabbed a hot dog,
snapped some pictures of the Guggenheim,
They painted it white? What?
toured around the Met
Kim: this was our tour guide, who was very knowledgeable and serious about sticking to the schedule Goya
The Frank Lloyd Wright room
ate an incredible Ruben sandwich at a nearby cafe,
Kim: I had a co-worker who grew up in the city, and she loved it because in the city you always go the same places and the store owners know you, and there is a real sense of community. At this cafe we got a taste of it, as the store owner was chatting it up with one of his regulars.
and headed back to the park to wait in line for a free ticket to
Twelfth Night, the latest offering of
Shakespeare in the Park. It took about 3 hours of waiting,
and some conversations with a few weirdos
but it was totally worth it since this got me out of the requirement of going to
some awful musical on Broadway. You'll have to take my word for it, because we were strictly prohibited from taking any pictures. I tried to hide my camera under my program and snap a picture of
Anne Hathaway as Viola, but it didn't turn out.
I swear, Anne was there
Having recently seen Ms. Hathaway in The Princess Diaries 2 (man, it is awesome being a dad), I must say that I enjoyed her live performance better.
On Saturday, with our 2006
Frommer's guidebook firmly in hand, we started the morning off with a bagel and grabbed our day passes for the subway.
This picture is incredible, right?
We took the Staten Island Ferry, which goes past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island,
wandered up Wall Street
We didn't spot any fat cats
and past the World Trade Center site,
They haven't done much with it
took the train into Brooklyn to grab some pizza at Grimaldi's,
Tasty tourist trap
and then walked back into Manhattan across the Brooklyn bridge.
We wandered around downtown some more, and ended up in Chinatown, where Kim decided that she needed a faux-fashion purse. The "secret" about Chinatown is that all the purse stores have back rooms where they keep the high end knock-offs, so after saying the magic words to the store owner (Coach? Gucci?), and some furtive Chinese exchanges via cell phone, Kim and I were taken through the hidden door where she haggled a good deal for her shiny red leather beauty. Feeling like a full tourist at this point, Kim decided she needed to round out the experience with a picture in front of the Statue of Liberty.
Lady Liberty was smaller than she looked from the ferry
We then headed up to the Empire State Building, which was one of the few expensive touristy things that I felt a need to do, since you really can't approximate the view in any other way. Sadly, the people at the Empire State Building did little to console me about my concession to the tourist industry. They charged us $40 to ride an elevator, and while we waited in line they attempted to sell us: maps, an audio guide, a virtual tour, a stop on the 102 floor, and a picture of us in front of a computer generated New York skyline. To top it all off, we were forced to walk through their gift store on the way out. As if all of this wasn't enough, they actually make you pay 50 cents to use their crummy binocular machines at the top, because the $20 ticket you just bought must have been for something other than the view.
Kim: It's true, why would I want to spend one more dime on my way up to the top? It was a rip off, but that view is incredible, nothing but building after building. The only thing they weren't selling was Sleepless in Seattle paraphernalia, now maybe I would have bought that. HA.ARRggh. By this time my blood was actually bubbling in my veins, so luckily it began to rain right as we got off the elevator, which helped cool me down. Here is a picture of my happy face.
Hulk SMASH!
Memo to the Empire State Building: After charging us an arm and a leg, and selling all kinds of additional crap that should be included (no map? really?), feel free to provide complimentary umbrellas to visitors of your open air viewing station on the 86th floor, which we can leave by the elevator as we go back downstairs.
Oh, to be able to smile in the face of such adversity...
By this time I had had it with the big city, but Kim knew just how to cheer me up -- a stop at a
giant, corporate toy store on 5th Avenue. I didn't take any pictures.
Kim: Hey, what about the special walk through the New York Library with the broken water fountains? I made you walk the extra mile just because I thought you would like it.We rode the train back to the Upper West Side, and found a great Indian restaurant where I was able to recompose myself while regaling Kim with my new-found knowledge of Indian food, acquired during my
Tanzania trip.
Kim: It really was romantic, "Let the food set in your mouth and taste all the different flavors." I was quite impressed with your culinary knowledge. At this point it was getting late, but like the childless party animals we were, we decided to go to a late viewing of
Up, since Kim hadn't seen it yet. They were only showing it in 3D, so I was able to confirm my previous opinion that the 3D was completely unnecessary -- worse, it actually made the film less enjoyable, as the glasses we uncomfortable, they dimmed the screen and made the action shots blurry.
We had overestimated our status as party people, and Kim ended up falling asleep through portions of the movie (which I think is borderline narcoleptic behavior, exhaustion notwithstanding.) If she hadn't been wearing those damn 3D glasses, I would have noticed her eyes were shut and I could have pinched her to keep her awake. Now she'll never know what happened to Charles Muntz (because I'm sure not going to tell her, after that $32 nap.)
Kim: 3D really did stink -- it was hard to focus on, you could never really get a good picture, and that is why I dosed a little. But while I was a awake it was a real New York experience, people laughing out loud and talking to each other throughout the movie.
In the morning we checked out of our hotel, and headed down to Greenwhich village, where we had an enjoyable open air breakfast at a cafe, and then went exploring for a few hours before taking the bus home.
Kim: It is as bohemian as the movies portray it.All in all it was a great trip, and our first time going on a vacation alone in maybe 6 years. Thanks, Suzanne, for taking care of our kids and making it possible.
P.S. Kim's observations about New York:
- Gladiator sandals are in
- Sign of a real New Yorker: riding boots
- Everyone is a slobby hipster
- Mike felt the need to sing every song he'd ever heard about New York
- And I thought about every New York montage, movie and Seinfeld episode I have ever seen
- The buildings are actually tall enough and close enough together for Spiderman to realistically swing between them.*
*actually, that last one was my observation. Check it out.
Trouble
