USA trip 2016 pt 3
10/12/2012 Washington DC -> NYC
We wanted to make an early start for New York, but in light of me not being well and the tickets getting cheaper through the day, we decided in the end to opt for the midday bus.
While buying pastries to take on the bus a homeless man asked me if we were from Florida. I know my accent is strange, but?! Arwin bought him a sweet cheese Danish.
Lovely crisp sunny morning in DC, I imagine it'll be really freezing further north though!
The bus driver gave a brilliant welcome aboard announcement, the usual stuff, then at the end said something along the lines of “I know we have a lot of international passengers who don't necessarily understand English that well do the next bit is for them. *brrrrrrring. brrrrrrrrring.* No.” :-)
The bus trip was nice (wifi, power outlets, seatbelts - nearly Australian standard!), only other event was that the heating stopped working properly and it went from 78F to 74F which worried the bus driver so he stopped at a big truck stop in Delaware for everyone to get hot chocolate before pushing through to NY. It didn't get any colder though thankfully. He turned out to be quite a character. There were no available parking bays in the NY terminal so he pulled up right outside the door in the end!
Despite lots of luggage we decoded to look around as the bus came in close to Times Square. So we made our way up to 8th st, walked up from 42nd to 46th(?) then across to 7th. So. Many. People. I'm sure New York is always busy, and I'm sure Christmas time is insane, but oh my goodness. Unsurprisingly, this place stresses me intensely and I do not like it! Anyway it was great to see, Times Square is impressive if only for the incredible amount of advertising real estate!
Panorama of Times Square by night
Hopefully it'll make more sense tomorrow when we're back to see Matilda on Broadway without luggage. We headed up to 49th to the next subway, and after much confusion got Metro Cards (why do you need a ZIP code for a Metro card?! Eventually we picked one round where we're staying in NJ from Google maps - thank heavens for that phone Amar leant us!). The station made very little sense but thankfully we'd come out on a platform with trains going the direction we needed. Caught the R train and intended to catch that to the bottom of Manhatten Island, but due to train problems we only got 3 stops. The station we got of at had other connections though so we eventually found a 1 train going in the right direction, and took that too the World Trade Centre where we had to swap anyway for trains off the island. So while we were there we went and had a bit of a look at the 9/11 memorial. It's amazing how small the footprint of a skyscraper is, and how many people can be fitted in that space vertically, when you think about it. I suspect it makes me a bad person that I felt nothing though. The break in the skyline of sky scrapers so you could actually see the sky if only there was something to see in it was nice though. I'm glad they did keep the site as a memorial park. Actually we did see something in the sky. Maybe Venus or Jupiter?
Eventually we found the WTC subway station we needed, under the Occulus (a shiny new shopping plaza at the WTC), and after a bunch of confusion worked out that Metro Cards work on PATH trains, so caught the train to Grove St to meet our host Sachin, who used to play cricket with Amar.
As it turns out, PATH tickets don't work on the Metro and as the other way does work, just as well we didn't get another card!
Sachin is a PM at a company here, and is married with two daughters, 6 and 2. They're a nice family, also originally from Punjab. Told us lots of things to see and where to find good food locally. So we went for a wander round the area and as we were both fairly hungry and New York must surely be a great place for Italian, found a small traditional Italian restaurant called Roman Nose (!). Food was fantastic, and the best tiramisu I've ever had I think. Very good :-)
I feel bad that we have the bed and a mattress in our hosts bedroom, but it probably does make more sense than living room considering the kids will probably want to be up and bouncing around in the morning. Not really sure what tomorrow's plans are yet. Obviously Broadway in the evening, and we want to go to the other places like Central Park, the Statue of Liberty, perhaps Wall St, and now I think about it I recall NY has some sort of rooftop green space walk that it would be nice to go and see if we can. We'll see how we go, anyway.
11/12/2016 NYC
Awoke to an overcast morning, which hopefully means not so cold today…
Arwin, Sachin and the older daughter went to get coffee and bagels, for which there was am enormous queue apparently! So my breakfast was a hot chocolate and an egg bagel to which we added fresh avocado. Surprisingly yummy!
Chatted to the family for a bit, and eventually headed out about 11am. We walked to Exchange Place on the Hudson foreshore, from where we got an amazing view of New York City. Could also see Brooklyn Bridge and the Statue of Liberty.
Panorama of NYC from the Hudson River, Jersey side
90 degree panorama of World Trade Centre 9/11 Memorial
Caught a ferry across to NY, and walked to Wall Street. Very cold day despite the cloud as it turned out! We went and saw the Charging Bull…. Not for avarice, rather because I feel so incensed that a notionally Christian nation, which supposed biblical foundations, thinks it's a good idea to worship a golden calf... :-\
We checked out a NY tourist shop and got me an ear-covering beanie. Genius! Found some interesting things in the footpath including a mention of Robert Menzies, and eventually caught a train up to Grand Central Station - which is even more beautiful than I had expected, though also less full of trains - I guess the layout is rather different these days! After taking a bunch of photos we headed up to the street and wandered toward the Empire State Building, stopping for drinks, bathroom and internet at Starbucks (saw a probably homeless African man evicted by police), and from there to Macy's. Macy's was absolutely beautifully decorated, that perfect Christmas look. Although it was super crowded (and overhearing people outside convinces me there are many awful arrogant New Yorkers), the shopping experience wasn't really that painful. We wandered around for a while, found me some gorgeous suede gloves, and after a while continued on our way. It was getting closer to time to head to Broadway for the musical. The snow finally came! Just slowly at first. We detoured via Nicola Tesla Corner and a Gamestop/Thinkgeek store. Was hard to tell if the games were much cheaper as the Australia tax would lead me to believe, so didn't buy any games or toys. From there we headed to McDonalds for a bite to eat before the show, while the snow really started coming down.
There is a lot of homelessness and begging here, it's hard to deal with. That said, it's much easier to give money to a guy who chooses to beg by opening the Maccas door for you, yes I know that's the plan but still, in such awful weather did not feel at all conflicted about giving him a reward for his troubles.
Panorama of Grand Central Station 1
Panorama of Grand Central Station 2
Apart from some minor difficulty finding the theatre (related to difficulty with the phone's GPS), we picked up the tickets without any hassles just before 6pm, and at 6 the queues started moving in. Snow is wonderful bit not standing in line out in it isn't bad either! :p
Our seats were in the back row of the balcony but we still had a good view of the stage. The show itself was amazing, the styles of both Roald Dahl and Tim Minchin shone through, and the actors were brilliant! (Would you believe there is a small difference between Broadway and the Huon Theatre Company?! Who you should also totally support, btw). Anyway, absolutely loved the show, wonderful on all accounts :-)
Didn't end till nearly 9:30, but we managed to find a nearby Indian place still open and grabbed some butter chicken and Shahi paneer. Once again, curry levels tolerable but far too high for “mild”.
We managed to do better with the subway home this time, made our way back to 42nd street where Greyhound arrived, found the E Train, and apart from Metrocard problems, got on okay and rode all the way to the WTC where we swapped to the PATH train, which meant going back above ground for 50m or so to change stations.
Got home no worries, end of a long but exciting day :-)
Panorama of Matilda stage on Broadway
Another of TImes Square