Manhattan Vacation Day 2: The High Line, Ghost Tour, and more.
Our first full day in New York City! The hotel we're staying in has a great free hot breakfast daily, which was one of my few must-list items for a hotel. (I really missed it at our hotel in Chicago, although there we had a mini-fridge and microwave in our hotel.) We had scrambled eggs, pancakes, and sausage this morning, and I snuck an apple and blueberry muffin in my purse to eat during the day. Then we used our free map from the lobby to subway down to the start of the High Line.
The High Line starts in Chelsea, a much quieter, less crowded area than our hotel. It's a public park built on an old elevated train platform, and it was really beautiful. Sara and I walked most of it. There were flowerbeds and art installations and amazing views when the plants would occassionally clear and the city around you would emerge between them. Today, September 11, 2022, would be my Grandma's 93rd birthday, and I took photos of most of the purple flowers that I saw in her honor. Purple was her favorite color.
We got off near the end of the High Line and walked through Bella Abzug Park. It was still drizzling a little, but we both hoped the heavy rain would hold off. We saw the Vessel structure, which was impressive, although I was disappointed that they aren't allowing people inside it right now, and Sara took a photo of me on the red big apple bench. Then we walked west to Pier 83, where our boat tour would take off from. We didn't pick the best side street to go down once we finally got around the enormous convention center, and we walked right past what I'm pretty sure was a drug deal going down outside a tent and one of the horse-drawn carriage horses taking a huge dump on the sidewalk. Ah, New York!
At the pier, we killed time until the boat tour started in a park where I played with a windmill water feature and watched dogs playing in the dog park, and Sara reread Faithful Place, one of the books that she brought with her. (She can't go anywhere without a book. I bought an old book by Miss Read, but I'm leaving at the hotel when we go out during the day.)
Weather was bad for the entire boat tour, overcast and drizzling. We sat inside on the lower level for most of it. It went around the entire island of Manhattan, which was pretty cool. We saw the crazy-crowded southern tip with the high skyline of skyscrapers, and the quiet, wooded areas of the northern tip, which was so covered in forests that neither of us could believe it. We passed so many different buildings and bridges and other sites, and the tour guide was very knowledgeable about all of them, although he did go on for a little too long about Ulysses S. Grant when we passed Grant's Tomb. ("He drank. And he fought. He was a great American!") We saw, from a distance, the rusted old gate to Pier 54, where the Titanic was supposed to have docked. He also pointed out a rock where Leonardo DiCaprio jumped in the Harlem River in one of his early movies, but he misnamed it Basketball Memoirs instead of Basketball Diaries, and I was tempted to correct him. We went outside to the front deck of the boat for parts of it, but the waters were choppy and the winds were strong. We did go out there when we drove past the Statue of Liberty, and they stalled the engine there so we were able to get a really amazing view close-up.
After the boat tour, we took the subway to Greenwich Village, where we'd booked a walking ghost tour for tonight. We trilled to kill time in Washington Square Park while we waited, but it was not a good night for that. It was too wet to sit anywhere, too dark for Sara to read or me to take photos, and a homeless woman kept yelling at us. We had dinner at Waverly Place Diner, and a cheeseburger (me) and chili-burger (Sara) really improved the mood. Then I got poked in the face with Sara's umbrella one too many times and walked to a CVS to buy a new one. I had to do this in Chicago, too, and apparently, I learned nothing from it because I didn't bring my own umbrella on this trip! I bought a kitschy NYC souvenir umbrella to remember the trip by.
Three other people on our ghost tour had NYC umbrellas, too, which I got a kick out of. Our tour stopped at the House of Death, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory (which I'd wanted to see), houses related to John Wilkes Booth and Edgar Allan Poe, and more. We also passed by the Friends apartment, Stonewall Inn, and a few other sites that our tour guide pointed out but didn't stop at. It was a great day, but the tour lasted until about 10, and we were both so tired by the time we finally got back to the hotel.
Distance walked today: 8.3 miles!
The High Line starts in Chelsea, a much quieter, less crowded area than our hotel. It's a public park built on an old elevated train platform, and it was really beautiful. Sara and I walked most of it. There were flowerbeds and art installations and amazing views when the plants would occassionally clear and the city around you would emerge between them. Today, September 11, 2022, would be my Grandma's 93rd birthday, and I took photos of most of the purple flowers that I saw in her honor. Purple was her favorite color.
We got off near the end of the High Line and walked through Bella Abzug Park. It was still drizzling a little, but we both hoped the heavy rain would hold off. We saw the Vessel structure, which was impressive, although I was disappointed that they aren't allowing people inside it right now, and Sara took a photo of me on the red big apple bench. Then we walked west to Pier 83, where our boat tour would take off from. We didn't pick the best side street to go down once we finally got around the enormous convention center, and we walked right past what I'm pretty sure was a drug deal going down outside a tent and one of the horse-drawn carriage horses taking a huge dump on the sidewalk. Ah, New York!
At the pier, we killed time until the boat tour started in a park where I played with a windmill water feature and watched dogs playing in the dog park, and Sara reread Faithful Place, one of the books that she brought with her. (She can't go anywhere without a book. I bought an old book by Miss Read, but I'm leaving at the hotel when we go out during the day.)
Weather was bad for the entire boat tour, overcast and drizzling. We sat inside on the lower level for most of it. It went around the entire island of Manhattan, which was pretty cool. We saw the crazy-crowded southern tip with the high skyline of skyscrapers, and the quiet, wooded areas of the northern tip, which was so covered in forests that neither of us could believe it. We passed so many different buildings and bridges and other sites, and the tour guide was very knowledgeable about all of them, although he did go on for a little too long about Ulysses S. Grant when we passed Grant's Tomb. ("He drank. And he fought. He was a great American!") We saw, from a distance, the rusted old gate to Pier 54, where the Titanic was supposed to have docked. He also pointed out a rock where Leonardo DiCaprio jumped in the Harlem River in one of his early movies, but he misnamed it Basketball Memoirs instead of Basketball Diaries, and I was tempted to correct him. We went outside to the front deck of the boat for parts of it, but the waters were choppy and the winds were strong. We did go out there when we drove past the Statue of Liberty, and they stalled the engine there so we were able to get a really amazing view close-up.
After the boat tour, we took the subway to Greenwich Village, where we'd booked a walking ghost tour for tonight. We trilled to kill time in Washington Square Park while we waited, but it was not a good night for that. It was too wet to sit anywhere, too dark for Sara to read or me to take photos, and a homeless woman kept yelling at us. We had dinner at Waverly Place Diner, and a cheeseburger (me) and chili-burger (Sara) really improved the mood. Then I got poked in the face with Sara's umbrella one too many times and walked to a CVS to buy a new one. I had to do this in Chicago, too, and apparently, I learned nothing from it because I didn't bring my own umbrella on this trip! I bought a kitschy NYC souvenir umbrella to remember the trip by.
Three other people on our ghost tour had NYC umbrellas, too, which I got a kick out of. Our tour stopped at the House of Death, the Triangle Shirtwaist Factory (which I'd wanted to see), houses related to John Wilkes Booth and Edgar Allan Poe, and more. We also passed by the Friends apartment, Stonewall Inn, and a few other sites that our tour guide pointed out but didn't stop at. It was a great day, but the tour lasted until about 10, and we were both so tired by the time we finally got back to the hotel.
Distance walked today: 8.3 miles!