NYC: Day 1
New York City was one of our top destinations for our honeymoon. We
ended up on the west coast for the honeymoon, though still had an interest
in visiting New York, mostly because Aleks has never been here. The
opportunity presented itself for a visit, so we took full advantage of the
circumstances, and booked a long weekend in the big city.
I should mention that while I've been to NYC once before, it was in the
middle of winter, where we mostly moved from place to place, trying to be
inside and mostly warm. The one thing that stuck with me is that
New York is many things to many different people. Depending on who was
leading us around that day, we saw very different sides of the city. Whether it
was China Town or the Upper West Side, each of my hosts had something of
an itinerary that greatly influenced how I viewed NYC at the time.
Being newlyweds, we're both somewhat conscious of our funds. Flying
was more than we cared to spend, and Aleks isn't much help when it comes
driving for a road trip, so we thought we'd check out Greyhounds services.
We really didn't know what to expect for the bus experience. I should have been
forewarned when someone said to me, "well, let me know how that goes", with a
slight disdain in her voice when I mentioned we were traveling by bus.
Things got
crazy pretty quickly once we got to the bus station. Evidently, a previous
bus heading to NYC was overfilled, and there was a line of people who had
been waiting for more than three hours by the time we got there. Directions on
where to wait seemed to be not quite understood, and people were shifting lines
and were fairly agitated. We made the best of the situation and were
quite thankful
when we boarded the bus and found seats together, even though we were an
hour behind schedule.
As we were approaching the city, it struck me as fairly ironic that we were
taking the Greyhound, but would be staying at the Hudson Hotel
(hudsonhotel.com).
We ended up getting a room at this lovely hotel through the graces of
priceline. Talk about different perspectives, the greyhound and the Hudson
definitely serve two different types of clientele.
We got into the city about an hour after we were scheduled to. I didn't have a
problem with that, mostly because check in for our hotel wasn't until 3pm. We
had five hours to kill, and while the hotel was able to watch our bags, we both
desperately wanted a shower and refresh prior to exploring the city.
Our hotel is pretty close to Columbus Circle, and the southwestern entrance to
Central Park. We wandered around the park for a bit, checking out the tip
of the southern portion. It was nice to see so many people out enjoying the day.
We spent much of our first day getting used to the subway, hunting down a new
pair of skates for Aleks, and checking out a random Mexican restaurant, which
had $5 happy hour margaritas.
We had plans to meet up with my cousin Renee in the evening at a Biergarten
in Brooklyn. It started to rain, which put a damper on Aleks trying out his
new skates, and the chess board down in the hotel lounge was taken, so we
made out way to Brooklyn earlier than expected. The Biergarten was pretty true
to what I'd expect. One half was lined with huge picnic tables where you grab
a seat where you can, and the other half had smaller tables and bar stools
along the wall. We grabbed a couple seats at the bar, ordered a Liter of beer
(one for each), and took in the scenery. I realized at one point that the beer
glass made for an excellent tripod, so I took some fairly long exposure shots
of the barkeeps working and pouring beer.
Cousin Renee made it from her work party and met up with us shortly after
we were done with our Liter of beer. It was raining, and we really didn't know
much of Brooklyn, but she told us about the Barcade, a bar whose walls are
lined with video games. That was enough to sell Aleks on the deal, so we
ended up getting a taxi to take us there.
Renee's boyfriend Adam met up with us at Barcade, and it was really nice
getting to know him. Aleks was fading, as we didn't get the best sleep on
the bus, but was a trooper and drank another beer as we talked and had
a nice time.
We decided it was about time to head home, but not without a stop at the
Alligator. Have you ever heard of a place that gives you a ticket for a free
pizza when you buy a beer? It was pretty incredible! I bought a $4 draft
Yuengling and was handed a red ticket. The red ticket can be turned in at
the counter for a freshly made stone oven pizza. My photos don't really
do it justice, but wow, why don't more cities have a secret like this!
It's about time to get back out and about. We didn't set an alarm clock this
morning, hoping to compensate for the lack of a good night's sleep on the
greyhound, but we're ready to go!
ended up on the west coast for the honeymoon, though still had an interest
in visiting New York, mostly because Aleks has never been here. The
opportunity presented itself for a visit, so we took full advantage of the
circumstances, and booked a long weekend in the big city.
I should mention that while I've been to NYC once before, it was in the
middle of winter, where we mostly moved from place to place, trying to be
inside and mostly warm. The one thing that stuck with me is that
New York is many things to many different people. Depending on who was
leading us around that day, we saw very different sides of the city. Whether it
was China Town or the Upper West Side, each of my hosts had something of
an itinerary that greatly influenced how I viewed NYC at the time.
Being newlyweds, we're both somewhat conscious of our funds. Flying
was more than we cared to spend, and Aleks isn't much help when it comes
driving for a road trip, so we thought we'd check out Greyhounds services.
We really didn't know what to expect for the bus experience. I should have been
forewarned when someone said to me, "well, let me know how that goes", with a
slight disdain in her voice when I mentioned we were traveling by bus.
Things got
crazy pretty quickly once we got to the bus station. Evidently, a previous
bus heading to NYC was overfilled, and there was a line of people who had
been waiting for more than three hours by the time we got there. Directions on
where to wait seemed to be not quite understood, and people were shifting lines
and were fairly agitated. We made the best of the situation and were
quite thankful
when we boarded the bus and found seats together, even though we were an
hour behind schedule.
As we were approaching the city, it struck me as fairly ironic that we were
taking the Greyhound, but would be staying at the Hudson Hotel
(hudsonhotel.com).
We ended up getting a room at this lovely hotel through the graces of
priceline. Talk about different perspectives, the greyhound and the Hudson
definitely serve two different types of clientele.
We got into the city about an hour after we were scheduled to. I didn't have a
problem with that, mostly because check in for our hotel wasn't until 3pm. We
had five hours to kill, and while the hotel was able to watch our bags, we both
desperately wanted a shower and refresh prior to exploring the city.
Our hotel is pretty close to Columbus Circle, and the southwestern entrance to
Central Park. We wandered around the park for a bit, checking out the tip
of the southern portion. It was nice to see so many people out enjoying the day.
We spent much of our first day getting used to the subway, hunting down a new
pair of skates for Aleks, and checking out a random Mexican restaurant, which
had $5 happy hour margaritas.
We had plans to meet up with my cousin Renee in the evening at a Biergarten
in Brooklyn. It started to rain, which put a damper on Aleks trying out his
new skates, and the chess board down in the hotel lounge was taken, so we
made out way to Brooklyn earlier than expected. The Biergarten was pretty true
to what I'd expect. One half was lined with huge picnic tables where you grab
a seat where you can, and the other half had smaller tables and bar stools
along the wall. We grabbed a couple seats at the bar, ordered a Liter of beer
(one for each), and took in the scenery. I realized at one point that the beer
glass made for an excellent tripod, so I took some fairly long exposure shots
of the barkeeps working and pouring beer.
Cousin Renee made it from her work party and met up with us shortly after
we were done with our Liter of beer. It was raining, and we really didn't know
much of Brooklyn, but she told us about the Barcade, a bar whose walls are
lined with video games. That was enough to sell Aleks on the deal, so we
ended up getting a taxi to take us there.
Renee's boyfriend Adam met up with us at Barcade, and it was really nice
getting to know him. Aleks was fading, as we didn't get the best sleep on
the bus, but was a trooper and drank another beer as we talked and had
a nice time.
We decided it was about time to head home, but not without a stop at the
Alligator. Have you ever heard of a place that gives you a ticket for a free
pizza when you buy a beer? It was pretty incredible! I bought a $4 draft
Yuengling and was handed a red ticket. The red ticket can be turned in at
the counter for a freshly made stone oven pizza. My photos don't really
do it justice, but wow, why don't more cities have a secret like this!
It's about time to get back out and about. We didn't set an alarm clock this
morning, hoping to compensate for the lack of a good night's sleep on the
greyhound, but we're ready to go!