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New York City
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When opportunity knocks, answer the door!
We have wanted for some time to visit New York City for awhile, in particular to
see Monty Python’s Spamalot.
When Pam’s son Erick called to ask us to help him and his wife Sara with their
move from Boston to New York, we
jumped at the chance. Our job was to dog-sit for Zeus and Zephyr in their
New York apartment while they packed up things in Boston and drove the U-haul to
NYC. What could be easier – a free place to stay just for taking care of a
couple of puppies!
Zeus is
an old
friend.
He had lived with us for a year while Erick and Sara were in Italy. He is
a little older and grayer, but still the same exuberant couch potato.
Zephyr is
a new acquaintance. She is a greyhound rescue, retired from racing.
We decided she knows she is retired, because she doesn’t seem to be interested
in running, or any kind of exercise for that matter.
We found that Erick’s apartment is in a great location. It is in upper
Manhattan, across the street from a large park, Fort Tryon, which is the site of
the Cloisters, one of New
York’s art museums. An even larger park is just a block away in the other
direction. Both parks have a network of paved walkways which are great for
exercising the dogs. Best of all (for us) is the proximity to the subway,
just two blocks from a station for the A Line, the express to downtown.
We did a little internet research before our trip, and found we could buy a
New York City Pass
which gave us entry to six tourist sites for about half-price. Since our
time would be somewhat limited, we elected to visit the Museum of Natural
History, the Empire State Building, the USS Intrepid Museum, and to take a
two-hour harbor cruise. We
passed on the Museum of Modern Art and the Guggenheim Museum.
Saturday
we hopped on the
subway and
headed for the Natural History Museum. We had to change trains once, from
the express to the local, but there is a stop right at the museum.
I
wanted to visit this museum because of their dinosaur collection. I guess
I just never
outgrew my youthful fascination with dinosaurs. I was particularly
interested in the
cladistics method of codifying the evolutional development of these
wonderful creatures, linking their earliest development to the many extinct
branches and the one living branch, modern birds.
They also had a neat presentation in the planetarium,
Cosmic Collision.
Always fun to sit in a darkened theater and watch the stars.
It was not the best day of the week to visit, as the place was full of children
(noisy children!). We grabbed a pizza for lunch in the museum restaurant
and just enjoyed the day, secure in the knowledge that they were someone else’s
problem.
Sunday was a day to relax and explore. We got to know the neighborhood,
visited a couple of 99¢ stores and the two
local
supermarkets. We bought a few cookware items, clothes hangers, and some
other odds and ends to make the apartment livable until the boxes arrived from
Boston. Picked
up some scallops and
shrimp
from a carry-out restaurant.
Monday we
played tourist again. We visited first the Empire State Building (pretty
windy on the observation deck but a nice view of
Manhattan), and then the World Trade Center site. There is quite a bit of
ongoing construction but we were unsure whether it is part of the new transit
center, the memorial, or something else.
We took a few minutes to visit the church across from the WTC,
St. Paul’s Chapel. We tried
to feel that we weren’t just tourists seeing the sights, but that is just what
we were.
We decided to treat ourselves to a nice dinner Monday evening, so we visited
Luzia’s, a
Portuguese/Spanish restaurant just a couple of blocks from Central park.
We had an excellent skirt steak (Churrasco) with Chimichurri sauce and a bottle
of Portuguese wine. (Getting in the mood for our November visit to
Lisbon.)
We learned Monday that I needed to take the train to Boston Wednesday and drive
Erick’s car back. I made the train reservation on the internet, then we
decided to take the subway to Penn Station a day ahead of time to pick up my
ticket and estimate how long it would take to get to the station. Sort of
a “dry run”. We
decided to
take a harbor cruise Tuesday morning, visit the Intrepid, and then pick up my
Amtrak ticket.
The
two-hour harbor cruise was very touristy but enjoyable. We started on the
Hudson River, went past Ellis Island and Liberty Island (to see the Statue of
Liberty
),
then headed up the East River under the Brooklyn, Manhattan and Washington
bridges.
The Circle Line
Sightseeing cruises leave from a pier just a couple of hundred feet from the USS
Intrepid. This was a nostalgia visit for me as the Intrepid was my first
ship, when I was a pilot with VS-27 from 1962 to 1965. Not a whole lot of
the ship is open to the
public,
but I enjoyed taking Pam through the open areas, waving my hands around a lot
while explaining what we heroes did back in the cold war.
It is only a few (long) blocks from the river back to the subway so we decided
to walk. Along the way we passed several small restaurants that are
located in the row houses, especially on 46th Street. All of these
restaurants had their menus posted outside and a waiter to invite you in.
We don’t have this much in San Diego, but it sure reminded us of Europe and
South America. We collected a few menus as we walked along.
We got back on the subway at 42nd Street and rode the one stop to Penn Station,
at 34th Street. When we exited the train we didn’t see any sign pointing
us to the train station, so we took the exit to the street. Big mistake!
It was pouring rain.
We didn’t see anything that looked like a train station. I led Pam around
the block expecting to see the entrance (a guy thing) then finally bit the
bullet and decided to ask for directions. We saw a UPS delivery man (he
should know, right?) and he sent us off – the wrong way. Finally I saw two
of New York’s finest, NYPD, and asked them where to go. They said “follow
us, we’re on our way there”. We took the direct route – right across the
street in the middle of traffic. The officer just held up his hand and
stopped traffic. If you are going to Jay-walk, it sure works well to be
with a Cop!
We
finally arrived at the station, picked up my ticket, and then located the direct
entrance from the subway – no need to return to street level.
Wednesday
I caught an early train to Boston. It was my first recent experience
riding a train in the USA. I was pleased that the train compared well with
European trains. We really need more public rail transportation here.
The drive back from Boston wasn’t as much fun. Our western highways are
better, faster
and less crowded.
Thursday we helped unload the U-Haul, and gained a real appreciation for New
York apartment living. Taking a truckload of boxes up to the fourth floor
of a one-elevator building isn’t a lot of fun. (Did I mention we are senior
citizens?) We managed to finish by about 4:30 in the afternoon, leaving
Erick an hour to return the truck. It also left a couple of hours for Pam
and me to get cleaned up and head back downtown for dinner and a play.
I
had found an internet site, NYTIX.COM that
gave information about all the current shows, including ticket prices and
availability of discounts. We had wanted to see
Monty Python’s Spamalot, and
we were successful in getting some bargain tickets ($36.25). Our seats
were in the balcony, but the Shubert Theatre is small enough that we still
considered them to be excellent seats.
We decided to visit one of the restaurants we had passed on 46th Street, the
Joshua Tree. They were offering
a 1 ¼ lb. Maine Lobster special for $12.95. We couldn’t pass up that
bargain. It was excellent, and as advertised.
Spamalot was everything we had expected. We laughed for two hours
straight. We were a bit disappointed that David Hyde-Pierce is no longer
with the show, but Martin Moran was a wonderful replacement in the role of Sir
Robin.
Friday we
were to head back to San Diego. We planned to take the A-Line subway
(express) all the way from Erick’s neighborhood to JFK airport. Since our
flight didn’t leave until after six pm, Erick wanted to take us to see where he
will be teaching, Ramapo College in New
Jersey. It is less than an hour from his apartment, not a bad commute for
New York.
We enjoyed a quick tour, saw his office (which has a nice view of the campus),
visited the campus store for a T-shirt, then hit the road. We saw a
Panera restaurant from the highway so
stopped for lunch and loaded Erick up with bread to take home.
We made it to the airport with plenty of time to spare. A quick trip with
a lasting impression of how nice everyone in New York seems to be. Maybe
9/11 changed things, but we couldn’t have been happier with the way we were
treated, the conversations we had, and our general feeling that this is a
really nice place to visit.
