In the morning, Megan was up and off to work before either of us got up. We got cleaned up and organized, and set out for the airport at about 8:30. It was a half-hour drive, and my flight was at 11:05. Cathy's wasn't until 2:00 or so, but she said she could either wait in Megan's apartment or at the airport, and the people-watching was better at the airport. That's how we could share an Uber. I called it, then we figured out how to share the fare as we drove. My $10 credit made my fare $5.00, and hers was $15. We dropped her at her terminal, then had to actually leave the airport and circle back around to get to my terminal. I don't know how they do it, I really don't. The traffic would kill me.
Once I was at my terminal, I bought some cereal and orange juice for breakfast and headed for my gate. When I reached it, I wasn't at all sure I was in the right place. It was full of little single-person booths with an internet-connected tablet attached. There was also a high counter with stations all along it. No regular chairs attached to each other with nowhere to set your stuff. It looked like some kind of higher-level business lounge or something. Each booth and station had a power hookup, too, so I charged my phone while I ate, surfed the net, and waited.
The flights home were uneventful. In Atlanta, I bought a bottle of diet Coke, then found a place to buy a sandwich for lunch. They saw the pop in my hand and tried to charge me for it, since they sold the same bottles (note to self: put any recently purchased drinks, etc., away before attempting to buy anything else, particularly since most places sell bottle of diet Coke even if they also sell fountain drinks).
It was such a great trip! I came home feeling like it had been a week or more instead of just four days (really, just 2 1/2 days plus Monday morning, which was spent traveling to the airport). I can hardly wait to go back! There is already some talk about a possible return in October, so we will see. All in all, I didn't find it as overwhelming a place as I had imagined. The streets are numbered south to north, and the metro and buses are easy to understand. We all got along well, and we did a mix of what everyone wanted to do - and I already have a list of things I want to do next time, whenever that may be.
Monday, April 11, 2016
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Third Piece of the Apple
Our day began with absolutely beautiful weather! I was so glad that I had thrown my windbreaker into my bag, because the winter coat would have been way too much. It was sunny, and near 60 degrees. Our plan for the day was brunch at a little Cuban bistro near Megan's, then visiting Central Park.
Brunch was incredible! The place was tiny (only about six tables), and it appeared to be staffed by a family. I ordered what were billed as banana pancakes with dulce de leche. Instead of being flat, like every other pancake I have ever encountered, I received three pancakes that were actually cooked in little fluted pans. These were then turned upside down and covered in diagonally sliced bananas. The dulce de leche was served in a small dish so that I could add what I wanted, like you would use syrup. Absolutely delicious! It was all I could do to force down the last couple of bites, but I wasn't going to waste it.
We then Ubered down to Strawberry Fields in Central Park. Strawberry Fields is a memorial to John Lennon, who lived and died at the Dakota, just across the street from where the memorial sits. The central mosaic, with the word "Imagine" in the center, was a gift to New York by the city of Naples, Italy. Every day there are flowers placed there, and on this day, it was a peace sign made of white tulips. There was a musician playing guitar and singing, and he happened to be singing "Imagine" as we approached. The area is very quiet and beautiful. In the warmer months, they say it is filled with flowers. After listening to the singer for a bit, we walked down to the Bethesda fountain. The lake and the fountain, with its surrounding terrace, was originally meant by the park's designers, to be the centerpiece of the park. The statue on the fountain is the only one in the park that was commissioned by the park designers, in fact. We went across to the area they call The Mall. There was something going on nearby, so Megan and I went to investigate while Cathy decided to sit and wait for us to wander back. The attraction was a group of young guys doing what I would call acrobatics and dance. What they mostly did, though, was talk. They were entertaining and engaging - and also very interested in gathering as much money as possible from the crowd. We kind of walked up on the end of it, so it wasn't long before we went back to where Cathy was. It was such a pleasant day that we just sat in the sun for a bit. Then we saw another group of guys setting up for a show right by where we were sitting. Turned out, it was different guys with a different name, but the same act and patter (obviously part of the same group). During the show, some Guardian Angels came by! I didn't know they still existed. They are a volunteer group of "guardians" who roam around public areas in case of trouble. We watched the whole show, then made our way out of the other side of the park, going back to Megan's to get ready for dinner before our show. We had a really nice time just sitting in the sun, people-watching, but ultimately we had to go back to Megan's to get ready for going to the theatre.
After getting back and changing clothes, we headed out into the neighborhood to have dinner at a BBQ place that they had been to before. It was absolutely delicious! It was kind of a Route 66-themed place with a bar in the front and restaurant part in the back. Then we scooted on downtown. We had kind of planned to go past the UN and then to Grand Central Station just to see it, but we were too tight on time, so we walked through Times Square and ducked into Grand Central just for a quick look around (which is all I really had in mind, anyway). Then we went to the theatre to see "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical". Some while back I had ordered the cast album, so I knew the songs. What I really like best about seeing shows on stage, though, is the set design. I love to see how they change one thing into another. Before it started, I took a picture of the piano that was onstage, whereupon I was admonished by an usher that there was no photography allowed. I deleted the picture, but really? It was a piano. (Funnily enough, though, I discovered later that Google+ uploaded it the instant I took it, so I still have it.) The show was really, really good! Afterward, we ordered an Uber and stood around waiting, and having pedi-cab guys offer us rides. They weren't as keen when they discovered we were going to Harlem, some 50+ blocks away. :) It looked like our car was stuck somewhere, but when he called us, we discovered that we had misread the map and were waiting at the wrong corner. Instead of going around again, though, he canceled us - and then charged me $10!! I immediately protested it and Uber gave me a $10 credit (which I used the next day for my share of the trip to the airport). Megan then flagged down a cab and we went back that way, instead. So I have learned a lot about how to do city stuff - buying a Metro card, taking all sorts of public transport, paying a cab with a credit card, splitting an Uber fare with someone.
After getting back and changing clothes, we headed out into the neighborhood to have dinner at a BBQ place that they had been to before. It was absolutely delicious! It was kind of a Route 66-themed place with a bar in the front and restaurant part in the back. Then we scooted on downtown. We had kind of planned to go past the UN and then to Grand Central Station just to see it, but we were too tight on time, so we walked through Times Square and ducked into Grand Central just for a quick look around (which is all I really had in mind, anyway). Then we went to the theatre to see "Beautiful: The Carole King Musical". Some while back I had ordered the cast album, so I knew the songs. What I really like best about seeing shows on stage, though, is the set design. I love to see how they change one thing into another. Before it started, I took a picture of the piano that was onstage, whereupon I was admonished by an usher that there was no photography allowed. I deleted the picture, but really? It was a piano. (Funnily enough, though, I discovered later that Google+ uploaded it the instant I took it, so I still have it.) The show was really, really good! Afterward, we ordered an Uber and stood around waiting, and having pedi-cab guys offer us rides. They weren't as keen when they discovered we were going to Harlem, some 50+ blocks away. :) It looked like our car was stuck somewhere, but when he called us, we discovered that we had misread the map and were waiting at the wrong corner. Instead of going around again, though, he canceled us - and then charged me $10!! I immediately protested it and Uber gave me a $10 credit (which I used the next day for my share of the trip to the airport). Megan then flagged down a cab and we went back that way, instead. So I have learned a lot about how to do city stuff - buying a Metro card, taking all sorts of public transport, paying a cab with a credit card, splitting an Uber fare with someone.
Saturday, April 9, 2016
Big Apple Part Two
In the morning, we walked down to a little neighborhood bakery for breakfast. I had a roll that had some sort of sweet crust on top, and asked if it had a name (because I would like to find it again). The girl said, yes, it was called sweet bread. Uh, ok, that's helpful. :) We then went to the subway and bought Metro cards for the weekend, and took the subway to near our first museum, the Museum of the City of New York. As we walked along the street, someone was playing Latin music (Megan's neighborhood is largely Hispanic), and I said that it totally fit my image of NYC - the ethnic neighborhood, a soundtrack like in a movie. The weather was sunny but brisk, so we were glad we had winter coats. The night before it was absolutely freezing by the 9/11 museum.
The Museum of the City of New York was great. It is fairly small. Megan got in free because she lives in the same zip code, but Cathy and I got our tickets 2-for-1 on Groupon for $15. The best part of the museum was a video presentation about the history of New York City. It was narrated by Stanley Tucci and used old photographs and film to trace the roots of the city from its earliest days. Did you know that the Bronx is named after a family named Bronck, who originally owned the land? It was.... the Broncks'. Get it? :) There was also a room about the NYC Marathon, a room displaying some of the fancy belongings (jewelry, dishes, paintings) from NYC society's Gilded Age, and artwork depicting important people in New York's history, including - tadaa! - Alexander Hamilton. It was a really nice stop on our little tour.
Next, we took a bus to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Before going in, we got lunch from a food truck in front of the museum. A little known fact about the Met is that the admission charge is actually optional. The sign says that $25 is "suggested", but when you get to the desk, they ask how much you want to pay. Cathy paid $5 for Megan and her, I paid $10 (ok, I felt guilty), so it averaged out to $5 each. We didn't intend to see a lot, so we went to the area with prints and photographs, then made our way down to the American Wing, seeing what we could along the way. The Met is massive, and you could spend days there and not see it all, so we had to be selective. My favorite thing there was a house (an actual building that appeared to have been joined to the museum by an atrium) where the rooms had all been purchased and reconstructed from various other places. Some were from famous people's homes, others were representative of different styles. By that time, we needed fresh air, so we left. We had intended to go to the Neue Gallerie to see the Woman in Gold, but there was a line outside. We sat and watched for awhile to see if the line moved quickly or not, and finally decided to skip it, since, even after waiting, it would undoubted be crowded. And it was too expensive for a bad experience. So we proceeded on to Rockefeller Center.
When we got to Rockefeller Center, there was no one on the ice rink because the Zamboni was making its rounds. We hung around for awhile, walking around to see it from both sides, watching people skate. The NBC building where they film the Today Show is right there, too. Then we caught an Uber to the Carnegie Deli for dinner. There was a long line outside when we got there, but we decided to get in it and watch for awhile to see if it moved quickly. After waiting about 45 minutes (I think), we decided it was a lost cause. Megan found out that her friend Leigh was at a restaurant in the theatre district, Junior's, which also had a long wait time, but she put our names in while we made our way downtown (I think). One thing that I had previously believed about New York was that Broadway was a street with theatre-theatre-theatre-theatre all along it. In truth, the theatres are scattered around the whole area. There aren't many theatres actually on Broadway itself. Before we went into the restaurant to wait, Megan took me a block over to see the theatre where "Hamilton" is. If I couldn't see it, I could at least see where it is housed! Even though we had spent part of our waiting time just getting down there, we still faced a lengthy wait. The pre-theatre crowd was out in full force - and it was Saturday, so..... Leigh waited with us. We finally scored a corner table on one of the theatre alleys, so we got to watch workers arriving to get ready for that night's show. I just loved it! I don't usually order dessert, but the coconut and lemon cake was calling my name.
After dinner, we walked down through Times Square (which is not, as one might expect, an actual square or even a plaza). The New Year's Eve ball sits high atop its building, waiting for next year. The signs and lights were incredible, and lights were coming on on buildings all around. There is just so much to see! (That's probably the understatement of the year.) Then we made our way back to Megan's. It was only 8:30, but it had been a busy day, and we had planning to do for the next day.
The Museum of the City of New York was great. It is fairly small. Megan got in free because she lives in the same zip code, but Cathy and I got our tickets 2-for-1 on Groupon for $15. The best part of the museum was a video presentation about the history of New York City. It was narrated by Stanley Tucci and used old photographs and film to trace the roots of the city from its earliest days. Did you know that the Bronx is named after a family named Bronck, who originally owned the land? It was.... the Broncks'. Get it? :) There was also a room about the NYC Marathon, a room displaying some of the fancy belongings (jewelry, dishes, paintings) from NYC society's Gilded Age, and artwork depicting important people in New York's history, including - tadaa! - Alexander Hamilton. It was a really nice stop on our little tour.
Next, we took a bus to the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Before going in, we got lunch from a food truck in front of the museum. A little known fact about the Met is that the admission charge is actually optional. The sign says that $25 is "suggested", but when you get to the desk, they ask how much you want to pay. Cathy paid $5 for Megan and her, I paid $10 (ok, I felt guilty), so it averaged out to $5 each. We didn't intend to see a lot, so we went to the area with prints and photographs, then made our way down to the American Wing, seeing what we could along the way. The Met is massive, and you could spend days there and not see it all, so we had to be selective. My favorite thing there was a house (an actual building that appeared to have been joined to the museum by an atrium) where the rooms had all been purchased and reconstructed from various other places. Some were from famous people's homes, others were representative of different styles. By that time, we needed fresh air, so we left. We had intended to go to the Neue Gallerie to see the Woman in Gold, but there was a line outside. We sat and watched for awhile to see if the line moved quickly or not, and finally decided to skip it, since, even after waiting, it would undoubted be crowded. And it was too expensive for a bad experience. So we proceeded on to Rockefeller Center.
When we got to Rockefeller Center, there was no one on the ice rink because the Zamboni was making its rounds. We hung around for awhile, walking around to see it from both sides, watching people skate. The NBC building where they film the Today Show is right there, too. Then we caught an Uber to the Carnegie Deli for dinner. There was a long line outside when we got there, but we decided to get in it and watch for awhile to see if it moved quickly. After waiting about 45 minutes (I think), we decided it was a lost cause. Megan found out that her friend Leigh was at a restaurant in the theatre district, Junior's, which also had a long wait time, but she put our names in while we made our way downtown (I think). One thing that I had previously believed about New York was that Broadway was a street with theatre-theatre-theatre-theatre all along it. In truth, the theatres are scattered around the whole area. There aren't many theatres actually on Broadway itself. Before we went into the restaurant to wait, Megan took me a block over to see the theatre where "Hamilton" is. If I couldn't see it, I could at least see where it is housed! Even though we had spent part of our waiting time just getting down there, we still faced a lengthy wait. The pre-theatre crowd was out in full force - and it was Saturday, so..... Leigh waited with us. We finally scored a corner table on one of the theatre alleys, so we got to watch workers arriving to get ready for that night's show. I just loved it! I don't usually order dessert, but the coconut and lemon cake was calling my name.
After dinner, we walked down through Times Square (which is not, as one might expect, an actual square or even a plaza). The New Year's Eve ball sits high atop its building, waiting for next year. The signs and lights were incredible, and lights were coming on on buildings all around. There is just so much to see! (That's probably the understatement of the year.) Then we made our way back to Megan's. It was only 8:30, but it had been a busy day, and we had planning to do for the next day.
Friday, April 8, 2016
Little Trip to the Big Apple
So, here is how this happened. A couple of months ago, Cathy messaged me on Facebook and asked if I would be interested in going with her (actually, meeting her there) to visit Megan in New York City. I didn't even think about it, I said I was in! I debated a bit about whether to get a cheap flight out of Chicago, which would be direct but require an overnight in Chicago, or to use Delta miles and leave from here. That required a change in ATL, and would take longer, but I could leave from home. Even though I was planning to save my miles for my next trip to Spain, I decided to use the miles, which made my flights cost a grand total of $11.08.
I was so excited, that it almost seemed like I was going out of the country. Cathy has been several times, so she had some ideas and I had some ideas, and we worked out an itinerary that was a little taste of everything. We were to arrive on Friday, Feb 26, and leave Feb 29. She actually flew up on Thursday night, but her flight was so delayed that she arrived around midnight. My first flight was a little delayed, and I was a little panicked when I got to ATL and discovered that my next gate, instead of being in the same concourse (C), it was in the main terminal. I had to go down to the trains and get over there, and I arrived just in time for an announcement that the ongoing flight was also delayed by an hour. Whew! I got to NYC right around noon, and took a cab to Megan's apartment.
I changed into jeans, then we set out for my first taste of the city. (Megan was still at work.) First we went to a crazy-busy burger place that Megan likes, then had our first experience with hijacking Uber cars. We had requested a car, and the app said it would be a black Toyota Corolla. One arrived and we hopped in the back. The driver said, "Dahlia?" and Cathy said, "No, Cathy". The driver repeated, "Dahlia?" and we suddenly realized we were in the wrong car! So we hopped back out, and got in the other black Toyota. Funny...but it wouldn't be the last time.
We then went to the Staten Island Ferry to sail past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The ferry actually comes fairly close to the statue, which seemed smaller than I thought it would. I mean, I realize we were still seeing it at a distance, but it still seemed smaller. I looked down into the nasty dark water and thought about my friend who swam around Manhattan a few years ago, and I couldn't imagine being in that water myself. The best part - the ferry is free. When it got to Staten Island, we just stayed on while everyone got off, thinking that a new load would come on and we would go back. We were just sitting there talking when a boat policeman yelled at us to hurry up and get off! So we trotted off, went around to the ferry dock lobby and got into the crowd to get right back on a few minutes later. I'm not really sure why we needed to get off - it certainly wasn't because they were cleaning the boat between trips. We also discovered that some ferries have outsides where you can go up on deck, and some do not. Ours did not. Bummer.
The view of Manhattan coming back was stunning in the afternoon sunlight, and I spotted the place in Battery Park where my friend set out on his swim. We then took a cab to the 9/11 Museum, which only opened about a year ago. The whole museum is underground. The footprints of the two towers are fountains, with the names of the victims cut into metal plates around the sides. The water flows from the walls of the holes, toward the center, and down into a smaller center square. There are lots of trees planted around the plaza, but there is one tree there that survived the whole disaster and is still alive. Seeing the plaza, it was hard to imagine how they ever could have cleaned up and cleared away all of the debris. The area is huge.
The museum was just breathtaking. There is an "In Memorium" section, with photos and stories of the people who died that day. You can look up any individual person and read about them, and also sit in a center room and hear family members and friends talking about the various people. Throughout this area, you could hear the "reading of the names" that they do on anniversaries. How long does it take to read out almost 3000 names? All around, you could see twisted girders and footings from the original buildings, some grafitti'd with the names of workers and departments who helped clear the wreckage.
The other section of the museum, the larger part, is called "On the Day". No pictures are allowed inside. It is basically a timeline of 9/11/2001, from the first reports of something going on in NYC, to the news of the Pentagon, and the plane crash in PA. There are TV screens showing the special reports that were airing, whole destroyed fire trucks and melted police car doors, huge hunks of window glass, all kinds of things found on the streets, photos of all that was going on that day, the "missing" posters that were everywhere, the little shrines that popped up all over, stories of unsung heroes. There are several little darkened side rooms where you can sit and listen to people telling their stories of that day - how they heard about it, where they were, what they did, their panicked attempts to reach family and friends, The one room that I had to leave was one where they were playing the voicemails and phone messages from people on the planes, or trapped in the high floors of the buildings, people who would be dead within minutes. The one thing I was worried about seeing, which I did not see anywhere, were images of people jumping from the towers. To me, that was the most horrific thing of all.
We were there almost four hours. Then, after some confusion about where they could pick us up (no stopping along the blocks containing the museum and the new Freedom Tower), we got in another Uber and went to meet Megan and a couple of friends at a little neighborhood pizza place called Patsy's. It has been there since 1933 (I didn't even know pizza was a thing in 1933). New York pizza is interesting, though not my favorite thing. But, of course, any pizza is good pizza. It was a fun evening, and Megan's friends are great. When we got ready to leave, we ordered another Uber. It was supposed to be a Ford Explorer or something larger (they tell you what the vehicle is, color, and license plate number), and we went outside to wait. A minivan pulled up, and Cathy walked out to meet it. When she opened the door, there were little kids inside. Then the driver hopped out, saying she was just there to pick up a pizza. LOL - attempted hijacking number two!
I was so excited, that it almost seemed like I was going out of the country. Cathy has been several times, so she had some ideas and I had some ideas, and we worked out an itinerary that was a little taste of everything. We were to arrive on Friday, Feb 26, and leave Feb 29. She actually flew up on Thursday night, but her flight was so delayed that she arrived around midnight. My first flight was a little delayed, and I was a little panicked when I got to ATL and discovered that my next gate, instead of being in the same concourse (C), it was in the main terminal. I had to go down to the trains and get over there, and I arrived just in time for an announcement that the ongoing flight was also delayed by an hour. Whew! I got to NYC right around noon, and took a cab to Megan's apartment.
I changed into jeans, then we set out for my first taste of the city. (Megan was still at work.) First we went to a crazy-busy burger place that Megan likes, then had our first experience with hijacking Uber cars. We had requested a car, and the app said it would be a black Toyota Corolla. One arrived and we hopped in the back. The driver said, "Dahlia?" and Cathy said, "No, Cathy". The driver repeated, "Dahlia?" and we suddenly realized we were in the wrong car! So we hopped back out, and got in the other black Toyota. Funny...but it wouldn't be the last time.
We then went to the Staten Island Ferry to sail past the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. The ferry actually comes fairly close to the statue, which seemed smaller than I thought it would. I mean, I realize we were still seeing it at a distance, but it still seemed smaller. I looked down into the nasty dark water and thought about my friend who swam around Manhattan a few years ago, and I couldn't imagine being in that water myself. The best part - the ferry is free. When it got to Staten Island, we just stayed on while everyone got off, thinking that a new load would come on and we would go back. We were just sitting there talking when a boat policeman yelled at us to hurry up and get off! So we trotted off, went around to the ferry dock lobby and got into the crowd to get right back on a few minutes later. I'm not really sure why we needed to get off - it certainly wasn't because they were cleaning the boat between trips. We also discovered that some ferries have outsides where you can go up on deck, and some do not. Ours did not. Bummer.
The view of Manhattan coming back was stunning in the afternoon sunlight, and I spotted the place in Battery Park where my friend set out on his swim. We then took a cab to the 9/11 Museum, which only opened about a year ago. The whole museum is underground. The footprints of the two towers are fountains, with the names of the victims cut into metal plates around the sides. The water flows from the walls of the holes, toward the center, and down into a smaller center square. There are lots of trees planted around the plaza, but there is one tree there that survived the whole disaster and is still alive. Seeing the plaza, it was hard to imagine how they ever could have cleaned up and cleared away all of the debris. The area is huge.
The museum was just breathtaking. There is an "In Memorium" section, with photos and stories of the people who died that day. You can look up any individual person and read about them, and also sit in a center room and hear family members and friends talking about the various people. Throughout this area, you could hear the "reading of the names" that they do on anniversaries. How long does it take to read out almost 3000 names? All around, you could see twisted girders and footings from the original buildings, some grafitti'd with the names of workers and departments who helped clear the wreckage.
The other section of the museum, the larger part, is called "On the Day". No pictures are allowed inside. It is basically a timeline of 9/11/2001, from the first reports of something going on in NYC, to the news of the Pentagon, and the plane crash in PA. There are TV screens showing the special reports that were airing, whole destroyed fire trucks and melted police car doors, huge hunks of window glass, all kinds of things found on the streets, photos of all that was going on that day, the "missing" posters that were everywhere, the little shrines that popped up all over, stories of unsung heroes. There are several little darkened side rooms where you can sit and listen to people telling their stories of that day - how they heard about it, where they were, what they did, their panicked attempts to reach family and friends, The one room that I had to leave was one where they were playing the voicemails and phone messages from people on the planes, or trapped in the high floors of the buildings, people who would be dead within minutes. The one thing I was worried about seeing, which I did not see anywhere, were images of people jumping from the towers. To me, that was the most horrific thing of all.
We were there almost four hours. Then, after some confusion about where they could pick us up (no stopping along the blocks containing the museum and the new Freedom Tower), we got in another Uber and went to meet Megan and a couple of friends at a little neighborhood pizza place called Patsy's. It has been there since 1933 (I didn't even know pizza was a thing in 1933). New York pizza is interesting, though not my favorite thing. But, of course, any pizza is good pizza. It was a fun evening, and Megan's friends are great. When we got ready to leave, we ordered another Uber. It was supposed to be a Ford Explorer or something larger (they tell you what the vehicle is, color, and license plate number), and we went outside to wait. A minivan pulled up, and Cathy walked out to meet it. When she opened the door, there were little kids inside. Then the driver hopped out, saying she was just there to pick up a pizza. LOL - attempted hijacking number two!
Subscribe to:
Comments (Atom)