New York 2000
Mar. 1st, 2000 11:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
froodnet
The Big Trip to the Big Apple
Well, here it is, the trip report for all interested and not-so-interested parties! In order to include all the events of this experience I have to start at getting on the plane at Heathrow or else I would miss out the drug smuggler and the medical emergency! For anyone reading this for some quick hints without delving into the whole thing here are some tips:
Check out the weatherplanner website more than 7 days before you go – I did and the report was 100% accurate several months previous. Don’t know if it is always that good, but worth a try. http://www.weatherplanner.com
Getting there. We arrived at Heathrow with plenty of time to spare having reached there in less than an hour. We had left home several hours before the flight, as I still shudder when I recall my nightmare journey to Gatwick last year when it took 4.5 hours to do a 1.5 hour trip round the M25! We checked in our cases and went for lunch and then wandered around the duty free shops at Heathrow. The flight was called on time and we boarded and took our seats. Strange things started happening immediately, a stewardess appeared and ask the demure looking female across the aisle from me to come to the front of the aircraft. Looking puzzled she complied, never to be seen again. People continued to board but it became obvious that something was occurring in the row of seats she had just vacated. Eventually the passengers in the row of 4 centre seats were asked to stand, and the police came and started dismantling the seat cushions and searching the chair pockets – unsuccessfully it appeared. They left and we later learned that the passenger had been ask to leave the aircraft and her baggage removed. Shortly afterwards, one of the passengers who returned to a seat in that row, appeared to find something which she took forward to the crew. As she didn’t enlighten us to what she had found, we continued to speculate! The journey was about half way through when we heard the classic announcement, "If there is a doctor or nurse on board please make themselves known to the cabin crew." Unbeknown to us, a female passenger, this time from 2 seats in front of us, had collapsed in the aisle. Luckily for her, there was a doctor onboard and she also disappeared from view. She was returned to her seat about an hour from JFK by wheelchair and appeared to doze, but when she got up again she once more ended up in a heap in the aisle. Finally we saw her being wheeled to the first class section with a drip set up presumably to provide whatever it was she needed. For this reason, our disembarkation at JFK was delayed for 20 minutes whilst the paramedics attended to the patient. Once we disembarked, we collected our cases and were held up at customs. The customs officer decided that Val was obviously a shady character and decided to search her case. (Actually we heard her say she needed one more to make her quota and Val was it!) Of course, we weren’t bringing vast quantities of anything in to America although it was a different story going home! We were driven to our hotel in a mini-bus and got a quick glimpse of Manhattan at night. From what I could see, it hadn’t changed a bit! |
Day One
 | Breakfast Woke up bright and early New York time, (extremely late UK time!) and were delighted to see on the TV that weatherplanner.com proved to be accurate with clear skies and middle 60’s temperature forecast for the next 4 days. Yes! Wandered around the corner into the Key West Diner for breakfast, decorated in ice cream colours, and looking like something straight out of the movies. The service is so fast it leaves you breathless, and menu vast! I tucked into the pancakes and maple syrup I’d been promising myself for the last 6 months and had to admit defeat on the last pancake, but I enjoyed every mouthful. Walk in Central Park It seemed far too glorious a day to dive straight into the Metro, and it was too early anyway, so we cut across to Central Park and walked down from 94th street to 81st enjoying the sunshine. It is such a lovely place, it seems impossible to believe that by night it is no-go area and populated by the most unsavoury characters. |
Once we got to 81st street, we purchased our metrocards having already decided that the 7-day card at $17 was going to be best value. Although we were only there for 4 days all the cheaper cards are for a limited number of rides and we expected to use the Metro and buses a lot as our hotel was well out of the central area of Manhattan. By sheer good luck the first train on our line was an express and we found ourselves at the World Trade Centre very quickly. |  |
 | World Trade Centre The ticket booth for the World Trade Centre is actually up one floor, we would probably call it the 1st floor, but in the States of course, it is the 2nd! As we queued for our tickets ($13) we discovered that we could buy a City Pass for $28 which included 6 of the main attractions at least 4 of which we definitely intended to visit. The savings are such good value that it is worth while even if you only intend to visit half of the listed attractions and it has one other huge advantage; if you have a City Pass you don’t have to queue up at the ticket booths at any other attraction. Instead you exchange your voucher at the customer service desk which could save quite some time. As a bonus it also contains a Bloomingdales discount voucher. We went up the elevator to the 107th floor. It takes 58 seconds and, yes, our ears did pop! When we left the elevator, we headed straight up the ramp and walked around the other side of the observation floor, and were lucky enough to find that the outside deck was open. Two more escalators and we experienced one of the most breathtaking sights in the world. |
We stood outside in marvellously fresh "mountain top" air with a totally fabulous view of Manhattan spread around us. We looked down on helicopters and light aircraft passing the WTC and could have spent hours just looking. There is something about being so high up and outside which adds real magic to the experience. That was the second time I had been "out on the roof", the first was 9 years previously. Tragically, the events of the following year changed that forever. |
Battery Park We finally left the magnificent view behind us, or rather above us, and descended to the bottom again – more ear popping! We made our way through to the World Financial Centre using the overpass which brings you into the attractive Winter Gardens with various shops and restaurants, and since the weather was so nice we went outside to wander down through Battery Park and the attractive walkway and gardens. (That was the first time I was asked for directions during our visit, it happened several times, and even more remarkably – I knew the right answer!) Circle Line Ferry, Statue of Liberty Walking down the Hudson gives you great views of the Statue of Liberty in the distance, and brings you to the Circle Line Ferry Terminal where you buy a $7 ticket which takes you on a round trip with stops at the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island. Bearing in mind that climbing the Statue of Liberty involves 300 plus steps, and usually very long queues we admired her from afar and got off at Ellis Island instead. |
Ellis Island & lunch  The former immigration centre for the USA is fascinating, in particular the collection of things the immigrants brought with them and the wall of names on the Manhattan side of the island, where incidentally there is a great view of south Manhattan and we got our cameras out again! There are two ferries coming back and forth from the island; one back to where we started and one to South Street Seaport where we were going next. In the end, we went back to our starting point as we wanted to walk up Broad Street and along Wall Street, not particularly impressive, but it had to be done! Broad Street & Wall Street Best I can say about this is that if you are there at the right time you can visit the New York Stock Exchange – before 2:45 the guidebook said. We missed it by about 15 minutes, but it wasn’t high on our list of things to do and see, so not a problem. In fact, I’m not sure it made the list at all in the first place! South Street Sea Port I like South Street Seaport. It’s a sort of mini shopping mall on three floors with some quirky shops, some normal shops and a foodcourt on the top floor. Also had to buy something in the fascinating gadget shop Brookstone just outside Pier 17, which started my Christmas shopping! Look out for the purple shop, several sports shops, an individual T-shirt design place, another gadget shop and the perpetual Christmas store. Stopped again to re-fuel with Smoothies, coffee and cookies. Toys R Us Our next intended stop was Macy’s, "the largest department store in the world", on the way, we passed Toys R Us, and did a quick trip of each floor with two little boys in mind. Came out with 6 Pokemon toys, none of which were yet available in UK, and all of which cost half the UK price. Macy’s Macy’s is on the next block up and lives up to it’s reputation – it’s huge and Santa visits every day. I bought the boys t-shirts and chinos from their great collection of children's clothes and came out with several of their smart brown carrier bags. It is also a wonderful place to visit in the Spring when it has a flower festival and everywhere inside is transformed into an amazing greenhouse> Empire State Building By the time we left Macy’s (some three hours later!) it was dark so we made our way across two blocks to the Empire State Building and ascended to the umpteenth floor to see New York by night. The observatory on the top was the 80th floor I think and was 1250 feet off the ground. The view from the top is stunning and you can see Manhattan laid out before you just like on a map. If you look in the right place you can see the golden statue outside of the Rockefeller Centre nestled between two buildings. There is a souvenir shop on the floor, which has the outside viewing platform selling the usual magnets, mugs and t-shirts. Dinner When we descended to street level again it was definitely past our dinnertime so we went into the nearest suitable restaurant, a place called Hoolihans. They are part of a chain and there are several in New York. We watched big white limos picking up passengers nearby but no one famous appeared to be hanging around! Buses & Taxis Getting a taxi in New York is just like anywhere else, there is never one when you want one! We wandered around hopefully for a bit, but eventually jumped on a bus only to realise he wasn’t going nearly as far as we wanted to go. He dropped us off on 7th Avenue and told us which way to go to pick up the next bus. However, just then about three empty taxis appeared so we jumped in one and asked for 94th Street. The taxi driver was listening to a French speaking radio station, and as New York taxis drivers are notorious for not speaking English, when he asked for further directions, I told him, in French. He immediately demanded to know if we were from France, so I explained that no, I was Scottish but I heard him listening to French radio. Well, he turned into the most talkative taxi driver I’ve ever met, but unfortunately, I only understood one word in six! Still, it appeared to delight him no end that he had passengers who could speak even a little of his language, so I guess we were all happy! After that, it was back to the hotel, up to the room and crawl, exhausted, into bed. Times Square Although we knew it was a wild chance we thought we'd try and get tickets for The Lion King. No hope! Still it gave us the chance to visit Times Square, although much of the surrounding area seemed to be under construction. Museum of Modern Art Well this was a disappointment. We exchanged our passes at the front desk for our tickets and wandered through the barrier, DK guide book in hand. In particular I wanted to see the Monet triptych, the Water Lilies, which was reportedly displayed in a room on its own. After walking around in circles for sometime and spotting the odd Picasso and Chagall, I finally asked for directions to the painting only to be told it was in storage and not on display. Blow! Then when we tried to visit the second and third floors to see the Dali with the dropping watch faces, and the famous Picasso of 5 women of dubious virtue, we discovered that the rest of the museum was closed to the public. We were glad we hadn’t stood in a queue to buy full price tickets! The MOMA design shop across the road was small but interesting and managed to do some more Christmas shopping! It’s worth buying something in there; they use the most gorgeous carrier bags! Trump Tower All I would say about Trump Tower is that it is as gaudy and glitzy as you would expect, if not more so! Tiffany No visit to 5th Avenue is complete with a wander through Tiffany's to have a look at the famous Tiffany Diamond and all the other gorgeous jewels. I spotted a beautiful Tanzanite necklace, but at $5,600 it was just a little out of my price range!! Bloomingdales & lunch  We did Bloomingdales next, resolving to give the rest of 5th Avenue our attention later on. We spent hours here, not help by the fact that I dropped my jacket and we had to retrace our steps through every floor before we found it. Thanks to Val for that, she spotted it under a coat rack, I'm sure I would have missed it without her. As a Bloomingdales International cardholder I can collect a free gift every time I shop there - so I did. We phoned home and had lunch there and I bought some t-shirts - for me this time. I also got a couple of designer shirts for Hugh. Yankee shop On the walk back to 5th Avenue you pass Park and Madison, and the Yankees souvenir shop. That's a good place to stop if you are a baseball fan with lots of team branded clothing and baseball equipment of course. Park Avenue and Madison Avenue have lots of designer boutiques, but after Bloomingdales we thought we were shopped out for the day. 5th Avenue to Warner Bros. Still the day wasn't finished and we wandered down the west side of 5th Avenue as far as the Universal Studios Department store - which has umpteen floors of character merchandise including Pok ¾mon. We couldn't find any pyjamas for the boys in the right sizes so we made up our own, buying two identical t-shirts and different boxer shorts for them. Plus the Taz socks for Hugh, and note block for my friend Rachel and some Tweety Pie socks for me. By now we were completely exhausted and so we made our way back to the hotel via the Metro and had dinner in the restaurant attached to the hotel.Dinner in the West Side Bistro with our own singer The restaurant was a little quiet; we were the only customers so we were out numbered by the singer and her musician and the waiting staff. The food was excellent and we collapsed into our beds shortly afterwards. Day Three The American Museum of Natural History This was fascinating. We walked there and arrived at 9:25 just before the doors opened. However, the doors only open to allow ticket sales to start, the actual museum doesn't let you in until 10:00. As we already had our tickets, they came with the City Pass, we sat and waited to be allowed to pass through into the Hall of African Mammals. Then we made our way via the hall full of totem poles, (they are much bigger than you expect!) through into Human Biology and into the Halls of Gems and Minerals. The total value of gems exceeds $50m with the Star Sapphire being the pride of the collection. Hmm, think I preferred that Tanzanite necklace myself! Central Park West When we left the building we decided to walk (again) the weather was just too nice for going underground. We wandered down the pathways of Central Park and saw exercise classes and individuals jogging and stretching - no-one famous though. However, we found ourselves at the Dakota Building which is famous, or should I say notorious as the place where John Lennon was shot. There is a memorial garden across from the building in Central Park called Strawberry Fields after the Beatles hit record. 55 C P West - Ghostbusters Building A little further down we found 55 Central Park West; if you crane your neck to view the top of it you will recognise it as the building in Ghostbusters where the final showdown took place. Shopping - Warner Bros. to Saks Now we found ourselves on 5th Avenue again - surprise! And went back into Warner Bros., that is one fabulous shop. Of course, we didn't stop there all day, and soon we were off again, marching down the east side of 5th Avenue. We didn't go into every shop but Saks was a must. We stopped there to investigate the entire shop and had lunch in their lovely restaurant on...now which floor was it? 5th? 6th? Never mind, it was up rather than down and the food was delicious. 47th Street We walked on to the Diamond district and 47th Street. I just had to point out 580 5th Avenue as we went passed. An ordinary looking building on the outside, which houses an unbelievable fortune in diamonds on the inside. This is where the diamond dealers have their offices and millions of dollars worth of diamonds can be found. Or to be strictly accurate, can't be found! The security is phenomenal and a recent TV documentary was only allowed to film in the building provided none of the security arrangements were discussed. In fact, on television they didn't even state the address, just gave you a quick glimpse of the outside where the address was shown. The some of the shops on 47th Street where closed, only to be expected on a Saturday. Rockefeller Centre & Ice Rink A quick turn around the block and you're at the Rockefeller Centre on 6th Avenue, otherwise known as the Avenue of the Americas. We found a couple of nice little shops here and brought some presents, then we found a nice big shop; the NBC Studio Shop, and bought lots of presents there! We had manage to enter the NBC shop by the back door, and on exiting by the front door, found ourselves facing the Rockefeller Centre Ice Rink. It is set below street level, surrounding by gaily waving flags from all round the world and full of skaters of all ages and varying degrees of skill. 5th Avenue; Barnes & Noble to Bergdorf Goodman We strolled back to 5th Avenue and we popped into Barnes & Noble, just we make sure I hadn't missed any books which were published in the US before the UK. It was late afternoon by now and, dare I say it, I think we'd had enough shopping, well nearly! We made our way back up the west side of 5th Avenue popping in and out of a few shops but the serious acquisitions were over. We'd shopped, now it was time to drop. The celebrity at the Plaza Hotel As we approached the Plaza Hotel we saw there was a crowd outside and waited to see who they were waiting for. Val crossed the road for a better view, I waited next to the cab drivers! After a few minutes a female in an impossibly short skirt emerged posing and fluttering her eyelashes at the cameras. Curiosity got the better of me and I asked one of the limo drivers who it was. "Haven't a clue" was his response, and he went on to say that she wasn't anyone really big because the limo waiting for her was only a '94. Real stars apparently, have '99's - well they would, wouldn't they! He went on to say that real stars don't turn and flash beaming smiles at cameras either. He told me he'd driven Harrison Ford to the airport one day dressed in jogging suit and baseball cap. Val rejoined me to report that no one outside the hotel seemed to have a clue who the "celebrity" was either! Metrocards don’t always work A couple of blocks away the welcoming beacons of our Metro station could be seen and we crawled hopefully in that direction. Now up until Val's Metrocard had been a bit dodgy, possibly we thought because all the swipe machines were right handed and she is left handed. This time she went first - successfully. Unfortunately, when I swiped my card and the pushed the gate I discovered that the previous passenger hadn't pushed the turnstile right round. Using my card just let me push it about 4 inches then it stopped. Then we discovered, thanks to a helpful passerby that the Metrocard wouldn't work again for another 20 minutes. This was an unmanned station, of course. There was nothing for it, we had to walk to the next metro station and we were tired. Lincoln Centre Oh well, it gave us the chance to gaze upon the famous Lincoln Centre for Performing Arts, to view the evening New Yorkers at play and to pass yet more shops - in a bit of blur. We got back to the hotel, shattered. Dinner in the diner We couldn't end the day without some more sustenance so we went round the corner to the diner where we usually had breakfast. Dinner was even better! Huge menu, high speed service, very reasonable bill afterwards. Then, bed. Central Park around the Reservoir Another glorious sunny day. We decided to start with a walk around the Central Park Reservoir. Half of New York seemed to be jogging around with us, but going in the opposite direction! The views across the water were amazing, such a contrast between the park area and the skyscrapers behind. The Metropolitan Museum of Art  This is probably one of the most wonderful museums in the world. I visited it about four years ago, and although I saw some areas again this time, there were many places I hadn't managed to get to previously. I think you could spend days in the Met and still not cover everything. The galleries of paintings are remarkable, Chagall's rub shoulders with Picasso's and the odd Remrandt or two! The Monets are fabulous, but then he is my favourite artist. We eventually tore ourselves away from the magnificent displays and set off again. The Greek Parade When we left the Met to walk down towards the 5th Avenue shops (again!) we found ourselves caught up in an excited crowd watching a Greek Parade. It was fascinating, the costumes were colourful and dignitaries were watching from a grandstand erected near the Central Park Zoo. We didn't actually find out what the parade was about, and as the crowd thickened we took a short cut through Central Park to the nearest Metro Station. We jumped onto a train that took us back down to the southern most tip of Manhattan. World Financial Centre Shopping Mall This is another super shopping mall, with the famous Century 21 Department store nearby. In particular there is a huge record shop, lots of clothes shops and some book shops. Unfortunately, time was moving on and it was time to think of going back to the hotel and collecting our cases which we had left with Bell Captain that morning. Bus rides We decide that a bus ride back would be a good way to get a final glimpse of New York, and its inhabitants. The missing suitcase Back at the hotel we gave our luggage ticket to the Bell Captain who opened up the storage room only to realise my case wasn't there. I couldn't believe it, surely we weren't going to have our perfect weekend spoiled by loss of my case - and more importantly - loss of all that SHOPPING! Disaster was averted when the Bell Captain remembered that he'd moved some cases out onto a trolley to make room earlier. Phew! That final view. Our mini bus to the airport had to wait in some horrendous traffic, and our driver was the surliest chap we'd encountered all weekend. Nevermind, we made it and boarded our flight home. Much to our delight the aircraft took off in a westerly direction and we had a wonderful view of Manhattan by night as we left the Big Apple behind us. A perfect end to a wonderful weekend! |
