The Jersey shore was great, but it was time to head into the city. We had looked for an RV park close enough to the city to make daily travel in practical, but there just weren’t many options. In chatting with a couple next to us while waiting for the fireworks on The Mall we had learned about a naval weapons station in New Jersey that had a small RV park. It wasn’t particularly convenient to the city, but it was only $25 a night, something that made for very cheap, secure parking. I watched hotwire.com and managed to land a very nice all-suites hotel room sandwiched between Central Park and Times square for $160/night. Score! The plan was in motion. We high tailed it to New Jersey, dropped Lucy off at an overpriced doggy hotel, and got situated on the Navy Base. That was an adventure because the place was a ghost town, but we eventually figured it out.
A quick(ish) drive into the city and we were settled with time to spare so we started a trek 30 blocks down Broadway to The Little Beet Table restaurant. A friend had recommended it and Annie was ready for something more vegetable focused. The walk was a perfect introduction to the city; taking us through Time’s Square and down 5th Ave. It was a fantastic meal. After dinner we took the subway (Don’t call it the Metro here. – that is DC) over to the 9/11 memorial. It is hard to fathom a more perfectly conceived and executed memorial than what was done here. It is poignant and beautiful while creating a central open space right in the heart of the city’s financial and business center.
We started off Day 2 by taking the subway back down to the financial district where NYC Bagels were enjoyed, and Claire had a little stand off with the Bull of Wall Street before we took the Staten Island Ferry out and back for a free, quick viewing of the Statue of Liberty. We could have spent $100 and a lot more time to go out to the island but decided this view was enough. Getting tickets to go inside wasn’t possible because those had to be reserved at least a month in advance and we didn’t know exactly when we would have been there to plan that far in advance.
When we got back from the ferry ride we went back over to the world trade center area. There were a few information folks directing tourist traffic outside the One World Trade Center Building. Upon asking if they offered military veteran discount for the observation deck the lady said “No, actually you are free”. She then took us right past all the people in line to the VIP window where the lady behind the counter didn’t even charge us for Claire, and we were at the top in less than 10 minutes. Score #2! That was unexpected. We had perfect weather, and enjoyed the view for some time. It was almost 12PM, and I thought to myself “What could be better than having a Manhattan at the top of Manhattan, so we went to the bar! They made us buy food if we wanted a table by the window so one plate of calamari, one Manhattan, and one $40+ bill Later I was happily floating at the top of the world. Man cannot live on booze and sea food alone so the next stop was the famous Katz Deli and the most amazing pastrami sandwich ever. Despite my best effort I could not get Annie to re-create the scene that was filmed here in “When Harry Met Sally”. Who was I kidding? That was never going to happen.
New York’s Highline revitalization has received a lot of press and we figured we would check it out, so we walked over to the closest part of it and spent the next hour or two exploring. For those not familiar the Highline was an elevated train platform that had been abandoned and was scheduled for demolition until some local community activists lobbied to turn it into a outdoor space and walking path. It snakes it’s way throughout the city, and it’s popularity has led to significant redevelopment in some of the areas along it’s path. I wasn’t going to be hungry until lunch the next day after that sandwich, but we stopped so Annie could grab a bite at a small diner, where she was pleasantly surprised by an excellent salad. By the time day 2 was done we had done more walking than any other day on our trip – even more than our longest day at Disney!
Day 3 was a little more relaxed, but no less memorable. We took the train to Grand Central Terminal for breakfast to see this feat of engineering for its’ time. Then we slowly walked our way back to Times Square where Claire and I got some John’s Pizza to take back to the room and Nap/watch the world cup. Annie trekked over to the Lincoln Center to see about getting some same-day, discount Broadway show tickets for that night. She returned a few hours later with 3 tickets to see Spongebob Square Pants. None of us watch the TV show, but had heard it was a really good show. Considering it was the only kid friendly show with affordable tickets available at that point it was Spongebob or nothing. The lead actor, Ethan Slater, could not possibly have been more perfect for the role he played. The show was entertaining with some incredible vocal performances, and a good lesson to boot. At intermission one of the ushers had taken a liking to Claire while she was dancing in the isle, so she came up to us and told us that at the end of the show there are some balls being thrown around and if one came our direction to not throw it back but just keep it. Well, no balls came our way, but on our way out that same usher came up to us a with a huge Sponge Bob beach ball. Claire was the envy of Time Square walking around with huge smile on her face, carrying that thing.
We got up in the morning on Day 4 and took a stroll through Central Park before getting in the car and saying good bye to the city. NYC definitely has a charm found in few other cities, and we thoroughly enjoyed our time. All three of us hope to return again one day.
Leave a Reply