Fall Vacation - New York

Dave says: On the afternoon of Day 5 we made it down to New York City. I had never been and had mixed feelings about going to perhaps the most urban and crowded area in the USA. We stayed a ways outside of Manhattan at a Super 8 in the Bronx where we could easily hop on a subway and a half hour later be in the middle of the action. We were the only white people in the area but it was fine and many of the nice people on the subway would offer their seat to Alisha when they saw that she was pregnant.

After checking in around mid-afternoon, we rode the subway to Times Square and hopped on a double decker bus for a city tour. Even though there is a ton of traffic, this is a great way to see NYC because you are up above the streets, the crowds, and the other cars and all you have to do is sit back and look around while your friendly guide tells you about all the stuff you are seeing.

At the recommendation of our guide, we had dinner at a restaurant called Ellen's Stardust Diner near Broadway featuring musical performances by aspiring Broadway actors that were pretty good. After that, we hopped on a different night bus tour that went out across one of the bridges to provide excellent views of the city and the Brooklyn Bridge at night.

Day 6

We took the subway down to One World Trade Center where we saw the impressively tall new building as well as the two memorials for the old buildings. The footprints of the buildings are still there with the names of those who died around the edges and a waterfall flowing down the sides and into an abyss in the middle. Somehow 9/11 doesn't feel that long ago.

We walked down past Wall Street and to the pier where we jumped on a boat tour that was a part of our bus sightseeing package. It was a gorgeous day and a very pleasant hour on the water with great views of the Statue of Liberty and the city from the water.

We then walked clear from one side of Manhattan to another on a seemingly endless urban escapade. Along the way we took occasional stops (once to hear a street bluegrass band that was really good and once for some gelatto) and saw lots of sights. By the time we made it to Central Park our legs were pretty tired. I was continually impressed at how tough Alisha was given that I am not pregnant and yet was perhaps more tired than she was.

In the evening, it was nice to sit down and have a chance to enjoy a Broadway play. Tickets can be super expensive and we actually debated about whether to attend. I'm very glad we did as the performance of Wicked was amazing and at a whole different level than the sort of theater that I'm used to seeing. If we had stayed more nights, I would have forked out the cash to see many more plays as this turned out to be one of the highlights of the trip (despite the fact that we are relatively uncultured in terms of artsy stuff). After the play, we spent a few minutes in Times Square just to take everything in. There's so much light popping out of everywhere that it is quite a place to be at night. On the whole, I thought that I might not like NYC too much but in reality I had a great time. Two days in the middle of the mayhem was enough for me and I wouldn't want to live there but nevertheless there was so much to see that I'm glad that we added this stop to our trip.