New York Review...
My thoughts on what NYC would be like were not very uncommon. Basically my perception was created from many different movies, and even tv shows like Seinfeld. I did try to keep all the negative things that i had thought about the city out of my mind, cause i'm sure that then i would just be looking for these items. Surprisingly, it was everything i thought it would be, and at the same time, it was everything i thought it couldn't be.
From the beginning, it felt like it took no time to get out to NJ. After arriving to the Marriott hotel which we booked at, we decided that since it was only around 7pm, that we would head on down and just check out NYC. So we headed down, just kinda driving towards the "New York" signs on the highway. Well it just so happen to be that we were heading right into the Time Square midtown area by way of the Lincoln Tunnel. We knew nothing of how traffic is around that area at that time. Now we know that 8pm is in high point of rush hour, along with the restaurant crowd and the theater crowd. Along with Time Square being the mecca of universe. It took nearly 60 minutes to get from the NJ side to Time Square. which was probably a distance of 4 miles!
A $6 dollar toll through the Lincoln Tunnel later and after inching and fighting for every inch to get the car through intersections, we quickly learned to never take this route again...
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Once you get into the Time Square area, it is everything you see in the movies and on tv shows... its lights, energy, people everywhere. After a while, we decided to head back to the hotel, which mind you, only took about 25 minutes to do.
That night, we made a list of items we definitely wanted to see before our trip was over. Guggenheim Museum, Central Park, Time Square, Grand Central Station, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Statue of Liberty, Ground Zero, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Wall Street, check out the trendy neighborhoods like Soho, and the Upper West Side. On top of which we already had tickets to Conan O'Brien and Tickets to "Chicago" the Musical at the Ambassador Theater.
The next day, we decided to hit up the Guggenheim Museum and Central Park. I guess I was more interested in the building in which the Guggenheim's museum is actually in then the art work on display. After wards we went across the street to Central Park and then on down to midtown.
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One of the things that I heard about New York is that parking on the street was next to impossible, and that I was just better to just park in one of the many parking garages. Which we learned was not 100% true. The first day, we found a parking garage near the museum and left the car there for the entire day. We figured that once the car is put away, it might as well stay there until we leave Manhattan for the night. It is extremely easy to just walk around and get around on foot if you are willing to walk a couple of miles a day. At the end of the first evening in NYC, we quickly learned that maybe investing some time in trying to find a free parking spot might be a better plan. As it cost $40 to park the car for the day, however, they forget to make it clear that there will be a 18% tax added to the cost once you decide you want to leave. Figuring that it takes about $50-$60 bucks per day to just make the trip into NYC, that could get old fast.
The rest of the days we decided to spend time looking for parking spots near the upper east side, which was a very upscale area. It would take about 20 minutes to find a parking spot every day, but saving the money made it worth the effort.
Finally walking down Time Square was a experience in itself. I don't believe that i have ever seen so many people in one place at the same time, and also I had never seen so many people from so many different places.
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Dealing with the crowds, there was simply no way that we would want to be stuck in that kind of mass for the New Years count down. We heard that you could also go to Central Park for the fire works, so we did that come new years eve. We were surrounded by millions of people and yet, it seemed calming to know we were all there for one thing.
Once New Years came and went, we really hoped that the tourist crowd would widdle down, and it did, but not as much as we had hoped for. Attractions like the Empire State Building and Statue of Liberty had long lines still. But still very cool attractions to go to.
The Statue of Liberty was probably the best attractions to go to. It is beyond impressive in person.
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One of the last places we visited was Ground Zero, it was a very sombering feeling, standing there were 1000's of people died, there wasn't much to see, and there wasn't much that they city would let you see.
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I know I had a GREAT time there and (luckily) did everything we wanted to see and do before we left. And I'd go again if given the chance. To me, seeing the different people all interacting in the same manor was amazing. I didn't meet one rude New Yorker and the feeling of getting mugged shortly left my mind after the second day. It was a homely feeling for me... I could live there... but I'd miss my car!
And I forgot to mention driving over the Brooklyn Bridge and going to Coney Island. That place was kinda scary. Very dead and nothing was open except Nathan's Famous Hot Dogs, where they do the Hot Dog eating contest every year. And don't even think about visiting the Burger King bathroom... Gross.
Oh and I was on TV from the Conan show... that was cool..
Sorry that was so long.
Diana
