Trip to New York

Darcie and I wanted to go to New York before we headed back to BC so I took a few days off work and we headed down in the car July 7th. We got out of Toronto at 2 o'clock so we missed all the rush hour traffic which was nice. We stopped in Scranton Pennsylvania for the night and drove the rest of the way in the morning. We drove through New Jersey and made our way into Manhattan from New Jersey via the Lincoln Tunnel. We couldn't check in until 3 o'clock so we parked the car and wandered around until is was time to check in. For 4 nights of parking underground, it cost $140 and that was with an internet coupon saving $5 per day. We headed up to Times Square since it was only 8 blocks away from our hotel. We stayed at the same one mom and dad stayed at when they went to New York a couple years ago. We thought the hotel was nice - we had a king size bed (which took up the entire room pretty much) and it wasn't an unreasonable cost, especially with its location. So after being in awe of Times Square, we kept walking north because we knew we'd eventually run into Central Park. On our way, I noticed the sky scraper that manages the Popular Mechanics magazine I've got a subscription too. I knew which one it was because they had a small write up about it when it was being built in the magazine, so naturally I had to go inside and check it out for myself. Yup, just like I remember seeing in the pictures! It was the Hearst building, and they look after the publication of many, many magazines you've probably seen on news stands. So after that, we got to the southwest corner of Central Park which also happens to be where the Time Warner building is and where they televise all things CNN. The park was beautiful. We didn't get too far into it because it's so big and because we figured we should head back to the hotel. On the way, we stopped at Rockefeller Plaza which is a bunch of buildings (21 in all) where they produce more television shows but this time for NBC. Conan used to tape his show there before he went to L.A., SNL is taped there, the Today show taped weekday mornings is taped there plus a myriad of others. After we checked in we went out to find a bite to eat. It had started raining so we bought umbrellas for $5 each (the only time it rained while we were there). It was crazy because immediately after it started to drizzle, guys started selling umbrellas on the streets and people were snatching them up so fast because a lot of people, including us, got caught in the ran and didn't want to get wet so I'm sure they made a lot of money fast. You could tell who had just bought an umbrella because most of them were all the same. Anyway, the guy we checked in with at the hotel told us to check out this thing called the Highline which was a recently converted old elevated train track that winded its way through the streets of the Fashion District. It's about a 30 block walk. They kept the strucure and tracks but added a walkway, benches, seats, and so many plants and trees, it was a beautiful, unique way of walking through the streets without worrying about traffic lights or cars. It was a nice green space added to the "concrete jungle" of New York. We ate dinner on a covered patio while it rained and then took the subway over to Grand Central Station. Again, we were in awe of the beauty, history, size and openess of the station. There's really only one word to describe it - grand. We hung out there for a while, doing some people watching, and then took the subway back to our hotel since Penn Station was right across the street from it. I could write about so many of the things we did and saw and heard and ate while we were in New York but to keep it short, some of the other highlights were going on a hop on/hop off bus tour of Uptown, Downtown, and a night tour which took us through Uptown and Brooklyn. We heard some amazing stories and stats about New York and its history from the tour guides on the buses. We also rode our bikes through Central Park, checked out the Empire State Building, Ground Zero, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, Brooklyn Bridge, Broadway Shows, Times Square plus so much more. On Tuesday when we left around noon and got back about 9:30, it was weird to think we woke up in Manhattan and would be going to bed at home. It made us realize how close we really were to New York this whole time. We loved it there, and have nothing but good things to say about it. People were friendly, the streets were clean (by a city the size of New York standards) and we felt safe. We hope we can go back soon - we just have to save enough money for parking.
When Darcie spent a day shopping, I went to Ellis Island, Wall Street & the New York Stock Exchange, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge into Brooklyn and walked around for a little while before heading back over the bridge and taking the subway uptown to meet Darcie at the hotel.

Brooklyn Bridge was the worlds first suspension bridge and at one point, the tallest structure in New York. Here is a beautiful view of the Manhattan skyline in Uptown where the most prominent buildings are the Empire State building, the Chrysler building, and Trump Tower. There is a whole nother skyline downtown as well which is where Ground Zero is. The Twin Towers used to be the tallest buildings in New York, but currently the Empire State building is the tallest. Once one of the Freedom Towers is fiinished, the building being built in replace of the Twin Towers, it will surpass the Empire State building as the tallest in New York.

Here is a view from our hotel room. The main building you see and to the left is the department store Macy's. This specific Macy's is the largest department store in the world - one entire block and 11 floors. It's where the very first escalator was used - which was made out of wood and still runs to this day. See below.
Darcie and I on one of the huge tv screens in Times Square. We're against the right side of the furthest left yellow bubble. I'm wearing a red shirt with one of my hands in the air. If you click the picture it'll go bigger and you can see us better.