Trip report - September 13-23 Days 1 and 2 (Long)

Sorry - but I just can%26#39;t limit a trip to New York to just a few words......

Trip report - September 13-23 Days 1 and 2 (Long)

This is a travelogue of my most recent trip to New York. My first trip was September 2003, and this was my sixth trip - here is a link to the pictures; if you don’t have a Snapfish account, you might have to set one up in order to view the pictures

…snapfish.com/share/…SALB

On this trip, I was meeting friends, Dave and Leslie from Great Falls, MT (where I used to live – Les grew up 3 blocks from me in Helena, MT – we’ve know each other for over 50 years!), Anne from Portland, OR (previous college roommate), and we were joined from time to time by Debbie from New Jersey (met through Trip Advisor) and Dave and Les’s son, Glen, who is an artist who lives in Brooklyn.

Friday, September 14

I again took the Jet Blue redeye from San Diego, which took off right on time at 9:10 PM on Thursday, September 13th. Another great flight, and we arrived before the scheduled 5:20 AM arrival time at JFK. I was soon anxiously awaiting my suitcases on the carousel. I grabbed my luggage, and was headed for the AirTrain by 5:30AM, just as the sun was starting to come up. A couple who had been on the plane with me from San Diego was confused about how to get to the AirTrain to pickup a rental car, so I helped them get on the right train, and off at the right stop. It was the least I could do, after all the many helpful people I’ve encountered on my previous trips to New York. They thanked me, and were quite surprised when I explained that I wasn’t a “local” as they assumed, but another traveler from San Diego – that made my day.

A quick trip to Jamaica, where I was just in time to catch the 5:50 AM Long Island RR “express” to Penn Station, and I was soon in the city. I had already bought a LIRR ticket when I was there in May, but didn’t use it because my luggage had been too heavy (and I’d called a car service), and I also had some money left on a metro pass from May, so the trip from the airport was already paid for. As soon as I arrived at Penn Station, and since I knew that I could get into Jack %26amp; Judy’s early, I caught a cab, rather than walking up to 81st as I had done when I couldn’t check-in until 9AM last trip. Did I mention that I LOVE walking in New York!! I used the “secret” code that J%26amp;J had sent so I could get in the door, and headed up to Apartment #6 (which would be Dave %26amp; Les’s room), where I took a quick 1-hour nap on the sofa, freshened up, and headed out about 9AM. Since no one else would be arriving until late that night, I had the entire day to myself, so I decided to get some OJ, and head over to a park to enjoy the beautiful day. After stopping at Fairway for juice, I chose to head to Riverside Park, it was a tough decision, since Jack %26amp; Judy’s is about half way between Riverside and Central Parks, and I love them both. I really enjoyed sitting on a bench near the boat basin, and watching the runners, walkers, bikers, and dog walkers enjoying the park.

After reading an excerpt in the NY Times, I had recently purchased and read the book “Waterfront, A Walk around Manhattan” by Phillip Lopate; and I was anxious to explore some waterfront areas that I hadn’t previously visited. I also felt much more informed about some history and trivia about some of the areas of the city, so I really enjoyed seeing the same sights as previous trips, enlightened with new-found knowledge. I highly recommend the book for New York buffs….. During previous trips, I have sought out some of the many parks and off-the-beaten path areas, and have thoroughly enjoyed them, and I had again compiled a new list of destinations based on recent reading. I wanted to checkout South Street Seaport, which was mentioned in the book – despite the fact that it wasn’t well-reviewed. I had also pulled a list of street fairs, and there was one on Maiden Lane very close to South Street, so I headed out to the subway – I so LOVE the New York public transportation options. I was able to again use my Metro pass from May, so I could postpone buying a 7-day pass until Saturday. I checked out the street fair, and didn’t see anything that interested me, so headed over to South Street Seaport, which is comprised of two different areas, a typical chain-store mall with a nautical theme, called “Pier 17”, and a cobblestone street outside area that I liked much better. The stores were mostly the same as malls here, except for two nice surprises.

They have a really large women’s restroom in the Pier 17 area, quite impressive for a mall, and it seemed quite clean and there were no lines, which is unusual from my experience - different setup, with the sinks in the middle and the mirrors actually on the clear dividers that circle the central area, and divide it from the stalls – well designed in my opinion. They also have some great decks with lounge-chair type seats that overlook the East River - fantastic for putting your feet up and relaxing after flying all night, and surviving on a just 1-hour nap. I realized I was hungry, so got some Chinese fast food at the food court (all the great restaurants in New York, and I eat at a mall food court, am I crazy??), then went out to the patio and staked out my lounge chair and watched the boats go up and down the East River. From my chair, I had a fantastic view of the Brooklyn Bridge, being almost underneath it, and I really enjoyed relaxing and savoring the perfect weather. After a bottle of tea, and I was refreshed and ready to go again, so I left the Pier 17 building; checked out some areas of the Financial District, then wandered back to the outdoor cobblestone streets and found two pairs of shoes at great sale prices at the Aerosoles store. Some more wandering (found Carmine’s Seafood restaurant and put that in my brain for future reference) and I headed back to the subway and Jack and Judy’s. It was now after 2PM, and the other room was ready, so I moved my luggage from Apartment 6 to Apartment 8, where Anne and I would be staying.

I spent the rest of the afternoon and evening walking through Central Park and around the Upper Westside, and back to Fairway for some bottled tea and water, candy, and other supplies. Then, back to the apartment and sat out on the wonderful patio and drank some tea, until I decided I was a little hungry, so back to Broadway to the Grom Gelato store. It had just opened when we were there in May, and the lines were so unbelievably long I figured it must be “something”; now I was able to get right in, and they do have the best gelato in the most interesting flavors that I’ve ever had; expensive, but really good, and a small cup filled me up.

Then I headed over to Rose Wine on Columbus to pickup a couple choices to have on hand when my friends arrived; great selection at great prices, and the clerk was very helpful - I ended up getting a red and a white - everyone enjoyed the Merlot, and we never opened the white - perhaps the next guest in Jack %26amp; Judy #8 can tell me if it was good - By now it was around 10 PM, and I knew I’d fall asleep if I laid down. Since I had friends depending on me to let them into their rooms. I watched the news and saw that one of the carriage horses had been killed near Central Park, which broke my heart – a very sad accident. I was thankful that I hadn’t seen it in person, or it would have ruined the entire trip. I don’t think it is fair to the horses to make them walk on the city streets (that’s probably a can of worms).

I didn’t want to watch more news, so I headed out and sat on the front steps of Jack %26amp; Judy’s and watched the people walk by. Anne called at about 11PMto say she was heading in from JFK, and Dave and Les arrived at about 11:30PM from LaGuardia. I helped them carry their luggage up to Apartment #6, and then they joined me on the steps waiting for Anne, who arrived about midnight. We headed up to Apartment #8, where we all enjoyed a glass of wine and good conversation on the patio until about 2AM, when we all turned in for the night –

Trip report - September 13-23 Days 1 and 2 (Long)

Day 2 – September 15 - Saturday

Since we had such a late night, I didn’t wake up until after 10AM, and when I got up, I saw that Anne was still asleep in her bed. Just as I headed for the bathroom, Dave and Les called from the Apartment 6, right below us, to find out the plans for the day. They were on Montana time, so a bit ahead of us (and I hadn’t slept since Wednesday night! A quick shower, and I headed down to Dave %26amp; Les’s room, then out to pickup some coffee at Starbucks on Columbus (there are only a dozen or so Starbucks with three blocks of Jack %26amp; Judy’s) About a half hour later, Anne was ready and came down to the apartment. I wanted to explore the parks of Battery Park City, since they got good reviews in the book I had just read, and no one else had visited them before either. Debbie from New Jersey was planning to drive into the city to meet us and explore, so I called her and told her the plan. She doesn’t ride on subways, so I told her to park somewhere in Tribeca so she would be close.

Dave, Les, Anne and I headed to the subway station and bought our 7-day passes, then headed down to Franklin Street, where I thought we would return to Bubby’s, since we had a great meal there in May. There was a wait of about 45 minutes for brunch, but it turned out just right, as Debbie found a (free!) parking space for the day, and walked over to meet us before our table was ready. We all enjoyed our brunch, but the service was quite slow – it seemed they were under-staffed for the diners, but still a good meal in a fun, busy seemingly neighborhood-type atmosphere restaurant. We walked a few blocks to Battery Park City and spent a couple hours exploring all the parks. It’s really a beautiful area, and I can’t believe I forgot to bring my camera. There are some really lovely parks, some great walking paths, nice water features, and truly awesome views of the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island – we walked for a couple hours and really enjoyed it. We all found the Irish Hunger Memorial to be quite beautiful and such a unique design; with very interesting and hauntingly-beautiful music, quite a lovely memorial that I’d like to see at night because of the interesting lighting. I will return to the Battery Park City parks, and I won’t forget my camera next time.

It’s funny, I have been to the Winter Garden many times before, but had never thought to venture out the door to the marina, or to the wonderful parks of Battery Park City - thank you, Phillip Lopate! We continued south to Battery Park, and then onto the Financial District – now we were looking for a Starbucks. As we were looking at all the people who enjoy having their picture taken with their head peering out under the backside of the Wall Street bull, I saw some people with Starbucks cups, and they pointed us to the nearest location when I yelled “where is the Starbucks?” We all got something to drink, then decided to re-visit “Peep” in SoHo, a restaurant that Anne and I had come across during our last trip. Even though it is primarily a Thai Restaurant, they have a really fun bar area open to Prince Street, and they make the best mixed drinks with fresh fruit – so we headed up to SoHo. We walked a bit out of the way as we couldn’t remember the exact address, but finally found it, and we all enjoyed sitting on the unique bar stools (like rubber hoses wrapped around metal – you sink right in!) - and then visiting the restrooms with the one-way mirrors, from where you can watch the restaurant – very unique, and a bit disconcerting, but none the less interesting.

Dave and Les’s son Glen’s gallery in Chelsea was hosting the opening night of a show, and we wanted to arrive towards the end of the evening. Since Debbie doesn’t do subways, we caught a bus that got us pretty close to the gallery, then walked the rest of the way. I love the buses, but the problem is that sometimes, you end up waiting quite a while for the right bus. No matter, we arrived in time for the end of the show, and enjoyed meeting Glen’s co-workers and seeing the gallery. Glen had made reservations for us at Al Bustan – Lebanese food recommended by one of his bosses - so we were lucky enough to catch a van-type taxi driving past the gallery that would fit us all, so we arrived in good time. An excellent meal, and by the time we were done, it was after 11PM, so we put Debbie in a cab to go back to her car, and Glen caught the subway to Brooklyn, and the rest of us headed up to Jack %26amp; Judy’s for the evening.

Enjoyed your report so far. Looking fwd to the next one. I, too, feel sorry for the horses! How awful about that poor creature.

Well you know how much I love to read about your wanderings in ';my'; neighbourhood, and you haven%26#39;t disappointed so far. ( We have 5 and 6 booked for New Year, darn shame the wine wasn%26#39;t in 6...)

BTW, great pictures- as usual.

great report! Looking forward to the next part.

That%26#39;s so sad about the carriage horse. Poor horse :(

As usual, well written and informative.

Looking forward to the next installment.

Great report and beautiful pictures. I love the street shots, especially around Murray Hill, with the ESB poking through.

Great report, Chissis - I particularly liked your photos (Bryant Park especially).

Betty, I%26#39;ve decided that your new avatar just has to go. You look like a cross between a Lego figure and one of the characters from Trumpton. Can%26#39;t we have Belle de Jour back please?

I%26#39;m really enjoying your report (as usual!) and loved your pics.

Looking forward to the next installment.