New York Trip
Friday, April 2, 2010
Another Tyler family vacation! My travel agent, Jan, has put together another fun-filled 4-day excursion to the Big Apple. After hearing her talk about taking the train to Washington D.C. over the past few years, I told her that it would be fun to do. She made it happen and created an itinerary that included two plays, museums, and city/boat tours. We left Friday morning at 5:30 from the train station (and finished packing the night before at midnight) so we slept for a good amount on the train. Jan woke me up for the sunrise and I stayed awake around Philly. We arrived at Penn Station at 11:30 a.m. It was a pretty uneventful trip.
Start spreading the news! Get it? I'm in front of the New York Times. Start spreading the news! I crack me up...
Here are a couple of quick comments that pop into my mind as I breath in the fresh (?) New York air.
- The men in New York City must be very polite because there are gentlemen's clubs on every corner. I'm apparently not the nicest person around because Jan keeps telling me that I cannot go into them.
- Smoking must be the thing to do in New York. I thought it was bad in Virginia but everyone on the street is smoking. I guess it is because no smoking is allowed indoors. It brings me back to my days in Greece last year.
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Question of the day
What do you get when you cross a billy goat and a junk yard car?
Answer: Cigarette smoke. |
After making our way from the train station to our hotel (Candlewood Suites on 39th and 8th), we dropped our stuff off and headed to purchase the bus pass from Gray Lines Tours. With the bus pass, we get to hop on and off where we want. So, we immediately hopped on and took a trip! We toured the downtown area and made our way past the Central Park, museums, Harlem, etc. It was good to get the lay of the land in preparation for our visit.
It was interesting to see the differences between communities. While in Harlem, we stopped by the Apollo and I tried a stand up routine and got booed off the stage. Okay, that really didn't happen but I imagine it would if they would let me in. In an odd twist of fate, there was a fierce battle going on across the street from the Apollo. Two men were sitting across the table from each other and they were hitting a box viciously! It was just like a scene from West Side Story. See below for the action shot that I took!
The Apollo
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Competitive Chess |
I wish the bus had stayed at the stop long enough to see some type of victory dance! Checkmate Mother #@$!! We completed the bus tour and headed to buy the City Pass tickets at the Empire State Building. The tickets would get us into museums and other touristy things for free. On our way, we passed Times Square and took the obligatory tourist photo.
 Jan poses in Times Square with the New Year's ball above her in the background. |
On our way, we passed stores, shops, stores, and shops. People were actively trying to push everyone out of the way so they could get to whereever they were going a little faster. I guess I didn't help things out when I started taking tourist photos. So, I handed the camera to Jan. Here's one that she took of me in the Fashion District. I'm not sure who is operating the sewing machine or what the statue is paying homage to but I do know this...
If I am going to start hamming up the photos again, it could be quite the eventful trip! Admit it, which photo do you enjoy more? Jan standing in front of Times Square or Skip having his finger sewn by a bronze statue? I know which one I vote for! Current score: 1-0 me...
We make it to the Empire State Building (ESB) only to find out that the line is 2 hours long. Ugh. Welcome to New York! If Burger King is "Home of the Whopper" then New York is "Home of the Long Smoke-Infested Lines"! Part of the reason we wanted to buy the City Pass here was because a trip to the top of the ESB was included and we would knock out two birds with one stone. We decided to come back after the Lion King show at 8:00 and hope that the line would be shorter.
We headed off to the Lion King and here is a picture of the outside of the Minskoff Theatre in case you don't believe me. Why would you not believe me? Could it be that when we were in Greece, we didn't pay to enter any of the museums and just took photos of items in the Museum Shop? Okay, that's understandable...
The show was good and very visually entertaining but Jan and I were a bit whipped from the long day. The show was about 2 hours and 45 minutes long and it was a very dark theater. Since we had been up since 3:00 a.m., we were fighting the sleepies but plowed our way through the show. It helped that I had an idea about what was going to happen because of our friend Walt...Walt Disney to you. Our sleepiness is not a reflection on the show but rather our travels.
After the show, we headed downtown back to the ESB. Along the way, we passed all the similar sights but they were lit up because of the earth's rotation and the fact that the moon does not provide much illumination.
Times Square at night |
Jan Tyler at night |
We made it to the Rockefeller Center and saw the skating rink, flags, Today Show set, and everything else NBC. My sister Kathy would be so proud.
We were pleasantly surprised when we got to the Empire State Building because there was no line! Seriously? Am I going to have to take back my comments so far? Well, it was midnight so that might have something to do with it. The ESB stays open until 2:00 so we ventured our way in. We followed the signs for tickets and the City Pass and it seemed as if we were travelling through the intestines of King Kong. Turn this way, twist back over here, hop on one foot, turn back over here. We basically were weaving our way through the building because of the ropes that were in place for the lines. Thank goodness we didn't have to wait with other people! We would walk into a new room and see more ropes. Go through the metal detector and see more ropes. Turn the corner - more ropes. Take the elevator upstairs only to find more ropes. Finally, we go up a second elevator and make it to more ropes (and the observatory). All told, it STILL took us over an hour to get up to the top WITHOUT LINES! It was a lot of fun and the weather was great. If you are ever going to go up the ESB, take my advice...go at midnight.
Our walk back home was pretty uneventful except that we were exhausted. Travelling the main strip was not too bad (and, surprisingly, there were not a whole lot of people out in the "city that never sleeps") but we had to go off the beaten path one block to get to our hotel. We passed a cellar door that was now open with some odd looking people with weird piercings, including a bouncer, standing out in front. After doing some research the next day, I found the cellar to be the entrance to a night club called "Escuelita". The description on the web advertises "Secret Fridays - the party for women who love women & men who love men". Nice...less than 25 yards later, Jan saw two men come out of an alley. I'm not quite sure what they were doing but Jan has some ideas that she can share with you. Before leaving, we took pictures to document it cause that is what I do.
The gate rises, the cellar door opens. And yes, I did research it! |
I think Jan is right on this one... |
That is our exciting day 1. We made it home around 2:00 a.m. and slept VERY WELL. If you need a break yourself, c'mon back. If not, click Day 2 below!
