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dancerjodiAs promised, here's what we did at NYC this weekend. You can find all of our pictures at http://www.diabolis.net/albums/places/nyc/ .
Friday:
We headed out on the road around 5:00 PM and traffic wasn't too bad considering that it was on a Friday at 5:00 on St. Patrick's Day weekend. After a couple of rest stops we got to the Holland Tunnel Motor Inn around 9:00 - it was RIGHT next to the Holland Tunnel! The area looked safe enough, nothing pretty about it but I wasn't worried about leaving my car there. There were some sketchy people in line in front of us asking to rent a room for the night (and to get some beer sent to the room). There was bullet-proof kevlar over the counter where we checked in (OK, that's odd). Our room was nice and big though and VERY clean (you could lick food off the floor - if that's your kink). We decided to stay in that night since we wanted an early start the next morning and after a couple of hours of reading Tiamatlady's Frommer's guide and doing some planning we went to bed.
Saturday:
After an early start (8:00 AM) we grabbed some muffins and coffee in the lobby from the free continental breakfast (and it was fresh, and yummy - I can deal with bullet-proof glass for $70 a night right outside NYC with free breakfast)! We walked the 5 minutes over to the shore and grabbed the path from the Pavonia/Newport stop and headed into the city to try and get tickets for the WTC viewing platform. After some mishaps in confusing uptown with downtown and with not getting through the turnstiles after running our card through (we had to purchase another single ride pass since we goofed on the first run through with our unlimited day pass) we found our way to the financial district/waterfront area. Tickets hadn't even begun to be distributed and the line was HUGE! We decided since we had limited time in the city we'd skip the platform (would probably take 3 hours just to get the platform pass) and we started walking.
We got some pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge and ended up finding our way to the WTC platform site where we hung around for a while. I started reading some of the notes on around the chapel next-door; a building which had become a memorial. We walked around to the back of the church and to the street where the WTC actually was. You couldn't see much of anything save for the damaged buildings that were around the WTC, a huge gap in the middle (if we were up higher on the platform we would have seen a big crater there) and the lot surrounded by trailers. There were LOTS of rescue workers, firefighters and cops there (actually, all around the city all weekend). Most memorable was a big sign which had been there before for tourists to read noting the history of the building and how "each day over 50,000 people come to work at this building" - after September 11th they never took the thing down. I asked B if we could leave because I was really getting upset. I didn't know anyone that died on September 11th but it took all of my strength to fight back tears. The experience was so surreal.
We headed from there over to Chinatown and did some shopping in http://www.pearlriver.com . After poking around the streets and in the tiny Little Italy area we went to lunch at http://www.epinions.com/rest-review-6DE5-6CEAE64-3978DC9B-prod1 which was really yummy (the bill for the two of us was only $7). From there we had an adventure to find a train to the Rockefellar Center area (we had a great map but it was a bit old and after walking for blocks to the station found that the routes going through that station closed) - at least we got to see a peek of the Lower East Side/Bargain District area (definitely NOT a big tourist attraction).
Once in the Rockefellar center area we noticed a BUNCH of people wearing dumb plastic green hats, green mardi gras beads and many of them were intoxicated. I looked to B and said "But St. Patrick's Day is tomorrow, isn't the parade tomorrow"? Nope - there is some law in NYC about not allowing parades on Sundays so we ended up smack dab in the middle of what we were trying to avoid. We hung around for a bit and got a few pictures of the festivities (and I still did get to take B over to some of the Rockefellar Center buildings). For a while we tried to be adventurous and figure out how to get on the other side of 5th Avenue so that we could actually go IN St. Patrick's Cathedral (I've seen it before but B never had) but we gave up and decided to head to our late-day intended destination (via Grand Central Station so we could see the newly renovated GORGEOUS station and take a picture of the chrome gargoyles on top of the Chrystler building).
The East Village - I had been there for a few hours before and was so excited about it then. It seemed pretty unexciting to me overall though (perhaps I just didn't find the 'cool' places). We took the subway to the Astor Place (I think that's the street) stop and crossed the "Cube Rats" in Cooper Square to get over to St. Mark's place. B picked up some new pants (a cross between BDUs, phat pants and slave pants) in Trash n Vaudeville and he got an Evangelion toy in St. Mark's comics. We poked around there for a bit and then decided to be adventurous and try and find our way over to Greenwich Village. After finding CBGBs and heading up Bleeker Street for a bit (we were either still in NoHo or were on the edge of Greenwhich Village) we gave up; we were really hungry and really tired. Since we were going to go to see the Geiger exhibit at the Fuse Gallery on 2nd Ave between 5th and 6th streets we headed back to the East Village to find dinner at http://www.cloistercafe.com . It was SO yummy and pretty (the only thing we really "splurged" on during the whole trip and even still it was very affordable for the area). After dinner we walked back out to 2nd ave (by this point we were REALLY sore and tired from walking 12 hours) and made our way to the gallery after stopping at Toy Tokyo (good thing we didn't have money, that place was DANGEROUS).
Fricken gallery http://hrgiger.com/fusegallery.htm - you had to make reservations but we didn't know that. B and I made some jokes about "oh EXCUSE ME, we're not cool enough to be on THE LIST" and then headed to the train to go back to the Motel. The plan was to shower, nap for a few hours and go out to the Batcave (either by cab or by car - didn't want to do the subway thing at night). Since we were so tired and sore and wanted another early start on Sunday we decided to skip it - we'll do the goth NYC trip some other time. On the way back to the hotel from the Path stop we detoured over to the river to see the Tribute in Light http://www.nytimes.com/guests/nytoday/bin/event?st=event&eid=1016099679332 . I'm amazed at how our pictures came out!
Sunday:
Again we woke up around 8:00ish and packed up the room. I decided that I wanted to drive into the city so that we can see the things that we missed (The Statue of Liberty, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Strawberry Fields in Central Park and the Greenwhich Village area). When bringing our stuff out to the car before checking out and grabbing breakfast we noticed a really large and slovenly looking guy that looked like he hadn't bathed in months with a young, trim woman in heels, mini-skirt and leather halter top (hmm, wonder what she does for a living). After checking out we headed to Liberty State Park to do the Statue of Liberty Ferry (we could have done the free Staten Island Ferry but decided that this would get us closer - B's never seen it before and unfortunately they won't let you go into the statue at the time being since September 11th). We rode past Ellis Island (sometime I'd like to go in the museum there) and past the statue and then back to the Jersey shore.
We hopped in the car and did our adventuring around Manhattan. I found free and convenient parking all over the place (go parking Karma). We got a picture of the hotel that John Lennon was shot at and a picture of the Strawberry Fields mosaic memorial. From there we drove down 5th ave and parked next to Rockefellar Center so that we could go into St. Patrick's (since there was a mass starting in 20 minutes our time was limited). From there we drove to Bleeker Street in the Greenwhich Village area and drove past all of the shops (its really too bad we didn't have time to walk around and explore - we'll do that at another time). And finally - we parked on 2nd ave right near CBGBs so that we could grab a cholesterol ridden lunch of french fries at http://www.pommesfrites.ws (thanks A). It was SO yummy. After maneuvering back through Chinatown to get to the Holland Tunnel we were on our way home.
So that was our adventure! Now that we've tackled the subway and NYC driving monsters it seems like a much more feasible weekend (or overnight) adventure. I look forward to finding other cheap ways to do it in the future :)
Friday:
We headed out on the road around 5:00 PM and traffic wasn't too bad considering that it was on a Friday at 5:00 on St. Patrick's Day weekend. After a couple of rest stops we got to the Holland Tunnel Motor Inn around 9:00 - it was RIGHT next to the Holland Tunnel! The area looked safe enough, nothing pretty about it but I wasn't worried about leaving my car there. There were some sketchy people in line in front of us asking to rent a room for the night (and to get some beer sent to the room). There was bullet-proof kevlar over the counter where we checked in (OK, that's odd). Our room was nice and big though and VERY clean (you could lick food off the floor - if that's your kink). We decided to stay in that night since we wanted an early start the next morning and after a couple of hours of reading Tiamatlady's Frommer's guide and doing some planning we went to bed.
Saturday:
After an early start (8:00 AM) we grabbed some muffins and coffee in the lobby from the free continental breakfast (and it was fresh, and yummy - I can deal with bullet-proof glass for $70 a night right outside NYC with free breakfast)! We walked the 5 minutes over to the shore and grabbed the path from the Pavonia/Newport stop and headed into the city to try and get tickets for the WTC viewing platform. After some mishaps in confusing uptown with downtown and with not getting through the turnstiles after running our card through (we had to purchase another single ride pass since we goofed on the first run through with our unlimited day pass) we found our way to the financial district/waterfront area. Tickets hadn't even begun to be distributed and the line was HUGE! We decided since we had limited time in the city we'd skip the platform (would probably take 3 hours just to get the platform pass) and we started walking.
We got some pictures of the Brooklyn Bridge and ended up finding our way to the WTC platform site where we hung around for a while. I started reading some of the notes on around the chapel next-door; a building which had become a memorial. We walked around to the back of the church and to the street where the WTC actually was. You couldn't see much of anything save for the damaged buildings that were around the WTC, a huge gap in the middle (if we were up higher on the platform we would have seen a big crater there) and the lot surrounded by trailers. There were LOTS of rescue workers, firefighters and cops there (actually, all around the city all weekend). Most memorable was a big sign which had been there before for tourists to read noting the history of the building and how "each day over 50,000 people come to work at this building" - after September 11th they never took the thing down. I asked B if we could leave because I was really getting upset. I didn't know anyone that died on September 11th but it took all of my strength to fight back tears. The experience was so surreal.
We headed from there over to Chinatown and did some shopping in http://www.pearlriver.com . After poking around the streets and in the tiny Little Italy area we went to lunch at http://www.epinions.com/rest-review-6DE5-6CEAE64-3978DC9B-prod1 which was really yummy (the bill for the two of us was only $7). From there we had an adventure to find a train to the Rockefellar Center area (we had a great map but it was a bit old and after walking for blocks to the station found that the routes going through that station closed) - at least we got to see a peek of the Lower East Side/Bargain District area (definitely NOT a big tourist attraction).
Once in the Rockefellar center area we noticed a BUNCH of people wearing dumb plastic green hats, green mardi gras beads and many of them were intoxicated. I looked to B and said "But St. Patrick's Day is tomorrow, isn't the parade tomorrow"? Nope - there is some law in NYC about not allowing parades on Sundays so we ended up smack dab in the middle of what we were trying to avoid. We hung around for a bit and got a few pictures of the festivities (and I still did get to take B over to some of the Rockefellar Center buildings). For a while we tried to be adventurous and figure out how to get on the other side of 5th Avenue so that we could actually go IN St. Patrick's Cathedral (I've seen it before but B never had) but we gave up and decided to head to our late-day intended destination (via Grand Central Station so we could see the newly renovated GORGEOUS station and take a picture of the chrome gargoyles on top of the Chrystler building).
The East Village - I had been there for a few hours before and was so excited about it then. It seemed pretty unexciting to me overall though (perhaps I just didn't find the 'cool' places). We took the subway to the Astor Place (I think that's the street) stop and crossed the "Cube Rats" in Cooper Square to get over to St. Mark's place. B picked up some new pants (a cross between BDUs, phat pants and slave pants) in Trash n Vaudeville and he got an Evangelion toy in St. Mark's comics. We poked around there for a bit and then decided to be adventurous and try and find our way over to Greenwich Village. After finding CBGBs and heading up Bleeker Street for a bit (we were either still in NoHo or were on the edge of Greenwhich Village) we gave up; we were really hungry and really tired. Since we were going to go to see the Geiger exhibit at the Fuse Gallery on 2nd Ave between 5th and 6th streets we headed back to the East Village to find dinner at http://www.cloistercafe.com . It was SO yummy and pretty (the only thing we really "splurged" on during the whole trip and even still it was very affordable for the area). After dinner we walked back out to 2nd ave (by this point we were REALLY sore and tired from walking 12 hours) and made our way to the gallery after stopping at Toy Tokyo (good thing we didn't have money, that place was DANGEROUS).
Fricken gallery http://hrgiger.com/fusegallery.htm - you had to make reservations but we didn't know that. B and I made some jokes about "oh EXCUSE ME, we're not cool enough to be on THE LIST" and then headed to the train to go back to the Motel. The plan was to shower, nap for a few hours and go out to the Batcave (either by cab or by car - didn't want to do the subway thing at night). Since we were so tired and sore and wanted another early start on Sunday we decided to skip it - we'll do the goth NYC trip some other time. On the way back to the hotel from the Path stop we detoured over to the river to see the Tribute in Light http://www.nytimes.com/guests/nytoday/bin/event?st=event&eid=1016099679332 . I'm amazed at how our pictures came out!
Sunday:
Again we woke up around 8:00ish and packed up the room. I decided that I wanted to drive into the city so that we can see the things that we missed (The Statue of Liberty, St. Patrick's Cathedral, Strawberry Fields in Central Park and the Greenwhich Village area). When bringing our stuff out to the car before checking out and grabbing breakfast we noticed a really large and slovenly looking guy that looked like he hadn't bathed in months with a young, trim woman in heels, mini-skirt and leather halter top (hmm, wonder what she does for a living). After checking out we headed to Liberty State Park to do the Statue of Liberty Ferry (we could have done the free Staten Island Ferry but decided that this would get us closer - B's never seen it before and unfortunately they won't let you go into the statue at the time being since September 11th). We rode past Ellis Island (sometime I'd like to go in the museum there) and past the statue and then back to the Jersey shore.
We hopped in the car and did our adventuring around Manhattan. I found free and convenient parking all over the place (go parking Karma). We got a picture of the hotel that John Lennon was shot at and a picture of the Strawberry Fields mosaic memorial. From there we drove down 5th ave and parked next to Rockefellar Center so that we could go into St. Patrick's (since there was a mass starting in 20 minutes our time was limited). From there we drove to Bleeker Street in the Greenwhich Village area and drove past all of the shops (its really too bad we didn't have time to walk around and explore - we'll do that at another time). And finally - we parked on 2nd ave right near CBGBs so that we could grab a cholesterol ridden lunch of french fries at http://www.pommesfrites.ws (thanks A). It was SO yummy. After maneuvering back through Chinatown to get to the Holland Tunnel we were on our way home.
So that was our adventure! Now that we've tackled the subway and NYC driving monsters it seems like a much more feasible weekend (or overnight) adventure. I look forward to finding other cheap ways to do it in the future :)
Re: Random thoughts
Date: 2002-03-19 03:20 pm (UTC)And yes, yes we should go to Pinky's. I'm hoping she does a concert in NYC, maybe I can pursuade Bret to go. That would RAWK! It's all American quisine tho, so it's probably crappy burgers and overpriced fries *LOL*
We so should plan a trip after tax season's over. Maybe with my other kewl friends, Debb and Nick, who always find smashing bargains. You'd like them a lot. I'm gonna email them tonight about a possible jaunt.