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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 :)
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no subject
Date: 2002-03-19 06:30 am (UTC)Pearl River
Date: 2002-03-19 06:42 am (UTC)Have a great time!
no subject
Date: 2002-03-19 07:14 am (UTC)Random thoughts
Date: 2002-03-19 07:43 am (UTC)Uptown/Downtown - I can never keep them straight. *lol* I believe Up is down, and Down is up.
Subways - I NEVER like to walk. Usually I find the closest station to me when I decide I've had enough, THEN consult the map and see if it will take me where I need to go. Then there is the danger of closed stations. When I saw the Cruxshadows, and took the Path, they shut down the clostest station to the Limelight, so I had to walk to the next one, THEN there was only one track, so I ended up going the wrong direction. But i could just stay on the train, and it reveresed directions.
Batcave - you're not missing much. The place doesn't get jumping til after 2 AM anyway, long past your bedtime *ducks**runs*
I'd never been in Chinatown before, I usually end up following people around St Mark's (which is VERY BORING after 4 hours *sigh*) That might be for next time. I'm hoping to hit the museums next time, we'll see.
Britney is opening a restaurant, called "Pinky's" *silly grin*
Re: Random thoughts
Date: 2002-03-19 08:51 am (UTC)I've never stayed at a place with a bullet-proof barrier before so it just freaked me out :) I felt very safe being there and I'd feel fine leaving to go to a club (its not that hookers hung out there - I'm just sure that many were brought their). But the walk to the path was not near anything so I wouldn't want to do it at night (which was why we were going to drive in to the Batcave or take a cab if we went). :)
"Uptown/Downtown - I can never keep them straight. *lol* I believe Up is down, and Down is up."
Nope, up is up and down is down (but if you don't have a map and know where the place you are going is then you can mess up and go the wrong way). Or just be silly like us and not even think of the uptown vs. downtown thing and get in the station on the wrong side of the street :)
"Subways - I NEVER like to walk. Usually I find the closest station to me when I decide I've had enough, THEN consult the map and see if it will take me where I need to go. Then there is the danger of closed stations. When I saw the Cruxshadows, and took the Path, they shut down the clostest station to the Limelight, so I had to walk to the next one, THEN there was only one track, so I ended up going the wrong direction. But i could just stay on the train, and it reveresed directions. "
Yeah - sounds like what happened to us :) The path was the easy part (since they only have one very limited weekend schedule that only goes one way) but it was the subway thing that was annoying at times. We walked A LONG time to get to a specific train that would bring us right where we needed to be and then found that though the station still existed that train didn't go through there anymore. So we walked more to another station to get the train and once on the train it broke down (so we ended up getting off at a random station and finding still another train to get where we needed to go).
"Batcave - you're not missing much. The place doesn't get jumping til after 2 AM anyway, long past your bedtime *ducks**runs* "
Actually we weren't going to be going out there until around 11 or 12 anyway (after taking a nap and recovering from the day of walking). It just didn't seem that exciting anymore after we were comfy in our PJs back at the hotel :)
"I'd never been in Chinatown before, I usually end up following people around St Mark's (which is VERY BORING after 4 hours *sigh*) That might be for next time. I'm hoping to hit the museums next time, we'll see. "
I thought that you guys ate at Noodletown though (and that's right in/on the borders of Chinatown)? I think we had the most fun there - walking through the little food markets was really interesting. We didn't get to go in St. Mark's Books (which I really wanted to do) but it was probably a good thing since I didn't have money to spend. I thought Trash n Vaudeville was not much more than Hootenany (they had a lot of the same stuff only it cost more money). Religions Sex had some AMAZING outfits but all things that I would never realistically buy or wear so it was fun for browsing but that's about it. The Comic store and Toy Tokyo ROCKED. And that's about what we did in the East Village (besides eat dinner, get turned away from the gallery and then later have greasy fries). :)
"Britney is opening a restaurant, called "Pinky's" *silly grin*"
I heard about that, its in NYC? We should definately go some time :)
Tickets
Date: 2002-03-19 08:53 am (UTC)If you want to get on the platform early (between 9 and 12) you need to get tix on the previous day. And you don't get a choice of the time of the ticket - they give out 250 per every 1/2 hour slot and you get what's available. And with 250 people on that platform I'd be wondering if I'd even be able to see anything.
Have a great time!
no subject
Re: Random thoughts
Date: 2002-03-19 11:50 am (UTC)Weird. Was this the last time you went with kazama?
AFAI knew, the PATH station near to the Limelight was around 6th ave/Bway ish... (since I went to school VERY near there, and hung out at Bar X), right after the N/R Lines, and was running pretty regularly. But it has been a while, so... And yeah, they all revese directions. THo now I am curious to see if the PATH stop to the WTC has been taken off the PATH map...
Next time, you might want to hop on the 4/5/6 or the N/R and go downtown some, and catch the PATH lower down. Might work, anyway.
I'm almost sure you can get on from 14th Street/Union Sq through to Christopher street or 9th.
Oh, and I remember Pavonia/Newport - used to go from there myself in the city - ther was a multilevel garage walking distance from the PATH stop that i used to park at, and even overnight it was $10. Dont quote me on that tho! It's been a while!
Glad you had fun!
Nah,
Date: 2002-03-19 02:27 pm (UTC)Its going to be there for a while, perhaps you'd be able to make it to NYC before it leaves?
Re: Random thoughts
Date: 2002-03-19 03:17 pm (UTC)MY brain hurts!!!!!!!
*grin*
I thought my last trip was after K and I went.
I went to see the Cruxshadows in August, the Tuesday after Convergence. I stayed with Staralfurinn, and she showed me just where to go. About ummmm, 4? blocks up from the Limelight, there was a station. And it was closed, going outbound. *pout* So I walked to the next one, and proceeded to get on a train going the wrong way.
It was 2AM, the only place I wanted to go was Bed. I'm sure I'll get to know the PATH better on my next trip, as I think I may stay some with Staralfurinn, and a couple of days at that hotel. Depending.
Kazama and I stayed somewhere areound 27th. We were about 3 blocks (NYC blocks mind you) from the BatCave. I don't remember when we went. *lol*
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.