NYC - Day 5

Before getting to the pictures, I'll elaborate a bit on the Big Bus. As I'm sure you would imagine, tour buses are all over New York. In October, Mom and I toured some on The Grey Line. We were somewhat disappointed. It probably did not help that it rained, a lot, on our second day of the 2-day pass. Scott and I had used Big Bus on other trips, so I looked into it. Of the various options, once again, it seemed to be the best. We were somewhat disappointed but it was most because of our own approach. Most of these buses, including Big Bus and Grey Line, are hop on and hop off. They have predetermined stops at tourist spots and you can leave one bus and in theory, another will be there every 20-30 minutes, depending on the stop. In October, as Mom and I waited for Grey Line, we would see 2 or 3 Big Buses come through and comment that maybe we should have done that. More than once, Scott and I waited for what seemed to be forever. He finally commented, "Maybe we should have used Grey Line, I've seen several of them come through." I could only laugh. Here's the general rule - no matter what bus you choose, more of everything else will pass you by. I'm sure there's a parable in here somewhere.

What do I wish we would have done? Glad you asked. Big Bus had 5 routes (including the night tour) ranging anywhere from 1.5 to 3 hours. We had the 3 day pass which included the night tour and a short boat ride (so did Grey Line and I did like their boat ride better). Both tours included passes to a museum too. I think we would have been better off to have done complete routes without getting off and back on. They give good historical, cultural, and fun information on the bus. We could have completed the tours and still had plenty of time to explore more by walking and using our subway/city bus passes. Plus, the night tour and the boat tours are well worth the entire passage.

While in our UBER car on the way to the hotel (Day 1), we quickly learned that the mother/daughter riding with us were from Kansas City and we shared some common views in life. The mom had been to NYC before and they only had a couple of days this time. She had bought a private, 3.5 hour van tour combined with a 2.5 hour boat trip that completely circumvented Manhattan. That sounded very appealing to me - maybe next time! However, I do think the upper levels of the bus give a vantage point that a van wouldn't have. Pun intended.

Enough about buses! You're hear for pictures.

 According to the signage,

Our 18th president, General Ulysses S. Grant

is indeed buried in Grant's Tomb.

But don't go on Monday (or Tuesday)

- the Visitor's Center is closed.

We neglected to click the "plan your trip"

tab on the website!

 The Riverside Church is across from

Grant's Tomb

Another church that we knew nothing

about but felt it was picture worthy.

 This is the 125th Street Subway

which we ascended into Harlem

to walk down to Grant's Tomb.

This (click here) is the article about

this station 2 weeks later.

I first saw it on the nightly news.

Live dangerously, my friends:)

The famous Apollo Theatre in Harlem

This just reminded me of so many NYC scenes

that I've seen on TV on shows such as

Blue Bloods and Law and Order.

We didn't get to get out and spend time in Harlem.

I would have liked to explore more - for instance,

this bazaar on 116th Street. Harlem received quite

a reputation in the 20th century but has seen a

recovery of late. In 2001, former President

Bill Clinton established his office on 125th street.

This is from the Museum of the City of New York.

Alexander Hamilton looks over Central Park from

the front of the building. Our Big Bus tickets included

free admission. I'm not sure it was worth the free

admission but, Scott did enjoy some of

the WW1 posters throughout the museum. 

At the Loeb Boathouse in Central Park

A walk through the park.

Another statue in Central Park. This one was

interesting because it was commemorating

the landing of the Pilgrim Fathers.

Did I mention that all roads lead to Times Square?

This McDonald's runs the length of a city block.

 It's not very wide as you might be able to see

in the next picture.

The only place in NYC that you can get something to drink for a buck! The photo of Scott gives you get a bit of an idea of the length.This is a good time to let you know about NY bathrooms! Public bathrooms are few and far between. As I like to say, 8 million people and only 8 bathrooms. Several places put a code on your receipt so you can punch in and take care of business. Just making sure you get this... you can buy a drink at McD's or Starbucks so you can go... of course, that drink puts you looking for the next place to get a code. 

Interesting dilemma.

Remember the Disney characters from an earlier post? They solve this problem by having someone with them walk up to people in McD'sand ask for their receipts. Just warning you!

I really wanted to see Madison Square Garden so we found it. Next time, I want to attend an event there.  One of the things that I found interesting was that right across the street, there was a K-Mart. Who'da thunk it? I was glad to see that K-Mart because I could barely walk at this point. Scott wasn't sure I'd make it back to the hotel.My knee had started hurting on the 2nd day and was getting progressively worse. Then, while in Central Park earlier in the day,I had moved aside for someone only to step into a small gully - that was the final blow. Our plan to take Monday a bit slower became a forced reality! From here on out, you will see my K-Mart purchase in many of the pictures - a cane. It helped tremendously and I also learned that K-Mart on 34th Street at One Penn Plaza (I see there's another on Broadway) had souvenirs at a much better price than anywhere we had seen.

We walked on down 34th Street towards the Empire State Building passing by Macy's - but no parade.

Below is inside the Empire State Building where the lines are

VERY long to go to the 86th floor. I did this in October but, as you saw in an earlier post, we opted for 66 floors of Top of the Rock this time. So, which one would I recommend? That depends. Top of Rock is a much shorter wait - not just from our experience but from looking at the reports of others as well. The ESB takes you much higher but can have waits up to 2 hours. My wait in October was an hour and a half and I was told that Sunday evening was one of the best times to go. No matter which one you do, try to time it so that you go up about 30 minutes before sunset. You can get a day and a

night view. I love the city at night and have included a picture from the 86th floor of the ESB.

While waiting on the bus around the corner from the ESB, we saw a couple of helicopters hovering around it. Never did hear what was going on. We thought it might be tours but not sure. Then, this week, while watching a Cardinal's game against the Mets, they showed aerial shots going around the ESB. I'm guessing every station that goes to NYC does something like that so maybe we were seeing something similar. Or, maybe not. And, while waiting, I got asked for directions from other tourist. That happened several times. Maybe it's the thick NY accent:) 

 

 Just thought I'd show you one more pile of trash.
This is on the street to the hotel. It's how
we closed down the city every night.

NYC - Day 1 
NYC - Day 2 
NYC - Day 3 
NYC - Day 4a 
NYC - Day 4b 
NYC - Day 5 
NYC - Day 6 
NYC - Day 7

NYC - Day 4b

Redeemer Church West is where we chose to worship on this Lord's Day. Their website is linked to their name in the previous sentence and an interesting and informative article was posted on The Gospel Coalition website in May. If you read the article, you'll quickly realize that reaching New Yorkers is different from what many of us from the south and mid-west have become used to as church and ministry. They are obviously very effective in ministering the gospel. We attended a service that features jazz instrumentation. Traditional, Classical, Gospel/Soul, and Contemporary/Eclectic, are also choices that are available at different times across the 4 Manhattan locations. For a bit of clarification, a jazz service simply means that jazz instrumentation is used but the worship songs were very similar to what we sing at home. I'm sure the other genre-centered services are the same. And no, Tim Keller was not preaching at this location. It didn't matter. The message was biblical and presented well!

Allow me to interrupt this blog to give you a little perspective on the day. We started at our hotel in Long Island City, Queens, NY (right middle on the map). We took the subway to Lower Manhattan and visited the sites starred near Westfield World Trade Center. From there we took the Big Bus to midtown (Just south of Central Park) and caught a subway to the Upper West Side for church (you guessed it, opposite of the Upper East Side on the map). After church, we took a bus and stopped at Trader Joe's for peanut butter (you have to know me) and then back down to Times Square (the star by Hell's Kitchen) for a Big Bus night tour which went back to Lower Manhattan, across the Manhattan Bridge into Brooklyn and back over to Manhattan, eventually ending at Times Square then back to Long Island City. I cannot emphasize enough how helpful it is to map out some of the sites you want to see before you go. It helped me tremendously to have an idea of where the 5 Boroughs are and the general layout of the city. But, even with a general feel for the geography of the city, it was nearly impossible to keep an entire day’s events in one area - especially when we were trying to work around specific events in the evening. And, count on not working in something you had hoped to see and having to move it to another day - this completely throws off your geographical planning. One more note on getting your bearings... no matter how hard you try, you never know right away where you are when you come up from the subway!

On our walk to the night tour stop, we saw some of New York's finest patrolling on horseback. This isn't exactly what we expected to see in Times Square! We had to wait in line for nearly an hour to get on the tour bus. While waiting, a young man who was obviously from the Middle East asked us where we were from. When we told him St. Louis, he lit up and said "So am I"! He just graduated from Webster University and was touring in NY before returning to Saudi Arabia. An incredibly friendly young man who had been alone in NY for 3 days and was noticeably ready to find someone with whom to converse. It was fun to meet him (I don't remember his name) and to hear about his background. But even after 4 years in the mid-west, he was convinced that NYC was what America really is! 

Now for some images from the night tour:

All paths eventually lead to Times Square

Flat Iron Building

Manhattan Bridge

When the tour was over, we grabbed some more pizza from Ray's and decided to try their wings this time - good decision. While deciding where to eat, I had to do this:

Fortunately, posing with Lin Manuel Miranda's

picture doesn't cost the $400-$2000 that

tickets to Hamilton costs! 

And finally, a word about trash... This scene begins developing every night all over the city. It seems that when you build buildings everywhere and have no back alleys (that I've noticed), so this is the only place to put your trash! It's all gone by morning and the city starts over for the day.

NYC - Day 1 
NYC - Day 2 
NYC - Day 3 
NYC - Day 4a 
NYC - Day 4b 
NYC - Day 5 
NYC - Day 6 
NYC - Day 7
NYC - Buildings 
Sabbatical Trip Part 2 - Day 8
Sabbatical Trip Part 2 - Day 9
Sabbatical Trip Part 2 - US Naval Academy
Sabbatical Trip Part 2 - The Last Days including Ocean City, NJ, West Point Academy, Flushing Meadow-Corona Park

NYC - Day 4a

I just deleted my original first sentence because I wrote, "This may have been my favorite day." But, it's hard to pick a favorite in NYC. Then again, yeah - this was my favorite. It started at St. Paul's Chapel - which is part of Trinity Church parish but actually about 4 blocks away (we'll visit there before the day is over). St. Paul's chapel not only survived the great NYC fire of the revolution in 1776, but became know as the "little chapel that stood" after 9/11. Located across the street from the World Trade Center Buildings, it is remarkable that it came through unscathed. It then served as a go-to for first responders and other workers needing rest in its pews, a quick meal, or a sounding-board found in the many volunteers who came to help. You can read more about it here.

This bell was presented to the City of NY

by the City of London after 9/11.

An inscription reads,

"Forged in Adversity 11 September 2001"

Don't ever tell a New Yorker that this building, 

WTC 1, replaced

the World Trade Centers (7 total) of 9/11. It stands in

honor of those Twin Towers as do any other WTC buildings - #1 (2014), 4 (2013), and 7 (2006) are 

opened and #3 is expected to open this year. 

There are two reflecting pools,

one on the site of each of the Twin Towers.

Etched in the bronze panels around the edges

are the names of everyone who died in not only

the 2001 attack, but also the 1993 attack.

Occasionally, you will see a rose by a name

signifying that it is the birthday of the deceased.

 From there, Scott and I parted ways for a couple of hours.

I toured the 9/11 Memorial Museum in October. 

We may have seen it separately but we both agreed

that the atmosphere inside is like no other museum.

It is generally quiet and somber.

Here are just a few of many pictures that we took:

In October, I had briefly ventured inside

Westfield World Trade Center - the wierd

looking mall pictured below. It almost

looks like an ice rink from the upper level.

I went inside to see what else was there. 
What you see isn't what you get - there's

much more. The shops extend beyond

for a block or more down each side.

After I stumbled upon Eataly and finally

exited outside, I was so far from where I

had entered that it was mentally dizzying!

Per that marketplace of info,

Wikapedia:"Eataly is the largest Italian marketplace in the world, comprising a variety of restaurants, food and beverage counters, bakery, retail items, and a cooking school.Check out there website and see if you too would want to stumble upon it in NY (2 locations), Chicago, LA, or Boston." 

Cheese anyone? Just a
small sampling of what's
available. 

My Scott-less adventure wasn't over!

I began walking down the street in the

direction of Trinity Church, thinking I would sit

and relax in the old cemetery on the property, 

when I came upon a large retaining wall to the side of it.

I ascended the staircase next to the wall

and walked in to this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zKUB6UFK0wA

I'm not completely sure all that was being celebrated

but there was a large cake for Deacon Somebody's

birthday along with hamburgers, hot dogs,

chicken wings, chicken skewers, sides, other desserts

and plenty to drink. I was invited to join their parish

picnic. I did. As the people began to disperse,

there was still plenty of food left so I made a

plate for Scott. He joined me and we went to

the other side of the church to visit the most

famous grave in the old cemetery:

Alexander Hamilton's mark is all over the city!

This is Trinity Church - the building between

the picnic side of the cemetery (sounds kinda strange)

and Mr. and Mrs. Hamilton's grave.

Walking down the street to see the

Wall Street Bull, we stumbled upon

Pa and junior here: 

It's kind of like a bull fight to get next to

this beast for a picture. Even more

are taking selfies around the defiant

little girl facing off with the bull.

Her story is here. 

"Big Bus" is a hop-on/hop-off tour and

the Battery Park stop is at the tip end

of Manhattan - a ride we were very much

ready to stay on after considerable walking.

Only a small portion of what we saw is

represented in these pictures - more to come

on the Big Bus...

Brooklyn skyline from Battery Park

 A portion of NYC's salt supply  under the Brooklyn Bridge

- not needed in the record high temps

experienced the week we were there.

One of my favorite scenes - school age

boys playing on a baseball field

at the edge of the Brooklyn Bridge

 Our closest experience with the Brooklyn Bridge

Representations of the largest China Town in the U.S.

 

The UN Building - which is a representation of nothing. 

 I made this one large enough to read in case you want to move in next week:

Just a view from the bus that I enjoyed
 

Some guy named Tony was handing out

awards and we passed by as he rolled out

his red carpet.