Dee Dee recommended that we take the Gray Line Siteseeing city tour, which is a double deck bus the makes loops through the city with a tour guide pointing out the main attractions. Generally I HATE doing the big tourist gimmicks…I just feel so un-hip. However, it was worth it for we got to see a lot of the city we normally would not have if we just focused on visiting the areas we wanted to visit or just took the subway everywhere. We did the Ultimate Hop-on/off Experience and pre-purchased passes needed for the ferry to Liberty Island and Ellis Island as well as tickets to the top of the Empire State Building. The cool part is we were able to hop-on/off at each pick up point and spend time visiting if an area looked interesting. The big tip, though, is get on the tour the firs thing in the morning…BEFORE NYC gets moving and thousands of other tours use Gray Line to get around the city. As the day wares on, the every-day traffic of the city increases…and Gray Line is a London-esque bus having to crawl down the street like every other taxi cab. It took Dee Dee and I a half hour to move 4 blocks from the Battery up to the North Side. Eventually we got off and took a cab back to the hotel! If you do get caught during a heavy traffic time of day, the key is to get on the bus at stop NOT at or just before a major attraction. If you can walk to the next stop BEYOND a major attraction you will most likely find a less crowded bus.
Battery Park, Liberty Island and Ellis Island
The first day we spent down at Battery Park and Financial District, which are at the south end of Manhattan. Again, like most NYC big tourist attractions, buy your tickets a few weeks ahead of time and GO EARLY…like be on the first boat to leave to the island. By buying our tickets a few weeks early, we had them shipped to us in CA before we left. We had our ferry tickets in-hand when we arrived at Battery Park at 8:00am and avoided having to stand in a LONG line to pick up the pre-purchased tickets or stand in an even longer line to buy tickets. I have to thank Dee Dee for this tactical insight.
Liberty Island is great…the statue is amazing and a great symbol of our country. We chose NOT to go up into the base…which is the furthest tourists can go into the statue. We were not convinced that the view was equal to the fee required to go into the base. Plan to spend roughly an hour there…overall, there is not much to see beyond the statue.
We hopped back on the ferry and went over to Ellis Island. The museum and exhibit are fantastic and are a reminder of what a struggle and risk it was for people to emigrate to America…frequently saying goodbye forever to loved ones back at home. Spend at least 2-3 hours here and take the time to tour the various rooms where the emigrants were “processed,” check out the photo exhibit and look up a relative as well. Dee Dee and her family purchased a “plaque” to honor the emigration of her Grandfather in 1911 who came through Ellis Island from Croatia. My family on both my dad and mom’s side was already here during the largest period of emigration.
Wall Street, NYSE and Ground Zero
The crowds began to grow as Dee Dee and I took the ferry back to Battery Park. We then walked through the financial district, saw Wall Street, the NYSE and the State House. All these sites can be seen within an hour for there is not much to see…other than the outside of the buildings.
With heavy hearts we ventured over to see Ground Zero which was just North/West of the financial district. Ugh. It’s amazing that the site looks like any other large scale construction site fenced off with bulldozers and cranes in motion. The surrounding areas were very clean and showed little sign of the living hell that seized this area six years ago. Dee Dee and I walked through the memorial that depicted the timeline of events of Sept 11, 2001 along with several images from the day. A church choir visited and sang spiritual songs to all the visitors. We could hold back the tears anymore when they sang “Amazing Grace.” There was not a dry eye at the memorial during that song. We said silent prayers and reflected on the significance of this location and the events have on our Nations’s history. I encourage EVERYONE to visit this place at least once and reflect on life, priorities and realize that our nation is still at war against the group who inflicted the atrocities on us.
Dee Dee and I had lunch at a small little café called Franklin Station Cafe, which is in TriBeCa. It was a good lunch spot on a quiet street serving Malaysian comfort food. According to locals, this café has been witness to several movies being shot because of it’s off the beaten path and New York looking location.
Broadway
When in NYC, a must do is to see a show on Broadway. The best of the best singers, dancers and actors are there to put on a great show. Check out Broadway.com to find out what’s playing. We saw “Wicked”…at the Gershwin Theater…and it was FANTASTIC! Tickets for NYC shows, on and off Broadway are expensive…but worth it. If you desperately want to see a specific show, buy tickets ahead of time as early as possible. “Wicked” was sold out so we had to buy tickets on Stub Hub…even three months in advance. If you are flexible for what show to see, go to the TKTS (Entertainment Link) box office the morning of the show to see what tickets are avaialbe at deep discounts. Be sure to take theater binoculars to get a close up of the sets and actor’s costumes. Dee Dee and I learned that if you hang around the main stage back door there is a good chance to see the cast out of costume and make up. We stood in the crowd of mostly theater junkies (I was one in high school and college) and saw the entire cast come through. It was interesting to see the actors in their “every day” clothes and jump into chauffeured black Chevy Tahoes to be taken to their personal lives.
Be sure to check out restaurants in the Theater District to have dinner before the show. Many of the restaurants offer pre-set “Theater Specials.” The key is to find a restaurant near the theater you are going to and MAKE RESERVATIONS at least 2 hours before the show so to enjoy the food and not rush for curtain. We ate at Maria Pia for for $30 each we had an appetizer, glass of wine, main entrée, dessert and coffee. Not bad. The food was Northern Italian and VERY good. Dee Dee thought the waiter was HOT. I had no opinion.
Battery Park, Liberty Island and Ellis Island
The first day we spent down at Battery Park and Financial District, which are at the south end of Manhattan. Again, like most NYC big tourist attractions, buy your tickets a few weeks ahead of time and GO EARLY…like be on the first boat to leave to the island. By buying our tickets a few weeks early, we had them shipped to us in CA before we left. We had our ferry tickets in-hand when we arrived at Battery Park at 8:00am and avoided having to stand in a LONG line to pick up the pre-purchased tickets or stand in an even longer line to buy tickets. I have to thank Dee Dee for this tactical insight.
Liberty Island is great…the statue is amazing and a great symbol of our country. We chose NOT to go up into the base…which is the furthest tourists can go into the statue. We were not convinced that the view was equal to the fee required to go into the base. Plan to spend roughly an hour there…overall, there is not much to see beyond the statue.
We hopped back on the ferry and went over to Ellis Island. The museum and exhibit are fantastic and are a reminder of what a struggle and risk it was for people to emigrate to America…frequently saying goodbye forever to loved ones back at home. Spend at least 2-3 hours here and take the time to tour the various rooms where the emigrants were “processed,” check out the photo exhibit and look up a relative as well. Dee Dee and her family purchased a “plaque” to honor the emigration of her Grandfather in 1911 who came through Ellis Island from Croatia. My family on both my dad and mom’s side was already here during the largest period of emigration.
Wall Street, NYSE and Ground Zero
The crowds began to grow as Dee Dee and I took the ferry back to Battery Park. We then walked through the financial district, saw Wall Street, the NYSE and the State House. All these sites can be seen within an hour for there is not much to see…other than the outside of the buildings.
With heavy hearts we ventured over to see Ground Zero which was just North/West of the financial district. Ugh. It’s amazing that the site looks like any other large scale construction site fenced off with bulldozers and cranes in motion. The surrounding areas were very clean and showed little sign of the living hell that seized this area six years ago. Dee Dee and I walked through the memorial that depicted the timeline of events of Sept 11, 2001 along with several images from the day. A church choir visited and sang spiritual songs to all the visitors. We could hold back the tears anymore when they sang “Amazing Grace.” There was not a dry eye at the memorial during that song. We said silent prayers and reflected on the significance of this location and the events have on our Nations’s history. I encourage EVERYONE to visit this place at least once and reflect on life, priorities and realize that our nation is still at war against the group who inflicted the atrocities on us.
Dee Dee and I had lunch at a small little café called Franklin Station Cafe, which is in TriBeCa. It was a good lunch spot on a quiet street serving Malaysian comfort food. According to locals, this café has been witness to several movies being shot because of it’s off the beaten path and New York looking location.
Broadway
When in NYC, a must do is to see a show on Broadway. The best of the best singers, dancers and actors are there to put on a great show. Check out Broadway.com to find out what’s playing. We saw “Wicked”…at the Gershwin Theater…and it was FANTASTIC! Tickets for NYC shows, on and off Broadway are expensive…but worth it. If you desperately want to see a specific show, buy tickets ahead of time as early as possible. “Wicked” was sold out so we had to buy tickets on Stub Hub…even three months in advance. If you are flexible for what show to see, go to the TKTS (Entertainment Link) box office the morning of the show to see what tickets are avaialbe at deep discounts. Be sure to take theater binoculars to get a close up of the sets and actor’s costumes. Dee Dee and I learned that if you hang around the main stage back door there is a good chance to see the cast out of costume and make up. We stood in the crowd of mostly theater junkies (I was one in high school and college) and saw the entire cast come through. It was interesting to see the actors in their “every day” clothes and jump into chauffeured black Chevy Tahoes to be taken to their personal lives.
Be sure to check out restaurants in the Theater District to have dinner before the show. Many of the restaurants offer pre-set “Theater Specials.” The key is to find a restaurant near the theater you are going to and MAKE RESERVATIONS at least 2 hours before the show so to enjoy the food and not rush for curtain. We ate at Maria Pia for for $30 each we had an appetizer, glass of wine, main entrée, dessert and coffee. Not bad. The food was Northern Italian and VERY good. Dee Dee thought the waiter was HOT. I had no opinion.
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