First Trip to NYC

[wildcat]

I spent most of my Sat. in NYC and it was my first ever trip. I ended up taking the commuter train from Poughkeepsie into Grand Central.

Despite spending my entire day in Manhattan, I feel as though I only scratched the surface. Only scratched the surface despite walking six miles and taking the subway on two occasions. I now know why New Yorkers are in pretty good physical shape.

I will briefly go over some of what I saw - Times Square, Rockefeller Center, NYSE, Wall St. - the bull is actually off Broadway and in front of the exchange, Central Park, former WTC towers location, the harbor, Statue of Liberty, SOHO, Greenwich Village, Empire State building, skyscrapers as far as I could see.

Despite all of the sites that I saw, NYC is so much more. The people and the energy are what really drives the city. I saw every kind of person from every walk of life living together in a crowded space, a true melting pot where you really don't hear English all that often. It's fascinating how people are able to hang on and do it every day.

People move along all day and they rarely acknowledge your existence. But despite the reputation of NYCers, the people more cordial than I expected. I heard the occasional "excuse me, sorry or thanks" and every now then people make eye contact with you. IMHO, it's not that the people are rude, it is just the idea that they have seen/experienced it all -- nothing really shocks them and life goes on at a fast pace. I probably could have run around all day in my boxers telling people the world was going to end and nobody would have blinked an eye -- they have seen it all.

The crowds and the pace make the city both annoying and intoxicating at the same time. I have never experienced any city like it and I can't wait to go again.

- 1st time I spent $8 on a beer too

[dumpster56]

Glad you enjoyed yourself.

Get to the Metropolitian Art Museum on 82nd and 5th ave.

Go to the Village

Party enjoy.

I miss my hometown, then I spend a day driving in the city and ....

Oh get to China Town!! Little Italy!!! Eat Drink !!

[tomz]

I take the train from Beacon to NYC all the time. Glad you enjoyed your first trip. I've lived withing commuting distance of NYC for 25 years. There's alwasy something to do there. We go to the opera, the museums, street fairs, and sometimes we just wander around. The 8$ beer is a bummer, but there are places where you can get food and drink relatively cheaply. You just have to look. It's a great place to visit, but I'm not sure I'd want to live there.

[HFWR]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildcat - 1st time I spent $8 on a beer too

Strip joint?

[dumpster56]

Quote:

Originally Posted by HFWR Strip joint?

It could have been Yankee stadium!!

[wildcat]

Nope, just a Sierra Nevada Pale Ale in Greenwich.

Quote:

Oh get to China Town!! Little Italy!!! Eat Drink !! Get to the Metropolitian Art Museum on 82nd and 5th ave

I will next time. Going back in 2 weeks.

[Letj]

Quote:

Originally Posted by wildcat I saw every kind of person from every walk of life living together in a crowded space, a true melting pot where you really don't hear English

Huh? I lived most of my life in New York and I can say that I did not get the impression that English wasn't the language spoken in New York. Now that statement is quite a stretch.

[wildcat]

It's all relative Letj. Try walking around NYC coming from whitebread USA. But hey, thanks for calling me out on it

[Helen]

I love NYC. My partner and I met up with two friends from Boston there last summer. I found an apartment to rent in the West Village (from craigslist) for $850 for five nights. We had a lot of fun !

[dex]

Don't forget the Hayden Planitium, Natural History Musesum and the Library on 42ndt st., and the Village, and the Cloisters, and ...

[donheff]

I get up there at least two or three times a year. It is a great walking city (at least Manhattan is). My daughter is going to school there and is moving to Broooklyn in a couple of weeks -- that should give me the incentive to explore that borough more than I have. I just returned from Italy and a couple of people I talked to in Rome thought the US was just OK but really liked New York. It has more of the feel of a major European central city with mobs of people on the sidewalks day and night. I don't think there is another place like it in the US - parts of San Francisco, Chicago and LA maybe, but nothing on the scale of Manhattan.

[Goonie]

I ♥ NYC

[lazygood4nothinbum]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Letj Huh? I lived most of my life in New York and I can say that I did not get the impression that English wasn't the language spoken in New York. Now that statement is quite a stretch.

yeah, that's english. it's just english with a new jersey accent (:::ducking:::: ).

i also love new york. wouldn't want to live there but i sure do love to visit. will be there this september. i'm going to meet members of my father's side of the family for the first time. i might even try looking up family records on ellis island. maybe that will lead me to one day finding some distant cousin in russia. maybe he'll be cute and need to be rescued to america.

will spend at least a 1/2 day at the met and looking foward to seeing the new planetarium. new york new york what a town.

[MikeD]

I grew up in Cold Spring, NY, the next town down the tracks from Beacon. It's an antique shop town now.

I used to take the train to the city every day while working in Central Park as a horse and carriage driver. I saw lots of stuff. Most of it bad. The city born carriage drivers referred to me as "Country Mike" as they already had a driver from the city named Mike. I once made $90.00 in one day when minimum wage was about $2.75. I saved it.

Mike D.

[dex]

Quote:

Originally Posted by MikeD I grew up in Cold Spring, NY, the next town down the tracks from Beacon. It's an antique shop town now. I used to take the train to the city every day while working in Central Park as a horse and carriage driver. I saw lots of stuff. Most of it bad. The city born carriage drivers referred to me as "Country Mike" as they already had a driver from the city named Mike. I once made $90.00 in one day when minimum wage was about $2.75. I saved it. Mike D.

When I lived in the Bronx about 20 yrs ago I used to mountain bike near Cold Springs. It was a nice little town at that time with a local bar on one corner. I knew some day it would have to become a "Antique shop town" - sad

[Danny]

Wildcat - I envy you!

This Deli is on my short list next time -

Katz's

Lower East Side - 205 E Houston St (at Ludlow)

[Goonie]

I haven't been out there for several years, but I'm planning on going next June (or July). The company we travel with a lot has a tour going to NYC to see a bunch of Broadway shows, and I'll be going out there with them, but I'm just going to wander around, sight-see, and eat! Also gonna look up some old friends while I'm there.

I get to Chicago quite often (only about an hour drive from home), and it's 'OK'....but I really like NYC a LOT better!

[wildcat]

Wow D-T, that place looks great. Thanks for the tip.

[haha]

I was sitting out enjoying the sun, looking at the Space Needle and drinking my favorite double espresso macchiato yesterday. I met a retired guy who has lived in Seattle for almost 30 years, but was born and grew up on the Lower East Side.

He had the type of warm and somewhat aggressive way of speaking that only people who have spent some time around NYC (or maybe Italy or Tel Aviv) will like. He told me that he found a couple on Craigslist who sublet to him and his wife their apartment in lower Manhattan every August and September, for the ordinary lease rate. He said that neither he nor his wife would survive out here if they couldn’t get back East like this.

He had a lot of complaints about social life here in the NW, most of them justified in my opinion.

Still, it is nice in a way to live in a place where if trouble finds you, you have likely invited it in.

Ha