Tuesday, September 12, 2017
Trip home
This was a very uneventful day! We got up early, got coffee and tea at the hotel, got a taxi to Laguardia Airport, checked our bag, went through security (really easy), went to our gate. We had quite a bit of time, so we got breakfast ( pastries and oatmeal) and waited quietly til the plane loaded. Very uneventful trip, finally got to Texas, found the car and drove home. Good end to a really special trip.
9/11 Memorial and Museum
The day began with the breakfast buffet at the hotel-- remember we have a $75 credit in the "restaurant" which is not really a restaurant, but a burger/sandwich area. Anyway, their buffet included juice, scrambled eggs, potatoes, strange sausage, pastries, bagels, fruit and coffee or tea. Very complete and adequate for a cost of $28 per person. A little outrageous, but heck, we had a credit, so why not!
Our plan for the day was to go to the 9/11 memorial and museum and if we could figure out how to get there, Wall Street's charging Bull and little girl display.
We got a taxi, not having a clue how to get to the museum/memorial via subway. Taxi drivers in New York deserve hazardous duty pay-- (I've watched the Cash Cab, on t.v. and he never gets into the crushing traffic jams that seem to occur every intersection-- and everything seems to be under construction as well) We got there after a very slow ride of about 30-40 minutes. He dropped us off across the street and explained how to get there, kinda-- his English and mine aren't exactly the same. We did discover that cash is not needed anywhere in NYC-- EVERYONE takes credit cards (well, maybe not the pedicab driver or homeless folks, but everyone else) Cabs have a scanner in the back for payments.
The first stop was the memorial which is a huge hole in the ground surrounded by marble with the names of the victims etched around the perimeter.
It isn't really a fountain, I think of a fountain as a place where water spurts up-- here water was cascading down into the hole and flowing up-- a waterfall on the 4 sides of the big hole. There are two of these memorials- one for each tower.
The memorial is a very solemn place and the visitors seem quite subdued.
We had bought tickets to the museum online (via credit card) and had our receipt on the phone. We skipped the line- which wasn't that long, and were in.
Not sure what I was expecting, but it was focused on the physical items from the towers and on the people who lost their lives.
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| metal brace from tower |
We saw a concrete stairway which was in pristine condition at the top and looked rather melted at the bottom-- all together 20-30 feet tall. We were discussing the damage at the bottom when a docent came over to tell us that this stairway was an outside fire escape and let thousands escape before the towers collapsed. He said that the melted damage to the bottom part of the stairs happened in the recovery phrase not in the actual attack. He also let us know that over 15,000 people escaped the towers and 2,977 died in the attack. I saw written on a sign that over 400 NYC street locations have been named for victims of the attack. I guess I didn't realize that that many people who were in one of the towers survived. There was an area with names, pictures and biographical information randomly presented of those who died in the attack.
A large American flag was on one wall entirely made up of the pictures of the victims
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| Add caption |
A partially melted firetruck was on display as were twisted beams and footings for the supports of the buildings
We watched a short film about the re-building of Freedom Tower which I'm sure would have appealed to an engineer or constructions person-- I didn't get too much out of it. The most haunting portion of the museum were the audio files which ran constantly containing the words and voices of people in the tower phoning their loved ones telling them what was happening.
Also bagpipe music was subtly played in various parts of the museum. Several other videos were available but the entire experience was overwhelming. A person needs to take a break -- it can't be rushed through in several hours. I'm sure we didn't see it all, but it was enough-- you might say it was too much. Granted this is a NEW YORK thing which we experienced vicariously via t.v., but they lived it.
We left the museum and headed toward Wall Street to see the "charging bull" etc. After getting turned around (not really lost) a couple of times we made it and it was really disappointing.
There were probably 40-50 obnoxious tourists there before us and we could hardly see the bull-- which is quite large. Several were being more than obnoxious, but downright crude. Our niece Kinz had mentioned the addition of another statue to the area, a little girl. She mentioned that on national Women's Day- which I wasn't aware of at all, but has been since she has been there, the little girl was added. If you could see it in its entirity (without all the obnoxious people grabbing at the bull) the bull is charging, showing the strength of the country's financial system and the little girl is standing facing the bull with arms on hips glaring him down-- representing the strength of women.
I'd love to see it without the mass of humanity who were there at that point.We got a taxi and went back toward the hotel. Looking for a good place to have lunch, we happened upon Lindy's-- seemingly a landmark place. Mostly very expensive sandwiches, both hot and cold, and some hot things like fish and chips, etc. I had a chicken salad sandwich and although I was really hungry, could only eat half of it. The sandwich was tasty and approx 6-7 inches tall- had trouble getting it in my mouth. ($16.95)
I asked about the restroom and was told "down the stairs" over there. I had been walking for 2 days straight and my trick knee was giving me a bit of trouble. I walked over to where the stairs went down-- it was way steep, dark and the hand rails were wobbly and decided I could wait.
We walked to the hotel and were able to get into our room without any trouble! Thank you very much and took a nap. We knew Kinz wasn't going to see us this evening because, poor baby, she had other out of state company coming to stay with her. She's been way too popular lately, anyway I hope we didn't cause her any inconvenience. We went out looking for supper- although after our huge late lunch we weren't really very hungry. We opted for sweets. I had baklava and Nick had an apple pastry. His was better than mine. They poured syrup over the baklava and it just became gaggy sweet-- should have left it alone.
Went back to our room- repacked our luggage for leaving early on Friday morning and went to bed.
Sunday, September 10, 2017
Happy Birthday to Me!
September 6, 2017 I celebrated my 75th birthday. Why is this such a milestone for me? My parents died in their 60's and I celebrated when I turned 70, but somehow three quarters of a century sounds impressive to me.
The plan for the day was to go see Times Square, Central Park, Natural History Museum (across the street from Central Park) to have some lunch, a nap, and get ready for the play at 7. Kinz had asked to get off work early so she could come to us and we could walk to the play on 48th Street.
We checked out the subway station at Columbus Circle and found several places for breakfast. I chose a yogurt fruit parfait and Nick had a croissant with coffee. I thought the name of this doughnut shop was clever.
We headed to Times Square, just a few blocks down the street. I took a video showing all the movement in the colorful signs in the area. It's about 46 seconds long which means it's too long to send from my phone to e-mail.
We met up with The Hulk and Minnie Mouse whose living depends on conning tourists into having their pics made.
Minnie took the pic-- each wanted $ for their services. Everybody's gotta feed their family, some have more unusual jobs than others.
Several times as we walked around the area, I noticed Smart Car Police cars. I quit counting when I got over 10. They park them just wherever and I saw one officer in one pursuing a car. Traffic doesn't go very fast cuz of the horrible congestion and a Smart Car can pull between two larger cars with no problem.
We wandered around Central Park for awhile- got lost a couple of times, found the zoo and bought chickadee a little animal thingy. We then headed to the Natural History Museum.
Since I've seen all the "Night at the Museum" movies, I was expecting certain exhibits. Movies and life are usually different and this was no exception. We met a very friendly docent who showed us there to find particular areas of the museum. The majority of the museum is centered around experiences of Theodore Roosevelt. The docent insisted that we take a picture with the President.
Nick was interested in acquatic animals, so we went there first and took quite a few pictures. This is a place we could have spent not only hours but days.
A unique area of the museum was the Hayden Big Bang theatre which was a short presentation explaining the creation of the universe scientifically. Well done and very interesting, After a couple of hours we decided that lunch was important. We headed toward our hotel sure that we could find a good place for lunch. We ended up at Big Nick's Pizza and Sandwiches. Not wonderful, but filling. We got to our hotel about 2 and we were planning on taking a nap before getting ready for the play tonite.
We put the key in our lock and nothing happened, so we went to the desk to have them rescanned. We went up to the 15th floor to use the new keys and it still didn't work. We went back down to report the problem. The clerk called the security/maintenance office and said someone would be there to fix the lock shortly. We waited by our door talking to the cleaning lady, who was really embarrassed that she hadn't been able to clean our room. We waited and waited until the repairman came. He used a "rebooter" machine on the lock and it didn't work. He sent us back to the lobby to wait for him to either repair or replace the lock. When we got back to the lobby we told the original lady who had worked on our keys, that we were still locked out. She was astonished, called the maintenance man-- he told her that the lock would have to be replaced and would take a little more time. Turns out she was the desk manager and gave us a credit of $75 in the restaurant/bar for our inconvenience. After 2 1/2 hours we got into our room with no time for a nap.
We got ready for the play, waited for Kinz to meet us and walked to the Longacre Theatre on 48th Street. We had checked on the weather prediction and expected 90% chance by the time the play was out. When we were planning this trip we decided we didn't want to see any play we'd already seen. That let out Cats, Chicago, Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, School of Rock. We decided to see "A Bronx Tale" and it was an excellent decision. Kinz, was involved with theatre in high school, but had never experienced theatre of this caliber.
From the first note of the first song to the end of the play, we were entranced. WOW! this is probably the best theatre experience I've ever had.
As we exited the theatre, rain was pouring down. We had decided to take Kinz to the Hard Rock Cafe after the play and it was too far to walk in the rain. Gathered in fromt of the Longacre were several "pedicabs" ( bicycle powered 3 seater rickshaw things, with plastic covering to keep the rain off the passengers). Transportation in the city is expensive- unless you use the subway and this was no exception, but it was a unique experience. I'm so glad it was raining, so we could share this event with Kinz.
We've eaten at Hard Rock Cafes all over the world-- London, Australia, Hawaii, San Francisco, Las Vegas, Barcelona, Scandinavia- and now New York-- they are pretty much the same, with identical menus and "rock" memorabilia. I think Kinz enjoyed it and I know we did.
It was a wonderful and unique birthday that I'll remember forever. Great Day!
The plan for the day was to go see Times Square, Central Park, Natural History Museum (across the street from Central Park) to have some lunch, a nap, and get ready for the play at 7. Kinz had asked to get off work early so she could come to us and we could walk to the play on 48th Street.
We checked out the subway station at Columbus Circle and found several places for breakfast. I chose a yogurt fruit parfait and Nick had a croissant with coffee. I thought the name of this doughnut shop was clever.
We headed to Times Square, just a few blocks down the street. I took a video showing all the movement in the colorful signs in the area. It's about 46 seconds long which means it's too long to send from my phone to e-mail.
We met up with The Hulk and Minnie Mouse whose living depends on conning tourists into having their pics made.
Minnie took the pic-- each wanted $ for their services. Everybody's gotta feed their family, some have more unusual jobs than others.
Several times as we walked around the area, I noticed Smart Car Police cars. I quit counting when I got over 10. They park them just wherever and I saw one officer in one pursuing a car. Traffic doesn't go very fast cuz of the horrible congestion and a Smart Car can pull between two larger cars with no problem.
Since I've seen all the "Night at the Museum" movies, I was expecting certain exhibits. Movies and life are usually different and this was no exception. We met a very friendly docent who showed us there to find particular areas of the museum. The majority of the museum is centered around experiences of Theodore Roosevelt. The docent insisted that we take a picture with the President.
Nick was interested in acquatic animals, so we went there first and took quite a few pictures. This is a place we could have spent not only hours but days.
 |
| Huge octopus |
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| Giant Whale |
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| Sea worm things- discovered in the 1970's |
A unique area of the museum was the Hayden Big Bang theatre which was a short presentation explaining the creation of the universe scientifically. Well done and very interesting, After a couple of hours we decided that lunch was important. We headed toward our hotel sure that we could find a good place for lunch. We ended up at Big Nick's Pizza and Sandwiches. Not wonderful, but filling. We got to our hotel about 2 and we were planning on taking a nap before getting ready for the play tonite.
We put the key in our lock and nothing happened, so we went to the desk to have them rescanned. We went up to the 15th floor to use the new keys and it still didn't work. We went back down to report the problem. The clerk called the security/maintenance office and said someone would be there to fix the lock shortly. We waited by our door talking to the cleaning lady, who was really embarrassed that she hadn't been able to clean our room. We waited and waited until the repairman came. He used a "rebooter" machine on the lock and it didn't work. He sent us back to the lobby to wait for him to either repair or replace the lock. When we got back to the lobby we told the original lady who had worked on our keys, that we were still locked out. She was astonished, called the maintenance man-- he told her that the lock would have to be replaced and would take a little more time. Turns out she was the desk manager and gave us a credit of $75 in the restaurant/bar for our inconvenience. After 2 1/2 hours we got into our room with no time for a nap.
We got ready for the play, waited for Kinz to meet us and walked to the Longacre Theatre on 48th Street. We had checked on the weather prediction and expected 90% chance by the time the play was out. When we were planning this trip we decided we didn't want to see any play we'd already seen. That let out Cats, Chicago, Lion King, Phantom of the Opera, Wicked, School of Rock. We decided to see "A Bronx Tale" and it was an excellent decision. Kinz, was involved with theatre in high school, but had never experienced theatre of this caliber.
From the first note of the first song to the end of the play, we were entranced. WOW! this is probably the best theatre experience I've ever had.
As we exited the theatre, rain was pouring down. We had decided to take Kinz to the Hard Rock Cafe after the play and it was too far to walk in the rain. Gathered in fromt of the Longacre were several "pedicabs" ( bicycle powered 3 seater rickshaw things, with plastic covering to keep the rain off the passengers). Transportation in the city is expensive- unless you use the subway and this was no exception, but it was a unique experience. I'm so glad it was raining, so we could share this event with Kinz.
It was a wonderful and unique birthday that I'll remember forever. Great Day!
Saturday, September 9, 2017
NYC here we come
Since I will be celebrating a landmark birthday this week, I requested a special trip to mark the occasion. Nick decided NYC and a Broadway play filled that bill and he made all the arrangements (plane and hotel) I was assigned the task of finding the play and buying the tickets.
An added bonus to this destination was the opportunity to visit with our niece, MDL who is in the city on an internship for 6 months-- ending in October.
We left Love Field Sept 5 (Tues) with no excitement-- a little awkwardness finding a parking place, but remembering the construction mess at DFW, really no problem. I like Love Field, but I don't particularly like driving there-- Dallas isn't my favorite destination-- hate the traffic and confusing roads.
Getting luggage checked, easy, going thru security simple and not crowded at all, Plane trip calm, uneventful, almost pleasant. Everything was great! Landed, gathered our purple suitcase and called the hotel for advice about getting from Laguardia to W 57th St. They gave me a phone # and website for a bus service that they contracted to bring guests to the hotel. Then the FUN (?) began. Using my phone, website wouldn't accept my credit card info and when I called the #, the message stated that the phone was not being answered right now. After 2 more phone calls to the hotel, the desk person suggested getting a cab (for what she said would be about $40). We walked outside to do just that when a man asked if we'd like to take a bus to our hotel for $15 each. He did say we'd have to change buses before getting to our hotel on 57th St. But he said the second bus would be waiting for us where we changed. We paid him and got on. And drove and drove and drove til we got to a sort of bus stop area (I wished I'd checked out the address, but it didn't occur to me to do that) we got off and talked to the little man who was sorting people onto various buses to continue their trip. some went to the train station, others-to various other parts of NYC, but the bus to take us to our hotel wasn't there. He said it'd be there in 5 minutes to 45 minutes. Do you want to guess how long we stood there waiting for OUR bus? 55 minutes. If we'd known where we were, we would have been able to walk there in that amount of time.
FINALLY we got to our hotel which had a really fancy lobby. We checked in and got a room on the 15th floor-- didn't know at the time that this hotel has an outdoor terrace on the 15th floor. A really pretty rooftop area with lots of sitting and greenery and tucked into the far corner, a bar area.
A lovely place to sit, get some fresh air and relax. I thought I took a picture out there, but I guess I didn't. Take my word, it was pretty and green and relaxing, when it wasn't raining.
Our room was tiny with a queen bed, a little desk, a wine cooler which didn't work, and the strangest bathroom I think I've ever seen.
There was a glass window between the bedroom and the bathroom right over the bathtub that had a gauzy curtain over it. Why? Who knows, Kinz, our niece thought it might have been re-configured and the window left in rather than walled over. Again let me say, who knows? Just a really strange feature. And it was a left handed facility. Standing at the bathroom sink, brushing teeth, combing hair, etc, my right arm kept hitting the open door. I tried doing these things with the door closed and my arm still hit the wall. Cramped quarters, to say the least.
After work, Kinz joined us and we talked for awhile and then headed out to have supper. Right down the street in the same block was a place called Fluffy's Cafe. They offered sandwiches, pizza, stir fry, just all sorts of food. Kinz and I had burgers that were really good and Nick had a cheese steak sandwich that wasn't. He filled up with an eclair. After walking around a bit, we said good night to Kinz and went up to bed. She had about 35-40 minutes on the subway to get home to Brooklyn.
An added bonus to this destination was the opportunity to visit with our niece, MDL who is in the city on an internship for 6 months-- ending in October.
We left Love Field Sept 5 (Tues) with no excitement-- a little awkwardness finding a parking place, but remembering the construction mess at DFW, really no problem. I like Love Field, but I don't particularly like driving there-- Dallas isn't my favorite destination-- hate the traffic and confusing roads.
Getting luggage checked, easy, going thru security simple and not crowded at all, Plane trip calm, uneventful, almost pleasant. Everything was great! Landed, gathered our purple suitcase and called the hotel for advice about getting from Laguardia to W 57th St. They gave me a phone # and website for a bus service that they contracted to bring guests to the hotel. Then the FUN (?) began. Using my phone, website wouldn't accept my credit card info and when I called the #, the message stated that the phone was not being answered right now. After 2 more phone calls to the hotel, the desk person suggested getting a cab (for what she said would be about $40). We walked outside to do just that when a man asked if we'd like to take a bus to our hotel for $15 each. He did say we'd have to change buses before getting to our hotel on 57th St. But he said the second bus would be waiting for us where we changed. We paid him and got on. And drove and drove and drove til we got to a sort of bus stop area (I wished I'd checked out the address, but it didn't occur to me to do that) we got off and talked to the little man who was sorting people onto various buses to continue their trip. some went to the train station, others-to various other parts of NYC, but the bus to take us to our hotel wasn't there. He said it'd be there in 5 minutes to 45 minutes. Do you want to guess how long we stood there waiting for OUR bus? 55 minutes. If we'd known where we were, we would have been able to walk there in that amount of time.
FINALLY we got to our hotel which had a really fancy lobby. We checked in and got a room on the 15th floor-- didn't know at the time that this hotel has an outdoor terrace on the 15th floor. A really pretty rooftop area with lots of sitting and greenery and tucked into the far corner, a bar area.
A lovely place to sit, get some fresh air and relax. I thought I took a picture out there, but I guess I didn't. Take my word, it was pretty and green and relaxing, when it wasn't raining.
Our room was tiny with a queen bed, a little desk, a wine cooler which didn't work, and the strangest bathroom I think I've ever seen.
There was a glass window between the bedroom and the bathroom right over the bathtub that had a gauzy curtain over it. Why? Who knows, Kinz, our niece thought it might have been re-configured and the window left in rather than walled over. Again let me say, who knows? Just a really strange feature. And it was a left handed facility. Standing at the bathroom sink, brushing teeth, combing hair, etc, my right arm kept hitting the open door. I tried doing these things with the door closed and my arm still hit the wall. Cramped quarters, to say the least.
After work, Kinz joined us and we talked for awhile and then headed out to have supper. Right down the street in the same block was a place called Fluffy's Cafe. They offered sandwiches, pizza, stir fry, just all sorts of food. Kinz and I had burgers that were really good and Nick had a cheese steak sandwich that wasn't. He filled up with an eclair. After walking around a bit, we said good night to Kinz and went up to bed. She had about 35-40 minutes on the subway to get home to Brooklyn.
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