Day trip to "The City"

June 20, 2007
Broad Brook, CT

On Monday, we took a day trip to New York City with Mike and Susan. Susan has lived in Illinois all her life and this was her first trip to NY. Unfortunately, we only had a day to see a few sights and check off a few "been there, saw that" places. Since it was a little difficult to get a handle on what things were of interest in advance, I planned a short walking tour in midtown (Grand Central, Rockefeller Center, Central Park, Times Square, Herald Square, Empire State Building), leaving time for spontaneous changes. Good thing!

We left home around 7:00 to get to New Haven to take the first off-peak (i.e., cheaper and less crowded) express train to New York. The train left at 8:50 but we were worried about traffic in Hartford and New Haven on I-91. Since we had four people in the car, the major southbound jam for 10 miles going into Hartford didn't impact us at all -- we took the little-used HOV lane! We arrived at Union Station in New Haven with plenty of time for buying tickets and a Dunkin Donuts stop.

The train ride from New Haven to Grand Central Terminal is 73 miles, and we arrived right about on time around 10:30. We walked through the main concourse and had a chance to review the day's plan. This was good because it turns out that Susan is actually afraid of elevators. So bad, that when she worked in a building with six floors, she had to take the stairs every day. So much for going to the top of the Empire State Building. I immediately switched plans to bypass that site.

So, after Grand Central terminal, we walked to Rockefeller Center. By that point, Geri was getting tired so we found a spot for her to sit while Mike and Susan and I walked some more. We went north on Fifth Avenue past St. Patrick's Cathedral and the Plaza Hotel to Central Park. We walked through the extreme southern end of the park and came out by the carriage rides. The aroma was a little strong, so we went south to Carnegie Hall, West to Broadway, then south to Times Square. This route takes us past the Ed Sullivan Theater where the David Letterman show is taped.

In Times Square we saw the Naked Cowboy, a guy who hangs out in his underwear all day playing guitar and posing for pictures with tourists. What a gig.

From Times Square, we walked back to Rockefeller Center, picked up Geri, and went down to the concourse to have some lunch. We found a pizza place and had several slices. It wasn't Nick and Joe's (right down the street from us when we lived in Brooklyn) but it was good enough.

We then ventured into the subway. You can get the train right from Rockefeller Center, so we proceeded all away to the extreme southern tip of Manhattan, Whitehall station. From there it was a very short walk to the Staten Island Ferry. We only had to wait 15 minutes for the Ferry to depart. The day was quite sunny and nice, although a little warm, so the sea breeze felt good. The Ferry goes right past Governor’s Island, Ellis Island, and the Statue of Liberty. It doesn't stop, of course, but the view is pretty good anyway.

Once you arrive in Staten Island, the only thing there is to do is turn around and go back to Manhattan. The last time we took the ferry, with Pat, and Al, Alicia, and Britt, it cost 25 or 50 cents for the return trip. Much to my surprise, this time the return trip was free. Even better!

By the time we got off the ferry, everyone was getting a little bit tired. Especially tired of walking. Rather than walk through Battery Park and up towards Ground Zero, we got back on the subway and headed up to Prince Street in SoHo. We poked around in Dean and Deluca's for a short time (avoiding the temptation to buy a black summer truffle), then tried to find the SoHo Kitchen & Bar, a place we went to several times when we lived in New York. Unfortunately, my memory isn't what it used to be, so I didn't remember which street it was on. And, since it was out on my original plan, I didn't bother to check for the address before we left home. Oh well, maybe next time.

By this point it was getting to the late afternoon and there was not much more walking to be tolerated. We got back on the subway, changed at 14th St, and went right back to Grand Central Terminal. When we changed subways, we got on the Lexington Avenue line, one of the narrower lines in the city. The cars are about 2 feet narrower than most of the subways. Since it was now about 4:30 p.m., things were starting to get a little crowded with commuters. Going to Grand Central Terminal. We made it, though, even though Mike said he felt violated.

At Grand Central, we had dinner at the Oyster Bar restaurant. They had almost 20 different kinds of oysters on the raw bar. We made our selections and had a nice dinner along with a few glasses of beer. Since they had Chimay Ale on tap, I had to have some. After dinner, we had to wait awhile before the first off-peak return train left. We found the bar from Michael Jordan's steakhouse on the balcony level overlooking the main concourse. We sat for a while and had a couple of glasses of wine, then got on the train back to New Haven.

It was a short drive back to Broad Brook, but we were pretty tired so Mike and Susan left for Melissa's house, we had a snack, and we hit the hay. Other than lots of walking and maybe too many stairs, it was a pretty good to day.