Part 2: New York I

I beat the alarm yet again this morning. I had a busy day ahead of me.

The first order of business was to pack up and return the car…bus. I had noticed the other day when driving around with the various rental car drivers (!) that the rental agency was only just down the street so I headed out, parked the car and headed through the lobby to go through the final paperwork. My back was really killing me so I left my luggage in the car since I knew that the van to take me to the airport would be coming around that way and there was no purpose in dragging it to and fro. That was a nice thought but another rental attendant actually took the bus away before I could get my luggage and we ended up chasing her to another hotel a mile or so away to get the luggage back (this despite the fact that I had made it clear from when I first entered their office that my luggage was in the back of it…). She was a bit surprised but it was Ok and we headed off to the terminal.

They are doing a lot of construction near the Toronto airport. They are consolidating the three terminals into one large terminal with several smaller “hubs”. Hopefully, this will make it a lot easier to get around and in and out of. They have already constructed a fair amount as I could see as we passed the skeleton of the massive check-in facility. The construction has caused a few diversions but nothing too serious as the driver dropped me off right outside the check-in desks.

I suppose I should have expected the crowd that was there, considering that this is relatively early on a Monday and this is a very popular commuter route but after punching a few keys on a new “Automatic Check In” computer (which spits out your luggage tags) which took all of two minutes I had to join a line that stretched down to one end of the terminal (from the check-in desks) and half-way back. The line moved quickly though periodically check-in staff would walk down the line calling for people on flights that were to leave shortly so they could be ushered to the front of the line.

Everything was going well as we entered a room only to be greeted with another area for lining up, winding back and forth across the room six or seven times. People in the line with much more luggage than myself were not happy. At the end of the line was US customs and then after that we threw our luggage onto a conveyor belt and we were free to head off to our gate. At least we would not have to worry about customs in Le Guardia…

As I waited for the plane I took a few minutes to call my Grandmother. My family all try to call her if we are even just passing through the Toronto airport since she lives only a few miles away. She was very happy that I had visited (and I was happy to see her) though we only talked for a few minutes.

The flight was uneventful (and certainly less scenic than the trip from New York the other day) and we arrived in Le Guardia just one or two gates away from where we had left the other day. Does not really feel like I left…

At the luggage claim area I was able to talk to a person who organised trips to Manhattan from the airport. You basically told her what you would like to do (shared taxi, bus, taxi, limo, etc) and she sold you a ticket then you just waited in the area for your number to be called. I had opted for the shared taxi since it was a bit cheaper than taking a taxi by myself (remember the $35?). I only waited a few minutes before we were called forward and headed out of the terminal to get on the van (yeah, “shared taxi”, HA!). It was already pretty busy and they just piled my luggage on top of everyone else's in the back. I found a seat in the last row of seats (there were about four) in the crowded van. It was VERY warm outside (hot, I would say, but I come from a cooler climate…) and was grateful when the air-conditioning came on – even better that a vent was right above my head so I could adjust it accordingly.

My hotel is in midtown Manhattan just south of Times Square on Broadway so I had a bit of a wait as the driver headed through the city and dropped various people off at their hotels. The city is VERY busy and the taxis all drive like maniacs. There seems to be no respect for lanes, pedestrians or bicyclists (though the bicyclists all seem to have a death wish). I just looked out the window and tried not to notice the driving (making sure, of course, my seatbelt was on and quite snugly in place).

Of course, I have never been here before so I was trying to figure out where we were, noticing that we had reached the right place shortly before the driver stopped. The area was lined with parked cars and the crossroad we stopped on (perpendicular to Broadway) only had two lanes so we blocked traffic as he quickly got me out of the van. The bellhop amazingly figured out I was there (amazing since the hotel was around the corner and a few doors down – not within sight – he must have seen us cross the road) and was right there to pick up the heavier of the luggage (thank goodness) to help me to the lobby. We made our way through the crowds (and the bags of rubbish) to the entrance of the hotel. From the outside it is just a doorway with a name above it and the lobby is not much bigger as you walk towards the back you turn to the left to see the check-in desk. A bit gloomy inside, but whatever…

I checked in and went up to my room on the seventh floor. The room was on the street side but I could not see the street at all since I was one floor above the lower section of rooms and all I could see was their roof. I did, however, have a good view of the Empire State Building out the window to the left, looking between the various buildings all around.

The room is quite pleasant, quite large, it has Air Conditioning (thank goodness) so that went on right away with the vent to the outside open since it seems like someone has been smoking in the room (and the price I got for this hotel, I did not ask about non-smoking rooms – smoking REALLY gets into the furnishings of a hotel room). This hotel was actually quite interesting. I had booked another hotel just NORTH of Central Park that was quite cheap but the booking agency came back to me a few weeks ago and said would I like a FREE upgrade to this other hotel that was SO much closer to where I wanted to be (Times Square, Broadway, Midtown, etc) so I checked out the hotel first then went for it…It looks like I made a good choice. Despite the outside, the room is quite good (though the bathroom is surprisingly tiny with the toilet in one of the corners, a sink on the other and a shower on the other (the room is just a box with a door). Workable though.

The TV is quite good with a number of channels (though I had to flip the controls from Spanish/Mexican to English).

One of the things I liked about this hotel when I read about it was the fact that they had facilities in each room for my computer and I was not disappointed though I had a number of problems getting connected to the Internet (my life- blood even when on holidays – have to check e-mail a few times at least) which I had to solve with a number of frantic telephone calls but it was eventually sorted out and I was all set.

It was getting a bit later in the afternoon and I wanted to get out after the travel and hectic nature of the day so far – so I went for a quite stroll down Broadway (that is sarcasm by the way). Immediately outside the hotel there are a number of people selling various things on the street off of make-shift tables (T-shirts mostly though I saw some very suspicious looking DVDs and video tapes…) but a few blocks north they went away and I was in the square that Macys is located off of. It is hard to miss with its massive sign though the store itself is hard to make out – it stretches for one block west of Broadway but only occupies a small part facing Broadway.

Of course by this point I was right near Times Square though when I got there it is hard to really pin down where the square is since it is surrounded on all streets by these massive signs and billboards. There is a pillar in the middle of the “square” (not much of a square is the area really, it is the meeting point of 6 or 7 streets and there is a small strip of land between where Broadway and 7th meet at an angle where the half-price ticket booth - TKTS is located) that is devoted to just advertising and it has to be about 16 stories high. It looks to be just made of scaffolding but has all of these banners strung out over the frame. The first three stories, admittedly, are actually a few stores (something like a Disney store, if I remember correctly) but the rest is pure advertising. Quite unbelievable.

I was just figuring out the area with this first visit but I had a card that I had picked up at the airport for a nearby Comic Book store (the largest in NY, evidently) so I visited that. It was a bit difficult to find but eventually I found the door on the street that basically opened to a staircase and followed it to the second (first) floor. It was quite good and quite quiet after the bustle on the street. I am only really interested in Comic stores in that a friend is looking for a few that are quite hard to find so I always try to see what is available in case he might want me to look for something. This looks like a place he might want to have me check (I eventually e-mailed him tonight to see if he wanted me to look for anything – after all I am also going to the Science Fiction convention that I can also check).

After that I returned to Times Square and looked around a bit more, concentrating on my major interest in the area and that is the TKTS booth in the middle. This booth sells half-price or 25% off tickets to a number of Broadway and off-Broadway shows. The tickets are always for that day (matinee or evening) and all tickets must be paid for in cash (or traveller's cheques – NO plastic) with a small flat rate fee on top of the discounted ticket price. The line for tickets was quite unbelievable but they did not have anything I was interested in, besides, I already had a ticket for tonight.

I am a bit paranoid about tickets to shows. I was not sure about how easy it would be to get tickets once I was here so I had organised two shows, one of which, Annie Get Your Gun I was told only a few days ago was going to close before the date I had tickets (they said they will refund the money – annoying, I wanted to see the show that Bernadette Peters had been acclaimed for only last year). I had another ticket so I went to pick that up from the box office. The ticket is for a show called “Forbidden Broadway” and it is actually an “off- Broadway” production (and when they say that in this case it was literally true – about five blocks away from Times Square, three or four from Broadway itself that runs north and south). I found this small little theatre down this rather dark side street and went into the front lobby which consisted of a small table selling souvenirs (and snacks) immediately to the right of the door and to the left of the entrance to the theatre hall itself was a small ticket booth. The guy manning the booth showed up a few minutes later, I got my ticket then headed out – I was about two or so hours early so I figured I would grab something to eat.

I was a bit far away from some of the restaurants I really wanted to visit but I found a small local deli just around the corner. How, you might ask, did I know I was far from the restaurants I wanted to visit? Well, let me tell you. Recently I bought myself a toy, well, not really a toy as it has proven it's usefulness a few times over now and this was really one of it's staring moments – it is a palm-top computer. I can slip it into my pocket (yes, VERY small) and it has a lot of really interesting stuff on it (in addition to the normal calendar, phone list, etc. stuff). One of the programs that I put on it a few weeks ago was a guide to New York restaurants, night clubs and (for some reason) movies (not Broadway shows). This program provides reviews of all of these as well as directions to find them. So, I tell it where I am (corner of whatever and whatever) and it lists the restaurants (or whatever) in order of distance from where I am. I can bring up the review and get either a map, walking directions, or directions by subway. I have flagged a few restaurants I would like to visit while I am here so hopefully this will help me to get there. The map, by the way, that is provided tells you where you are, where the destination is and you can use the pen to click on streets to get their names as well (you can zoom in and out as well). This program was FREE and every time I “synchronise” my computer with my palm top computer it updates the reviews and information appropriately. Very cool stuff. With the number of restaurants around I think this will be a REAL help. The big tourist places I think I can find without any problems but because I want to go to some very specific restaurants this will be very useful.

The local deli I finally decided on looked local enough so I went in…It was like most of delis I had seen around. They had two tills one on each side of the door, the one on the left sold quick foods (snacks, soft drinks, etc) and the one on the right was attached to a large cooler unit and cooking/preparation area for sandwiches. They had a salad bar in the middle of the room and seating just beyond. This is a typical configuration of delis, I noticed. The selection of meats was quite something so I went for the special and had a seat while they prepared it (pastrami on rye with a number of other meats – it had a fancy name but I cannot remember it). I had a pickle on the side as well (of course) and just enjoyed the atmosphere along with the sandwich. Two older ladies were on the next table chatting to the guy behind the counter – obviously regulars. It was quite pleasant, all in all.

I returned to the theatre to see a few people (at least I was not alone) sitting on a few benches outside under the slightly dim lighting (hiding something?). I noticed that they had a small outdoor theatre that sat maybe 20 people with a small stage sort of attached to the base of a tree separated from the area were we sat by a sheet draped over a string strung from the tree to the edge of the theatre building. Nice.

Eventually I got fed up with waiting outside so headed into the very tiny theatre. It seated at most 200 people. I was just over halfway back (in about row H) and just off of the isle. I was able to have a look at the playbill (which, I learned, was always given out free for all Broadway/Off Broadway productions – certainly a far cry from the money they will ask you to cough up in London theatres) only getting up whenever someone wanted to pass by in the row (believe me, you could NOT make yourself small enough just sitting).

The show was very pleasant. It is a VERY famous one that basically consists of a number of small skits parodying a number of shows currently playing on Broadway. Evidently a number of very famous people in show biz have been in to see the show over the many years it has now been playing. The five main players vary the program as the shows change so it is always something new. It was on a very small stage with a pianist on one side and they performed the various numbers beside him (he was actually part of some of the skits themselves…). It was quite good, very fast paced and enjoyable. A lot of it was about shows that I had not seen (hey, I only just got here!) but I could understand what they were making fun of (it was VERY farcical).

The evening was very humid and warm as we left the air-conditioned comfort of the theatre. I was quite tired so I made my way back to the hotel. The street was a lot quieter at night but you could see the rubbish and the garbage bags that seemed to be piled up in front of every building – I don't know whether it is garbage collection day or whether it is always like this at night…not terribly pleasant. The city was a lot quieter and calmer as I could smell the sewers and occasionally urine but I did not see any people sleeping on the street – though I would not doubt they would be in the area of my hotel. I must admit I felt better to get to the hotel and up to the room.

It does not seem like I did a lot today but I am still quite tired. Tomorrow is my first full day in New York.

I had a good sleep though I woke up too early so I passed out for a bit longer, I had no where to be…

I started the day by heading south after the walk I had last night where I had gone north towards Times Square, I wanted to head towards “downtown” (here the terms “uptown”, “midtown” and “downtown” have definite meaning and it is very obvious where these areas are since the island of Manhattan can be easily divided in these ways). I was hungry so I walked into a deli (number two if you are counting) and ordered a Rueben which caused a bit of consternation since it was only 9:30 in the morning. Honestly, eggs and bacon did not sound all that good to me at the time so I figured I would go for a good sandwich. I sat in a small seating area upstairs overlooking the deli (with the ubiquitous salad bar – a flat rate by weight – a LOT of fresh fruit, looks quite good).

I was really all by myself but I enjoyed my sandwich before heading south again eventually to Union Square. This is truly a square (not like that so- called Times “Square”) with a rather large park block delimited by roads intersecting all around. There is a BIG subway station here as well. All around it are stores but I was again looking for a store I had read about in my guidebook to New York (believe me, I NEED it) that was supposed to sell Science Fiction books. On my way there I dropped in a Virgin record store which is really quite strange for me as I know that it is a UK store and to see how big they are in New York is quite refreshing (sort of like “home away from home”). I picked up a few CDs for a friend and then headed out to find the bookstore. I was disappointed to find the store only to see that they had no books so with this failure on my consciousness I headed back to Union Square and into the Subway.

It was not as easy to get around as I expected and I puzzled for a few minutes as to whether I was in the right station or not (many stations, if you are not on the right side of the station, that is, for trains heading north, south, east or west, you cannot get to trains going in the other direction except by actually LEAVING the station – I suppose this is because of space but it means that it is not a matter of just entering into any subway with the name of the station you want, you also have to know what direction you are headed beforehand and go in the appropriate entrance). I picked up a “Metrocard” which I put $20 on (only to learn that an all-day travel ticket was only $4) and entered into the subway.

I must say, I am not impressed with the subway system. The ceiling is quite low and leads to a feeling of claustrophobia, the platforms are VERY hot (which seems to be due to the fact that the trains are air conditioned so the heat from the air conditioning units goes onto the platform) and they are also crowded with pillars right near the edge of the platform where you are supposed to enter the train – if you ran down the platform and did not look forget about falling onto the tracks, you might just knock yourself out by hitting one of these unattractive metal pillars. Having said that, the train was quite clean – all stainless steel – a bit slippery to sit on though – and very cool after the heat of the platform.

I headed south and exited at Whitehall Street where I walked a short distance to the entrance to the Staten Island Ferry. All of the tourist information I have ever seen for New York has always said that you MUST take the Staten Island Ferry so this is what I was doing. This ferry is FREE, operates 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year between lower Manhattan and, funnily enough, Staten Island. It offers GREAT views of Lower Manhattan with the towering twin towers of the World Trade Centre as well as many of the other very tall buildings in the area. Quite spectacular as you pull away as you have all of these tall towers sticking up from this (seemingly) small strip of land and surrounded by water – the tall buildings just ending at the water. I got a lot of pictures from the old, wooden ferry, as we pulled away from Manhattan and past Governor's Island to the east and, of course, the Statue of Liberty (Liberty Island) and Ellis Island to the west as we headed a surprisingly long distance to Staten Island.

Once we had arrived, people streamed off the boat from the two levels (even along the road as cars also tried to leave the ferry) and into the terminal. The terminal is quite large (larger, it seems, than the one in Manhattan) as there are many different exits for each of the various bus routes. I saw no sign for the street and walked around for a bit before just exiting at one of these bus exits and walked across the many lanes of bus parking area to get to the street.

From the bustle of Manhattan Staten Island is VERY quiet as I walked along the street beside the water to the north of the terminal. There was a small festival going on across the street with street painters, balloons and clowns as I passed by. I passed by the home baseball ground of the Staten Island New York Yankees (did not even know they existed – big stadium though). I knew the area not at all and just enjoyed the leisurely stroll beside the not-so-leisurely road and also the many large parking lots (car parks) along the road. I guess it is a safe bet that many people choose to live in the relatively rural setting of Staten Island then commute into Manhattan by the ferry every day, leaving the car at the ferry terminal.

I had a little lie down on a park bench under a tree, away from the glaring sun. It was quite relaxing and the air seems so much clearer. Before someone could accuse me of vagrancy (there were a few of those about as well, a ways away though) I started heading back to the terminal, now about 15 minutes away. I was starting to feel faint from hunger so stopped at a local doughnut shop and helped myself to a sample of a number of different kinds they had and a drink. It really hit the spot though the doughnuts were a bit on the heavy side (in terms of how full they made me feel).

Back at the terminal the main waiting area was quite busy with most of the benches (made of wood and each with separate seats separated by armrests). Quite an operation with a McDonald's, banks, a permanently closed post office branch, and a few other shops. The ferry arrived only ten minutes later and we headed back onto another of the ferries. These ferries are quite old and are mostly made of wood. The tourists sit on the benches around the outside veranda of the boat while the locals ignore the view and read newspapers on the inside. I was a tourist.

After arriving back in Manhattan I headed just to the west of the ferry terminal to Battery Park which is a lot bigger than I thought from looking at the map. There was an open air concert going on as I made my way past to Castle Clinton, not to see the structure (not much to see – a ring of fortifications with a few plaques around) picking up a ticket for the trip to Ellis and Liberty Islands (not in that order) in the middle of the “Castle”.

I made my way past the many hawkers selling their tacky souvenirs and made it onto the next ferry that was leaving. The ferry was very crowded as we made our way around to the far side of Liberty Island, passing very close in front of the statue. With the scale of Manhattan the statue does not seem so big, but when you get close you begin to get an idea of the scale of it. We were let out on the far side and made our way off the obviously new dock and into the park that surrounds the statue. There was a big line to get into the statue even though the only part you could climb up to was just above the base (instead of up into the crown) – because of the wind. I did not bother with the line but instead walked around the island that had a lot of people on it but did not seem terribly crowded. It was very quiet and quite pleasant as I laid down on the grass for a few minutes directly below madam liberty herself. The base is quite something as it is the remains of an old fort in a star shape. Looking up from the grass directly below is quite spectacular (and makes you a bit dizzy). I talked to a few people wanting to take pictures (and they reciprocated my help) – it also has a great view of Manhattan.

I made my way back to the ferry, quickly running to be able to get on as we headed over to Ellis Island which was where I really wanted to go as there is so much history to see there. We made our way the short distance across from Liberty Island and docked in the island's own two-dock port. Disembarking, the building is only two stories high but quite long and made of brick. I made my way inside and was immediately presented with a display of luggage stacked up to demonstrate the fact that this part of the building (the main floor) was used a baggage clearing area. I quickly determined when the tours were operating, wandering around the immigration display (mostly statistics) just before.

The tour was given by a park ranger and was quite interesting as he showed us the remains of a (another) fort that was originally on the island that was also originally a lot smaller. They added a lot of earth around the original island to be able to build the immigration hall so they used some from the excavation of the subway in Manhattan to do that. It was surprising to learn that they only just recently unearthed a part of this fort (though there is not a lot remaining - a part of one wall). The ranger was quite good, explaining that the only people that came to Ellis island were those that needed further screening (first class were commonly just let out in Manhattan after a preliminary check then the boat would go to Ellis island). People waited in the immigration hall (on the second (first) floor) on long benches, grouped into sectioned off areas for each boat or particular problems that needed to be investigated (various health concerns, etc). They were called from there though many had a tough time understanding English. This hall is wonderful though (except for the VERY bad acoustics) with a large vaulted ceiling covered with brick-like tiles and a sparkling floor (evidently this hall was, when in use, kept VERY clean, even cleaner than now due to the numbers of people and the desire to make the US look good to the new arrivals).

It was interesting to learn that it was important to answer “No” if you were asked if you had a job in New York since, at the time, there was a big problem with cheap labour being brought in to work in the factories. If you answered yes you were automatically returned to where you came from. The numbers of people that were turned away were very small though.

I had a enough time to quickly grab a ticket for the movie (it was free, just needed a ticket to ensure there was enough room) where I sat in the audience for 15 minutes as a ranger explained the immigration policies and practices used on the island (including the trick of checking their knowledge of English by giving them instructions as they climbed the stairs and seeing if they actually did it). He tortured some kids for a few minutes before the show started. It was very good though quite sentimental.

I was now in a bit of a hurry as I just missed the ferry and had to catch the next one. Arriving back in Manhattan I quickly made my way back to the subway station and (by a small miracle) caught the next train that turned out to be heading where I wanted to be…161st Street. It was a LONG trip but worth it as I exited at Yankee Stadium. Finding my way to the ticket claim area took a bit more as I went around the wrong way (passing by some local baseball diamonds that were in use) but eventually claimed my ticket, giving my VISA to claim the ticket I was asked for my address and the guy behind the counter believed me “Not many people from England tonight”.

• Yankee Stadium

I got lost trying to find my seat but eventually did (it is strange that two rows in the same section had the same row number, different seat numbers though). I, of course, firstly found hot dogs, peanuts and a truly MASSIVE drink as I sat down and enjoyed the warm up. The temperature was VERY warm but it started to rain just before the game was supposed to start (I watched the clouds roll in over head – luckily I was under the overhand of the balcony so did not get wet – I was prepared of course, remember: I live in England!). The stadium is quite something with a LOT of seats and definitely a lot of history. Eventually the game started at 7:20 (instead of 7:00) as they took the tarpaulin off of the field.

My seat was only about 20 rows back from the field (at field level) and just to the right of the home plate between home and 1st so I had a good view (missing the occasional pop fly that came by…). I was quite surprised to learn that you could order food in your seat. You basically flagged down (easier said than done) someone wandering around with a hand-held order unit and placed your order which was then delivered to your seat within a matter of 15 minutes or so. They messed up my original order for a sausage but other than that it was absolutely wonderful (to heck with standing in line…).

Well, it did not go the way for Toronto as they lost 4-0 to New York. I am told this is not surprising since Toronto has not been doing very well this season anyway (the season is almost over anyway).

The crowd to get into the subway was quite something though we quickly got onto trains (I was even able to sit) and head south back to mid-town. I had to transfer to a local train (one that stopped more often on the same route) to get back to the hotel area. It was getting a bit late by this time as I made my way through the various blocks and streets to get back to the hotel. It was a bit leery as I passed a number of people sleeping on the street (arguing with others as well) and a package of I-don't-know what kind of pills in a bag only about half a block away from my hotel. Nice area.

It has been a busy day and tomorrow I have a bit of travel to look forward to.

⇒ Continue to Part 3: Philadelphia