There's No Such Thing As The Greatest City In The World But, If There Was, It Would Probably Be New York City
Apr 9th, 2006, 04:53 PM
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Sorry for the further delay but guess who caught the flu off Liz?
Rather than hold things up any longer I thought I would post a short(ish) piece on the subject of Getting Around.
Over dinner on our first night we discussed how we should approach our first full day in NYC & we decided that the hop on – hop off bus tour would be a good idea. I know that they are not universally popular here but I have to hold my hands up & confess to being a bit of a junkie. I think that they are a good way of getting an overview of a new city & have travelled on a few over the years; London, Edinburgh, Paris, Dublin, Seville, Barcelona & Amsterdam (well, actually, that was a canal boat but the principle’s the same). It goes without saying, however, that I have never taken a hop on – hop off tour of my home city of Glasgow. In fact, now that I think about it that could make for a good thread here on Fodors – “Have You Ever Taken A Bus Tour Of Your Home Town?” I suspect very few of us have done so.
On our first morning in Manhattan we headed for the Tourist Information office on 7th Avenue & bought tickets for the Gray Line tour. They have a variety of different tours available but for $49 dolars each we bought their “All Loops” option. This ticket is good for 48 hours from the time of purchase & covers their Uptown, Downtown & Brooklyn tour loops. In addition it is also good for their Night-time loop, although this particular tour isn’t hop on – hop off.
Have you ever saw one of these open-top buses driving round your home city & wondered what on earth possessed those poor souls to sit upstairs in weather that would keep any sensible mortal wrapped up in front of the fire with a large whisky in one hand and a even larger whisky in the other hand? Well, if you were in Manhattan on the morning of March 6 2006 you may well have spotted one such bedraggled bunch huddled together for warmth on the top deck of the Gray Line tour bus as it worked its way downtown. You probably wouldn’t have paid much attention to 3 of the party sitting in the back seat– two slightly dodgy looking women & a guy with a red face - but I daresay you would have taken a second look at the rather distinguished looking man sitting in the seat in front. “Gosh”, you might even have said to yourself, “those 3 at the back are pretty iffy looking but, even on such a cold day, that other well dressed gentleman exudes bonhomie, savoire faire, joie de vivre and other French phrases that I don’t really know the meaning of but which sound pretty cool. I wonder who on earth he could be?” Well, of course, modesty forbids, but I think we both know who you were talking about. In fact, you should have come up & said hello. I would have ignored you, obviously, but still, you might at least have made the effort. Actually, to be fair, although it was very cold there was barely a cloud in the sky during our entire stay.
Although we made very little use of the “hop on-hop off” facility, we certainly got our money’s worth out of our tickets. We all travelled on the Downtown loop from Times Square down as far as Ground Zero via Greenwich Village, Soho, Chinatown & Little Italy but never got to make the “return journey” up through the Lower East Side & East Village. The following day (while the girls went shopping at Woodbury Common & Eddie visited the USS Intrepid) I took the Brooklyn loop which began & ended at South St. Seaport. At one point, while driving along one of the major thoroughfares in Brooklyn (maybe Atlantic Avenue?) we found the road closed off by a line of police cars & the bus had to take a detour down through some side streets which proved very interesting & gave a different view of life in New York. Our tour guide was originally from Brooklyn & seemed to genuinely enjoy this unexpected opportunity to revisit some of his old haunts. Whether the driver enjoyed having to negotiate his way through the unfamiliar narrow streets is another matter entirely. On the same evening we took the Night-time loop but only managed to last around half an hour on the top deck before admitting defeat & moving downstairs. We were all agreed that the best part of this tour was the breathtaking view of Lower Manhattan from Brooklyn. Finally, on our last morning we took the full Uptown loop from 8th Avenue, up through the Upper West Side, through Harlem & back down the Upper East Side – again very enjoyable. The guides on all of the tours were entertaining & seemed to know their stuff although they occasionally gave out conflicting information. For instance, the guide on the Downtown loop assured us that baseball was first played in Madison Square Park, whilst the guide on the Night-time loop told us to ignore anyone who said such a thing. They can’t both be right.
Our first trip on the subway was quite an experience. As I mentioned earlier, Liz & Eddie are quite cautious travellers and were both a little wary of using the subway. As it happened we found ourselves down in Lower Manhattan one evening & decided to take the subway from Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall back up to Midtown. The train came very quickly & we found ourselves in a relatively quiet carriage with maybe just 3 or 4 other travellers apart from ourselves. After a couple of stops the connecting door burst open & in came 4 noisy young men who could kindly be described as boisterous. If I was being unkind I could say they looked as though they might have been out for trouble – certainly Liz & Eddie’s faces fell & I must admit to feeling a little uneasy myself. They stood in the doorway of the carriage & seemed to be egging each other on before one of them cleared his throat & addressed the rest of us. “Ladies & Gentleman”, he said. “Sorry to disturb you – Mr. Bass Man, please”. After a short intro by “Mr. Bass Man” they then proceeded to sing a wonderful doowop song before passing a hat round & making their way, still singing, up through the connecting door at the far end & into the next carriage.
On another occasion a guy worked his way up the carriage on his bended knees begging for money & I was quite surprised to see Liz giving him a handful of change. It was only later on that she told me she had felt sorry for him because she thought he was a midget – she hadn’t realised that he was kneeling down! That’s my wife with her finger on the pulse, folks.
On re-reading this I realise that I seem to have painted a pretty negative picture of the subway, which certainly wasn’t my intention. We found it quick, clean & easy to use & would have no hesitation in using it again. As regards the beggar I’m afraid that they seem to be a sad fact of life in big cities & I have seen far more aggressive & threatening beggars in both Glasgow & London.
I will post a further, final piece on our NYC sightseeing but I will close this part with a quick comment on photographs. QuiUK has posted her New York trip report here recently & included a link to her photographs which are really spectacular. I hope that she won’t mind me posting the link here;
http://tinyurl.com/hhylk
Just so you all know – I won’t be posting any pictures from our trip on the Internet. If you want to know why please see this earlier thread from the Europe board in which my photographic skills (or lack of them) are discussed in depth;
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...2&tid=34651089
More to follow…
Jim
Rather than hold things up any longer I thought I would post a short(ish) piece on the subject of Getting Around.
Over dinner on our first night we discussed how we should approach our first full day in NYC & we decided that the hop on – hop off bus tour would be a good idea. I know that they are not universally popular here but I have to hold my hands up & confess to being a bit of a junkie. I think that they are a good way of getting an overview of a new city & have travelled on a few over the years; London, Edinburgh, Paris, Dublin, Seville, Barcelona & Amsterdam (well, actually, that was a canal boat but the principle’s the same). It goes without saying, however, that I have never taken a hop on – hop off tour of my home city of Glasgow. In fact, now that I think about it that could make for a good thread here on Fodors – “Have You Ever Taken A Bus Tour Of Your Home Town?” I suspect very few of us have done so.
On our first morning in Manhattan we headed for the Tourist Information office on 7th Avenue & bought tickets for the Gray Line tour. They have a variety of different tours available but for $49 dolars each we bought their “All Loops” option. This ticket is good for 48 hours from the time of purchase & covers their Uptown, Downtown & Brooklyn tour loops. In addition it is also good for their Night-time loop, although this particular tour isn’t hop on – hop off.
Have you ever saw one of these open-top buses driving round your home city & wondered what on earth possessed those poor souls to sit upstairs in weather that would keep any sensible mortal wrapped up in front of the fire with a large whisky in one hand and a even larger whisky in the other hand? Well, if you were in Manhattan on the morning of March 6 2006 you may well have spotted one such bedraggled bunch huddled together for warmth on the top deck of the Gray Line tour bus as it worked its way downtown. You probably wouldn’t have paid much attention to 3 of the party sitting in the back seat– two slightly dodgy looking women & a guy with a red face - but I daresay you would have taken a second look at the rather distinguished looking man sitting in the seat in front. “Gosh”, you might even have said to yourself, “those 3 at the back are pretty iffy looking but, even on such a cold day, that other well dressed gentleman exudes bonhomie, savoire faire, joie de vivre and other French phrases that I don’t really know the meaning of but which sound pretty cool. I wonder who on earth he could be?” Well, of course, modesty forbids, but I think we both know who you were talking about. In fact, you should have come up & said hello. I would have ignored you, obviously, but still, you might at least have made the effort. Actually, to be fair, although it was very cold there was barely a cloud in the sky during our entire stay.
Although we made very little use of the “hop on-hop off” facility, we certainly got our money’s worth out of our tickets. We all travelled on the Downtown loop from Times Square down as far as Ground Zero via Greenwich Village, Soho, Chinatown & Little Italy but never got to make the “return journey” up through the Lower East Side & East Village. The following day (while the girls went shopping at Woodbury Common & Eddie visited the USS Intrepid) I took the Brooklyn loop which began & ended at South St. Seaport. At one point, while driving along one of the major thoroughfares in Brooklyn (maybe Atlantic Avenue?) we found the road closed off by a line of police cars & the bus had to take a detour down through some side streets which proved very interesting & gave a different view of life in New York. Our tour guide was originally from Brooklyn & seemed to genuinely enjoy this unexpected opportunity to revisit some of his old haunts. Whether the driver enjoyed having to negotiate his way through the unfamiliar narrow streets is another matter entirely. On the same evening we took the Night-time loop but only managed to last around half an hour on the top deck before admitting defeat & moving downstairs. We were all agreed that the best part of this tour was the breathtaking view of Lower Manhattan from Brooklyn. Finally, on our last morning we took the full Uptown loop from 8th Avenue, up through the Upper West Side, through Harlem & back down the Upper East Side – again very enjoyable. The guides on all of the tours were entertaining & seemed to know their stuff although they occasionally gave out conflicting information. For instance, the guide on the Downtown loop assured us that baseball was first played in Madison Square Park, whilst the guide on the Night-time loop told us to ignore anyone who said such a thing. They can’t both be right.
Our first trip on the subway was quite an experience. As I mentioned earlier, Liz & Eddie are quite cautious travellers and were both a little wary of using the subway. As it happened we found ourselves down in Lower Manhattan one evening & decided to take the subway from Brooklyn Bridge-City Hall back up to Midtown. The train came very quickly & we found ourselves in a relatively quiet carriage with maybe just 3 or 4 other travellers apart from ourselves. After a couple of stops the connecting door burst open & in came 4 noisy young men who could kindly be described as boisterous. If I was being unkind I could say they looked as though they might have been out for trouble – certainly Liz & Eddie’s faces fell & I must admit to feeling a little uneasy myself. They stood in the doorway of the carriage & seemed to be egging each other on before one of them cleared his throat & addressed the rest of us. “Ladies & Gentleman”, he said. “Sorry to disturb you – Mr. Bass Man, please”. After a short intro by “Mr. Bass Man” they then proceeded to sing a wonderful doowop song before passing a hat round & making their way, still singing, up through the connecting door at the far end & into the next carriage.
On another occasion a guy worked his way up the carriage on his bended knees begging for money & I was quite surprised to see Liz giving him a handful of change. It was only later on that she told me she had felt sorry for him because she thought he was a midget – she hadn’t realised that he was kneeling down! That’s my wife with her finger on the pulse, folks.
On re-reading this I realise that I seem to have painted a pretty negative picture of the subway, which certainly wasn’t my intention. We found it quick, clean & easy to use & would have no hesitation in using it again. As regards the beggar I’m afraid that they seem to be a sad fact of life in big cities & I have seen far more aggressive & threatening beggars in both Glasgow & London.
I will post a further, final piece on our NYC sightseeing but I will close this part with a quick comment on photographs. QuiUK has posted her New York trip report here recently & included a link to her photographs which are really spectacular. I hope that she won’t mind me posting the link here;
http://tinyurl.com/hhylk
Just so you all know – I won’t be posting any pictures from our trip on the Internet. If you want to know why please see this earlier thread from the Europe board in which my photographic skills (or lack of them) are discussed in depth;
http://www.fodors.com/forums/threads...2&tid=34651089
More to follow…
Jim
Apr 10th, 2006, 03:52 AM
#62
Jim,
Your latest installment is every bit as enjoyable as the earlier ones.
I was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA and I finally did take a bus tour (actually it was a Duck Tour) of the city this past summer!
Your latest installment is every bit as enjoyable as the earlier ones.
I was born and raised in Philadelphia, PA and I finally did take a bus tour (actually it was a Duck Tour) of the city this past summer!
Apr 10th, 2006, 08:42 AM
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Jim, We did a similar trip on a hop on/hop off bus in London in May last year and must have matched your bedraggled group. There we are, sitting on the top deck while an icy, biting rain blew in under the canopy and drenched us. About 10 minutes of that was enough before we moved downstairs. We lucked out though - it was probably the worse weather we had in 15 days in the U.K., since it was usually sunny. By the way - I'm loving your report! Jan (twina)
Apr 10th, 2006, 06:22 PM
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Well , Jim, I got an email from a friend who said she was waiting on the corner in town on March 6th and she saw one of those tour buses. She usually never pays attention but this one caught her eye because of the well dressed gentleman exuding bonhomie, savoire faire & joie de vivre sitting on the bus 
I knew I liked Liz, feeling sorry for the short man lol
Another great story !!
Glad you are both feeling better..
I knew I liked Liz, feeling sorry for the short man lol
Another great story !!
Glad you are both feeling better..
Apr 16th, 2006, 11:32 AM
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Aye, JJ, one of me wee friends 'as the Marrbury smoked salmon business so I get the language thing, lol. I've been vacationing in California and missed your posts, but I have been crying from laughing so hard. Thank you!
Apr 16th, 2006, 04:28 PM
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Jim,
Great report and great photos.
Almost all NYC hotel rooms are noisy. They almost all seem to be over dumpsters that are emptied at 4:00 in the morning. I actually LOVE noisy window air conditioners, because they are sort of a white noise thing that blocks out all the other noise.
NY is a fabulous city. Your photos made me miss it. I wish you could have seen the World Trade towers.
They were unbelievable, they were so huge.
Great report and great photos.
Almost all NYC hotel rooms are noisy. They almost all seem to be over dumpsters that are emptied at 4:00 in the morning. I actually LOVE noisy window air conditioners, because they are sort of a white noise thing that blocks out all the other noise.
NY is a fabulous city. Your photos made me miss it. I wish you could have seen the World Trade towers.
They were unbelievable, they were so huge.
Apr 17th, 2006, 05:49 AM
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wliwl,
Glad you are enjoying the report, but just to make it clear, the photos aren't mine - they're QuiUK's. You're right though - they are fabulous.
I'll complete my report later this week.
Jim
Glad you are enjoying the report, but just to make it clear, the photos aren't mine - they're QuiUK's. You're right though - they are fabulous.
I'll complete my report later this week.
Jim
Jun 7th, 2006, 06:33 PM
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Hi Jim, came to this report from the link you posted on the Scottish accent thread on the Europe board. This might be the best trip report I've read on Fodor's. I am not prone to laughing at my computer but I really did "fall out" over your description of Eddie in Bloomingdales!
I know what you mean about touring your own city. I lived in the NYC suburbs for 9 years, and my parents stayed for another 21 years, and we only rode the circle line bus tour (which really is great) before and after we lived in New York! Same with the Statue of Liberty.
I'm hoping that by topping this thread that you might be shamed into providing at least some more writing about this trip!
I know what you mean about touring your own city. I lived in the NYC suburbs for 9 years, and my parents stayed for another 21 years, and we only rode the circle line bus tour (which really is great) before and after we lived in New York! Same with the Statue of Liberty.
I'm hoping that by topping this thread that you might be shamed into providing at least some more writing about this trip!
Jun 8th, 2006, 09:47 AM
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It's always so interesting for me to read how much people love NYC, I have to show this to my husband, he hates it!
Just for background, we've lived in CT outside of NYC for years, and he's been through stints working in and out of Manhattan, currently he's commuting to the city (or as he calls it, doing time).
He's worked mid-town, downtown and Union Square, and he can't stand any of it, on his ride home he's overcome with joy that he has escaped to the pretty 'burbs. He thinks NYC is dirty, overcrowded and disgusting. I think it would blow his mind to read all of these accolades. I like NY for about 24 hours, then I have to leave.
On the other hand, he loves Boston and tries to get to his office there as often as possible.
Just for background, we've lived in CT outside of NYC for years, and he's been through stints working in and out of Manhattan, currently he's commuting to the city (or as he calls it, doing time).
He's worked mid-town, downtown and Union Square, and he can't stand any of it, on his ride home he's overcome with joy that he has escaped to the pretty 'burbs. He thinks NYC is dirty, overcrowded and disgusting. I think it would blow his mind to read all of these accolades. I like NY for about 24 hours, then I have to leave.
On the other hand, he loves Boston and tries to get to his office there as often as possible.
