There's No Such Thing As The Greatest City In The World But, If There Was, It Would Probably Be New York City
Jun 8th, 2006 | 03:52 PM
#81
Original Poster
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,178
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I'm afraid a combination of domestic stuff & computer problems led to me losing the impetus with my report - then I thought maybe its time had come & gone.
I have written some of the final part, however & I promise that I'll try to bring it to a conclusion over the weekend.
Thanks,
Jim
I have written some of the final part, however & I promise that I'll try to bring it to a conclusion over the weekend.
Thanks,
Jim
Jun 17th, 2006 | 07:37 PM
#91
Joined: Jan 2003
Posts: 2,256
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JJBhoy, oh dear, I was so hoping to read more about your time in NYC before I go there on Monday. You certainly have given me a new way to look at one of my favorite cities. Your group has got to be a HOOT to see in action 
Your trip report is such a fun read. Deborah
Your trip report is such a fun read. Deborah
Jun 21st, 2006 | 05:34 PM
#98
Original Poster
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 1,178
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Thanks again for all of your encouraging comments. I’m really sorry for the lengthy delay in completing my report but, in the spirit of “better late than never”, here goes.
SIGHTSEEING
There were a stack of things on our list that we simply didn’t have time to do – no Broadway show, no Radio City backstage tour, no museums or galleries (unless you count the MOMA shop),no helicopter tour, no pizza at Grimaldi’s, no ice skating in Central Park. In fact, we never set foot anywhere north of 59th St – all we saw of anything above midtown was from the tour bus. It’s a pity but then if we had fitted any of that stuff in we would have missed out on something else & regretted that instead. The moral of the story is that if you’re only visiting New York for a few days you can’t possibly hope to see everything so there’s no point in worrying about it. Enjoy what you can & make plans to come back again….and again….and again….
We didn’t do anything particularly clever or exclusive – our sightseeing was very much on the tourist trail but none for the worse for that. When you’re travelling it’s easy to look down your nose at some of the more popular tourist sights but the fact is that there’s a reason why a particular place is popular. I don’t think that any of the places we visited in New York disappointed us – on the contrary they more than lived up to & in fact probably even exceeded our expectations.
One of the first places we visited was St. Patrick’s Cathedral & although it’s probably a predictable reaction it’s nonetheless true to say that the first thing to surprise me was its size. Photographs & TV shots make it look tiny compared to the modern buildings surrounding it but when you get up close (& particularly when you’re inside) you realise how formidable it is, both in terms of scale & design. It really is a beautiful building & we spent a very pleasant hour in it before buying medals & crucifixes for relatives back home.
The Empire State Building is one of the places I had in mind earlier when I was
talking about potentially “cheesy” tourist sites. I can’t say that I was particularly excited at the prospect of going up & yet at the same time I also fully appreciated that we couldn’t come to New York & not do it. I hadn’t been sure whether we should go at night or during the day but as things worked out it was probably around 8 p.m. when we decided to pay our visit. There was virtually no line & although I was initially impressed on first entering the building I was distinctly underwhelmed as we made our way onwards & upwards – too many souvenir photo & audio guide companies for my liking.
When we finally made our way out to the viewing platform, however, I was completely won over by the Empire State Building – it truly was awe inspiring to look out on Manhattan, either straight DOWN…Down…down…to the miniature traffic & cabs directly beneath us or across the lights & rooftops spread out before us as far as the eye could see. Airplanes & helicopters droned & whirred down the Hudson & although it’s a terrible cliché you really did feel as though you could have reached out your hand & grabbed one. Although it was a magical experience to see the night view I also wondered what the view would have been like during the day. It would have been nice to have seen Central Park in all its glory rather than the eerie black void that took up much of the view looking Uptown.
I know that some posters recommend the view from The Top Of The Rock over the Empire State (perhaps because you can see the latter from the former) but not having gone up the Rock I can’t really comment. It would have to be MIGHTY impressive to beat the Empire State, however.
Although I always do a lot of advance planning for my trips I don’t set out any fixed itineraries – I know where I want to go to but I don’t like to tie myself down to a particular running order or schedule. Sometimes, however, that approach can lead to wrong choices like going to Staten Island & Ellis Island on the same afternoon. The Staten Island Ferry seems to be universally hailed as one of New York’s greatest free attractions & being Scottish there were two chances of us missing out on a free deal – slim & none (had to tone that saying down for a family audience). And, of course, the hype is justified – it’s a great experience in any circumstances, but to get it for free is just fantastic (even if you’re not Scottish).
Our mistake was that, on arriving back at Battery Park, we decided to take a trip out to the Statue of Liberty and/or Ellis Island. Nothing wrong with that in itself but because we had left it till quite late in the day we had already missed the last sailing to Liberty Island & in fact we ended up taking the last boat to Ellis Island which severely curtailed our time there. Looking back on it, there was really no point in taking the Staten Island trip if we were going to pay to go over to Ellis Island anyway. The sail across the harbour is wonderful & not to be missed but there was no need for us to make it 4 times in the one day.
If forced to make a decision on the absolute Number 1 highlight of the trip I think we would probably all choose Ellis Island and I say that even although we had precious little time there – maybe just over an hour all told. I normally steer well clear of organised tours but as luck would have it one of the official guides was just about to start his tour when we arrived & in view of our limited time it seemed to make sense to go along with him. As it turned out this was a very good decision indeed.
It was impossible, of course, for us to really understand how those arriving at Ellis Island all those years ago must have felt, but the guide did a very good job of giving us some sort of appreciation of what it must have been like. As we sat on the benches in the Great Hall listening to his tales it didn’t take too big a mental leap to imagine the people huddled together in their family groups & hear the babble & hubbub of different languages.
The guide explained how the new arrivals would find their way up to the hall by means of a steep winding staircase which gave watching immigration officials a perfect view of their progress upstairs. Those who struggled on the staircase (perhaps due to infirmity, ill health or age) would be taken aside for medical examination. It must have a bewildering experience after such a lengthy & arduous journey, particularly for those who couldn’t speak the language. I found it a very emotional experience & I say that as someone who has no family link with Ellis Island (as far as I know, anyway). I think that if I knew my ancestors had actually passed through there I would have found it very difficult to keep my composure.
Unfortunately the guide had to cut his tour short due to time constraints and we only had around 10 or 15 minutes to wander around by ourselves before the building closed and we went outside to catch the ferry back to Manhattan. I have very few regrets about our trip, but I do wish we had given ourselves more time at Ellis Island.
Before coming to New York I had been determined to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and we managed to fit this in on our final evening. Following advice given on Fodors we took the subway across to Brooklyn & then walked back up the ramp on to the bridge towards Manhattan. We found it an easy walk (shorter than I had imagined) & the views were every bit as spectacular as had been promised.
Talking about walking, there’s little I like better than wandering about a new city on my own & Manhattan really was the ideal place for that. On the day we all split up I disembarked from the Brooklyn bus tour at South Street Seaport & then walked aimlessly (but perfectly happily) through Lower Manhattan up past Wall St. and on to Broadway. I then followed Broadway up as far as 23rd St. before eventually admitting defeat and catching the subway back up to our apartment. Although the walk was very enjoyable I’m afraid I did suffer a couple of embarrassing incidents along the way.
Somewhere round about the Canal St. area I was crossing the road when my foot caught the kerb & I made a really spectacular headlong dive before landing spreadeagled & face-down on the sidewalk. Getting up to my feet I half-expected to see a line-up of judges awarding me marks out of ten & although my artistic impression was probably lacking somewhat I reckon that for sheer athleticism I had earned at least an 8.5. Of course what really happened was that the passersby lived up to their job title & passed right on by – probably on the assumption that I was either drunk or stoned out of my head. I got back to my feet with as much decorum as I could muster, dusted myself down & walked on, trying to give the impression that my fall had just been a minor inconvenience – the type of thing that happened all the time. Next time any of you are down that neck of the woods keep your eyes peeled & if you look closely you will see the outline shape of a bespectacled 6 foot & ½ an inch Scotsman, with arms & legs akimbo, engrained into the concrete sidewalk.
Feeling peckish & needing a caffeine shot to get over my indignity I went into a French style coffeeshop (think it might have been either Au Bon Pain or Le Pain Quotidien) & stood at the counter waiting to get served. Nothing happened. Another customer took pity on me & giving me a menu card & a pencil she explained that I was supposed to fill in what I wanted to eat on the card & then hand it over. I thanked her for her help but on reading the card I still didn’t really understand what I was supposed to do. I don’t know if some sort of delayed concussion was starting to set in from my fall but I kind of panicked (for want of a better term), put the card & the pencil down & left the café as quickly as possible. The female customer & the staff must have wondered what on earth was going on & I wouldn’t blame them if they had tuned into the evening news that night to find out if an escaped mental patient was on the loose in Manhattan.
I’ve already mentioned that Eddie visited the USS Intrepid & although I can’t say that it would be my cup of tea (or should that be cawfee?) I know that he spent most of the day there & enjoyed it very much.
Of course, there were other less obvious sights which stick in my mind – the jaw-dropping sight of the Time Warner building at Columbus Circle; a guy going down Broadway on a unicycle; the press & TV companies jostling for position on the steps of the courthouse during a mob trial – just like in the movies.
I’ve deliberately left Ground Zero until last – mainly because I’m really not sure how to explain how I felt about it , but also for fear that my comments might cause offence in some way, which definitely isn’t my intention. Before we went I felt uneasy about treating the area as some sort of tourist attraction and I feel equally uncomfortable now writing about it. However, the whole point of writing a trip report is to give honest opinions & impressions of the places we visit & so I don’t want to just gloss over the subject.
It strikes me that the city fathers must have been in an almost impossible position when it came to how to “present” the site (if I can use that word). I would imagine that two issues must have been uppermost in their minds; to pay a suitably respectful tribute to those who were tragically lost in the disaster and yet at the same time to show the world that New York itself would not be bowed or beaten by the terrorists but would continue to prosper.
If I’m being completely honest I felt that the “memorial” aspect could perhaps have been handled better. Although the signs & notice boards which ring the site are interesting & informative I was surprised that I didn’t feel more emotionally involved. I felt that the area lacked some sort of central focal point although, to be fair, perhaps I would have felt differently if we had been able to go inside St. Paul’s Church - unfortunately it was closed to the public as it was hosting a musical recital. The day after our visit to Ground Zero I was very surprised to see the battered but still recognisable Globe virtually hidden from view behind wooden hoardings among heavy construction work being carried out in the Battery Park area. In fact I only noticed it because it was pointed out to us by the guide on our tour bus - we had actually walked right past it the previous day without even noticing it was there. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have located the Globe somewhere around the World Trade Center site as a tangible reminder of that terrible day?
I should stress that I’m well aware that I’m making some snap judgements based on a fleeting visit to the city. There may well be very good reasons why the Globe was located where it was and if that’s the case I’ll be happy to stand corrected.
On the other hand, you only need to spend a couple of hours in New York to know that the city’s spirit remains unbroken. I’ve visited several of Europe’s great cities but there is a sense of confidence & self-assurance in New York that I simply haven’t experienced anywhere else. Perhaps this could be misconstrued as arrogance but based on the people we met that would be a very unfair description. Like every big city, New York has its faults but I know that if I was a New Yorker I’d be proud to shout it from the rooftops.
That’s more or less it really. The Hospitality House staff arranged for a car to take us back to JFK and the only other incident of note was when the girl at check in took my passport away to be photo-copied. I’ve no idea why - she didn’t take anyone else’s. Maybe Au Bon Pain had put out an APB (pity it’s not called an ABP) for the deranged and extremely dangerous customer who had been in their café a couple of days earlier.
The flight home was uneventful and this time we only had a short 1 hour change over in Iceland before we arrived back in Glasgow.
We’ve been having a family discussion over the last couple of days & there are tentative plans to go back to New York in October, this time with our boys, although the bank manager may have something to say about that.
I’ll finish off by saying that the title of this report is a bit tongue in cheek – how can you know if New York is the greatest city in the world unless you’ve visited all of the others? Tell you what, though – if there is a greater city I really hope I get to go there some day.
Thanks for reading,
Jim
SIGHTSEEING
There were a stack of things on our list that we simply didn’t have time to do – no Broadway show, no Radio City backstage tour, no museums or galleries (unless you count the MOMA shop),no helicopter tour, no pizza at Grimaldi’s, no ice skating in Central Park. In fact, we never set foot anywhere north of 59th St – all we saw of anything above midtown was from the tour bus. It’s a pity but then if we had fitted any of that stuff in we would have missed out on something else & regretted that instead. The moral of the story is that if you’re only visiting New York for a few days you can’t possibly hope to see everything so there’s no point in worrying about it. Enjoy what you can & make plans to come back again….and again….and again….
We didn’t do anything particularly clever or exclusive – our sightseeing was very much on the tourist trail but none for the worse for that. When you’re travelling it’s easy to look down your nose at some of the more popular tourist sights but the fact is that there’s a reason why a particular place is popular. I don’t think that any of the places we visited in New York disappointed us – on the contrary they more than lived up to & in fact probably even exceeded our expectations.
One of the first places we visited was St. Patrick’s Cathedral & although it’s probably a predictable reaction it’s nonetheless true to say that the first thing to surprise me was its size. Photographs & TV shots make it look tiny compared to the modern buildings surrounding it but when you get up close (& particularly when you’re inside) you realise how formidable it is, both in terms of scale & design. It really is a beautiful building & we spent a very pleasant hour in it before buying medals & crucifixes for relatives back home.
The Empire State Building is one of the places I had in mind earlier when I was
talking about potentially “cheesy” tourist sites. I can’t say that I was particularly excited at the prospect of going up & yet at the same time I also fully appreciated that we couldn’t come to New York & not do it. I hadn’t been sure whether we should go at night or during the day but as things worked out it was probably around 8 p.m. when we decided to pay our visit. There was virtually no line & although I was initially impressed on first entering the building I was distinctly underwhelmed as we made our way onwards & upwards – too many souvenir photo & audio guide companies for my liking.
When we finally made our way out to the viewing platform, however, I was completely won over by the Empire State Building – it truly was awe inspiring to look out on Manhattan, either straight DOWN…Down…down…to the miniature traffic & cabs directly beneath us or across the lights & rooftops spread out before us as far as the eye could see. Airplanes & helicopters droned & whirred down the Hudson & although it’s a terrible cliché you really did feel as though you could have reached out your hand & grabbed one. Although it was a magical experience to see the night view I also wondered what the view would have been like during the day. It would have been nice to have seen Central Park in all its glory rather than the eerie black void that took up much of the view looking Uptown.
I know that some posters recommend the view from The Top Of The Rock over the Empire State (perhaps because you can see the latter from the former) but not having gone up the Rock I can’t really comment. It would have to be MIGHTY impressive to beat the Empire State, however.
Although I always do a lot of advance planning for my trips I don’t set out any fixed itineraries – I know where I want to go to but I don’t like to tie myself down to a particular running order or schedule. Sometimes, however, that approach can lead to wrong choices like going to Staten Island & Ellis Island on the same afternoon. The Staten Island Ferry seems to be universally hailed as one of New York’s greatest free attractions & being Scottish there were two chances of us missing out on a free deal – slim & none (had to tone that saying down for a family audience). And, of course, the hype is justified – it’s a great experience in any circumstances, but to get it for free is just fantastic (even if you’re not Scottish).
Our mistake was that, on arriving back at Battery Park, we decided to take a trip out to the Statue of Liberty and/or Ellis Island. Nothing wrong with that in itself but because we had left it till quite late in the day we had already missed the last sailing to Liberty Island & in fact we ended up taking the last boat to Ellis Island which severely curtailed our time there. Looking back on it, there was really no point in taking the Staten Island trip if we were going to pay to go over to Ellis Island anyway. The sail across the harbour is wonderful & not to be missed but there was no need for us to make it 4 times in the one day.
If forced to make a decision on the absolute Number 1 highlight of the trip I think we would probably all choose Ellis Island and I say that even although we had precious little time there – maybe just over an hour all told. I normally steer well clear of organised tours but as luck would have it one of the official guides was just about to start his tour when we arrived & in view of our limited time it seemed to make sense to go along with him. As it turned out this was a very good decision indeed.
It was impossible, of course, for us to really understand how those arriving at Ellis Island all those years ago must have felt, but the guide did a very good job of giving us some sort of appreciation of what it must have been like. As we sat on the benches in the Great Hall listening to his tales it didn’t take too big a mental leap to imagine the people huddled together in their family groups & hear the babble & hubbub of different languages.
The guide explained how the new arrivals would find their way up to the hall by means of a steep winding staircase which gave watching immigration officials a perfect view of their progress upstairs. Those who struggled on the staircase (perhaps due to infirmity, ill health or age) would be taken aside for medical examination. It must have a bewildering experience after such a lengthy & arduous journey, particularly for those who couldn’t speak the language. I found it a very emotional experience & I say that as someone who has no family link with Ellis Island (as far as I know, anyway). I think that if I knew my ancestors had actually passed through there I would have found it very difficult to keep my composure.
Unfortunately the guide had to cut his tour short due to time constraints and we only had around 10 or 15 minutes to wander around by ourselves before the building closed and we went outside to catch the ferry back to Manhattan. I have very few regrets about our trip, but I do wish we had given ourselves more time at Ellis Island.
Before coming to New York I had been determined to walk across the Brooklyn Bridge and we managed to fit this in on our final evening. Following advice given on Fodors we took the subway across to Brooklyn & then walked back up the ramp on to the bridge towards Manhattan. We found it an easy walk (shorter than I had imagined) & the views were every bit as spectacular as had been promised.
Talking about walking, there’s little I like better than wandering about a new city on my own & Manhattan really was the ideal place for that. On the day we all split up I disembarked from the Brooklyn bus tour at South Street Seaport & then walked aimlessly (but perfectly happily) through Lower Manhattan up past Wall St. and on to Broadway. I then followed Broadway up as far as 23rd St. before eventually admitting defeat and catching the subway back up to our apartment. Although the walk was very enjoyable I’m afraid I did suffer a couple of embarrassing incidents along the way.
Somewhere round about the Canal St. area I was crossing the road when my foot caught the kerb & I made a really spectacular headlong dive before landing spreadeagled & face-down on the sidewalk. Getting up to my feet I half-expected to see a line-up of judges awarding me marks out of ten & although my artistic impression was probably lacking somewhat I reckon that for sheer athleticism I had earned at least an 8.5. Of course what really happened was that the passersby lived up to their job title & passed right on by – probably on the assumption that I was either drunk or stoned out of my head. I got back to my feet with as much decorum as I could muster, dusted myself down & walked on, trying to give the impression that my fall had just been a minor inconvenience – the type of thing that happened all the time. Next time any of you are down that neck of the woods keep your eyes peeled & if you look closely you will see the outline shape of a bespectacled 6 foot & ½ an inch Scotsman, with arms & legs akimbo, engrained into the concrete sidewalk.
Feeling peckish & needing a caffeine shot to get over my indignity I went into a French style coffeeshop (think it might have been either Au Bon Pain or Le Pain Quotidien) & stood at the counter waiting to get served. Nothing happened. Another customer took pity on me & giving me a menu card & a pencil she explained that I was supposed to fill in what I wanted to eat on the card & then hand it over. I thanked her for her help but on reading the card I still didn’t really understand what I was supposed to do. I don’t know if some sort of delayed concussion was starting to set in from my fall but I kind of panicked (for want of a better term), put the card & the pencil down & left the café as quickly as possible. The female customer & the staff must have wondered what on earth was going on & I wouldn’t blame them if they had tuned into the evening news that night to find out if an escaped mental patient was on the loose in Manhattan.
I’ve already mentioned that Eddie visited the USS Intrepid & although I can’t say that it would be my cup of tea (or should that be cawfee?) I know that he spent most of the day there & enjoyed it very much.
Of course, there were other less obvious sights which stick in my mind – the jaw-dropping sight of the Time Warner building at Columbus Circle; a guy going down Broadway on a unicycle; the press & TV companies jostling for position on the steps of the courthouse during a mob trial – just like in the movies.
I’ve deliberately left Ground Zero until last – mainly because I’m really not sure how to explain how I felt about it , but also for fear that my comments might cause offence in some way, which definitely isn’t my intention. Before we went I felt uneasy about treating the area as some sort of tourist attraction and I feel equally uncomfortable now writing about it. However, the whole point of writing a trip report is to give honest opinions & impressions of the places we visit & so I don’t want to just gloss over the subject.
It strikes me that the city fathers must have been in an almost impossible position when it came to how to “present” the site (if I can use that word). I would imagine that two issues must have been uppermost in their minds; to pay a suitably respectful tribute to those who were tragically lost in the disaster and yet at the same time to show the world that New York itself would not be bowed or beaten by the terrorists but would continue to prosper.
If I’m being completely honest I felt that the “memorial” aspect could perhaps have been handled better. Although the signs & notice boards which ring the site are interesting & informative I was surprised that I didn’t feel more emotionally involved. I felt that the area lacked some sort of central focal point although, to be fair, perhaps I would have felt differently if we had been able to go inside St. Paul’s Church - unfortunately it was closed to the public as it was hosting a musical recital. The day after our visit to Ground Zero I was very surprised to see the battered but still recognisable Globe virtually hidden from view behind wooden hoardings among heavy construction work being carried out in the Battery Park area. In fact I only noticed it because it was pointed out to us by the guide on our tour bus - we had actually walked right past it the previous day without even noticing it was there. Wouldn’t it make more sense to have located the Globe somewhere around the World Trade Center site as a tangible reminder of that terrible day?
I should stress that I’m well aware that I’m making some snap judgements based on a fleeting visit to the city. There may well be very good reasons why the Globe was located where it was and if that’s the case I’ll be happy to stand corrected.
On the other hand, you only need to spend a couple of hours in New York to know that the city’s spirit remains unbroken. I’ve visited several of Europe’s great cities but there is a sense of confidence & self-assurance in New York that I simply haven’t experienced anywhere else. Perhaps this could be misconstrued as arrogance but based on the people we met that would be a very unfair description. Like every big city, New York has its faults but I know that if I was a New Yorker I’d be proud to shout it from the rooftops.
That’s more or less it really. The Hospitality House staff arranged for a car to take us back to JFK and the only other incident of note was when the girl at check in took my passport away to be photo-copied. I’ve no idea why - she didn’t take anyone else’s. Maybe Au Bon Pain had put out an APB (pity it’s not called an ABP) for the deranged and extremely dangerous customer who had been in their café a couple of days earlier.
The flight home was uneventful and this time we only had a short 1 hour change over in Iceland before we arrived back in Glasgow.
We’ve been having a family discussion over the last couple of days & there are tentative plans to go back to New York in October, this time with our boys, although the bank manager may have something to say about that.
I’ll finish off by saying that the title of this report is a bit tongue in cheek – how can you know if New York is the greatest city in the world unless you’ve visited all of the others? Tell you what, though – if there is a greater city I really hope I get to go there some day.
Thanks for reading,
Jim
