Day 2 AM - "The Three R's - Rockefeller, Roosevelt, and Riding the Subway"
In spite of our late night excursion the previous evening, by Thursday morning my wife and I were up at 7:00 AM, eagerly preparing for our first full day of sightseeing. The weather forecast for the next few days was sunny and clear for Thursday, cloudy Friday, rain on Saturday, and then clearing on Easter Sunday. We had therefore decided to try and get most of the outdoor activities out of the way early to take advantage of the nicer weather.
Here's some background on our particular travel style (or lack of it!) in case any of you are curious - we are both in our early to mid 50s, and are very active and "outdoorsy". As you will no doubt discover from this trip report, we love to walk and discover things on our own. I personally don't care much for organized tours because they always make me feel rushed, and very often include things that normal tourists like but that I don't find particularly interesting or appealing - probably because I am not "normal" :-). Consequently, we usually do our own research and plan our own trips, based on stuff that *we* like. Those plans tend to be very loose when it comes to sight-seeing, and we always like to allow time to take advantage of things that happen "in the moment". As a result, flexibility and adaptability are always key elements of any traveling that we do.
So our day's itinerary (such as it was) was to wander around midtown Manhattan, visiting a few particular sites of interest, and possibly discovering a few new ones along the way. I had booked us on a Classic Harbor Lines sunset cruise that departed from Chelsea Piers at 6:30 that evening, so with no more specific plans than "be at the docks by 6:00 PM", we set out to see what we could discover.
We retraced our short subway excursion to Grand Central from Wednesday night, but with a few minor changes. Instead of entering Times Square station at the main entrance, we used the W 43rd St entrance, which comes into the station right by the Shuttle tracks. From there we took the Shuttle to Grand Central, and then exited again onto Lexington at E 42nd. This is directly across the street from the Chrysler Building, so we made a quick detour over there to walk through the lobby (which is as far as you can get unless you work there) and then headed up Lexington Ave to grab some breakfast at the Crumbs Bake Shop that we had spotted the night before. My wife ordered a Red Velvet (which is apparently a popular choice) and I had an Artie Lange, plus some coffee. I know a lot of New Yorkers like to eat on the run, but we decided to sit "leisure like" in the bakery (at a table by the window) and watch the world go by.
Following this massive infusion of sugar and caffeine (breakfast of champions!) we went back into Grand Central, where we hopped aboard the 6 train to E 51st St. From there we walked west towards Rockefeller Plaza via E 50th, stopping along the way to admire St Bartholomew's and St Patrick's. Both churches are undergoing exterior renovations and were surrounded by a construction perimeter, but were nevertheless impressive to look at. We considered going into St Patrick's to see the interior but elected to skip that, figuring it might be a better activity for Saturday if the weather was not so cooperative.
After a short walk from the subway station we arrived at Rockefeller Plaza, where I went to purchase tickets to Top of the Rock while my wife watched people skating at the ice rink. I know that folks usually recommend to pre-purchase these tickets, but that was not practical for us since the tickets are timed and we weren't sure exactly when we would be there. Also I have a "rule" on trips where I try never to schedule more than one timed event per day, and usually reserve that for first thing in the morning or last thing at night (again, that whole "flexibility" thing).
Fortunately the line moved pretty quickly, so it did not take long. There was a young British couple directly ahead of me who upon completing their purchase, handed me a pair of discount coupons for $2 off the regular admission. Apparently they had bought some sort of combo pass that could not be combined with the coupons, so instead of just throwing them away they gave them to me. Once again, my procrastination paid off (not the first nor last time that would happen on this trip!). Our admission for TOTR was not for another hour or so, so we used that time to look around in some of the shops in the plaza. In particular there was the Metropolitan Museum of Art shop, a Lego store (which sounds cool but was not really that interesting), and then a quirky little knick-knack shop on W 50th St across from Radio City Music Hall, right by the entrance to the Observation Deck (Pylones - my wife really liked this one).
Eventually the time came for us to head up to TOTR, so we got in the line for the security checks and then the elevators. That all went smoothly except that I forgot to take my spare eyeglasses out of my pocket, so had to be "wanded" at the checkpoint (thank goodness it was not TSA!). The only other annoyance was waiting in line for the souvenir photos, which they did not explain at first that this was actually optional and you could bypass to go directly to the elevators. The ride up to the top is kind of cool, with a short video presentation that is broadcast onto the glass ceiling of the elevator car.
The views from the top were spectacular - skies were clear and blue, but it was very windy. There are actually two observation platforms. The lower one is a little larger, but is surrounded by glass panels and only offers views in one or two directions. The upper platform is open air and allows unobstructed views in three directions. Central Park and the Empire State Building are both clearly visible, as is the "year" ball atop One Times Square. We took lots of pictures up there, including one of my wife with the Empire State Building growing out of her head (coming soon to a Facebook near you!).
After about an hour we came back downstairs and stopped briefly at the NBC Universal Store on the first floor, where we ID-ed a few T-shirts to purchase before our return home. In particular, they had a Star Trek "red crew shirt" that I just *had* to have (if you are a fan of STTOS, then you will know why), and numerous choices from other NBC series including SNL, Seinfeld, Friends, etc. We didn't have much interest in the studio tour (and it was getting close to lunch time) so we departed 30 Rock for some more sight-seeing fun and a bite to eat.
From Rockefeller Center station, we took the F train to Roosevelt Island, mainly so we could ride the tram back :-). However, the subway station there is pretty interesting as well - unlike most of the stations in Manhattan, it feels very spacious due to its vaulted ceiling, and at over 100 feet below ground is one of the deepest subway stations in New York. It features two huge banks of escalators that carry riders from the platform to street level. I understand it required some effort to build due to funding issues, but the end result is pretty impressive.
Once we got topside, we walked down to the West Rd to get a good view of the 59th St Bridge (the inspiration for Simon and Garfunkel's song "Feelin' Groovy"), and then wandered back towards the other side of the island (which is only a few hundred feet wide) to find a place to eat lunch. Right on Main St by the subway station is a place called the River Walk Grill, and that's where we ended up. They actually had some pretty good hot sandwiches for lunch (which were *huge* - we did not know any better and ordered one each, but could easily have split one between us).
From the River Walk Grill we walked south to the tram station, and were surprised at how many other people we saw in the area. I don't think Roosevelt Island is known as a tourist destination, although there are certainly some touristy type things to see - Lighthouse Park, The Octagon, hospital ruins, etc. Unfortunately we didn't have much time to look around, so just hopped aboard the tram for the ride back (and I'm guessing that's what all the other folks were doing as well, since the tram was FULL!). My wife (who is tiny) somehow managed to squeeze up to the front of the car and got some nice pictures as we were making the crossing. I was off to the side with a less interesting view, but still enjoyed the ride. I did manage to get Yet Another shot of the Chrysler Building though. :-)
Our next destination was Central Park, so we walked the short distance from the tram stop to the Lexington Avenue station on the N-Q-R line, where we caught the R going west. The next stop was the 5th Ave station, which actually has an exit directly into the southeast corner of Central Park. After a quick detour through Grand Army Plaza and by the Pulitzer fountain, we were ready to begin our exploration of Central Park itself.
Next up - a walk in the parks!
-JimG
