A sneaky little New York trip - August 2017 - Day 1 - OWO, 9/11, Brooklyn Bridge, Grand Central

[i love jack]

Index


Day 1 August 9th 2017

I did not sleep well! Firstly got woken by our neighbours returning to their room at midnight, which obviously is not unreasonable in New York...I mean, who goes to bed in the City that never sleeps at 9pm?!?! Then I woke at 1am, 2am, 3am, 4am and finally 4.46! It was quite noisy, so many horns, sirens, trains, but mainly I think I needed to ‘tune in’ to the NY sound. I did think the window must have been open, but it wasn’t!

Andy went off to the breakfast room to get a tea and coffee. The hotel has complimentary breakfast served between 7 and 10 and complimentary tea and coffee 24 hours a day. This is on the 4th floor and on the 7th and 8th floor were vending machines and an ice machine. Cans from the vending machine were $1.25 which was pretty cheap and the snacks (chips & chocolate bars mainly) were $1.00 so, again reasonable.

So today we had booked to go to the One World Observatory at 9am, we didn’t fancy the hour long walk so decided to brave the subway. I was pretty scared about this! I’d read up on it but was still confused! But using the MTA app I got the journey sorted and it looked ok, the subway station was just around the corner from the hotel. I reckoned we needed to leave the hotel by 8am.

So we all headed up to the breakfast room at 6.55, it was a little room with four little tables to sit at, there was a tea and coffee machine and another with juice and water. There were a few people sat at the tables waiting, so we thought we’d sit at the other table and waited for breakfast to arrive. The lady came at around 7.00 with a trolley full of food which she started to set up on the side. The people already there were waiting patiently but other people arrived with trays and went straight up to the food before she’d finished setting up – rude! There were baskets with a variety of doughnuts and pastries and then a selection of bagels, plain, sesame and cinnamon and raisin. There was only one toaster and it was busy. We all had a bit of a selection, the boys had pain au chocolate and doughnuts.

We left the room at 7.50, as we were leaving the hotel the concierge asked where we were going and I realised I hadn’t got the tickets! Thank goodness he stopped us!

We had to walk one block up to 28th street and get the R train downtown to Cortlandt Street. Get me, I’m actually talking the lingo now! The guide I’d read which I also pinched from Wileycoyote said about checking your subway entrance as some entrances are only for trains going uptown and some are just downtown. We headed down the steps and there was just a machine to buy tickets. I decided to buy one metrocard and load it with around $30. You can use one ticket to swipe everyone in your party through. The other option is an unlimited 7 day card for around $32 I think but we’d have to buy one each and I wasn’t sure how many times we would use the subway and whether this would worthwhile.

Then we went through the gate, each swiping the card and passing it back to the next person. We later saw one person swiping each of their family through and then they went through last. Doh! That was much easier! What surprised me firstly about the subway is that you go down one set of stairs and you are there, on the platform. Not like the London underground where you go down several escalators and walk along a bit and down more stairs etc, this was literally under the road so no wonder we could hear them at night!

The first train that came along was the R train which clearly said on the side Broadway local, so on we hopped. It was really quiet, again you’d expect the London underground to be heaving at 8am. We arrived at Cortlandt Street and got off. Yay! We’d done it! Our first subway journey, it was easy, don’t know what I was worried about!

We followed the signs for the 9/11 memorial and came out in the Westfield Mall,

and then continued to follow the signs and came out right by the memorial pools.

This area is so beautiful. Again it was so quiet, the sky was beautiful and blue, the whole area is surrounded by trees, it was just lovely.

We wandered around here for a little while before we went into the One World Trade Centre for 9am. Talking of which, my word, this building is so tall, it is amazing.

We joined the security queue and went through airport style security and into the lift. There was just the 4 of us in the lift. It is so fast our ears were popping!

We were directed to the right as we came out of the lift where we were in an area with a few other people and a chap at the front with a headset on. I thought we were going to get a talk about the building, but no, he wanted us to get an iPad which we could hold up and get information about all the buildings we could see. It was $15, we bypassed this and headed downstairs to the observation deck.

I was really confused at this point because I’d watched YouTube clips of this where you go into a room for a talk and then there is a big reveal to the view and we hadn’t had this, we were just straight there.

The views were amazing, really amazing. We had our first sighting of the Statue of Liberty and the Brooklyn Bridge. It was fantastic but I did feel a bit short-changed not having the presentation & big reveal I was expecting. When I got back to the hotel later I checked my booking and the Skytheater was included which I think must be what I was expecting.

Dan has put some weird filter on this photo, It's a bit blue!

There’s also a thing called the Sky Portal which I didn’t really get, it was a glass section underfoot but was playing what looked like a cartoon video of New York street, it didn’t look real!

We left the OWO and discussed whether to go to the 9/11 memorial museum and we all decided we would go. We got the tickets from a machine outside. These were £24 for adults and $16 for kids. This was obviously emotional, it’s a timeline of the events, with recordings and artefacts. At one point you are actually stood under the pools, so are in the foundations of the trade centres.

They do like a revolving door in NY!

It's not clear from the photo but this is under the pool

When we left here we sat by the pools outside again, I think it was about 10.30/11 by now. As we were in the vicinity I thought we could walk the Brooklyn Bridge. I had a map but had no idea which way to head! I’d turned the data off on my phone but decided to turn it back on so I could find the route on Google maps. I still couldn’t work it out and ended up walking the wrong way so asked a policeman! (Geography still not being my strong point! ).

He gave us simple instructions to head for a building with green towers, I could manage that! En route we passed a Starbucks and stopped for a peach citrus iced tea and a double chocolate crème frappuccino for Dan. We found the entrance to Brooklyn Bridge by following the hoards of people!

So, this was an experience! The walkway way is split in two with one side for pedestrians and the other for cyclists. The pedestrian side was really busy with people walking in both directions. It was a beautiful day, clear blue sky and hot.

It possibly wasn’t the best time of day to do this and with hindsight we’d have been better doing this early and then going to OWO but hey ho!

So a bit of a crazy walk over, with people stopping dead in front of you to take photos, and dodging the crazy cyclists! Woe betides anyone who dared to step into their lane! They got shouted at or whistled at with an actual whistle! I can’t blame them in some instances as some people seemed oblivious and literally stepped out in front of cyclists without looking, but the majority of cyclists seemed to be on a mission to cycle as fast as they possibly could! The views are good though!

We found the exit and came out under a bridge where there was a map. My plan was to go to Grimaldi’s or Juliana’s for pizza. Again I was struggling with directions but Josh figured it out! We came to Grimaldi’s first so decided we’d go here.

We were seated upstairs, I was very excited to be in a proper pizza place with red and white checked tablecloths! Sometimes I am easily pleased! We could look down from our table and watch the pizzas being made.

We ordered two small pizzas, one with topping of pepperoni and one with meatballs with jalapeños on half, with 2 Dr Peppers and 2 fruit punches this came to $61. We realised as we watched them being made they all seemed to be the same size anyway! They were delicious.

We walked down to the park area to the right of the bridge where Jane’s Carousel is located. This is one of a few handmade antique carousels that are in New York. We didn’t go on but did take some photos from here.

I’d planned to walk round along the river but it was so hot we were all flagging so headed back up to the bridge to walk back. It’s good to walk this way as you are looking at the Manhatten skyline.

We’d noticed a couple of ladies cutting and selling mango on the bridge, so Josh decided he would buy some. It was $3 and completely messy, he ended up throwing it away.

We were all getting a bit hot and bothered by this point but I wanted to see the Charging Bull statue and thought we might as well while we were down this end.

We found Broadway and headed downtown. We stopped at another Starbucks on the way for 3 large iced teas, one strawberry, one pineapple and I stuck with the peach citrus. Andy had a can of San Pellegrino. This was all about $20.

We drank them on the go and came to the bull it was rammed! There was no chance of getting a decent photo! We sat on the bollards in the middle of the road for a few minutes drinking our drinks! Andy pointed out it was just like the bull at the Bullring in Birmingham!

Dan likes his designer brands. Last year in Florida he bought himself a Lacoste polo shirt with his holiday money and this year he decided he wanted a watch so I suggested we went to Century 21 (what was I thinking haha). I think this is where all sale stock goes to be sold after the sales. He didn’t find a watch he liked. Josh decided he might like some trainers so spent a good while perusing the shelves.

We then headed back to Cortlandt Street to get the train back to the hotel. I knew I needed an R or W train but didn’t know the end station to look out for so logged back on the app to check (cheating! )

We went back to the hotel for a chillout, some of us (Andy) may have had a little snooze . The boys put on a film on the TV – Big Daddy, I think it was about 4pm now.

We went back out at 6pm with the intention of walking up 5th Avenue to Grand Central. 5th Avenue was one block over and we came across a Superdry sale warehouse. We popped in for a quick look, you had to leave all bags by the door before you were allowed in! I couldn’t be bothered with this so just waited by the door. Basically every t-shirt was $10, dresses were $20 I think and coats $35! Josh went in and got a couple of T-shirts – bargain!

We had a quick look in the reception of the Empire State Building but had decided to go up the Rockefeller rather than here. Dan wanted to go in the lift and press all the buttons and say ‘it looks like a Christmas Tree!’

Then we had a little look round Grand Central Terminal. I’d thought we could try and get tickets to go up the Rockefeller centre and wanted to go up before it was dark, so we didn’t stay long in Grand Central. A quick nosey round the dining concourse and a few photos.

We were at the Rockefeller Centre and found the ticket office by 7pm but the queue was huge. There was no way we’d have got tickets and got up while it was still daylight so we canned it for another day.

We were a little bit peckish by now but not for a big meal as those pizzas had been pretty filling. Opposite the ticket office was a Ben & Jerry’s so the boys opted for that. Andy and I went to Potbelly and had a ham and swiss sandwich and a couple of sodas. These were $23. We sat out in front of the Rockefeller Centre to eat them, they were lovely and it was a very pleasant sit.

We walked back to the hotel. The Rockefeller is between 49th and 50th Street and our hotel is on 27th so 22 blocks. It’s not a long walk but I think we had to wait at every crosswalk for the light to change to cross, the traffic is mad! Even when the man is lit to cross you’ve got cars that can turn but have to wait for pedestrians before they can go and if any car isn’t moving as quick as the car behind likes they are on their horn! They definitely like their horns in New York!

We were back to the hotel for 9pm again. My phone App says we walked 9.4 miles today! We were definitely ready for bed!

[mick]

Well you certainly packed quite a bit of stuff into your first full day

The area around the OWO looks very poignant. Nice that you picked a clear day for the views.

Mick

[Goldia]

Wow the views from OWO looked beautiful. Doesn't the statue of liberty look tiny?

It sounds like you had a great day. I hope you managed to get up the rockefeller centre.

[pinkstargirl]

Lovely views from the OWO, I've been up but it was an incredibly humid June day and so all my pictures are a little misty looking! Such a shame that you didn't get to see the big reveal, that was my favourite bit!

A great first day, I'm looking forward to reading more!

[i love jack]

Originally Posted by mick

Well you certainly packed quite a bit of stuff into your first full day

The area around the OWO looks very poignant. Nice that you picked a clear day for the views.

Mick

See more...

We did! It is a lovely area, lucky more like

Originally Posted by Goldia

Wow the views from OWO looked beautiful. Doesn't the statue of liberty look tiny?

It sounds like you had a great day. I hope you managed to get up the rockefeller centre.

See more...

Haha yes it did look tiny! It was a fab day, thanks for reading

Originally Posted by pinkstargirl

Lovely views from the OWO, I've been up but it was an incredibly humid June day and so all my pictures are a little misty looking! Such a shame that you didn't get to see the big reveal, that was my favourite bit!

A great first day, I'm looking forward to reading more!

See more...

Aah no! I'm really gutted about that! Thank you and thank you for reading

[beegnjasmum]

What a brilliant day by the sounds of it. Pizzas were huge!

How were your boys in the 9/11 museum? My kids are 12 and 8 so not sure if too young but I would like to go if able.

[BevS97]

Great day. I didn't realise the Brooklyn Bridge was so close to One World centre. Just thinking we should have walked over there. But it's impossible to do everything.

Pleased you managed the subway ok. I was worried but it was ok. I never thought of one person swiping either. We passed it back and Molly could never make it work. So if I'd just swiped it for her that would have been much easier!

[Melbatb]

What a packed first day!

I have walked BB with no-one virtually on it (February and freezing ) and lots (christmas and sunny!) - it is an experience in both cases!

The pizzas look lovely!

[i love jack]

Originally Posted by beegnjasmum

What a brilliant day by the sounds of it. Pizzas were huge!

How were your boys in the 9/11 museum? My kids are 12 and 8 so not sure if too young but I would like to go if able.

See more...

They were huge! Definitely not 'small'!
Josh is 16 in October so he was interested as it was the year he was born, dan is 13 and not so much. They both really liked OWO and the pools though.

Originally Posted by BevS97

Great day. I didn't realise the Brooklyn Bridge was so close to One World centre. Just thinking we should have walked over there. But it's impossible to do everything.

Pleased you managed the subway ok. I was worried but it was ok. I never thought of one person swiping either. We passed it back and Molly could never make it work. So if I'd just swiped it for her that would have been much easier!

See more...

Sometimes I think things looked further on maps than they actually were! But no, you can't do everything!
Thank you for reading

Originally Posted by Melbatb

What a packed first day!

I have walked BB with no-one virtually on it (February and freezing ) and lots (christmas and sunny!) - it is an experience in both cases!

The pizzas look lovely!

See more...

It definitely was an experience! The boys wanted to go back and cycle it - no thank you!

They were really tasty

[fuelman]

Well done with the subway. Its not as daunting as you would expect. We managed to master it really quickly in our trip in June. Brooklyn bridge is amazing our only regret was we didn't go down to Jane s carousel like you guys did. Pizzas look brill by the way.
9.11 memorial was an experience as it's really emotional. Your pics of Grand central are really good in fact looks like the family selfie was taken from same spot we did