A sneaky little New York trip - August 2017 - Day 5 - Statue of Liberty and Home

[i love jack]

A sneaky little New York trip – August 2017

Index

Day 5 – Sunday 13th August

So we had to be up and out early today and I had set the alarm for 06:00 and typically I’d slept really well and woke just before the alarm!

Today we were to going to the Statue of Liberty. I know this seems a bit weird to have left it until the last day but (under advice) I wanted to book the first slot of the day and this was the only day it was available. This was also our last day and we are flying home tonight. But I’d thought it would be good to have something planned on this day so we weren’t just thinking about going home.

When I woke up Andy was already up and had been down to reception to ask about checking out later. We had to check-out by 12 but we thought it would be good to have the option of coming back to the room after the Statue of Liberty to shower and change into travel clothes, but on the other hand didn’t want to rush the visit in order to do this. The receptionist had said we were ok until 1pm but could pay $75 to extend it until 3pm.

We ate the bits we bought yesterday for breakfast, cookies, fruit pots, yogurt and I’d bought some pop tarts which I took up to the breakfast room and used their toaster. Then I noticed the sign above the toaster which said it was only to be used for bagels – oops!

We packed everything but left the cases in the room intending to be back for 1ish.

I looked on Google maps and the MTA route planner to check on which subway to use to get to Battery Park. I thought we should have been able to use the same R train from the subway round the corner but that wasn’t coming up which was confusing. I then thought maybe I should have read that sign properly the other day!

So we left the hotel at 7am and walked to the station on 28th and 7th. I did look at the sign as we passed and it said no uptown trains from this station at the weekend. It was a quiet walk at 7am on a Sunday morning, there were a few people out and one guy we passed said ‘welcome to New York’! Clearly we looked like tourists!

We took the 2 train down to South Ferry. We used the last of our credit on the Metrocard. I did like all the mosaic work in the stations.

When we left the station, immediately in front of us was a big building which said Staten Island Ferry, I had a feeling this wasn’t the right place but went in anyway! I went up to a security lady to ask directions. She was very specific – “go out of this building and take a left, enter Battery Park by the bins, you will probably see some rats by the bins (weirdly, I hoped we did), follow the path and then at the flagpole take the left path and then you will come to Castle Clinton which is where you want to be”. Can’t get much clearer than that!

We found the bins and guess what, a big fat rat sat right by them! We found Castle Clinton but it wasn’t open as we were there at about 7.45.

There were two queues, one right by the castle which did have a sign saying tickets and then another queue by some metal fencing that seemed to start right in the middle of the park. We joined the wrong queue to start with and then checked and joined the other one (in the park) as we already had tickets. A man in an umbrella hat seemed to be organising the queue and making sure everyone already had tickets. I wasn’t actually sure if he worked there or was just being helpful!

Again we went through a tent with airport style security and got on the first boat at 8:30. We went up to the top deck. It was another beautiful, sunny day.

Once on Liberty Island we followed signs to the Pedestal (as we had pedestal tickets!). You have to leave any large bags in lockers, we were ok today as we were traveling light and had left the backpack at the hotel. We made our way to the steps, there is an elevator but it was cordoned off, so steps it was! There were quite a few!

We came to the pedestal, it’s quite a small walkway all the way around, I was glad we’d got there early as there was only a couple of other people up there. I was also glad of this as I’d worn a shortish dress today and it was pretty windy. While taking a photo the dress ended up round my neck (luckily no photos of that! ).

Dan took over selfies here and was so much better than me!

This was interesting. Hard to believe that the Statue of Liberty was once the tallest structure in New York, it seems so small compared to the other buildings!

That sky

We had a quick look in the gift shop and got a couple of drinks for the boys and sat outside the cafe.

Then at 9.45 we were back on the ferry to go over to Ellis Island. As we hadn’t had our usual breakfast we got a snack on the boat. There were counters selling drinks, pretzels, hot dogs. Andy and Josh had a cinnamon roll and Dan had a chocolate chip muffin.

I went out on the deck to take some photos but it was very windy again and I was worried for my dignity!

We arrived at Ellis Island at 10am and decided to do the Audio Tour.

This was free and you just went to the desk and collected the handsets. There were several different tours you could listen to, I can’t exactly remember what they were called but one was pre Ellis Island, one Modern Day and the one we opted for which was the Ellis Island years. The tour took you upstairs to the registration room and told stories of people who had been through there, including one family where they suspected the mother had TB so was kept in the hospital for 2 weeks while the rest of the family waited on Ellis Island and another from Russia where the grandmother was refused entry because she had a black fingernail, the rest of the family never saw her again.

You could then go round the other rooms where there were lots of exhibits and you typed the number into your handset to listen to the story. I thought I was good at multi-tasking but I found it hard to look and read the exhibits and listen to the audio at the same time!

It was really interesting but we were a little conscious of time and getting back to the hotel. It would have been better to do this on Day 1 as I think the Statue of Liberty would have been more ‘wow’ if we hadn’t already seen so many other great things. It would've been good to be able to spend longer on Ellis Island too.

We went to the cafe here where they had iced water on tap so we all got a cup and sat outside, it was scorching. Of course we sat in the sun soaking up those last few gorgeous rays. While we were sat a chap in a uniform walked past, he had a great big wool coat on. Andy commented to him that he must be hot. He then started talking to us in character, he said the year was 1910 and he was an immigration officer, he told us about some of the history of why the Island is called Ellis Island (named after a Welshman) and that there used to be several smaller islands but they were made bigger with landfill from the subway being built! While he was talking a boat arrived but we felt it would be rude to interrupt him! He was very interesting.

We got back to Battery Park at 11.45. Sunday morning Yoga anyone?

We headed back to the South Ferry subway which was now full of touts trying to sell Statue tickets. We needed to refill our Metrocard as we’d used all our credit coming here. I tried about three times to reload our card but the machine wouldn’t accept cash or card. Andy noticed the gate was open so we gave up and went through the open gate. You don’t need to swipe your ticket to get out, so freebie!

We passed through the area known as the Flower Market, a lot of stores had plants outside, very pretty.

We got back to the room about 12.20 and had quick showers, ate the last of the fruit and drank the last of the lemonade, a sweep of the room to make sure we’d got everything and took the luggage down to concierge for the afternoon. Our flight wasn’t until 10pm and I reckoned we needed to be back at the hotel by 5pm to give us plenty of time to get to the airport.

Since the boys had found out there was a Buffalo Wild Wings in New York they’d been keen to go for a meal. We’d gone in Florida last year and it was the boys favourite meal. So I thought now we could walk up to Times Square and go there for lunch. First more selfies! This time on the red steps.

Trying to be arty and pick out just the reds!

We were seated straight away in Buffalo Wild Wings and our server took our order. I don’t like it when they don’t write it down! The boys like it here as there are lots of screens all showing different sports. The boys wanted to watch American Football so we asked our server if he could change the channel on one so they could watch football. We then heard him ask someone else to put soccer on! He then came back and said did we mean soccer? No we said, American Football! He never did change the channel!

Dan and I had the house sampler to share, this was boneless wings, mozzarella sticks, onion rings and nachos. We had sweet BBQ sauce on the wings.

Josh had a small boneless wings with honey BBQ and a side of fries. Although they forgot the fries initially.

Andy had a BBQ chicken sandwich.

We all really enjoyed this. It was $78, they did try to charge us for two portions of fries initially. I’m just looking at the BWW website to remind myself what we had. One of the perks of being in New York is being charged extra! Basically about $5 extra per meal, but this is the same for all the chain restaurants.

The only other thing I wanted to do and I knew it was around this part of town was see the Love sculpture.

slight colour clash!

Then, as we were close to Central Park we went and had a little sit in the shade. We were sat by ‘The Pond’ which was really pretty and there were lots of people sunbathing or sat reading books.

Then as again we were in the vicinity (and needed the loo!) we decided to go to Bloomingdales. One of the things I found strange about New York was how shops were located. Our hotel was really near Macy’s but there were not many other ‘proper’ shops by there really, but walking towards Bloomingdales every shop seemed to be a proper shop.

It was really nice in Bloomingdales but apart from using the facilities, we didn’t really have an agenda other than to mooch. Andy did have a possible desire to buy some aftershave. However, once in the vicinity of mens toiletries the ever persistent sales staff encroaching on his personal space with offers of help sent Andy into an internal rage and he couldn’t get away quick enough (let alone make a purchase!).

Years ago I got a ‘little brown bag’ lunch bag from Mall at Millennia but the handle broke, so I thought I’d see if I could get another. We found the little brown bag shop (eventually) but no lunch bags.

We did also find a Magnolia Bakery and they had the s’mores cupcakes. So I bought one and the boys had a red velvet cupcake. Andy didn’t want one.

On the way onto Bloomingdales I had noticed the Lexington subway outside with an R train. So I had a quick look at the route using Bloomingdales wifi and this was ‘our’ Broadway local train that would take us back to the hotel. I reloaded the card with $12 as each ride on the subway is $2.75 regardless of where you go, there are no zones in NY. Lexington was a big station and I followed the signs to the R train. The Broadway local train was waiting at the platform so we hopped on. I was happy to see the Street numbers decreasing as we went through the stations, meaning we were going the right way!

After we went through 34th Street Station the train seemed to speed up, then we passed through 28th St without stopping. That was our stop. It didn’t stop at 23rd St either goodness knows where it was going to stop or where we were going to end up... could be worse, we could have a plane to catch! Maybe I should have read that sign properly!

Our next stop turned out to be Union Square which was 14th St, so we had 13 blocks to walk back to the hotel!

Tried and failed to take some arty shots of the Flatiron!

Nice view by Madison Square Park

We weren’t much later than planned and retrieved our cases from concierge. Quick toilet stop and change of clothes for some of us and we left the hotel at 5:15pm.

After our success at getting the train to the game the other night and the slightly random taxi journey here, we’d decided to get the train to the airport. I’d used the MTA routeplanner again and it looked very simple. We needed a LIRR train to Jamaica station and change there to the AirTrain. I bought the tickets to Jamaica from the machine, they were $30. While I was buying them a French lady behind was asking about getting to Jamaica, I did feel like saying don’t ask me for help! My track record today with trains is not good! Again it was very easy, the display at the top of the platform shows where the train is going and all the stops en route so we easily found a Jamaica one and helped the French family who had lots of cases and a pushchair. I ate my cupcake on the train – it was very tasty.

At Jamaica, again, the AirTrain is clearly signposted but this is a Metro ticket so I loaded ours with $20 and swiped us all through again. The AirTrain stops at each terminal. So in all the train cost of $50 and took just less than an hour so quicker and cheaper than our taxi.

We got to the queue for check-in (I had checked-in online last night) at 6.50 but the desks were open a little early. I didn’t see exactly how much all the cases weighed but the last one was 16kgs – room for so much more shopping!

The queue for security looked huge, but actually from queuing to check-in to getting through security only took an hour.

We headed straight for the gate. Blimey, the gate area is huge!

There are so many food outlets too, there was a Shake Shack, a Buffalo Wild Wings, I saw a Panda Express and really fancied some chinese food, but when I went to it, it wasn’t open. Andy went to a sandwich place and got a rather pricey ham and cheese sandwich, Dan had a pasta salad and Josh got a Dunkin’ Donut.


I was disappointed I couldn’t have Chinese and didn’t fancy anything else. I bought some drinks, Pringles, Milky Ways for the plane.

We sat and waited to board, I was really tired at this point. Again we boarded the plane via a bus and we were called to board about 9pm ish.

The plane was so weird! We’d booked the same seats going home as we had on the outbound journey. Whereas on the way out they were in front of the toilets, this time there were no toilets it was all kind of open and the toilets were downstairs. I’ve not been on a plane like this before, it looked very odd! They announced the flight time would be about 5 1/2 hours – result!

I was nodding off before we’d even taxied, I was so tired. I was vaguely aware of them bringing round a snack but I didn’t want to wake up. It was a sandwich apparently, none of us were really awake to partake. I slept for about 3 hours, I was aware of a little bit of turbulence but not too bad, the boys slept pretty well too and Andy dozed a little bit. I did venture downstairs to the toilets once!

We were due to land around 9am and at 7.30 they served breakfast. This was really good! It was an omelette with ham and mushroom and hash brown. It came with a yogurt and a cereal bar. It was actually really tasty and piping hot. I was impressed!

We landed at 9:18 which was great and around half an hour ahead of schedule but they announced that the baggage handlers were not available until our scheduled slot so we may have a wait for baggage. We did have quite a wait and eventually got the cases at 10:40, found the car and headed for the M6.

The traffic was horrible, again me and the boys couldn’t stay awake – sorry Andy. We stopped for a coffee at a services which did the trick! We decided to pick Hershey up from the kennels on the way home to save going out again. We were home by 1:50pm, made a start on the boring washing and did a Sainsbury’s trip for something for tea.

Highs and Lows

Highs

Finding our way around – we found the grid system so easy, when we did need help, everyone was helpful. We found the subway pretty easy with the help of the MTA app. It was always quiet, clean and a pleasure to use.

Feeling safe – I was surprised at how many ladies we saw walking around on their own at night (not that we were out very late) but there was a massive police presence, it seemed like every corner had either a police officer or vehicle.

Activity – the 9/11 area and the football game. Along with the Central Park bike ride and parklife.

Hotel – the location was brilliant, the room was fantastic and the complimentary breakfast

Flights – cabin crew were good (they’d even spotted the boys missed a meal as they were sleeping and offered to serve one when they woke!), food was good and the flight was mostly smooth.

Low

Not really a low but it would have been nice to have some more ‘proper’ meals. Having said that we went with no firm plans and just thought we’d eat to suit where we were and what we were doing. There were a couple of places I’d like to have eaten that we didn’t get chance to.

All in all it was a fantastic trip, it seemed like we were there for a long time and we did pretty much everything we wanted.

Thank you for reading and all your comments, they are much appreciated and I hope that anyone planning an NY trip finds some of it vaguely useful!

[mick]

A great trip with lots done glad you all enjoyed it.

Joan

[beegnjasmum]

Lovely end to your time in new york and great flight home. I've found your report so helpful and interesting and will use loads of it for our trip in October.
Thanks so much for sharing : )

[Melbatb]

What a packed day! So easy to get on an express train by mistake!

Thanks for taking the time to write about your trip

[COL41]

If ever we get round to a NY trip I'll be reading back over your TR. Have found them really useful. Can't imagine getting my two up that early on the last day tho! You must have all been shattered when you got home

[fuelman]

Great all round trip report. Really enjoyed reading it.

[Disney4Three]

Lovely report thank you for sharing

[TractorBoy]

Great trip. We changed to the Plaza last night for our east coast trip next June. How to got to various places is going to be so helpful to us and for that we thank you. Given us a lot of ideas.

[Goldia]

I've really enjoyed reading your report. It's been great. Thanks for sharing.

[i love jack]

Originally Posted by mick

A great trip with lots done glad you all enjoyed it.

Joan

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Originally Posted by beegnjasmum

Lovely end to your time in new york and great flight home. I've found your report so helpful and interesting and will use loads of it for our trip in October.
Thanks so much for sharing : )

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Thank you so much and thank you for reading, I hope you have a great trip

Originally Posted by Melbatb

What a packed day! So easy to get on an express train by mistake!

Thanks for taking the time to write about your trip

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Thanks so much for reading

Originally Posted by COL41

If ever we get round to a NY trip I'll be reading back over your TR. Have found them really useful. Can't imagine getting my two up that early on the last day tho! You must have all been shattered when you got home

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We were! We had another week to recover though
Thanks for reading

Originally Posted by fuelman

Great all round trip report. Really enjoyed reading it.

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Thanks so much

Originally Posted by Disney4Three

Lovely report thank you for sharing

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Thank you for reading

Originally Posted by TractorBoy

Great trip. We changed to the Plaza last night for our east coast trip next June. How to got to various places is going to be so helpful to us and for that we thank you. Given us a lot of ideas.

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Aah cool thank you

Originally Posted by Goldia

I've really enjoyed reading your report. It's been great. Thanks for sharing.

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Thank you for reading