Funny, we woke up very early, all 4 of us. ... So we left to explore the city at half past seven in the morning. We took the city map to look where we wanted to go first.... Time Square it was .... It was quiet early so there wasn’t much crowd at that time.. What got my attention was that a lot of people were "eager for dollars" everyone wanted something from “Jack the tourist” . Whether you wanted to take a picture with Mickey, Minnie, Mario or a ninja turtle, you can as long as you pay for it :) . On every corner there are several sellers of the Hop on Hop of bus, and everyone has the best deals for you. I must say, it is not annoying, if you say that you already have the tickets (of course we had already bought the best one at first) then they do not really 'nag'. And all equally friendly. The streets are super convenient, all in blocks ... getting lost is not really possible, just a lot of walking. It didn’t take long for us to have walked 11 km.
Grand central station
New York has many beautiful buildings. one of these is the Grand Central Station, the 'central station'. It’s a bit different than most central stations as we know it in the Netherlands, although Amsterdam and Amersfoort also have nice Central station.
A Night on the town
For the evening we had booked a tour, "A Night on the Town". This was a tour of 5 hours where we had a number of stops at major or tourist spots in New York, provided with a guide with a small group (11) people. When we were waiting for the bus we saw a fire station on the other side, we went there to look at those great fire trucks. Great guys those firefighters, tough big guys, but all so thoughtful and nice. Although they were not Chicago Fire gentlemen, Esther wanted to take a picture of them. Sammie has bought a real shirt from the barracks, a nice cool shirt. In the barracks a wall of fame-like wall hung with photos of colleagues who had been killed during 'Nine eleven' during the relief work for the victims of the Twin Towers. Impressive, we were silent. It is great to see that these men are forever connected to the barracks in a special way.
For the tour we had a older lady with her roots in New York as a guide. Soon we were impressed with what detail she told us and also with a nice sense of humor. Normally you hear if someone turns a standard story and if they enjoy it, but she told it so nice and fascinating that you just listened carefully. Our first stop was Chelsea Market and Highland park. Chelsea market is an indoor market with many cozy and slightly different eateries and shops. Fun was the fact that the market is at the building where the Oreo cookie was founded, can be seen in small details in the building. And Sammie loves Oreo, so bullseye.
After the market visit we went to Highline park, this park was built on former train tracks that were 6 meters above the ground. It is a park of more than 2 miles straight through a piece of the city. This park is built for the New Yorkers and the park has various artworks from New York artists. When we visited there was a 'sleepwalker', a almost living statue of a male sleepwalker. Just scary to see :)
After the walk through Highline park we continued towards the Hudson river for a cruise at the New York water taxi. On the way there we drove through various 'districts' with a nice story in every district. China town strip. A long street with only Chinese shops, restaurants and other businesses. The 'upperclass' neighborhood, where wealthy New Yorkers live, for example Robert de Niro, famous (or perhaps notorious) politicians, etc. Too many fun facts to write down. Arriving at the water taxi we have seen the berth where the Titanic should moor after the trip across the ocean but, as you know, never arrived. There was also an arch where the survivors of the Titanic went under after they were saved and 'safe' deposited in New York. This arch they left as a kind of tribute, impressive at once because of the story behind it. Unfortunately the weather gods were not very well tuned, it rained lightly and blew enormously making it difficult to take beautiful pictures of the Skyline. I have tried my best. It was an impressive sight, all those skyscrapers and different buildings. Part of the boat trip was of course the statue of liberty. Waiting with the camera for the right moment, or moments, and just shooting images. I thought it was a special moment (and with me half the boat I believe) but I had the expectation that it would be much bigger than it really was, it did not make it any less special. Now I have a little idea how all those Italians and other Europeans felt when they made the big crossing;).
After the fun cruise it was time for the some good food. We went to "little italy" an old New York district where the Italians rule :). In the past, the neighborhood was bigger, but in the meantime it was overtaken (and space was snapped) by the Chinese. We had a delicious meal in one of the oldest restaurants in Little Italy where celebrities like Frank Sinatra and Robert de Niro also have eaten regularly.
After dinner we would go to Rockefeller Center for a nice view of the New York Skyline from Top Of Rock, but Senna & Sam(my sons) were so tired that we then postponed. We are going to do this in the next days.
It was a beautiful and exciting day with lots of impressions.
"This blog is about the trip that I made with my wife and to wonderfull sons, it was a special occasion for us. I wrote a blog for every day with the things we did, we've seen and how we have experienced it, I hope you'll enjoy reading and maybe got some ideas or inspiration from it. "