New York - The City That Never Sleeps (days 1-3)
NYC day one:
I took an early train into the city and after not much sleep the day before I had a bit of a nap before I arrived. I got off the train and it was crazy! The signs were not well organised so as per normal I got lost. I took an urber to my hostel and glad I did as the traffic was bad at 10am yet so much worse when I went back at 8pm.
I managed to get a weekly pass for only $32 - wish the tube was that cheap. Then went to the most busy place in the world - Times Square! I had to pick up my NYC pass (admission to 1001 tours / museums / activities) and then decided to go on the hop on hop off bus.
Well let’s just say New Yorkers get a reputation for a reason. The tour guide was horrible! He kept saying jokes that were not funny then getting angry saying we were not a good crowd! He then decided to harass people for not taking pics. I’m not taking pictures from a moving bus unless I was injured like in Boston. He then called me out when I corrected him about information about Big Ben. I ended up speaking to a lady next to me (who just happened to be from Australia) who said she agreed about his rudeness and didn’t understand the attitude. I went downstairs for the rest of the tour as it was warmer and I wanted to get away from the tour man.
I got back at Times Square and decided to do some window shopping at the Disney store as I plan to do my shopping at the end of the trip - need to keep in my budget until then. I then headed to the Tenament Museum which was amazing! I took the Under One Roof tour which was seeing a recreation of three families apartments though the years and their recollections of living there. First was a Jewish family from the 1950s where the parents were both survivors of the holocaust. They didn’t speak of their experiences until they were older but the older daughter remembers her mother making them 2-3 milkshakes a day not wanting them to feel the hunger she did in the camps.
The next room for was a single mother and her two boys. She had been a worker in the garment district for more than 30 years and in the same apartment until the early 2000s.
The final room was of a Chinese family where because of strict anti Chinese immigraton laws meant the mother was not able to join her husband for around 10 years after he migrated.
I was unable to take pictures but here is a link if you wanted to see some or learn more about the exhibit. If you are ever in NYC you have to have this on your bucket list.
M&Ms!
Day two:
I had a brilliant sleep despite having a top bunk. I thought I had booked my Statue of Liberty ticket for today, however, it’s for tomorrow so needed to figure out what I was doing. It was raining which didn’t help but didn’t fancy seeing a museum. As I saw so many in Washington I’m limiting the number I see here. I needed to buy some new jeans so decided to visit Old Navy then the LEGO store.
I forgot how busy places like this can get after staying in London so things took a bit longer then I expected. I had also decided to go on a river cruise but both time I attempted I missed a bus or got lost so had to wait until the next one. Luckily I managed to finally get there by the last boat and although it was misty, rainy and windy I saw some amazing views as you can see below. I’ve not included the ones of the Statue of Liberty as I’m going on a tour tomorrow and don’t want to post them here twice.
Day three:
I didn’t have the best sleep - I think there is a herd of either elephants or acrobats in the floor above me that kept me awake until around 1am. It didn’t help I had to wake up by 7am.
On a not positive I managed to get the correct subway to my stop and destination without getting lost. My first stop was the Statue of Liberty and as it is the USA we had to go though airline type security to get on the boat. Luckily they didn’t confiscate with my water bottle or Groot.
From the boat
If you can see the platform this is where I was standing when I walked up the steps
Making it to the island it was amazing to see how big lady Liberty is in real life. Apparently her feet are a size 870 something. I had purchased a pedastle access ticket so had to walk up a number of stairs. Although a bit puffed by the end of it considering I could not walk a few weeks back this was a great feat.
After admiring the view I decided to head back down and take some pics with baby groot who had a few fans in the crowd. I then visited the gift shop where I bought this!
I then headed to Ellis Island and took the audio tour. It was quite heart wrenching to hear some of the stories.
Ellis Island
The hall people had to line up in to be processed
Pictures of immigrants who passed through the island
View of the skyline going back into the city
Getting back to the mainland I turn decided head to the 9/11 museum and memorial. It was around 3-4pm and I thought it would only take a few hours to get though it. I was wrong. I ended up staying until almost 7.30pm - luckily they stayed open until 9pm. I’m also glad I was there later in the day as it was quite busy when I visited - it would have been very compact if I had been there during peak times.
You start out in a large space with minimal objects - you can see the existing walls and steel columns. There are also parts of the plane that went into one of the towers plus the antenna seen on one of the towers plus engine three.
Everyone from Ladder 3 didn’t make it
This was the areal on top of one of the towers. The engineers were there when the plane hit. They were able to give a lot of information to people outside of the building. All of the engineers were killed as they were above the crash zone.
The main exhibit I’m glad was no photography. It follows on cronological order from the first plans being hyjacked to the aftermath and on going education. There is so much to see that even over three hours and a half I could have seen more.
I then was feeling proud of myself for not getting lost until I walked in all manner of ways until I finally found the correct metro terminal. I then got on the wrong number ... when I finally got to where I wanted it started to rain! Let’s just say I was glad for a hot shower and going to sleep.
I took an early train into the city and after not much sleep the day before I had a bit of a nap before I arrived. I got off the train and it was crazy! The signs were not well organised so as per normal I got lost. I took an urber to my hostel and glad I did as the traffic was bad at 10am yet so much worse when I went back at 8pm.
I managed to get a weekly pass for only $32 - wish the tube was that cheap. Then went to the most busy place in the world - Times Square! I had to pick up my NYC pass (admission to 1001 tours / museums / activities) and then decided to go on the hop on hop off bus.
Well let’s just say New Yorkers get a reputation for a reason. The tour guide was horrible! He kept saying jokes that were not funny then getting angry saying we were not a good crowd! He then decided to harass people for not taking pics. I’m not taking pictures from a moving bus unless I was injured like in Boston. He then called me out when I corrected him about information about Big Ben. I ended up speaking to a lady next to me (who just happened to be from Australia) who said she agreed about his rudeness and didn’t understand the attitude. I went downstairs for the rest of the tour as it was warmer and I wanted to get away from the tour man.
I got back at Times Square and decided to do some window shopping at the Disney store as I plan to do my shopping at the end of the trip - need to keep in my budget until then. I then headed to the Tenament Museum which was amazing! I took the Under One Roof tour which was seeing a recreation of three families apartments though the years and their recollections of living there. First was a Jewish family from the 1950s where the parents were both survivors of the holocaust. They didn’t speak of their experiences until they were older but the older daughter remembers her mother making them 2-3 milkshakes a day not wanting them to feel the hunger she did in the camps.
The next room for was a single mother and her two boys. She had been a worker in the garment district for more than 30 years and in the same apartment until the early 2000s.
The final room was of a Chinese family where because of strict anti Chinese immigraton laws meant the mother was not able to join her husband for around 10 years after he migrated.
I was unable to take pictures but here is a link if you wanted to see some or learn more about the exhibit. If you are ever in NYC you have to have this on your bucket list.
https://103orchard.tenement.org/stories/103-orchard/?_ga=2.74674832.369351738.1525622516-276770645.1525622516
The museum
After this I for some reason decided to visit the M&M store in Times Square - bad decision. The number of people is even more than in the day time. I somehow managed to get my way there and had a look around. I then decided to limit my time in this area and finish my shopping on Friday the day before I leave.
The museum
After this I for some reason decided to visit the M&M store in Times Square - bad decision. The number of people is even more than in the day time. I somehow managed to get my way there and had a look around. I then decided to limit my time in this area and finish my shopping on Friday the day before I leave.
M&Ms!
Day two:
I had a brilliant sleep despite having a top bunk. I thought I had booked my Statue of Liberty ticket for today, however, it’s for tomorrow so needed to figure out what I was doing. It was raining which didn’t help but didn’t fancy seeing a museum. As I saw so many in Washington I’m limiting the number I see here. I needed to buy some new jeans so decided to visit Old Navy then the LEGO store.
I forgot how busy places like this can get after staying in London so things took a bit longer then I expected. I had also decided to go on a river cruise but both time I attempted I missed a bus or got lost so had to wait until the next one. Luckily I managed to finally get there by the last boat and although it was misty, rainy and windy I saw some amazing views as you can see below. I’ve not included the ones of the Statue of Liberty as I’m going on a tour tomorrow and don’t want to post them here twice.
Day three:
I didn’t have the best sleep - I think there is a herd of either elephants or acrobats in the floor above me that kept me awake until around 1am. It didn’t help I had to wake up by 7am.
On a not positive I managed to get the correct subway to my stop and destination without getting lost. My first stop was the Statue of Liberty and as it is the USA we had to go though airline type security to get on the boat. Luckily they didn’t confiscate with my water bottle or Groot.
From the boat
If you can see the platform this is where I was standing when I walked up the steps
Making it to the island it was amazing to see how big lady Liberty is in real life. Apparently her feet are a size 870 something. I had purchased a pedastle access ticket so had to walk up a number of stairs. Although a bit puffed by the end of it considering I could not walk a few weeks back this was a great feat.
After admiring the view I decided to head back down and take some pics with baby groot who had a few fans in the crowd. I then visited the gift shop where I bought this!
I then headed to Ellis Island and took the audio tour. It was quite heart wrenching to hear some of the stories.
Ellis Island
The hall people had to line up in to be processed
Pictures of immigrants who passed through the island
View of the skyline going back into the city
Getting back to the mainland I turn decided head to the 9/11 museum and memorial. It was around 3-4pm and I thought it would only take a few hours to get though it. I was wrong. I ended up staying until almost 7.30pm - luckily they stayed open until 9pm. I’m also glad I was there later in the day as it was quite busy when I visited - it would have been very compact if I had been there during peak times.
You start out in a large space with minimal objects - you can see the existing walls and steel columns. There are also parts of the plane that went into one of the towers plus the antenna seen on one of the towers plus engine three.
Everyone from Ladder 3 didn’t make it
This was the areal on top of one of the towers. The engineers were there when the plane hit. They were able to give a lot of information to people outside of the building. All of the engineers were killed as they were above the crash zone.
The main exhibit I’m glad was no photography. It follows on cronological order from the first plans being hyjacked to the aftermath and on going education. There is so much to see that even over three hours and a half I could have seen more.
I then was feeling proud of myself for not getting lost until I walked in all manner of ways until I finally found the correct metro terminal. I then got on the wrong number ... when I finally got to where I wanted it started to rain! Let’s just say I was glad for a hot shower and going to sleep.
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