I LOVE NYC!!! Just got back and boy am I tired!

[bobcat]

4am this morning we returned home from my first visit to NYC, my daughters 8th grade has an annual trip and I decided to chaperone. I know we would have a good time but I wasn't prepared for how much I would love NYC! I am ready to go back in a heartbeat.

I was a little nervous about the trip because while I have traveled a lot cities are not really my thing. I am a country girl and live in a town of 250 with no stop lights. I was feeling overwhelmed by the thought of going to NYC although I was excited as well. I was unsure of what to expect. Let me say that everything I had been told about NYC was WRONG!!! New Yorkers are nice and helpful. While not overly friendly no one was rude and everyone we met was very kind. Although everyone did look at me funny when I said thank you, especially service workers.

The subway wasn't hard to figure out and we were quite comfortable using it. Although during our first try we encountered a little problem. We couldn't get our passes to work and I thought I had done something wrong. We had entered a station where there was only one readily visible turnstile and not being able to get in would be a problem. Luckily soemone was right behind us and I let him go in front of us to see what we were doing wrong. Turns out the turnstile wasn't working and he told us to follow him to the next one. It was down a little hall and I don't know that we would have seen it. The station was under construction and we had a hard time finding the right track as the sign we needed to see only faced the oposite way from where we came in. A couple of workers walked by and I asked them where we needed to go and they took us right where we needed to be. They could have just pointed out the sign but they made sure we made it to the right track. After that all the stations were easy to navigate and we got pretty good at riding around, even so much that we had someone ask us if they were on the right train.

Chinatown was interesting but the open air fish markets are disgusting! Sales people were very pushy here and other groups even told us that they were very rude to some of the kids. " You want to buy a purse?" Yeah I did but after one experience I decided it wasn't worth it and the purses weren't all that great quality. Being locked in a room with knock offs was the only time I felt unsafe. Thankfully that only lasted a second and other people were let in to look. I'm glad I let the girls stay outside with another mom as that is not a situation I would want them in. Once we got off the beaten path we were ok. I love Little Italy. Totally different feel in such close quarters to Chinatown. I wish I had more time to explore this neighborhood and eat here. Everything was so charming.

We saw all of the touristy things, Statue of Liberty, Ellis Island, WTC site, Times Square, Empire State Building, Rockefeller Center, Mets game. Had a great lunch at Essex Deli across from WTC site. I was interesting to see the pictures they had displayed of their restaurant being used as a medic site after the towers fell. Wasn't impressed with Rockefeller Center and didn't have time to go to the top of the Empire State Building. We liked just exploring the neighborhoods more than the touristy things.

The hit for the kids was seeing Blue Man Group. It was so interactive and you never knew what was coming next. They all loved it.

I would have liked to explore Central Park more, it was a great break from all the city noise. I can see why it is so popular for New Yorkers. The girls love posing for pictures on all the boulders.

I was less than impressed with the Disney Store. I was hoping for more I guess but it didn't really have anything special. We did get a NYC pin, NYC potato head parts, and a few other items but I thought the selection wasn't any better than any other Disney Store.

We were on CBS Early Show Friday morning, that was a lot of hurry up and wait. The kids enjoyed it and one of our boys even got to talk about our schools funding crisis and our frenzied fund raising to save extra curriculars. We got a few phone calls to our 1-800 # from across the country last I heard and hopefully there will be more. The producers asked our group to be the audience for the Dixie Chicks concert taping and that was fun as well. We would have been a more enthusuastic audience if we hadn't been at the end of our whirlwind trip. Look for us next Friday.

I can't wait to go back! I want to plan a trip where I can have more time to see the museums, do a Broadway play (Lion King if possible), and explore more. DD has a choir trip to NYC next year, if we have choir that is, and I may just have to see about chaperoning.

 

[scifihippie]

I'm glad you had a great time. I love NYC!
The shopping is my favorite, and the food, and the shows, and the people, and the museums, and the......................I just love it all.

 

[Tamarap]

I went to NYC for the first time in December 2004. I absolutely fell in love with the city. DH had been before a few times, but the boys and I had never been. I just cannot wait to go again. DSIL just told me she wants a girls trip to NYC for her 50th birthday in December of 2007, I think I said yes before she had a chance to get the entire question out of her mouth.

 

[MorganLeFey]

I'm glad you had a good time. NY is a great city.

 

[ClarabelleCowFan]

I love NYC too! I went TWICE this month. Finally did manage to go up to the Empire State Building and the view was great.

 

[Mary Anne]

I'm glad to hear you've enjoyed my fair city.

I work in Rockefeller Center and I have to tell you, the time to visit there is Christmas, rest of the time it is really not that much to see (as far as the Plaza goes).

 

[thewishfire]

I'm glad you enjoyed your trip!

You know, I live less than 20 miles for NYC and haven't even done the touristy things yet! I just might have to though. (and YES that includes a trip to the Disney Store)

 

[lookingforward]

I am so glad you had a great time in NYC. I lived there (and close to it) for many years and miss it terribly. I plan on retiring there (I will be the ONLY person leaving Florida to move to New York) but to me it is the perfect place to be older. You don't have to drive, everything is at your doorstep or a short ride away and there are thousands of cultural things to do that, when retired, I will have the time to enjoy.

 

[mrFDNY]

Hi,
Now you guys fully understand why i live here and love it!!

 

[PeterPanette]

My week long trip to NYC in the spring of '01 changed my life. I can't accurately explain just how, and it would take a book of writing. I know my friends and family got so sick of hearing me rave about it for months afterward.

Hubby had a convention there, and I tagged along. I would hit the streets each morning and just went where the wind blew me, only coming back to our hotel each night to meet him for supper.

I had such a huge epiphany during that week, I thought I was having a nervous breakdown, because I was just so IN LOVE with every single person I met there, I had to restrain myself from grabbing the deli worker, the doorman, the cabbie, the policeman on the corner who gave me directions, and hugging them. For the first time in my life, my eyes were truly open, my mind was truly open, and my heart was TRULY open.

As the OP said, I didn't encounter a single rude person. I felt so at home, comfortable and ALIVE there.

For weeks after we returned home, my husband and I would talk about packing up and moving there, if we could only afford it.

I wholeheartedly believe that the USA, and thusly, the world would be a much better place if highschool students were required to live in NYC for a month before being allowed to graduate. (Well, okay, at least a week!) It really does help you see the "big picture".

See? Hahhaa! Don't get me started on how much I NY!!

 

[Minniespal]

Sounds as though you had a fantastic time.

 

[scrump]

I am so glad you had a great time in NYC. I lived there (and close to it) for many years and miss it terribly. I plan on retiring there (I will be the ONLY person leaving Florida to move to New York) but to me it is the perfect place to be older. You don't have to drive, everything is at your doorstep or a short ride away and there are thousands of cultural things to do that, when retired, I will have the time to enjoy.

This is exactly how I feel. Lived in the south for a while, but now am SO glad to be back here in NYC. I love this city!!

 

[dg39]

Reading each and every post made me smile. No matter how long you live here, you still have that same exciting feeling everyday. While living in the country is a great thing, nothing, absolutely nothing beats the feeling of opening your door and stepping out into a world of pure excitement. We've had a bad rep for years. Yes, we can be abrupt, rude, nasty and always in a hurry, BUT, at the same time we are nice, helpful and inviting. Glad those of you who came to the city love it as much as we do.

 

[Robinrs]

It is a great city and there is nothing in the world like it but it's a better place to visit than to live.

 

[Mandabella]

Glad you had a wonderful time and dispelled some myths!

New York City is great. There is so much to do, see, and EAT!! I used to go all the time up there during school...and I'm going again in 2 weeks on Tony weekend to see WICKED...again!! Woohoo!

[singing voice] I love New York! [/singing voice]

 

[snappy]

I leaving for a trip to NYC in 2 and a half weeks with my mom, meeting up with my brother who lives in the city.

He will be a great tour guide. He has landed tickets to a number of plays, including the Lion King, of course. We are going to tour the Met museum, and see Macbeth in central park (even though it is a free thing, we have some sort of a reservation.

Glad to hear this great review. I think my experience will be different because my mom is 76, and while she is physically fit, she is a bit stubborn.
She was going to go by herself but gets nervous flying. She invited me and offered to pay my way. We all feel a bit easier knowing she has a traveling companion. She is actually a great travel companion, we have done a trip to September WDW between back to back hurricanes and a spring cruise together.

 

[BibbidiBobbidiBOO]

We are going this summer! Can't wait! We are seeing "Wicked" too!

Thanks for the positive report!

 

[luvflorida]

We love New York City, also! We try to visit there two or three times a year. It's about a six hour drive from southern Maine, so it makes for a nice getaway. Our next visit will be in August and we're very excited because we have tickets to Spamalot!

I'm still intimidated by the subway, though. I'm always afraid that someone in our group won't make it on before the doors close, (this actually happened to us a long time ago, but it was in Washington DC, not New York), or get lost in the shuffle when getting off. If you ever see a group of people hanging onto each other while getting on and off the NYC subway, it's probably us. Feel free to laugh at us crazy tourists!

 

[damo]

We are going this summer and are seeing Wicked and Spamalot. Where did you guys stay, it sounds like you were pretty central to all the great attractions? We have booked the new Residence Inn in Times Square.

 

[Mary Anne]

Ok, I will give your tourist a hint about the NYC Subway's:

#1 Remember UPTOWN, THE BRONX AND QUEENS - that means if you're at 34th Street and want to go up to 60th Street to see Central Park you need the UPTOWN train (see the #'s go up). Want to get from midtown to the World Trade Center, you need trains that talk about going DOWNTOWN.

#2 Please, please, please do not just stand at the top of the stairs and then decide which way to go OR even if you really want to go to see this or that. I'm a nice person, but after working 10 hours, I'm tired, I'm beat, I'm not on vacaion, I want to go home, I will tell you to MOVE and not be nice about it. (smile)

#3 Try not to ride the train during rush hour (4/7 in the evening; 7 am to 9 ish in the morning) if you don't take the time to find out which train to take before you start out.

#4 Don't want to leave someone on the platform. Stay together, pay attention, and MOVE inside the train, the middle of the train will get you to your same stop and standing by the doors do.

#5 If you have small children, like Disney, take them by the hand. Do not let them run around on the subway platforms and for goodness sake keep them away from the edge of the platforms.

The subways are very safe but use good judgement, pay attention, and take the time to stop at the token booth and ask before you get on the wrong train.

Edited to add, I admit it I have :rofl: at you crazy tourist some days. I can tell you a mile away, a true New Yorker pays more attention to the flow of traffic then a traffic light, walks looking straight ahead not UP at the buildings, and never thinks to pay for lunch with a credit card.