New York City

The last we visited New York City was a couple years after 9/11. Back then, there were heavily-armored cops on every corner. With this trip, we didn’t notice any police other than traffic cops.

I did a good bit of research on how to get to the city without driving into the city and parking. We settled on parking in New Jersey and taking the NY Waterway ferry over. Parking at Port Imperial was only $18 for the day. The ferry is $9 and gives an amazing view of the city.

A panoramic of the view of New York City from the NY Waterway ferry from New Jersey. Click to open larger in a new window.

Even better, NY Waterway has free shuttle buses every 20 minutes going to multiple locations around the city. We took one to a block away from Central Park and started our visit there.

There is nowhere like Central Park. Such beauty with high rises all around. People are all friendly, picnicking, jogging, walking, sitting on benches, going on dates. Yes, it’s people-watching heaven.

We got some hot dogs from a Sabrett cart and realized they were not Sabrett at first bite. Woo hoo, our first New York ripoff this trip!

We stayed for a while at Central Park, then reluctantly left to see other sites. I wanted to see Times Square, so we walked quite a few blocks to get there.

Walking the sidewalks of NYC is special. Old buildings next to new, people hustling to get from place to place, the traffic noise, the stores and restaurants. It’s both nothing like the movies and exactly like the movies.

I wanted to photograph everything, but restrained myself the best I could so I would enjoy the moment.

We brought Chip’s papoose and his stroller, since he is not used to walking in crowded places. He loved every moment, with so much going on to watch.

On the way to Times Square, we saw a pizza place with the guy in the window spinning dough. The pizza looked amazing, so we got two slices. With one bite I realized I hadn’t had real pizza in decades. So good. Dripping oil, cracking when folding, crunchy outside crust.

We passed a street vendor with knock-off hats and purses. We went back and bought a hat for Sharon for twenty bucks. The vendor was the nicest lady.

We walked into Times Square without noticing because of the direction we were going. I looked at Google Maps and it said it was behind us. We turned around and bam! Giant lit billboards everywhere. I only wish we could have seen it at night.

In Times Square is the largest Krispy Kreme anywhere. So we got some donuts. We watched a guy in his underwear, standing on a statue base, interacting with people, and smiled. A Transformer and Sonic the Hedgehog chatted nearby with their masks up.

One of my favorite new features of Times Square is the “3D” billboard. Here’s a video to show what I mean.

Next on my list was to visit Rockefeller Center. Again we walked, but it was longer than we expected. We were getting tired. I got a soft serve ice cream cone from a Mister Softee ice cream truck. Here are some photos of Rockefeller Center.

The NY Waterway website said the bus makes its rounds every 10 minutes, and we could flag one down at any bus stop on the route to get a free ride back. A half hour of trying to figure out how that worked, and only seeing one NY Waterway bus fly by us, ignoring our gestures to pick us up, we got an Uber.

The Uber driver gave us a great conversation about what it’s like being a NYC Uber driver. He drives 1 ½ hours into the city each morning. He used to be a taxi driver until 8 years ago, when the appeal of self employment brought him to Uber. He told a story of a man pointing a gun at his face during a traffic dispute, and how the police he called told him that since he wasn’t actually hurt, they were not going to do anything.

From Central Park until we returned to the ferry station, we did not find a single piece of grass for Chip to utilize to relieve himself. Sharon asked a lady with a dog what she does, and she said she takes it to Central Park.

On the ferry, we were so exhausted, we didn’t even go upstairs for the outdoor experience. Getting back to our car, we had to get out of the area during rush hour. It wasn’t as bad as I expected, making the day a completely joyful experience.

The ferry

The view from the ferry parking garage.

Thanks again for following our adventures!