Let’s face it. We’re a culture influenced by media. Say “New York” and what comes to mind? Like it or not, it’s New York City and all the famous images from the movies filmed therein. Whatever your age, there are iconic NYC movie scenes you identify with. Having never been to the Big Apple before, it’s interesting going with all of our preconceived Hollywood notions (everyone is rude, Ground Zero is a solemn sight, and if you’re lucky you may just see King Kong traversing the Empire State Building) and having them squashed to pieces.
Having said that, here are some highlights and things we learned in New York:
Most Authentic Meal: It has to be NY style pizza. We’ve tried it previously on the trip, but it wouldn’t be New York without a slice. Of course, we Midwesterners are partial to other kinds of pizza which shall remain nameless in a New York blog…
New Foods: The everything bagel from one of the countless New York delis. This bagel is not to be confused with Panera bagels that most of us have come to know as a bagel. A New York bagel is the real deal, old school and doughy. While the everything bagel was good, do I dare admit that the Panera “bagel” has ruined me?
Something Else I Learned: We toured the FDR Presidential Museum and Library. As usual, I learned so much, putting my history to shame. For instance, I didn’t know that FDR contracted polio as a 39 year old adult, not a child as I had always assumed. They told us that very few people actually knew the extent of his handicap and how persistent and patient he was because of it.
Some Things are Bigger Than They Appear: Like Central Park! Seeing Central Park from the Empire State Building, I was able to fathom its size. It’s 843 acres, 2.5 miles long by a half mile across. You can definitely lose that big city feeling within its tree filled borders. I can see why it's so popular in the big city chaos.
Biggest Surprise: Amazingly, Ground Zero was a large construction site, so it wasn’t emotional like I thought it would be but rather a bustle of activity. The temporary memorial was closed due to the construction activity. We learned that the seventh and last building to fall was the first one to be rebuilt. It’s the only one currently finished and already half is rented out to…the Chinese government! One Freedom Center is going to be the largest building in the US when completed. The construction is underway for it; the trees are planted for the Memorial Park; and it’s expected to be finished for the 10th anniversary of 9/11 in the fall. Unfortunately, we were not able to visit Ground Zero Museum Workshop which is highly rated.
We also saw the sight of the controversial Ground Zero mosque. The media led us to believe it's right there at the site of Ground Zero; however, it is actually several blocks away. It’s an interesting example of how much influence and how powerful the media really is.
Biggest Disappointment: Not getting in the Cash Cab. Of course, you have to actually ride in a taxi cab to have any chance of getting on the Cash Cab TV game show!
Best Tourist Spot: New York City in general. I just can’t pin it down to one sight. It was an entire day of seeing the hustle and bustle, Times Square, Central Park, Brooklyn Bridge, the Empire State Building - all the sights you see in the movies and have never seen them with your own eyes before…just amazing.
Best Drive: The one sitting in rush hour traffic where I wasn’t driving! We did our first (and only) bus tour in NYC, and it was well worth the money considering they picked us up and dropped us off at our hotel door. Ah, not having the stress of driving in the big city was heavenly.
Funniest Memory: While mini golfing in Lake George, I nonchalantly hit my colored ball from the tee. After bouncing around as if it were in a pinball machine, my ball went in the hole for a surprising hole-in-one. Mike responded, “That’s the worst shot I’ve ever seen go in!” We responded with a nice round of laughter.
Most Fun Word to Say: The town is named Poughkeepsie. We absolutely destroyed the pronunciation until the locals clued us in, “Pi-kip-see.” That’s just fun to say.
Best Memory: Seeing the Statue of Liberty. She isn't one of those let-down tourist sites that is disappointing when you finally arrive. No, she sends goosebumps down your arms. She is one of the greatest symbols of our country. Seeing her face to face makes you realize how lucky you are to be an American, to live in a country where you have the right to life, liberty, and the pursuit of happiness. How ironic that one of our greatest symbols was a gift from France.
Worst Memory: Fort William Henry in Lake George. The tour itself was great. I highly recommend it for the history. Mine was definitely lacking on the French and Indian War. Besides learning history facts, during the tour the guide demonstrated throwing a grenade, firing his musket, firing a cannon, and making a musket ball.
Just like in the movie “The Patriot
,” the guide molded a musket ball from melted lead - except our tour guide was no Mel Gibson. When the older gentleman finished making the musket ball, he passed it around for everyone to examine. Levi was the last of the line. When he went to return it, the guide said that he could keep it. (I had read on TripAdvisor that they always give it away to someone on the tour.) That was really cool, except it caused problems in the Greiner family as to whose musket ball it was. Is it Levi’s because the man said he could keep it? Is it Chloe’s because she prodded Levi to return it? Is it the family’s musket ball? For days, the musket ball caused grief amongst the children. I almost wish we hadn’t received it. My only solution was to cut the baby, er ball, in half… Most Beautiful Sight: Niagara Falls. It’s beautiful, not only during the day but especially at dusk. It's also well worth a trip across the river into Canada to view the falls from the Canadian side. After viewing the majesty of the falls from street level in two different countries, we purchased our Maid of the Mist boat tickets to experience it up close and personal. We received our standard issue poncho and boarded, naively getting a front row spot for the excursion. We were clueless as to how wet you will become! Dragon of the Downpour would be a more apt name for the boats. Even with the poncho, our shoes and pants were soaked, but being down there and hearing the roar of the waterfall is a must do experience.
Best Deal: Walking across the bridge to the Canadian side of Niagara Falls = no charge.
Worst Deal: Walking back to the American side = 50 cents Canadian. The problem arose when the smallest bill we had was a $20 American bill. Since the machine requires coins and no vendors give American change, we were forced to indulge in a cup of hot chocolate and cookies at Starbucks in order to get change. Suddenly our reentry to America cost $20!
Worst Closure: Practically everything in Lake George. We arrived after summer but before ski season began. We thought fall would have brought enough leaf peekers to keep everything open, but that wasn’t the case. It was a ghost town.
My NY Hike: Walkway over the Hudson is a converted railroad bridge over the Hudson River. It doesn’t sound like much of a hike, but the bridge walk is 1.3 miles long, so you do the math.
Biggest Revelation: There’s more to New York than NYC. There’s the Hudson River Valley area, the Adirondacks, and Niagara Falls just to name a few. Of course you’d think being from downstate Illinois, we know there’s more to a state than just the famous big city…
What We Did Miss: Baseball Hall of Fame, Metropolitan Museum of Art, Culinary Institute of America, Long Island, a play on Broadway, and so much more recommended to us.
In Summary: New York, I wish we could have seen and done so much more, but for a 7 day blitz, I think we did pretty well - but only because we were early birds.
-The Mom
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