Rundown of New York City
July 17th, 2010 | Categories: Travel | 9 CommentsThere is so much to write about from my two day, one night trip to New York City that I don’t even know where to begin. The sights I saw? The food I ate? The stuff I bought? The insane amounts of walking throughout the city? (Don’t get me wrong, NYC and I are on pretty good terms. But I don’t remember the last time I’ve ever walked so much in such a short amount of time. No taxis for my family and I; it was all about walking or the subway.)
I went to the Empire State Building on my first day, which was so not worth the wait. It was a two and a half hour wait for a ten minute view of the city on the observation deck. I’ll always think of the Empire State Building as some form of mind game/mental torturing place because the line was just endless. It would snake all around separate rooms on a floor of the building, and just when you thought you’d made it to the elevator, you’d be taken up to another floor to repeat the process all over again. The observation deck was on the 86th floor and you had to take the elevator up to the 80th floor and had to wait in line again – for a mere six floors! And then there was a line to get from the 86th floor back down to the ground, which was absolutely awful because by that time I was losing my marbles and had to get out of that building. I ended up taking the stairs from the 86th to the 80th and then booking it out of the building as fast as I could. I don’t think I’ll be going up the Empire State Building again anytime soon.
I spent a good portion of my second day in NYC in Brooklyn. I had lunch at Grimaldi’s, which is billed as the best pizza in New York. I’m no expert on New York pizza, but my God, that pizza was amazing – totally worth the hour long wait in line (the line went around the block!). Topped off with delicious vanilla chocolate chunk ice cream at the Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory and a walk back to Manhattan via the Brooklyn Bridge, I think my time spent in Brooklyn was the best part of my NYC trip.
The craziest part of my trip was the bus ride back to Delaware. Somewhere along the New Jersey Turnpike the bus totally broke down, so the driver had to pull the bus over. Twenty minutes later, the bus was in semi-working condition, which meant that it chugged along the turnpike at approximately 40mph – definitely not safe when the speed limit is 65mph and most drivers drive way faster than that. We pulled over at the next service station and waited until another bus came to pick us up, but there weren’t enough seats for everyone that was stranded. There was a lot of time to kill between buses. If you’re looking for a fun way to spend your night, I don’t recommend chilling in the truck parking area of a service station in New Jersey.
When I finally got on a bus, I got a seat in the very back in front of the bus toilet. The door handle to the bathroom was broken off so no one could get in, but one guy really had to go and couldn’t wait. He broke down the bathroom door and I had to hold the door semi-shut for him so that he could have some privacy. A small line for the bathroom formed, in which I got practice in a potential future career as a bathroom door holder. The last guy, however, managed to push the door shut so he got locked in the bathroom and he spent a good ten minutes trying to jiggle the door of the (broken) handle before he finally kicked the door down. I half expected the door to go flying down the aisle of the bus!
All in all, a very eventful trip to NYC.
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Hi, I'm Manda. I'm a college student studying communications and languages. I like to read, shop, bake, and travel. I have a tendency to listen to my favorite songs on repeat for hours on end. Sometimes I catch myself thinking in a language other than English. 
When I was in NYC with my mom, we also walked and took the subway. I think it makes it a more authentic experience. New York subways are fun, even if they ALL reek of pee. The Metrocard system is absolutely genius.
I didn’t really do a lot of super touristy stuff when I was there simply because of the daunting lines. :\ I was only there for 2 full days, so I wanted to do a lot of things, and I definitely wanted to avoid waiting in lines!
The bus trip sounds… not so great. Especially the part about having to hold the bathroom door closed, eww.
If you think the NYC subway system reeks of pee, NEVER take the Chicago L :P Although I loved how each subway train was air conditioned – I don’t think the L has that benefit (?).
What? I don’t think the L is that bad! :P I’m always the first person to complain about noxious odors, but I’ve never been unable to breathe on the L. The NYC subway, on the other hand… let’s just say my orchestra group and I had to share a subway car with a rotting homeless man. He was sitting in a puddle of I-don’t-even-want-to-know-what, and his toenails were brown and black and almost the length of my forearm, and I was dry heaving the entire ride huddled in a corner on the opposite end of the car. D:
I hope you had a great time in NYC, though, despite the Empire State’s deception and the bathroomful bus ride!
The people may be smellier in NYC, but I think the train cars are smellier on the L :P
Wow you did loads, my mother and me did loads of walking when we came to visit New York.
Ha ha ew about the bus ;)
I just imagine the stench of sitting next to the bathroom on a bus… Not good. And I’ve totally had to transfer to a different bus at a random bus station in Jersey too, haha. Apparently buses aren’t the most reliable. (Or I take them too often for that to never happen to me, maybe.) I’m glad you enjoyed NYC though; it’s my home and I love it to bits. Lessthanthree.
Sounds like you had fun! I just got back from a trip to New York as well, so I definitely understand what you mean about the walking! On our second day in the city we walked all the way from Penn Station to the Met which was over 50 city blocks, added onto the walking that we did until we went back to our hotel. I don’t know which days you were in New York, but we were there during the intense heat wave, which was quite painful. I didn’t get to see the Empire State building, except from far away, but your review of it makes me feel a little less disappointed. I wish I could have seen Brooklyn and the other buroughs, but we only spent time in Manhattan.
Oh I’d love to go to New York! Might be best to avoid the Empire State building though by the sounds of it :P
Ew, bus bathrooms D: !
I completely agree with you as far as the Empire State Building goes, eurgh. Not worth it at all. My family dragged me up there and to top it off I’m terrified of heights, so I could only sustain about a thirty-second view before I went and sat on a bench and closed my eyes until the rest of my family was done. Twenty minutes later.
Anywho, I just got back from New York too – I was there for a day helping to pick up friends on our way to a weekend in Pennsylvania – and it was loads of fun. The walking is great, really, because you get to see so much! I think we covered about 40 blocks or so. It was ridiculous.