On our first morning in NY, we had booked into another free city walking tour (with the same company as the DC one we did). We had to meet Derek at 10am in Wall St. We’d been told there was a free ferry from our RV park to the pier at the bottom of Wall St: easy. But, as we were waiting for the ferry, we noticed everyone clutching tickets… we asked a man there if the ferry was free… cue the man laughing uproariously at the tourists. ‘Nothing is free in New York!’ he said. So I ran to the ticket office (we had wondered why that was there… obviously not wondered hard enough) and the lady said, $52. She hadn’t heard the Aussie expression ‘you’re kidding me!’ but worked it out, and no, she wasn’t kidding, it was $52. We had no time for other options so coughed up the money. Welcome to New York!
From there, we arrived in Wall St with 10 mins to spare. We needed subway tickets for our walking tour and had worked out a weekly pass was the best option. Michael disappeared down a set of stairs into the subway…we waited…and waited…and waited…finally he emerged with 5 tickets (thankfully Aidan was free) – apparently the machine was temperamental and so he had to use a combination of credit cards and cash. But he had the tickets!
the Willo boys ride the subway
We met Derek and the tour was terrific. It was meant to go for 6 hours, it went for 8. We walked and walked and walked! (and took the subway a few times too!). Our group was made up of a couple from Ireland, three couples from the US, a group of girls from LA and a couple from Cairns (who were even colder than us!) He took us to lots of non-touristy spots in Little Italy, Chinatown, the Financial District, World Trade Center, Soho and Greenwich Village. Along the way he told fascinating stories about the people and places, and of course the movie and tv locations we were passing. (but, I digress: more about this day from Luke’s journal account, to be posted soon!)
After that we had to find our way home. We worked out (with help from lots of kind people!) the combination which would become our regular pattern: subway to World Trade Center, PATH train under the Hudson River to New Jersey then light rail to Marin Boulevard. We then walked about 100m to our van park. The first time we successfully managed to get where we intended to go we felt like we had won the jackpot!
waiting for the light railSo, each day (bar one*), we went to Manhattan and back again by light rail, PATH train and subway, then walking to our destination. It took between one and two hours each way (depending on the connections). By the end of the week we were experts. Lots of turnstiles, ticket swiping, stairs (tricky with the stroller!), crowds. But for a four year old: bliss.
Karen
*the only day we didn’t do that was the day we went to Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty: light rail, a long walk and three ferries instead. Still exciting for Aidan!
Aidan's other form of transport
That is some comprehensive tour!
ReplyDelete