New York Story – Part II
Saturday - Morning and Early Afternoon

Unfortunately, the weekend we picked for this trip was a holiday weekend for the US (Columbus Day), as well as Canada (Thanksgiving) so as you may have guessed, this did not bode well for lines in and around the Big Apple, although we were oblivious to that until we actually showed up to play on Saturday and found that everyone else was already there.

Saturday morning dawned bright and clear, and beautiful! We really lucked out and got a spectacular Indian summer day that was a little brisk, but not uncomfortable, for our first day into the city. The four of us had dressed for it with jackets and longer sleeves. Today's adventurers were the four intrepid women: Mom, Laurie, Linda and me. Danielle, Linda's daughter, was supposed to go too, but she bailed out at the last minute in favor of the boat party in honor of "seasonal boat closing."

We piled into Laurie's car and drove to the Long Island RR station to board the elevated train that would take us to Penn Station. As we drove up we could see a train in the distance. Turns out it was our train, so we had to run up the escalator. We made it in time, plunking down in our festive burgundy and blue seats. The floor of the train was linoleum, which was surprising ... for some reason I expected carpet. It was unbelievably clean too, although we later found out during a public announcement that they have a “clean train campaign.” Keep up the good work, Long Island! There was an actual conductor (can you tell I am a train novice who has only ever ridden the Metro in DC?) who came around to charge us for our trip. $18.00 each for our round trip tickets from Lindenhurst to Penn Station. Eeek! However, it was the best way to travel, stress free and very relaxing. All of us were filled with exhilaration about our trip and
we were bubbling over with excitement, discussing what we were going to see.

The first glimpse of the city skyline was thrilling and all too brief because then we went into the tunnel under the Hudson River and couldn't see anything. However, we were at Penn Station so it didn't matter!

We exited the train, followed our intrepid leader Laurie as she led us up to the street and our first stop ... the Grayline Bus Company's double-decker bus "loops" tour.

At street level the very first impression I received of the city up close was of billboard after billboard, everywhere billboards! I felt the grandeur of the city take over and was filled with awe. The buildings
were so tall and beautiful, with architectural elements that you just don't see anymore; flaring rooflines, corner brackets, engraved plaques and scrollwork, cast iron curlicues and elements that reminded me of the all too brief studies of the columns to be found in Greece---Doric, Ionic and Corinthian. The window dressing, the likes of which I hadn't seen before, was but a hint of the splendor to follow as the Christmas holiday approached. It was a feast for the eyes!

I walked in almost a daze, eyes darting upwards towards the sky, then down to my feet so I didn't trip. Then a quick glance to make sure I wasn't going to get knocked down by a hurrying pedestrian or hit by a speeding taxi. The streets were teeming with the yellow cabs. Every single cab I saw the whole weekend was yellow. At one point it seemed like every cab in the world was in the city for the weekend.

Suddenly, around the corner of the immense Macy's building I saw it ... the Empire State Building! This was one of the things I had desperately wanted to do while in NYC --- go up to the observation deck and see the city from 86 floors up!

Somehow, we managed to get to the Grayline bus stop, even though we were gawking like hayseed countryfolk. We purchased our tickets ($71.00 per person) for the Essential New Yorker passes. This
included 'Hop-on/Hop-off' bus priveleges for 48 hours, tickets to the Empire State Building, tickets to the Seaport Museum, Evening Lights Tour and tickets to Ellis Island/Staten Island Ferry. It was almost too much! I was so excited that had I not just visited the potty I would have needed to right then and there! ;D

We finally managed to get on a bus, after about 8 buses passed us by ... had I mentioned that this was a holiday weekend for the US and Canada? ... and we had started to doubt the intelligence of our decision to pay for this bus tour. We squeezed into “standing room only” spaces and spent the next 10 minutes bent over and craning our necks sideways to see up and out of the windows as the bus tour guide pointed out interesting tidbits about the things we were passing.

Laurie called a quick council of war and we unanimously decided to go straight to the Ellis Island/Staten Island Ferry stop so we could do that early, before all of the other holiday visitors followed us there. Little did we know they were already in line and waiting for us... (to be continued more)