It was monday now, the day when I would have been at office, working. So I wanted to make the most of it. Going by the most important ones first rule, we decided to cover the statue of liberty, the empire state building and times square today. New york parking is a famous challenge. So, the plan was to park at liberty statue parking for the first half , watch liberty and be back and take up the parking challenge in the second half of the day. That plan was albeit, misinformed as there is no parking next to battery park from where the liberty cruises start.
On the way, we passed through New Jersey which was as haphazard as streets back in India. That was some insight taken as well. We passed through the holland tunnel, which Niya named the bathroom tunnel for it's white tiles all around. We were finally in New York , our coveted destination as we crossed the tunnel.
The traffic jams were a blessing as it allowed us to take snaps of the buildings. Now, we had to park our car for the ferry and it was clear as we reached the battery park that there was no immediate parking available. But, park we must. So we set the GPS to battery state garage and started off. Now, the traffic jams were starting to be less fun as it was eating into our time for the day's plans and this was unanticipated. We chugged along slowly and ended up parking at a 'Central parking' paid parking thinking it was 31$ or so for the whole day. Half an hour parking was slightly less than 20$ a day - so the 24 hour parking was the option to take. Kitta took his milk from the parking lot. It was a little cold and windy as well. We walked back to the battery park - kids in strollers.
On the way, we saw an indian mobile hotel that sold us great chicken rolls.That was our lunch to go. We asked around and walked back to the battery park. We were slowly getting back to the groove now. One reason for opting a monday for the liberty tour was to get away from the crowds during the weekend. This, seemed to have a paid off as there was hardly any crowd at the ticket line. So, while I took the tickets, everyone else had lunch from the park. The park had nice statues as well which got some photo sessions from us.
After the security clearance, we were in the liberty statue cruise. As soon as we reached the liberty island, Kitta wanted to have milk. So our parents went ahead and walked around the island while we found a family restroom to feed him from. By the time the feeding session was over, parents had walked around and come back to the start. Now, all of us walked together and took some snaps. I had taken so many snaps last time but was still impressed with the magnificence/perfection of the statue. It still drawed me to it. But the weather was not all that great - cold winds were blowing and we were concerned about the kids. Next we went to the cafe there where from I received a voice mail from office about an issue and this got cleared off quickly luckily. We also got some souvenirs from the store and took the next boat back.
Meeting Jacob was part of the plan for the day. Jacob, who is working in New Port would take a train to empire state building where as we would take a taxi to empire state building. Both parties with varying commute challenges arrived at 5:45 and we had a tete-a-tete from the star bucks in the empire state building which is where Kitta had his next feeding session. It was good to meet Jacob after quite some time - we caught up on things and he rushed back to his wife at home.
As far as empire state building was concerned , the plan was to see the night sky as Divya/myself have already seen the day view and also the night view is apparently more striking. What was missing was the consideration on how the clouds would affect the view and that struck us. Everyone of the staff told us that the view would look like you are staring at a frosted glass and nothing through. However , having come this far, we decided that our parents can go ahead and take in the view while we waited downstairs and saved some money. I returned phone calls to Sandeep (Bhavans) and Ajit(Manhattan) while waiting. In some time , our parents arrived , albeit a bit disappointed as the warnings on visibility had proved to be more accurate than anticipated.
Next plan was to get the car back and drive around times square and go back. We flagged in an Indian taxi driver this time as opposed to the Pakistani taxi driver earlier. He was very friendly and was helpful at finding the parking lot whose specific address I did not have handy. So we showed him some photographs taken from there and we sort of investigated our way to the lot. He also made the offer that once we were in the vicinity , he will charge us only for that and he would help us find the lot for free. Sounded genuine helpfulness to me . Once at the lot, again, it was raining hard and there was no way I could carry my kid through the rain from the taxi to our rental car. So I asked him to wait and it took me some time to find the parking ticket and back to the taxi. I had noticed that the pakistani driver had hit the meter to an extra 1.5$ to account for the time it took us to unload the stroller / car seat etc. Judging by that time, it was an expensive wait. So I accounted for that and gave him extra tip for his seemingly genuine helpfulness and resourcefulness.
Next, we struggled through the NY streets through time square , saw china town and little italy on the way and drove back to the resort to arrive past midnight as has been the trend.
On the way, we passed through New Jersey which was as haphazard as streets back in India. That was some insight taken as well. We passed through the holland tunnel, which Niya named the bathroom tunnel for it's white tiles all around. We were finally in New York , our coveted destination as we crossed the tunnel.
The traffic jams were a blessing as it allowed us to take snaps of the buildings. Now, we had to park our car for the ferry and it was clear as we reached the battery park that there was no immediate parking available. But, park we must. So we set the GPS to battery state garage and started off. Now, the traffic jams were starting to be less fun as it was eating into our time for the day's plans and this was unanticipated. We chugged along slowly and ended up parking at a 'Central parking' paid parking thinking it was 31$ or so for the whole day. Half an hour parking was slightly less than 20$ a day - so the 24 hour parking was the option to take. Kitta took his milk from the parking lot. It was a little cold and windy as well. We walked back to the battery park - kids in strollers.
On the way, we saw an indian mobile hotel that sold us great chicken rolls.That was our lunch to go. We asked around and walked back to the battery park. We were slowly getting back to the groove now. One reason for opting a monday for the liberty tour was to get away from the crowds during the weekend. This, seemed to have a paid off as there was hardly any crowd at the ticket line. So, while I took the tickets, everyone else had lunch from the park. The park had nice statues as well which got some photo sessions from us.
After the security clearance, we were in the liberty statue cruise. As soon as we reached the liberty island, Kitta wanted to have milk. So our parents went ahead and walked around the island while we found a family restroom to feed him from. By the time the feeding session was over, parents had walked around and come back to the start. Now, all of us walked together and took some snaps. I had taken so many snaps last time but was still impressed with the magnificence/perfection of the statue. It still drawed me to it. But the weather was not all that great - cold winds were blowing and we were concerned about the kids. Next we went to the cafe there where from I received a voice mail from office about an issue and this got cleared off quickly luckily. We also got some souvenirs from the store and took the next boat back.
Meeting Jacob was part of the plan for the day. Jacob, who is working in New Port would take a train to empire state building where as we would take a taxi to empire state building. Both parties with varying commute challenges arrived at 5:45 and we had a tete-a-tete from the star bucks in the empire state building which is where Kitta had his next feeding session. It was good to meet Jacob after quite some time - we caught up on things and he rushed back to his wife at home.
As far as empire state building was concerned , the plan was to see the night sky as Divya/myself have already seen the day view and also the night view is apparently more striking. What was missing was the consideration on how the clouds would affect the view and that struck us. Everyone of the staff told us that the view would look like you are staring at a frosted glass and nothing through. However , having come this far, we decided that our parents can go ahead and take in the view while we waited downstairs and saved some money. I returned phone calls to Sandeep (Bhavans) and Ajit(Manhattan) while waiting. In some time , our parents arrived , albeit a bit disappointed as the warnings on visibility had proved to be more accurate than anticipated.
Next plan was to get the car back and drive around times square and go back. We flagged in an Indian taxi driver this time as opposed to the Pakistani taxi driver earlier. He was very friendly and was helpful at finding the parking lot whose specific address I did not have handy. So we showed him some photographs taken from there and we sort of investigated our way to the lot. He also made the offer that once we were in the vicinity , he will charge us only for that and he would help us find the lot for free. Sounded genuine helpfulness to me . Once at the lot, again, it was raining hard and there was no way I could carry my kid through the rain from the taxi to our rental car. So I asked him to wait and it took me some time to find the parking ticket and back to the taxi. I had noticed that the pakistani driver had hit the meter to an extra 1.5$ to account for the time it took us to unload the stroller / car seat etc. Judging by that time, it was an expensive wait. So I accounted for that and gave him extra tip for his seemingly genuine helpfulness and resourcefulness.
Next, we struggled through the NY streets through time square , saw china town and little italy on the way and drove back to the resort to arrive past midnight as has been the trend.
No comments:
Post a Comment