NYC Day 2

Brrrr.  It's all still very cold, cold, COLD here.

Today was our day to do the "Hop on Hop off" tour bus. We'd bought our tickets yesterday.
Slept in. I love sleeping until I wake up.  I wore earplugs to bed last night.
1) Janet snores
2) The city is noisy
3) The fire station is noisy

We had breakfast around the corner at a Dunkin' Donuts. Not exactly a New York thing, but it IS an East Coast thing and I don't have a Dunkin' Donuts in my town. And you will be surprised to know that I had no donuts for breakfast, but did have a tiny wrap with sausage, egg and cheese.  And an Almond Joy hot chocolate. There's no place to sit in the teeny little stores, so we stood and ate, then went outside to await our Grayline Hop on Hop off bus. We only had to wait 15 minutes and Mom really wanted to sit on the open top level.  WHAT?  It's so stinkin' cold, but we went up there and guess what?  We loved it!  You really do need to sit up there because all the city sites are above you and we would not be able to see nearly as much as we saw inside the bus.  Cold? Yes. Very.  But so fun to see the amazing architechure of all these old and new buildings.

Hop On Hop Off buses ( HOHOs) are narrated by guides. Some are better than others.
When we first boarded on 8th avenue, we had one guide. He said it would be re-routed due to the parade honoring Veterans' Dad up 5th Ave.  It didn't matter to us.  He was there for a stop or two.  We got off at the Empire State Building, but had to walk a couple of extra blocks to get there.  We did the entire "Empire State Building Experience."  I really really liked it. How do they get elevators to go so fast?  We loved the views from the top.  We loved it from the south side because it was sunny and leeward of the wind.  The North side offered great views, but it was shady and int he wind.  We spend quite a bit of time there, enjoying the views on both levels and buying a few trinkets at the gift shop. We did have to walk clear back to 7th Avenue to get on a HOHO bus.  More walking for poor Mom.

Our next guide was a lady who was really nice, but the bus was just  c  r  a  w  l  i  n  g  through the sluggish weekend holiday traffic.  It was so fun for me to sit on the bus and look and gawk to my heart's content and not have to worry about tripping, running into people or falling a hole, losing my balance and falling over while observing the lovely buildings.  The lady tour guide told us about the many neighborhoods we drove through--Chelsey, SOHO, Greenwich Village. We got off of her bus near China Town. By then it was 2 pm and we were ready for some lunch. After some minimal tourist shopping for souviners, we settled on a little hole-in-the wall restaurant and they did have very good food. A little more souvenir shopping AND a stop at a bakery for some evening treats, and we were on our way back to the bus.

Again, we had to return to the bus stop from which we came...three blocks or so away.  Mom was tiring out and her hip was aching. We had a gentleman guide the final leg of our bus tour and he was really hard to understand. Parly because of his accent, and he spoke very quickly and he didn't enunicate very well at all.  When I could understand him, it was enjoyable. When we got down near the waterfront area, that was about the time the sun went low and there wasn't a lot of warmth from that any longer and we started to get cold.  Everywhere.  We had thought about getting off at a stop near St. Patrick's cathedral (just to look), but we were all so frozen by then that we just stayed put .  There was no room down below on the inside --and besides, after enjoying the views from the top, we didn't WANT to go down below.  We stuck it out and froze to death.  We had also considered hopping off at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel and just wandering around the lobby to warm up, but stayed put.  The final stop of our HOHO was right around the corner from our hotel.  Mom was really aching by then, so we just hobbled on up to the room.  So frozen.  Donna and Janet stopped for hot chocolate on the way up to our room. Mom got some pain relievers and a hot shower.

Then we got to sample all the Chinese bakery treats. Yum!

One of the bad things that happened was that the buses had plasic seats and I have had dry static and I was plugged into a (metal) audio outlet with plastic earbuds. However, anytime my butt moved across the plastic seats, it generated a very strong static charge and delivered it to my EAR!!!!! OUCH!  I kept screeching every time it happened, yanking the earbud out of my ear (and my hair, in the process). I didn't MEAN to scoot, but I needed to look all around and see everything I could possibly see. Such a frustrating thing.  It only happened on two of the three buses we sat on.

What a fun way to see the city. We want to go on some more, as our tickets are also good tomorrow.  There's an UPTOWN tour and and night tour we can do, as well as Brooklyn.  Tomorrow should be warmer. 10 degrees warmer will feel like a heat wave compared to yesterday and today.

I wanted to eat a NY hot dog today and we wanted to do our own "Food Tour" but having a warm sit-down meal together (and we all shared our different chinese dishes) was very much needed on a freezing day. And having only one big meal has worked out well, too.

Yes, the days we have been here are record-breaking cold days for the City of New York.  They broke record cold temps that stood since 1914. We are the champions for surviving all this with minimal damage.  I mean, nobody has frost bite! ha. So glad it's not snowing or raining. I can stand cold as long as we have a warm home to come back to so we can snuggle into the covers or take a hot shower. Or drink hot cocoa.

There are a LOT of photos of buildings. I was so captivated by the splendid and varied architechture everywhere I looked. It was hard not to take pictures. But here I am on top of the Hop On Hop Off bus. Fun times. Brrrrrr, and ZAP!!! I was constantly being zapped with static electricity by my earbuds. Oooch. Painful.

Did you know sidewalk stripes are not always painted on? Sometimes they are rolled off of a spool and pressed into place.

This is a sign (Lighted billboard) advertising the Rockettes  Christmas Show. I figured that was as close as I was going to get. This trip.

Eagle statuary on a gate.

Fire hose for a building. This is on the sidewalk. I think they dont want people to get comfy on them.

Entering the Empire State Building.

One of the many views.

Mom and me.

There were so many historical photos and informational kiosks. I could have stood around and read them for much longer than we did. It (the building) has such an amazing history!

The Veterans Day Parade was going on down there.

Lovely Art Deco design every where. 

I think this area holds the Tenement Museum, which I would live to see tbe next time I go to the city.

L & M Deli. Linda a d Mike?

Littlemparks are tucked around here and there.

Gorgeous cast iron (I think)

One of our guides told us that buildings that have arched windows where where the textile factories and sewing places were originally. Very historic areas that were fun to learn about from our guide.

We walked through a little bit of China Town and had lunch there. One guide told us that Chinatown is browing and Little Italy os shrinking. LI is now just ONE BLOCK in the midst of China Town.

Museum of American Indians.

A rounded building.

The bottom of the Brooklyn Bridge. I never got a good view because of tne freeway we were driving under was obstructing  the view.

This building (she said) was the original Madison Square Garden arena building. They built a newer larger one elsewhere.

The fire station near ohr place.

NYC Day one

On our First Day in New York Ciy for All Girls' Weekend, it was FREEZING.  Coming from the airport (JFK) with Janet on the Air Train and Subway, we were thinking that people were kind of over-dressed for how cold it was. We were in light jackets, the stations were not that cold, the trains themselves were warm.
BUT
When we got back out into it....yowza. Baby, it's cold outside.  Feels like 20's.  I brought only a light jacket, but I do have headband, gloves and many layers.  But still.
Janet and I found our way with help of GPS on her smart phone to the Hotel Edison on 45th street near Times Square.  Like the block right next to Times Square. Cool.

Our hotel is old, but the beds are comfy. There are 4 of us in a room that is narrow, but we fit just fine.  Me and Janet, Mom and Donna.  We are on the 15th floor. Our hotel is on the block next to a fire station, so there are a bunch of sirens quite frequently.

When we got to the hotel and met up with Mom and Janet, we went out to find breakfast because it was still quite early.  We went two doors (well, to the corner the other way away from Time Square) down to a deli called "Carve" and had a BIG breakfast.  Their pastries are very tempting, but we had omelets and toast, breakfast sandwiches.  They we came back to the room to regroup and  plant what and where we should go and do while we're here. We went to the visitor's center and bought tickets for the "Hop-on-Hop-off" bus. Janet and I had taken a red-eye, so we were tired and needed a nap.  Donna and I visited, Janet and Mom rested and I read through all the pamphlets on things to do and made a "List."

We had an early dinner/late lunch and wandered to 9th Avenue to see how many we'd have to choose from.  Very many.  All kinds. Mom is having a hard time walking because of her bum hip.  We were wanting pizza, actually. We checked on a couple of those places and picked one that had lots of choices.  It was good. We had garlic knots, too, and I ate more of those than anyone else. (I carried Tic Tacs with me the rest of the day)  We wandered into a souvenir shop, too.  It was just so cold that we needed to get back inside after walking around a bit.   So cold.  But it's fun to visit in the cozy room, too. We stopped at a cookie place to grab some treats on our way back to our room.

Friday night was the big night for our play!  "Hello Dolly" with Bette Midler.  So good. Shubert Theater.  Very old theater, full full house of a very VERY enthusiastic audience. David Hyde Pierce was the other lead and the whole company was excellent.  We did have balcony seats that were only three rows from the very tip tip top of the theater.  Really cool old place. It opened in 1913. The actors covered a microphone glitch toward the end very well. And there was an "after the show" plea for money and donations for "Broadway Cares," which included a brief auction. It was really entertaining.

The three of us walked through Times Square on the way back, took some photos. Froze our fannies off and headed back to our room to find Mom sound asleep and cozy in her jammies.

It was an old hotel. The tub was old, had been refinished a time or two, perhaps. Kind of ugly, but I only showered there. 

View from the toilet.

Above the toilet. Tissue dispenser has a rasor blade disposal slot. I wonder how many people look at that little thing and have no clue what it is. Did you?

The tile was very familiar. I do believe Mike used quite a few of those same deco tiles.

Later in the day, this area behind the glass shield would be filled with pizzas, beautiful ones, and very frsh. We were warching them get started while we ate.

Relaxing in our roomon Friday morning.

Hello Dolly at the Theatre.

Breakfast at cute deli.

The view from our building/room window. Below me is 47th street, I believe. Avenue? I have forgotten already. (Updating with photos on Dec 13, so it's been a minute)

Mom teying to take a photo with a phone. Us old folks are funny trying tomuse those new-fangles techno gadgets.

Pizza, New York Style!

Fall Leaves

One day while I was riding my bike on a noon-time errand to the bank, I was traveling along University Blvd and it was so pretty!  There are huge, soaring London Sycamore trees that line part of the street in front of the auditorium and many of the leaves skittering along the street were keeping up with my pace.  We were one, travelling along the road together. It was a beautiful moment or two, feeling one with nature (plus, no cars wer tyring to run me over).

Until I noticed this ONE leaf falling out of the tree, heading to the middle of the street. I think I honestly heard it HIT the road. It was big. splat.  I thought, "Wow. If that had come down on my head, it sure would have startled me!"  It would not have hurt, of course, like the leaf in the New Yorker cover above... and I was wearing a helmet, after all.  But surely I would have noticed and been startled!