My daughter and I decided to "do" NYC in July 2005. We coordinated our flights - hers from Florida, mine from Indiana - and we met up at La Guardia. I arrived first on my flight (can't remember what airlines) she was arriving an hour later at the terminal next to mine. So I got my luggage and walked to her terminal to meet up with her then we took a cab to our hotel. My daughter had made reservations over the internet and not knowing anything about NYC she could only go by maps and what she read. The taxi took us to the Red Roof Inn in "Little Korea". Oh my! We weren't sure about this when we arrived, but it worked out very well and the hotel was nice. We were only about 2 blocks from Macy's and wouldn't you know it, in the 4 days we were there, we visited Macy's at least 5 times.
On Saturday night we went to Little Italy and they were having some sort of festival, but we later learned that they did this every Saturday night in the summer - they closed off the streets to cars and allowed pedestrians only. All the restaurants and shops utilized this street space to expand their business for the night. We stopped at a little pizza place and sat at a table in the street and watched the crowds and believe me, it was very crowded. We weren't in a buying mood, but when I passed this little T-shirt shop I had to get this shirt that said "fuggedaboudit". Hey! I was in Little Italy NYC where they filmed parts of the Sopranos and I had to have this shirt. OK? Then my daughter (who watches the Sopranos - I don't) wanted to find some building or something that she knew was on the show and it was right here in Little Italy. Well, we left the crowds behind and started walking further into the Little Italy territory. She had us walking down some pretty deserted streets and it was around 10 or 11 p.m. I am very surprised we didn't get mugged - or worse. Finally we came to a street that actually had some traffic and I hailed a cab. I just wanted to fuggedaboudit and get the heck outta there.
While we were in NYC we visited some dinosaur museum and Madame Tussaud's Wax Museum, St Patricks Cathedral, Statue of Liberty, took a carriage ride in Central Park, then walked through Central Park, saw the apartment building where John Lennon lived and was killed, went by the Trump Tower, Madison Square Garden, Times Square, visited the World Trade Center Memorial and saw the huge hole in the ground where they stood. Went to the SoHo area one afternoon and had lunch outside. Rode the subway numerous times, even bought a 3-day pass, because we knew we would use it & it was good for the bus, too. We made at least 3 trips to the Empire State Building but it was so crowded and the lines were so long each time, we decided to come back later; we never did go up to the top of that building, but we tried! We never went to a Broadway Play or even an off Broadway Play.
I have NEVER walked so much in a 4-day period as I did when we went to NYC. My daughter did not believe in slowing down for anything. Consequently, when I got back home one of my toenails had turned black and the toes on my other foot were numb for about a week. Seriously! I kept complaining about my feet the whole time were were in NYC, but it did no good, it only made my daughter mad that I complained so much. The last day we were there, we "needed" (yeah right, needed) to go to Macy's one more time and I said I cannot walk another step. So when we got out to the street I hailed a cab, we got in and I said take us to Macy's.
The cab driver told us, "Get out! Macy's is just around the corner! You can walk!"
How rude.
The last night we were there we decided to splurge a little. I looked in the phone book for restaurants that were in the Park Ave area. I wanted to dine like the rich people. We decided on Vong Restaurant which specialized in Taiwan food. When the cab took us there he stopped at what looked like an office building with no lights inside or out. He insisted that this was the Vong Restaurant. There was some small lights by the door, so I thought if this wasn't it we were close enough to a main street that we could get another cab outta here. We went in and had the best meal of our lives. The restaurant was very upscale (and expensive) and our waiter was fantastic and also said that celebrities often dined here because it was secluded. Both my daughter and I had our cameras with us and our waiter took our pictures . . . . . See above.
Not too much went wrong as in my other vacations (except my feet) and we really had a good time in spite of my constant complaining. My daughter is a fun person to be with. She absolutely loved NYC and would like to live there someday. Not me!
It's a nice place to visit, but. . . . .
