Four days in the Big Apple! – Part One

This past weekend, my wife and I took a trip to New York City with our two sons. We had a great time, although I’m glad to be back to rest up. I could write a 3000-word post about the excursion, but I’ll keep it brief.

The trip came about because our oldest son, a Washington Redskins fan, thought it would be a good idea if he and his brother, a New York Giants fan, traveled to NYC together and attended a game when the “Skins” came to town. Neither one had ever seen their team play in-person before. When my wife heard about it, she suggested we make it a family affair, so that’s how this thing was hatched. Our youngest son is in the Air Force and stationed down in Texas, so he put in for a leave in advance to come up for the game.

Our oldest really enjoys visiting the Big Apple. This was his fifth trip there in five years or something close to that. The last time I was in New York City was in 1971 on a high school trip, so it was nice to have someone along who is somewhat knowledgeable about the place helping us to navigate the trains, taxis, and hustle and bustle of a major metropolis. We left Rochester around 9:30 AM on Friday and parked the car in Jersey City, New Jersey around 4 PM and took the subway into New York. A taxi brought us to our Airbnb apartment (at 2nd Avenue and 50th Street) and we started out into the city immediately afterwards. Below is our itinerary as best as I can remember it:

Friday PM – Lower Manhattan Sites

• World Trade Center Monument
• Battery Park – We saw the Statue of Liberty from a distance.
• Fraunces Tavern – This is where Washington said goodbye to his generals at the end of the American Revolutionary War. Only a history nerd like myself would enjoy seeing this.
• Brooklyn Bridge
• Chinatown
• Little Italy
• Washington Square
• Bleecker Street – Had a couple of slices at John’s Pizza, the best pizza in Manhattan. No, we didn’t get a chance to visit the Bitter End club where Dylan, McGuinn, and Crosby all started out.

Saturday – Fifth Avenue/Central Manhattan Sites (We didn’t let the rain and wind, and stop us)

• Grand Central Station
• Empire State Building
• Rockefeller Center
• Trump Tower – We spent a lot of time there, drying off, eating lunch, and visiting three shops selling Trump paraphernalia. If you knew my wife, you would be amazed that we visited Trump Tower at all.
• Tiffany’s – I bought my bride a bracelet as a reminder of the occasion.
• Central Park
• The Dakota Apartments – Former-Beatle, John Lennon, was killed at the main entrance.
• Madison Square Garden – Our youngest son and myself are New York Knicks fans.
• Times Square

Sunday

• We boarded the train at 10:30 AM to East Rutherford, New Jersey to see the Giants and Redskins play at the Meadowlands. Although the temperature was 52 F., it felt like 32 F. with a brisk wind blowing. Not a lot of excitement in this game. The Skins prevailed at the end, 20-13. This event took up the entire day. We took the train back to Manhattan, had dinner, and crashed.

Monday

• We took the train back to New Jersey and retrieved our car about 10 AM. But before heading back to Rochester, we stopped at nearby Hoboken and checked out a few of the filming location sites from the classic movie, “On the Waterfront” (1954), directed by Elia Kazan. Pier C and the surrounding buildings featured in the movie were demolished long ago, but we took some photos of Willow Park and Stevens Park where a few important scenes were filmed.

I’ll have more to say about my impressions of New York City in a subsequent post.