My Weekend in New York City

I just spent a long weekend in New York City with my sister Mary. She flew in from California for some interviews for a video she is working on for her employer, the non-profit Pachamama Alliance. I was glad to be able to redeem the Continental frequent flyer miles I had accumulated years ago--though they charged me $80 to use them. (A full-price last-minute ticket would have cost $1,025!) I left Greensboro at 6:00 Friday morning and was at the hotel before 9:30 a.m. Mary had arrived the night before at the hotel, the Millennium Hilton in lower Manhattan, right beside the big hole that was the World Trade Center. She even gave me half of the $16 breakfast sandwich (but not the $8 orange juice) she had bought at the hotel restaurant.

To save money I had decided to use public transportation whenever possible. I took a bus to and from the Newark airport--$7.50 each way for "seniors"--and the Port Authority Terminal in Manhattan. Then I took a $2 subway ride to the hotel which had a stop almost right in front. While Mary did her thing on Friday, I went to the Museum of Modern Art and wandered around mid-town Manhattan. I bought a 4-ride Metro ticket for $7 ($1.75 a trip). I had ridden the subway years ago, but had no idea how huge and complex the system is now, with multiple entrances and exits to stations and multiple levels of trains. The whole of Manhattan is an amazing maze of tunnels. People who can't walk far or climb steps would have problems, though. (I guess they take buses, which I didn't try.)

Friday night Mary and I walked to Battery Park and lower Manhattan, finally ending up at the Fraunces Tavern restaurant which was almost deserted, as was the neighborhood. We had a great meal, reasonably priced. I recommend it. We decided to get a cab back to the hotel--a short $5 ride through very quiet streets.

Saturday morning (and Sunday morning as well) we enjoyed swimming in the hotel's beautiful indoor pool, then set out to explore Washington Square and Greenwich Village, planning to have lunch there before heading up to the Museum of Natural History. It took us so long and so much walking to find a restaurant we could agree on that we didn't head uptown until 2:00. Our "feet were beat" after only a couple of hours in the museum--another place that is much bigger than I could fathom--so we left and went back (by subway) to the hotel. We decided to have pizza in our room before heading out for the Broadway show "August: Osage County". Most of the pizza places near the hotel had closed by 6:00 so Mary had to walk around for a while to find a Papa John's Pizza. By the time she got back with it I was starving. It was the best pizza I've tasted in years!

Because we were tired from all the walking during the day (and to allow us time for a Scrabble game) we decided to take a taxi to the theater. Riding with the African driver through Saturday evening mid-town traffic was much more harrowing than finding the right train(s) to our destination would have been. It cost $15 just to get near the theater. We had walk the last half block because the streets were so crowded. After ogling Times Square and its wall-to-wall weird people after the show we took the subway back downtown. (Who ARE all those people jamming the streets at midnight? Crazy tourists like us?)

After our Sunday a.m. swim we had a late breakfast and played Scrabble in a deli near the hotel. Bacon, eggs, juice and toast cost each of us just $6 as opposed to the $24 Mary had paid at the Hilton. Then we were off to the Guggenheim Museum--another $1.75 subway ride. We had to walk several blocks from the subway stop but enjoyed seeing the fancy digs around Park Avenue and Central Park.

Millions of tulips and other flowers have been planted all over the city and they were in glorious bloom. The streets of Manhattan, at least where we walked, were clean, as were the subways. People were friendly and helpful. When I had trouble getting my Metrocard to work, a young man heard me grumbling and opened the emergency exit (and set off a loud alarm) to let me in. I remarked that he must be a native New Yorker to have the courage to do that. He told me he had been born in Asheville, NC. A young woman who worked on Wall Street got off at Grand Central Station and led me to the exit I was seeking before she went to her own business appointment in another direction. And the subway musicians were very entertaining.

By the time I left Sunday night I was exhausted. I was stiff and sore for days afterward, too. The only glitch in the schedule was the half-hour flight delay leaving Newark for GSO. How nice and quiet the Greensboro airport is!

I'm glad to be home, but I'm ready to go back as soon as I can figure out when to go and how to pay for it!