In the theater district, even the MacDonalds was flashy.
It was Fleet Week and we saw sailors not only from our Armed Forces but also from other countries. It was a kick to tour Ellis Island with Japanese officers, and watch the European sailors joke around with the giant clam at the Natural History Museum.
The sidewalk scene was a circus - with hucksters trying to sell you tickets on tour buses, show tickets, and people dressed up in knock off cartoon character costumes in order to get tips from picture takers. I must have a look that says, "I'm lost, my feet hurt, and I need someone to yell through a megaphone at me" because every single tour company huckster approached me. Every single one. My favorite guy was this one, however. It's blurry but his sign says "Keeping It Real. Trying to get some weed" and asks for donations.
We had a couple of stores we wanted to see, and so we did some walking to find them. First, was the Disney Store. We walked off of the hot, noisy, and crowded street and into . . . a theme park. They have done a great job with that store. I did manage to get out of the store without giving in to the tshirt buying fever that grips me in every store in every state I visit during vacation. And I don't even wear tshirts all that much . . . but in those moments, I NEED that I <3 NY tshirt. And while I liked New York, I really don't think I'm ready for an I <3 NY tshirt kind of commitment. Even if it did have a Mickey on it.
In our wanderings we also visited Rockefeller Plaza which was much smaller than I imagined, but had great stores surrounding it - the MET Store, the Lego Store, and of course Nintendo World. Amy was pretty excited about the Nintendo store. I suppose I could roll my eyes (and maybe I do) but I do bear some responsibility here. When I was pregnant with her and on reduced activity, I was busy playing the original Nintendo - Pipe Dream and Mario. Mark and I used to go to "arcades" when we were dating and newly married to play video games before there were nintendo games. So . . . she was probably hard wired for nerd-dom. And I might have even had a mild case of tshirt-itis in the Nintendo store. It might have happened, but I escaped.
By this time we were tired and ready to go see Central Park. We had this idyllic picture of hanging out on the grass, eating ice cream from a vendor and getting a little quiet time. Yeah, right. The first problem with this plan was the trains. We have used public transport in Washington on vacations, and Amy used the London rail system extensively this spring, and so we weren't completely new to the process. But the New York system seems to be deteriorating and is generally filthy. Peeling paint, more gum than cement on the floor, and tile floors covered in muck and worse. While some of the subways stops were better than others (the ones near the Museum of Natural History were beautiful), the overall condition was poor. We also noted that as we drove through the state park the day before - everything was rusty, weedy, and overgrown. On the train to Central Park, it was jammed and unpleasant. However, it was air conditioned and it got us where we were going.
This sign was on the train we took:
Some things just don't seem like they should have to be forbidden, you know?
We knew we probably weren't going to have the pleasant, lazy afternoon at Central Park that we had imagined because we were exhausted from walking, it was in the high 80's with high humidity, and every other person in NY had also decided to go to the park on Memorial Day. It really was a beautiful park, however. I can see why people love it so much. We visited Belvedere Castle, which was a part of the park we had wanted to see . . . and then we hit the wall.
We were all so hot and footsore, we just wanted to sit down with a cold drink. Unfortunately for our pocketbook, the closest place for that was the Museum of Natural History. You could not go to the restaurant or gift shop without a ticket, unlike the museums in Indy, so we bit the bullet and bought tickets. $52. Then we found the basement food court and had 2 hot dogs and a hamburger - which easily were the stalest ever actually consumed for $32. But, it was air-conditioned and I think I'd have paid twice what we did to get cool and get off my feet. Once we sat and refueled ourselves a bit, we did really enjoy the museum. It is the museum from "A Night in the Museum" and we couldn't help but think of scenes from the movie at every turn. Roosevelt sits astride his horse in front of the museum, and the dinosaur bones in the main entrance are just like in the movie - except that it is also jammed with people. The diorama displays are just like in the movie and while we were tempted to call it the National Taxidermy Museum, they did do a really nice job of display. We especially enjoyed the oceans exhibit where they paired models, dioramas, and videos. I even found the scary monkey from Night at the Museum. You could not catch me in that museum alone at night. Not with that guy still hanging around. He is scary!
The up-side of the high price of entry and food kept me from being quite as tempted over the tshirts,, at least. We just about closed out the museum at 5:30, and took the subway train directly from the station attached to the museum, back to the bus station at Times Square. Along the way, a young man of about 12 or 13 stood up, apologized for the interruption, and did a dance routine to a boom box blasting "Thriller." Pretty cute, but the New Yorkers on the train did not even crack a smile.
The bus station at Times Square was more like an airport than a bus station, with several floors, multiple gates, and news and souvenier stands lining its broad halls. Our bus arrived right on time, and we were delivered through the Lincoln Tunnel to New Jersey and to our hotel in comfort. In the two days of frantic researching for this trip, most of the online advice was to stay in New York proper so that you would be able to go back to your hotel easily, etc. And, I suppose if you were doing shows as well as touring, that would make sense. But our 20 minute commute was perfect for us. Our hotel is in a business district, close to a Panera and a Bone Fish as well as a Walmart and Sams Club. The rooms are spacious, something we would not have had in NYC and the area is a lot more quiet than we'd have had there - and we saved a few dollars. A cheap introvert's solution.
Tomorow we head for home and we all are ready. We loved Maine, and we enjoyed New York as well, but we are ready for home. We'll take two days to get home since it's a solid 12 hours from here. A few days of uneventful driving and a wiggly puppy waiting for us at the end of the road sound wonderful.
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