 Report from New York
2006 Dec 7 - Dec 14
Christmas in New York, at last!
At last we went to New York during Christmas time! Before we have been here in early cold spring and in the really hot Summer. Now we should see the Christmas decorations, the famous Christmas Tree at Rockefeller Center, the iceskating rink at Rockefeller and the one in Central Park. Fun! The trip was really spontanious, we can say, and after we had booked the trip with Air France we started to search for a place to stay on Manhattan. Last time we stayed at a hostel and it was ok, but this time we wanted to try something new, maybe an apartment.
 This time we chose an apartment
We looked for "apartments in New York" on the internet and we found several options. After we had talked to a couple of people over the internet, we booked a small apartment at West 10th Street in Greenwich Village. We had heard that this should be a cosy area. We payed a reservation payment via our bank and the rest we should pay when we arrived. Everything is now signed, sealed and delivered. For one week we payed approx: 7000:- SEK (1000 USD). Quite alright price.
Supershuttle from the airport
The flight took approx. 7-8 hours from Paris and we landed in the afternoon at JFK Airport. We took a Super Shuttle - a big car that can take several persons at the same time and that will drop you off at your door - for 17 USD per person. Unfortunately we did the mistake to follow a person from SuperShuttle directly after we had passed the custom control and didn´t go to their office at the airport.
Due to this it took us several hours before we arrived to the apartment, the other persons in the van were staying at different places at Manhattan and the traffic this time of the day, is very hectic and cars everywhere. We give you the advise, in case you want to go by shuttle, go to their booking office, then they will try to put the people in one van who shall go nearly to the same area. Then you probably will save some time.
Of course you can also take a cab.
(We took a cab we went back to the airport. From our apartment directly to JFK the cost were 50 USD (without tip) not so bad when you have four bags
packed with a lot of bought stuff. )
This is our week in New York:
Thursday: Day 1
Arrived to New York in the afternoon.
Lodgings in the apartment - West 10th Street, Greenwich Village.
We put in our luggage in the apartment and went out to grab some food in Greenwich Village. We bought a Metrocard for one week (a card for the subway) for 24 USD/person to travel with the subway on unlimited rids for one week.
Really practical and good!
The card can also be used for busrides or the tramway over to Roosevelt Island. It feels good to fix this the first day, it will be a whole lot of travelling with the subway when we want to go fast to a special place, then you will get away from the problem to buy a ticket for every ridel. Of course you can buy Metrocard for other times than one week.
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Friday: Day 2
Statue of Liberty
Cold and windy, ugh! Really degrees below zero! We put our cap and gloves on and went with the subway down to Battery Park to leave for Statue
of Liberty and Ellis Island. (Of course we must see what is happening at Ellis Island, have they opened any more houses to the public or not?)
Bought tickets for approx 11 USD/person - then stod in queue and after a short while we arrived to the same control that you go through at the airport. Off with the jacket, shoes and put the bag on the rubber band. Then pass through the metal detector and see if it will beep or not. We put on our jackets, shoes and went on the boat. It took approx. 15-20 minutes to the Statue of Liberty.
Well there, time to take pictures and more pictures of her (the statue) from all angles and after that some pictures on the famous Manhattan skyline. We never went in to the statue, but stayed outside although is was very cold!
Ellis Island
After the visit we continued with the boat to Ellis Island, it is really fun to be here again. Always when we are here we think, how were they able to cope (the immigrants), what did they think when they arrived, how did they feel, did everything go well for them? Imagen which hustle and bustle it must have been here when the boats arrived with all the immigrants!
We entered in to the main building that is the reception room and this time we watched a movie that was 45 minutes long. It was a movie about Ellis Island and it´s immigrants. Of course the movie is for free. After that we strolled around in the building to see all the old rooms, interrogation room, the inspection room, sleeping rooms etc.
The things that were new this time was some rooms with fantastic photos of old rooms and from other parts of the island. There were rooms that had dust all over, full with leaves, dirt, old rusty toilets, old corridors etc. Fantastic. The rooms and the buildings became to life again when you look at the pictures. They also informed, that during year 2007 more houses and rooms will open up to the public.
Interesting! We will have to write about this in separate report about Ellis Island.
We took the boat back to Battery Park and after that we walked to South Street Seaport to eat at a restaurant. At the same time the Christmas chorus "The big Apple" sang Christmas carols, every year they sing here and the singers stand shaped as a Christmas Tree.
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Saturday: Day 3
Rockefeller Center
Heading out in the city and started our shopping, that takes time and it is tight between the clothes in the shops. And also during this time, winter, it is a hastle to walk in the shops when you have so much clothes on.... it is very warm but also fun of course.
After the shopping, we went to Rockefeller Center to see the big yearly Christmas Tree and the ice rink. Oh! it is Saturday... not a good day to visit the Tree, we walked in a long queue of people... but it was worth it.
This years the Christmas Tree is an Norwegian Tree from Ridgefield, Connecticut. It is 88 feet high and 45 feet wide. It is approximately 70-80 years old. The Tree is decorated with 30.000 coloured light bulbs.
Rockefeller Center/Top of the Rock
When we were here it was a good time to also visit the view point at Rockefeller Center. We bought a ticket to the top of Rockefeller Center to the "Top of the Rock". After the ride in the elevator, (it had a transparent ceiling which made us view all the way up to the top) we were at the top at the
view point. What a view! If you do not want to go out, you can also see the marvelous view from their big Manhattan windows. But for you who want to feel the wind in your hair and view over the city, just walk outside!
Note! you are not allowed to take pictures with a tripod... i noticed that.
You get a fantastic view over all the buildings and the lights! Don´t forget that there are a one more stair up to the very top - if you are not afraid of hights, this is strongly recommended. Just walk up and enjoy!
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Sunday: Day 4
Roosevelt Island /Tramway
A marvelous day with sun and it feels a little like spring - a bit strange in the middle of December. This day we decided to take a trip to Roosevelt Island, this is an island who is situated between Manhattan and Queens in East River.
We wanted to go to this island by the tramway - Roosevelt Island Tramway.
It is a tramway that is built 1976 by a Swiss company and it takes a couple of minutes to the Island. The tramway hangs just beside Queensboro Bride. Today this Island has some residential houses, one hospital and of course the old "plaguehouse" at the south end of the Island. (this is a ruin kept to remember the times when different diseases ravaged in town.)
Roosevelt Island also have a wonderful strolling area all around the Island.
Central Park
After this tour we may as well take a walk to Central Park. It is not far from the tramway and you can´t visit New York without a visit to Central Park. We walked from the tramway station at 60th street to Central Park. If you follow 60th Street you will eventually end up in the Park.
Outside the Park, the horse cab
carriages were lined up to take people around in the Park. We went in the Park and it started to get dark (the sun went down approx at 5PM). We went to see the Wollman Rink and all the people that go ice skating. It reallly looked cosy. Unfortunately we didn´t ice skate by ourselves. We continued our walk and ended up at 8th Avenue on the other side. We thought that there should be more lights in the Park then it was... maybe we were at the wrong place.
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Monday: Day 5
Christmas decorations outside the big department stores.
Out and do some shopping again, of course we had to visit all the nice stores, Macy´s, Saks, Lord & Taylor, Bloomingdales, Tiffany´s, H&M and all the other stores on 5th Avenue.
There were Christmas decorations everywhere and specially in the display windows at Macy´s
, they had a theme of fairy tales in every window and at Lord & Taylor a story was told about families in the beginning of 1900 who celebrated Christmas at Manhattan. The dolls and the music and all the sounds were fantastic!
Outside Saks there were several stars hanging on their big facade and now and then music was played and the stars were lit in the tact with the music, cool!
Stand-up comedy / COMIX
In the evening we went to a stand-up comedy show, at COMIX at 353 West 14th Street in Greenwich Village.
We had booked this before we left Sweden. It was really fun and we felt like the crowds that we have seen on TV of the Seinfeld show.
Some words we couldn´t understand but the most important thing is that we understood the content.
It was a comedian named, Ted Alexandro that performed. He seems to be a new talent after Jerry Seinfeld. He was really funny and he has also participated at the David Letterman and Conan O´Brien shows.
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Thuesday: Day 6
A small ride outside the city / Queens
Today we took a ride outside Manhattan with the subway. We went to Queens to see how it looks out there. The subway really go fast and it swings back and forth and then we are outside the city. A whole lot of worn houses and it really look stereotyped if you compare with the Swedish standard.
We went off at the end station up north in Queens, we passed the Shea Stadium were the New York Mets play their games.
After the visit we took a cab back to town and walkes around and shopped a little more and then went for a bit to eat.
Else: take pictures, pictures and pictures. |
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Wednesday: Day 7
Radio City Music Hall / The Rockettes
In to the mixture again and just walk around to feel the puls and of course some shopping again......When we sat on a bench and ate a "Hot dog" a lady ask us if we wanted to buy two tickets to "The Rockettes" at Radio City Music Hall.
We thought, do we have the time..... you can´t miss the thing everyone comes here for, she said.
You will get the tickets for the half price and the show starts about 1½ hour from now. Of course we shall go (sometimes you do not think when you are in the middle of everything).
We are glad that we went, we really had regret this if we hadn´t seen the show. The show was unbelievable with the girls in Rockettes.
Their formations and their famous number with the tinsoldiers. They really looked as stiff tinsoldiers when they moved on stage. A Christmas Santa Claus also talked and made som apperaeances.
It was really nice inside Radio City Music Hall, it was a very big place. How can this big stage get room, it is very hard to believe when you see the house from the outside. You will not believe this, but they had a horse, a donkey, two camels and a sheep, and also a small ice skating rink with an ice skating couple. Can you imagen? We can only say this, if you are visiting New York during Christmas, you can´t miss this.
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Thursday: Day 8
A visit in Chinatown and Little Italy, then back to Gothenburg, Sweden.
The last day, packed everything in our bags and out in the city one last time. We hadn´t had the time to visit Chinatown and Little Italy.
We took the subway and on our way we went to J&R to shop an ipod for a friend of ours. When we got to Chinatown we eat at a typical China place, good, with duck and rise! It is nice to see a city in the city - and on one street they meet - Chinatown and Little Italy. Little Italy looks very much like Italy - table outside the restaurants but no gondolas....
At 5 PM we took a cab to JFK Airport. It took one hour to JFK and the cost was 50 USD. It was really ok.
All check points at the airport went very well, all people seems to be used to taking off their jackets, shoes, belts when you pass through the gates and controls.
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Another trip to New York is over, but as we say, it is a city to return to and that we will of course do....hopefully soon.
Best wishes and
Merry Christmas & Happy New Year
Annika and Helen
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