First Day in Manhattan
I arrived in our hotel, the Holiday Inn Wall Street District, totally frazzled. I thought I had mapped out perfect directions to get us to our hotel. But due to getting turned around on one-way streets and dead-ends and street closings, I got very frustrated just trying to go the last few blocks. Of course I had to pee like mad! The worst part was when we actually arrived on the street of the hotel, yet could not see it. The person I asked had no idea and it turns out he was standing right in front of it! The hotel was buried under tons of scaffolding, camouflaging the sign. The hotel seemed like it was in an alley, because in that part of the city, the streets are so old and they were never widened and are the original width from the horse and carriage days. Also the hotel is on the corner underneath 2 streets of complete scaffolding. I was unable to locate the parking garage where we would get our hotel guest “discount rate”. I was so exhausted that I pulled into a garage near the hotel- while trying to make a sharp left turn into a small entry way, I hit the wall and damaged the car. I was thrown out of that garage, entered a second garage only to be told that was not the right one either, to drive around the block! I nearly had a nervous breakdown at the thought of driving around the block! The discount on the garage was $40 a night because he said it was $10 extra due to the “SUV”. Okay, whatever, nothing like being ripped off. I was a little upset about the location but soon came to love that part of the city, once we figured out where we were, on Gold Street on the corner of Platte Street.
The boys immediately started asking me about the scaffolding. It seems it is all over NYC, especially in lower Manhattan. I asked around and it turns out that any time you want to replace a brick, you need to put up a scaffold. Also when the older buildings are cleaned or the facades restored, it is a very slow tedious job.
We took a walk around Wall Street area and saw the New York Stock Exchange, City Hall, Bowling Green, and Battery Park.
FAMOUS WALL STREET BULL STATUE
NEW YORK STOCK EXCHANGE
NEW YORK COURTHOUSE
I bought 3 sausage and pepper heroes and one Snapple from a street vendor for $22. We scarfed those down sitting in Battery Park on a bench. We had seen the Statue of Liberty up close 4 years ago on our last trip, so we did not take the boat ride. Instead we looked closely at the Monument to the World War II Dead in the park.
BATTERY PARK WORLD WAR II MEMORIAL
Then we went to see Trinity Church and very old graveyard- the boys did not seem too thrilled about the graveyard but I thought it was way cool.
TRINITY CHURCH GRAVEYARD
Then we went up to the World Trade Center site, which is nothing much to see since it is of course a construction site. I know they appreciated seeing where this horrendous tragedy occurred. We could see another building which was still standing and had a lot of damage.
We also stopped in Century 21, a famous New York discount department store. This store is gigantic and packed with shoppers. However, if you do not have a 27-inch waist, do not bother looking for jeans in there! Also the lines for the dressing rooms are at least 30 people long. I decided to try on a few things over my clothes and was scolded by a salesperson. I am sorry but if it is illegal to try things on on the floor, then why don’t you have more than 2 dressing rooms for the gazillions of shoppers?
Then we took the subway up to Chinatown. We got on an Express instead of a Local, which didn’t stop at Canal Street. However, I quickly figured out my mistake and was able to get off the train and turn us around. We were meeting our friends for dinner in Chinatown on Pell Street. We took our time walking around Chinatown. Last time I was in the city it was all Prada, Gucci and Kate Spade fakes. Now those brands are nowhere to be found, having been replaced by Dolce and Gabbana everything. I bought myself a glamorous pair of Dolce and Gabbana sunglasses for $8- you really cannot beat that! They are top of the line, I wonder why they feel like they are about to break? My sons and I were a bit surprised that every single shop on Canal street has the same inventory: sunglasses, handbags, watches, and backscratchers. More than once I was approached by a man saying “handbag, miss?”. I bet they had the really good fake bags!
We then walked through Little Italy, which I love. I wanted to buy some Va Fa in Culo Stronzo T-Shirts but I controlled my urge. I like the way they have demarcated Little Italy now with all the fire hydrants, street signs etc painted in red, white and green.
Then we tried to find the restaurant, Joe Shanghai’s on Pell Street. My map was so small that I got confused and walked 10 blocks in the wrong direction. Although my feet didn’t appreciate it, I think my boys did get to see native Chinese New Yorkers mad scramble to buy fresh fish of all sorts for their dinner. All sorts of fish that one does not usually see at Kroger.
Dinner was excellent featuring Joe Shanghai’s world famous soup dumplings. We had, I don’t know, maybe 7 servings of these. The soup is inside the dumpling. There is a very particular way to eat them so you get to drink the soup.
Uncle H was in his usual form, ordering every single thing on the menu, which my kids get a total kick out of. He had them try quail, which they had never eaten before. The food was really awesome, thanks to Isabella for making such a great choice!
After dinner we went to Little Italy for cannolis. Andrew said that he remembered every single cannoli he has ever eaten in his life, because he has only ever eaten two. Now I felt like the worst parent ever, what a deprived childhood. We took a cab with Uncle H back home. He explained to the boys what tenements were and other interesting tidbits about the history of New York.
