Tuesday, 6th September 2005
The Big Apple
I just got back from vacation to New York - New Jersey and at this point feel like i need a vacation from this vacation !!! I took mom and dad and drove to New Jersey on Friday and returned yesterday on Labour Day. We had such a great time and there is so much to blog about and describe about, but there is also a lot of work piling up on my desk and i gotta attend to it. I really wish i could find more time to blog. I especially love bloggin about travels.
I did a lot of driving (about 1600 miles) over the past 4 days. I didnt get to see a whole lot of New York City but was able to see a good part of Manhattan (the best part of new york from what i heard). My initial fears of driving in manhattan were justified, since traffic there is chaotic to say the least. Reminded me a lot of how traffic moves back home.
I actually got a chance to drive in New York on the second day of our stay there. And it all added to the excitement of the trip.
We stayed in a motel in New Jersey in a small place known as Raritan (near Somerville) which is about 45 miles from manhattan. The first day we took the NJTransit to NewArk Penn Station. and then to New York Penn Station. Our initial plans were to visit the Statue of liberty from Battery Park in lower Manhattan. We took the subway to South Ferry Station. We got to battery park all eager to catch the ferry to Liberty Island. But the serpentile queue put us off and we decided to return the following day. We then took the subway to Times Square. Getting out of Times Square Subway station is an experience by itself. You walk out of the station and you see a horde or people everywhere, walking in all directions. If this isnt mayhem, i dont know what it is. It is hard to stand still without getting bumped into and shoved. Admist all that were tourists such as us trying to capture stuff on camera.
We got to see Times Square, Chrylser Building, Rockefeller Center, Empire State Building, Grand Central Station and St Patricks Cathedral. Every spot was a highlight on its own. We also got to walk along 5th Avenue and Park Avenue and the streets around. We (window) shopped in Macy's (which is the world's largest department store), Saks Fifth Avenue and FAO Schwartz.The lines in Empire State Building were dreadfully long and tiring. By the time we caught the sub and train back to our motel, we were exhausted.
Our plan for the next day wasnt concrete. After having seen NY traffic, i was brave enough to venture into NY and driving there. The tunnels leading to-from NJ-NY can be a tad unnerving with a multiple lane road suddenly merging into a couple of lanes. To confound matters are the 'E-Z pass only lanes'. Having seen the long lines for Liberty Island Ferry from Battery Park in NY, we decided to be a little smarter and take the ferry from Liberty State park from the New Jersey Side. This worked to our advantage in that there were a lot fewer people here and a lesser wait. An unexpected suprise was that the ferry has a stopover at Ellis Island where the Ellis Island Immigration Museum is located. After that we went to Liberty Island and saw the Statue of liberty. The security measure in place on the island are immense, a little too much in my opinion, but hey Post 9/11 better safe than sorry.
On getting back from Liberty Island to Liberty State Park, we went to Liberty Science Centre. Liberty Science Center is the most visited museum in New Jersey and one of the most intensively used in the country. The eye catching feature (for us atleast) was the Imax Dome Theatre (the largest IMax Theatre in the nation is located here). We got to see the Mystery of the Nile show in the Imax Dome. It showed a breathtaking cinematic adventure that takes you on an expedition down the world's greatest and most deadly river, the Blue Nile. The show was awesome to say the least. Luckily we made it on the a day before the center closes for 2 years for renovation. I would suggest the Liberty Science Centre be on your checklist of attractions to visit while in the New Jersey area. Then i decided to be adventurous and get a feel of how driving in New York would be like and trust me it was quite an experience. The only slightly sore part of the day was when we got lost on our way back. And it all happend because i was on the wrong lane coming out of the tunnel from NY and so ended up lost and going around in circles in Jersey City. And after making it onto Route 1 (NJ Turnpike) we somehow managed to end up on the wrong direction and had to drive lots to get back on track. Well we finally made it back to the motel, a little belated for comfort, but we made it and thats the important part.
Yesterday morning, Labour Day, we decided on giving 'visiting our relatives' in New Jersey-Pennsylvania a shot. As luck would have it, they were in town for the holiday and we decided to drop by. Keeping with the trend of getting lost, we did that as well but this was more due to improper directions/instructions than anything else. After vising one set of relatives near Princeton, NJ, we decided to visit another set of realatives in Reading, PA. More by chance than anything else, we also ended up in Philadeplhia yesterday when we were returning after visiting relatives and drove around a bit there (in circles mostly coz we were lost). From the little glimpse i got, Phily seemed like an awfully nice place to visit. Hopefully soon.
After all the socializing, it was time to head back. The long 7 hour drive lay ahead of me. The drive was taxing since we only took one stop along the way and we had a scare when we nearly ran out of gas and the nearest gas station was 20 miles away. Apart from that, we made it in good time. I had hoped to make it back to cleveland y'day itself, but it was not to be since we were so late, so i slept over and took off today morning.
At the end of trip, i must say that the experience was fun, exciting, tiring and expensive :) !!!. I cant help but compare the city of New York to Mumbai back home. The comparisions and analogies are too many to enumerate. For instance, the hustle bustle of people, the subway system, the traffic, cab drivers. All very reminiscent of Mumbai. Well 'Mumbai of America' of 'New York of India', you choose.
New York City is a blast. New York is the kind of place where ten things happen to you every day on the way to the subway that would have qualified as interesting dinner conversation in (boring) states such as Ohio, Indiana, and you don't pay them any notice. This pretty much sums up New York life.
We took plenty of pictures. I have uploaded most of them to the photo album collection. Most of the pictures are of mom and dad, since i was behind the camera most of the time. I did manager to sneek into a couple of em. But i would rather have you not look at them. Dad managed to tape a lot on the camecorder. I'm just as eager to see his compilation. The digital camera we used belonged to my roommate and it is fairly pathetic under artificial lights.
There are even a couple of pending blog articles of 'Putin Bay' and a restaurant in mayfield heights called 'Golden Swam'. I havent been able to blog about it since i havent been able to get my hands on the pictures we took there. As soon as i do, i will upload the pics and get the the blog articles outta the way.
Posted by Nikhil on Tuesday, 6th September 2005 in Life in General | Fun | Events