“Day 1” Morning-Getting into the City and embracing tourism
Before we knew it, it was Thursday night and the time to climb aboard Jet Blue for the red eye flight into JFK airport had come. We left at 10 pm, and arrived at just after 6 am New York City time. I had hoped to get some sleep on the plane, knowing that we would be spending most of the day doing “touristy” things in the City (or so we planned). I got an hour or so of sleep on the plane. Pathetic. Ryan didn’t get much sleep either.
You’d think that after such a long trip and after paying a good amount of money, that we would hit the ground running and try to take complete advantage of our time in one of the most famous cities in the world. Well……not so much. After wandering around in the terminal almost in a stupor for a moment or two, we sat down and Ryan decided to try to take a nap. After about an hour, we summoned the energy to figure out where we were going next. I decided we would find the Seinfeld coffee shop in Manhattan. I looked up directions and we headed off to midtown Manhattan.
The directions had us taking the Airbus to the Long Island Railroad, to the subway, to the coffee shop. The directions may as well have been written in Greek for all I understood. But, just as a journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step, a trip to Manhattan begins with a first packing into a crowded mass transit device. We maneuvered the Airbus, then the Long Island Railroad, once we got to the subway, we found the correct line and jumped on. It only took us two stops to figure out we were going the wrong way. We got off and tried to find the stop that allowed us to take the same line in the opposite direction.
Anyone want to point me in the right direction?
We may as well have been searching for the golden Snitch. We COULD NOT locate the stop. It probably couldn’t have been more obvious that we were clueless tourists. We walked around a whole block just to make sure we weren’t missing it. Suddenly, Ryan pointed at something, and sure enough, that was the stop we could get on to take the correct route, but this time in the correct direction. We finally arrived at the coffee shop.
It was a beautiful sight. So many childhood memories come from staying up until 10 pm to watch an episode of Seinfeld before I went to bed. Once we got there, I didn’t really know what to do. I hesitated to get a picture because I didn’t want to look too “touristy.” I sheepishly posed for a picture by the Diner. Ryan did the same.
I don’t know why I felt so uncomfortable to take a picture. Maybe it was all the people walking to work in the morning that made us feel out of place posing for a picture. But isn’t that why we went to the City that early in the first place? To see things that we had never seen before, like famous sites? Does the fact that we don’t live in New York make us worse than those that do? Do we ever blame someone for taking pictures at the Grand Canyon? Of course not! I struggled with those feelings throughout the trip, but once Tim and his friend Brandon arrived, I was much less hesitant to snap a picture. Tourist strength in numbers, I suppose....
4 comments:
Most of or many of the people in NY are tourists. I wouldn't care if they thought I was touristy!!!
Oh, yes the subway thing, going the right way???? funny. Look for more of the trip....
Finally a snippet about your trip. I was on pins and needles waiting. Just keep it coming. Also about the subway - been there done that. But eventually Mom and I became experts in London.
Oh, I loved your snippet and hope to see more! I agree with Grandma - who cares if your a tourist, you should have been all over that restaurant doing pictures: outside clearly pointing at the sign, inside sitting at one of the booths, inside sitting at the counter, pouring cream into a cup of hot chocolate or ketchup for your fries! Maybe there is a way you can photo-shop yourself into a few of the Seinfeld scenes from that place. That would be funny.
That's me, the polka dotted lady. Some day I will have that blog up and running.
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