Manhattan1

Day 1: Arrival, Grand Central & Times Square

We arrive via U.S. Airways at LaGuardia at about 2:45PM. At the baggage claim area there are courtesy phones with phone numbers for various airport shuttle and limo services. We take SuperShuttle to our hotel - the Grand Hyatt connected to Grand Central Terminal - and arrive at the hotel by 4:30PM. The cost is $30 for the two of us. During the drive I'm astonished at the traffic. Traffic lanes don't seem to exist, the roads are just an endless flow of cars swerving all over.

It's only now that I appreciate how ingrained New York is in our popular culture, as I see names and places - Long Island Expressway, Holland Tunnel, Grand Central - that have been with me in books, TV and movies my entire life. I wonder if this trip will be like going behind the scenes at Disneyland, spoiling the fantasy of the Great American City.

The Grand Hyatt is a little more show than substance. It's comfortable and the staff are all very courteous. The windows are soundproofed from outside noise, but there are connecting doors between every room, so we can easily hear TV and conversation from adjoining rooms. Two nice features at the hotel: a room safe and The New York Times left outside our room daily.

A note on travel guides. We are using Frommer's New York City 2005. In general, I find Frommer's U.S. guides to be a little heavy on hype, but I find their non-U.S. guides to be superb. For the most part we find the NYC guide to be pretty good. It does come with a handy pull-out map.

We haven't eaten since breakfast so we decide to have an early dinner. We go to Junior's, a burger joint at the food court inside Grand Central. A delicious steakburger, fries and onion rings goes for $9. I'm a tough critic when it comes to burgers, and these are delicious. Plus the atmosphere is fun, inside the spectacle of Grand Central. This feels like the perfect way to start our trip.

Speaking of Grand Central, after dinner we do a walking tour of the terminal. I should note that this is my first trip to New York City. I've been to a fair number of major U.S. cities - San Francisco, Dallas, Boston, etc. Nothing has prepared me for the crowds we find all over Manhattan. Grand Central is a good example. The terminal itself is a cavernous maze, several levels of vast rooms and tunnels, and at all hours it seems brimming with people rushing in every possible direction. We see a couple of National Guard troops about, but we never feel an oppressive security presence. We hear announcements every 5 minutes that backpacks and packages are subject to random search - we never see a single person being searched. As we walk around I recall the climax of the movie Carlito's Way, filmed inside Grand Central.

After this we walk to Times Square. Again, I am unprepared for the crowds. The sidewalks are thick with people, and they all seem to be in an overwhelming rush to get somewhere. Where could this many people be going that's so important? I don't think I could live here without constantly stopping to take in the sites. And there are enough sites for a lifetime: people, architecture, storefronts. The streets are packed with cars. I hear a lot of horns honking, but that seems pointless because I could never single out only one driver to honk at. Even walking across the street seems to be an art form. Many locals walk into the middle of the street and then reconsider based on whether or not traffic is approaching. Others seem to have the lights timed so they can start crossing the intersection a few seconds before the lights change.

As the sun sets and all the lights come on, Times Square becomes a vast neon canyon. The sights and sounds are almost overwhelming. We stop several times just to stand and let the crowd swirl around us as we absorb it all.

We continue our walk past Rockefeller Center. It's dark so there's not much to see. We head back to our hotel so we can rest up for the week ahead.

The main concourse in Grand Central

A rare quiet moment in Grand Central

Times Square at night

Day 2: Brooklyn Bridge, Ground Zero, St. Patrick's

We head down to Grand Central to buy our subway passes. We buy 7-day unlimited-use passes good on the subway or the bus system, $24 each. You buy the tickets at touch-screen kiosks that accept cash or credit/debit cards. The subway is crowded and chaotic but it proves to be a reliable and efficient way to get around. Many subway stops are labeled "Uptown" or "Downtown"; wherever you are, if you want to go north, that's Uptown, and south is Downtown. At no time do we feel unsafe, and this is true throughout our trip, on or off the subway. MTA operates the bus and subway system in Manhattan, and you can easily plan your routes via maps at their web site, www.mta.nyc.ny.us/

We take the subway downtown to see the Brooklyn Bridge. There is a Brooklyn Bridge subway stop, and you can see the bridge as soon as you exit the subway station. We walk across the bridge amongst pedestrians and bicyclists. This is the only place we go that is not insanely crowded, and we have a peaceful walk across the bridge. This is a good spot for spectacular views of the skyline.

After we walk across the bridge and back, we're starving. We walk into the financial district and go to Au bon Pain, a stop that seems popular with locals more for convenience than taste. We get 2 average bagels and 2 bottled waters for $7.40.

From there we walk to the former site of the World Trade Center. A lot of the site is blocked off with fencing and is difficult to see. The site is massive and sounds of construction activity are constant. It has been four years since that dreadful day but I still find myself almost moved to tears by a palpable sense of loss. It is still morning commute time and we are surrounded by people rushing to work. They seem oblivious to what they are walking past. I guess even destruction of that magnitude becomes part of the landscape when you see it every day. Signs list the names of the 9/11 victims and give a chronology of that day's events. In an apartment window overlooking the site, we see a brave reminder of the freedoms we live for: a peace symbol with a sign reading "Dissent is Patriotic."

Since we are near Battery Park, we buy a couple of hot dogs from a curbside vendor and sit in the park people-watching. Two hot dogs and two bottled waters for only $8. Why do hot dogs taste better in New York than other places? It sure feels like a classic New York experience to us.

We walk up Water Street to Canal Street, the main drag through Chinatown. I have to confess to a personal bias here - I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area for some years and I've already made up my mind that no Chinatown will top San Francisco's. That's just me and no reflection of the area. It is wildly congested, we seem to have arrived during the lunch rush. I suspect if we went on some of the side streets the crowds would thin out some. Regardless, we keep walking north to scout out a place for lunch.

We stumble on to Two Boots Pizzeria at Bleecker St. and Broadway. Two Boots has several locations, this one is a "to go" site with a few seats. We get two slices of tasty pizza, a soft drink and 2 bottled waters for $9.50. It helps that we're already starving, but this is some good pizza.

I love used bookstores, so while we're in the area we stop at the Housing Works Used Books Cafe on Crosby Street between Houston and Prince. The store is run by Housing Works, a non-profit that provides services for HIV/AIDS victims. As for the cafe, they seem to have a good beverage selection (I have a delicious hot chocolate for $3.75), but their food selection seems minimal. The bookstore itself is large with comfy chairs spread throughout. The book selection is diverse and eclectic and I could easily spend a lot of time here. Prices seem reasonable, I pick up a paperback copy of The Milagro Beanfield War for $2. A highly recommended stop for book browsers.

We take the subway uptown to Union Square. After some walking around we hop into Murray's Bagels on Sixth Avenue between 12th and 13th Streets. This is a Frommer's pick but I am disappointed. We get a chicken breast bagel for $5.75 that tastes overpriced with so-so service.

We take a taxi up to see the Ed Sullivan Theater at 1697 Broadway, where The Late Show with David Letterman is taped. The taxi fare is $9. At this point we have no plans to see Letterman's show but I have been a fan for years and just wanted to see the building. Letterman fans will remember Rupert Jee from Hello Deli around the corner. We walk by and see Rupert inside. We're not buying anything so I would feel rude taking his picture, but we see several folks stick their camera in the door, take a picture (with flash) and leave. I just get a kick out of standing on this sidewalk that I've seen on TV so many times.

Next we take a long walk over to St. Patrick's Cathedral. This is an architectural wonder. It's about 5PM and a few people are gathering for a 5:30PM service. Some people are seated in the pews praying while us tourists wander around them. Photography is freely permitted inside. Again, I see a lot of folks taking pictures with flashes, but it's a church and that seems disrespectful to me, so I turn off my camera flash.

At this point the crowds are definitely starting to get to us so we head back to our hotel. We make 7PM reservations at the Oyster Bar, a restaurant inside Grand Central. This is a Frommer's recommendation, and they are spot on with this one. The service is good, the food is delicious. You still have a feel of being in Grand Central without the noise and chaos of the terminals. There is considerable conversation noise, but it is absorbed by the high ceilings. Business casual is the predominant attire. Julie has a cream-based oyster stew ($9) and I have a plate of monkfish medallions in Asian BBQ sauce with veggies and rice pilaf ($23). I highly recommend the Oyster Bar.

The Brooklyn Bridge

Julie at the Brooklyn Bridge

Ground Zero

Inside St. Patrick’s Cathedral