New York, Ny adventure

The big apple supplies some great stories and interesting conversations as the big city was explored

Sites included dinners on 78th street, Yankees stadium, Hoboken, Irish pubs, little Italy, many more

The New York City skyline as seen from Hoboken, NJ.

This trip to New York happened primarily because of the NFL draft that Brandon Boyd, the sports editor at the newspaper I work for (the Behrend Beacon), wanted to cover this year.  So with his motivation, he, I and the other managing editor (now editor-in-chief) Shannon Ehrin made our way to the big city from Erie, Pa during the last weekend in April to see the draft at Radio City music hall and explore the city a bit looking for stories.  And did we ever find stories. Through the three nights and four days we were there, we were definitely exposed to some culture.

We arrived in East Rutherford, NJ (where our hotel was) in the late afternoon and we needed to get Brandon to Radio City by 7 p.m. to cover the draft for us and for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the paper he will be working for this summer.  It took us a little while to figure out how to get to the train station and which train we needed to take, but we finally got there with minutes to spare.

Located on 51st and 6th ave, Radie City Music Hall sits right up the street from Rockefeller  Center.

While he was there, Shannon and I had a chance to explore upper Manhattan a bit and stumbled upon Viand Restaurant on 78th and Madison Avenue just as our legs were about to collapse and took refuge in this classic New York dinner:

Viand Restaurant on 78th and Madison Avenue. Fantastic Matzah Ball Soup.

We both ordered the Matzah Ball soup on a whim because we both were looking for something hot.  Fantastic.  I wish I would have taken a picture of it before I ate it because it was giant.  Only for $5 and change too, I was totally stunned.  We later found out by our waitress that that was one of the local favorites and people would travel from across the city for it.  Lucky guess!  I did order a beer here too that costed $6.50, which I thought was a lot for a Budweiser. Then again, I was coming from Erie, Pa; one of the cheapest places in Pennsylvania (and possible the country) to drink.

After this excursion we made our way back to Radio City walking along Central Park and coming across some very expensive looking apartment buildings and the zoo.  Also we kept seeing "No Standing" signs which I just thought was a funny sign to hang in the city. A jogger that passed by as I was taking a picture of the sign must have thought I was funny too though because she came to a complete stop and starred at me for a good couple of seconds before returning to her workout. I thought it was worth it:

Shannon breaking the law.

 This store really excited me just because it had a kayak on display.  The models looked like they were about to take on some serious class five rapids, but then again they were also wearing designer scarves. I had a feeling the interns who put this display together never hit the water in a yak before, but nonetheless it was interesting to a marketing major.

Newspaper dress.  I think its what is they are saying is the new "in."

We ended the night in a bar called Johnny Utah's where we received free drink coupons from a girl with a crazy hair-dew on 5th avenue. There was a giant NFL draft party going on that featured a mechanical bull in the middle of the place.  We only stayed for a few drinks, but it was enough to take in what the weekends are usually like in New York City.  I must say every place we entered in New York made me under dressed. At least one person was always wearing a suit, even in fast food joints and the subway. It was clear  that if you worked in the city, even as something simple like a receptionist, you were making more than the average.  

Every morning we had to drive to the Secaucus (pronounced sea-cock-us) train station to take a train into  Penn Station that is located right beside Madison Square Garden. The Rangers were in a playoff series with the Washington Capitals while we were there so the fans came in droves making the trains very full. 

Shannon with her Starbucks waiting on the platform

 $4 to and from the city every day plus parking at the station, but from what we heard from other people, this was reasonable considering how much you need to pay in tolls just to enter the city by car, not to mention the absurd parking rents.  We couldn't believe the one sign that stated a $700 a month parking fee. That is the high side of monthly rent in Erie!


The next day we went exploring and walked from Penn Station on 34th street all the way down to Wall Street.  We stopped in shops here and there along the way and even found Le Arc de Triumph!

Some other pictures I took of the city. This one above I like just because the buildings warp inwards creating some psychedelic effect.

After we finally got to Wall Street, there were some demonstrations going on by Occupy Wall Street supporters still going strong since the fall.  We even saw some arrests.  This was by far the most police we saw concentrated in any area of the city we were in.  They had separate walk paths just for police and were asking for identification to go down certain streets.  I really was taken aback by all of this as the right to assemble is one of our main protected rights.  The police were not really getting too involved, but they definitely added a certain element of repugnance to the entire district. We also saw the new Freedom tower being built where the twin towers used to stand. I found it interesting how barricaded the site was though.  Every construction entrance had checkpoints and barbed wire and solid fencing surrounded the entire "memorial" site.  I was at the same site in 2009 on a high school trip and the area had a much more lively vibe to it back then.

The new Freedom Tower being built over the World Trade Center Memorial Site.

Protesters in front of what appeared to be a very high class cafe. As you can see the police were keeping a close eye on them.  I was given literature as I took a picture asking people to skip school and work on May 1st in order to further the protest. Free food and health/legal services will be provided to those taking part on Wall Street.  The idea was to show the country how it would be without the 99%.

Loved this picture of this bearded protester.  The sign the man in the background is holding reads "When the government FEARS the PEOPLE, the PEOPLE grow STRONGER!"

Here we saw 3-5 cops detain what looked like a few foreign tourists for an unknown reason.  People that were inquiring to the arrest were being ignored and a few cameras we saw the cops had confiscated.  They didn't seem to mind other people taking photos though as I was able to get this shot from across the street.  

The New York Stock Exchange on a near deserted street because of the massive police force gathered in the area.

A look at some of the cops conducting check points on some side streets.  They were avoidable by taking further side streets in some areas, but a lot of people were being turned away.

A shot of more protesters in front of Trinity Church.  It seemed that protesters were just as annoyed with the church for imposing some interesting rules.  They were chanting slogans that were hard to make out, but they were blaming more than the 1% of corporate CEO's and the wealthy for the country's economic hardships.

Conolly's Irish pub on 54th and between 6th and seventh avenue.

While Brandon was at the draft the second day, Shannon and I ventured into an Irish pup named Connolly's for a drink, and to get out of the cold for a bit. Wonderful place. The bartenders spoke with a true authentic Irish accent and there was even a special for $5 Bud and Bud light drafts; a pretty good price for the city I thought.  Shannon's Martini was almost double that though.  However it was a great place to watch a ball game and chat. The staff was extremely friendly and even gave out a complimentary beer after we ordered Artichoke dip.

We saw a lot of homeless people on the streets.  Compared to the last time I was here the homeless this time looked much more educated and looked as if they had jobs not more than a few months ago as many had pets and decently nice clothing on.  I can't say the same for this man we found sleeping in the corner of Penn Station on our way back to New Jersey.  I couldn't help but to take a photo as he was using his shoes as a pillow. It was a cold night out that night.

The last day we were there we had a better game plan of where and what we wanted to do.  We started off walking to the NFL store on 6th avenue (Avenue of the Americas) and 42nd street.  Not as big as I thought it would be, but they did custom jerseys on the spot which was pretty cool.  Next we went to the New York public library which was only a few blocks away.  I have seen the outside of it before but never ventured in.  As soon as we entered we immediately got lost in the massive building.  We eventually found the main reading room which had a massive mural painted on the ceiling; absolutely amazing.  Shannon wanted to get a library card there, but it seemed like a detailed process so we decided to hop out of there to head towards The New York Times Building.

This was just one half of the reading room, it had another wing on the other side just as big.  I kept looking for familiar scenes from "The Day After Tomorrow" movie but it was just too large to really be certain. 

Ok so this lady was across the street from the library just being very angry.  She was shouting ridiculous things to passerby's.  She did not look homeless or anything like that, it just seemed like she was very angry at the world.  Brandon suggested that maybe she had some kind of mental ailment that resulted in her shouting rude things to people.  I guess in New York you really do see it all.  People were just walking by though completely ignoring her.

This is a rare photo because it is one of the very few that actually has Shannon smiling! She was very happy to see the Times building, as were all of us since we all work for a paper.  We couldn't go in though which was disappointing.

The times had the entire building it looked like which is pretty crazy when you think about how many square feet they take up.

This person was taking a nap right across the street from the Times building.  I would not want to know how his neck felt when he woke up.

One of Shannon's favorite stores was Tiffany's.  Sparked by the movie "Breakfast at Tiffany's" with Audrey Hepburn, who I must say played a stunning role in the movie.  Just to give you an idea at the prices though, this watch which I snuck a picture of, was over $12,000! I felt immediately outclassed and left the store soon after viewing that price tag.  I knew it was expensive, but that just blew my mind.

Almost got Shannon to smile for this one!

One of my personal favorites of our trip was Yankees stadium.  We got tickets off of stubhub.com for about $30, which we did not think was bad at all considering the cheapest one you could buy at the box office was $50.  As you can see from the pictures we were in the nosebleeds , but still had an awesome view.  The Yankees were playing Detroit while we were there and the stadium was pretty full and had an alarming amount of Tigers fans.  This was sort of surprising, but one thing I learned from this trip is that people in the city came from all over the country and all walks of life.  They lost the game 7-5, but had a stunning come from behind victory the night before against them that we watched in Connolly's, the Irish pub.

We were three rows from the top of the stadium!

The outfield opened out into the Bronx.  A little different that PNC Park in Pittsburgh, but crazy nonetheless.

We were so close to getting on the big screen!  He never pointed the camera in our direction though, probably because of the copious amount of Detroit fans that were sitting in our area.

On our way out I stopped to grab this photo at ground level and had to fight with a security guard to do it.  I was going to try and get closer to behind plate, but after his and I's argument I figured it might be easier just to leave.

The outside look.  I felt like we were entering a Colosseum. 

After the Yankees game, we took the subway all the way from the Bronx on 161st street down to Little Italy for dinner.  I had been to Chinatown before and parts of Little Italy, but never to this main drag that we stumbled across after grabbing a canoli and some gelato on Mott Street. There were so many people and so many restaurants it was impossible to keep track of it all.  We were starving so we stopped in the first place we saw a $10 special on pasta.  Brandon and I had fettuccine alfredo and Shannon had spaghetti and meatballs. It was pretty good, but not mind blowing or anything like that and my Peroni bear almost costed as much as my meal at $7..  Our waiter was very nice though and we had a good time.  I wish we could have stayed longer in this part of town because there was so much to see, do, eat and drink! On my next trip to New York I will definitely be doing more reviews from Little Italy.

Nice picture of Brandon here as we were waiting for a subway on 4th street to take back to Penn Station.  This subway station was by far one of the more confusing ones we were in as it had three levels!  Also there was someone being put in handcuffs when we walked in which was interesting.

The skyline from Hoboken, NJ

Skyline from Hoboken, NJ

My entire family watches Cake Boss, the TV show on TLC that is about this little bakery in Hoboken, NJ.  On the way out of the city on Sunday we stopped by to try and get some cupcakes but the line was all the way to the next block and was an hour wait!  We did find out that locals could show their ID and skip the wait.  We thought that was pretty cool even though we weren't locals and decided to get lunch at Johnny Rockets down the street instead of waiting in line.

Street view of Carlo's Bakery.  On the show they said they changed the street name to Carlo's Bakery Way, so that's the street we were looking for while driving through the town, but the street we found them on was called Washington.  So we were confused by that, but who knows.  Just goes to show you don't believe everything you see on TV or read on Facebook. Blogs are okay though...

On the way out of the city we hit bumper-to-bumper traffic for an hour.  This was the view I kept seeing in my mirror. Awesome city, this trip definitely made me consider working in or around the city at some point in my life.  Although I think I will miss the outdoors and quietness too much after a year or two.