Fair games, one day that'll be changed I'm sure!
It's slightly too cold to sit on the patio in the sunshine, plus my tablet didn't charge fully yesterday so I'm using my Mum's laptop for this one. Time for some Nightcore while I fire away with Day 2:
08/03/2016 - Tech's in NYC, Day 2
An early morning view of East Brooklyn, taken from the apartment on Lincoln Place, Brooklyn, 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
As you'll see from the above photo, a view facing east over Brooklyn from the apartment, I was awake rather early. It was not intended for either of us to be awake too early, after a very long day yesterday, but we both rise by the sun rises. Today's first mission objective was to visit a Walmart, and research prior to the trip suggested the one in Bayonne was the closest and easiest to access for us. This yielded a bonus for our trip, remember neither of us had ever been to the USA and any of its 50 [or is it 51, I keep forgetting! - Ed] states before. Why is this relevant at all? Well, Bayonne is part of New Jersey, a seperate state to New York. 2 down, 48 [or 49! - Ed] to go! First things first upon arrival at the very nearby Subway station at Kingston Avenue, only 2 minutes walk from the apartment, is to buy our Metrocards. A 7 day Unlimited Ride Metrocard is $31 currently, plus $1 for a new card fee. At first we didn't realise we had to enter the zipcode into the TVM too, so we ask at the booth. If anyone else from the forum visits this area, it's 11213. As James owed me money still from his share of the apartment cost [I paid for it at the time on my card, as it was the easiest way - Ed], he got my Metrocard as well as his own. We soon realise we have to go downstairs for the trains towards town, and at this point I have no idea what I need to log and what I can pass on. This I've covered on a seperate thread in the International Rail section [NYC Subway - train recording and mileage - Ed], but even now I'm not sure what I need and don't need to log. For the time being, in my trip reports at least, I'm going to do the same as I would on the Bakerloo line for example, and put down the outer leading vehicle in each set. You'd be surprised how hard it is to find an understandable fleet list, or even a book on it all!
Eastern Parkway intersection with Kingston Avenue, Brooklyn, 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
In the above photo, the crossroads with Eastern Parkway and Kingston Avenue, the Subway station is over the road to the right. I never did take that photo...
1565+1401 are, naturally double winners for everything on my first ever rail move in the USA! We take this from
Kingston Avenue to
Park Place on line 3, and may I say right that I really don't like the Kawazaki trains they use on this line. So ancient looking inside and out, these trains make Pacers feel luxurious. Yes I really did say that, feel free to bury that into memory for future reference! It's also quite the trek into town, and of course we were travelling in peak time so it was nice and busy! The next move was a short walk to the PATH station next to One World Trade Center, and can I also point out now the weather was stunning today, reaching highs of 23 degrees Celsius! All those jumpers and so forth we packed were immediately pointless! Annoyingly I didn't stop to take photos of the PATH station [it's worth pointing out the whole area was very busy still, and the area is very much under construction for a new addition to the skyline - Ed] or indeed the trains. One WTC is much more impressive in the flesh than it is in photos, but here's a view of it from just before the PATH station:
One World Trade Center, 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Downstairs we go, and we didn't realise that our Metrocards weren't valid on here. Better research would have done the trick, but we go and buy a 2-trip Metrocard valid only on PATH trains for S5.50. Again, I don't know what I need to have logged, but I'm going to continue adopting the British Tube methodology here, and we take double winners for everything
5703+5606 one stop from
World Trade Center (PATH) to
Exchange Place (PATH). It's a long wait in the crowd for a lift [sorry, now I'm back in the UK I'm not calling them elevators! - Ed], having to wait for the third one to take us to street level. By chance, we have a wander around and find a nice seating area facing Manhattan, so while we soak up the atmosphere we got views like this one:
Manhatten (New York) skyline, viewed from Exchange Place, New Jersey, morning of 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
And this one facing north west towards Upper Manhattan:
Looking to the north side of Manhatten (New York), from Exchange Place, New Jersey, 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Rather glad we came across these views! Next up was a trip on the Hudson-Bergen Light Rail, and after paying $4.50 for a return trip to 22nd Street, and time-stamping our tickets, we join double winners for everything
2028+2046 for a surprisingly long trip from
Exchange Place (HBLR) to
22nd Street (HBLR). This was followed by a 10 minute walk to Walmart, which was quite big and took forever to go around. Supplies for lunch and later on are sourced, and after devouring a lovely meal, mine combined with a rather decent takeaway coffee from a rubi vending machine for $1.50, we trek back to 22nd Street. By chance, there's a bit of freight action going on, with a pair of locos moving some tank wagons around. CSX 1537 is seen below, as is a black loco numbered 3429:
CSX loco 1537, 22nd Street in Bayonne, New Jersey, 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Loco 3429, 22nd Street in Bayonne, New Jersey, 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Below is a photo of Hudson-Bergen Light Rail 2031 and 2002 arriving on an 8th Street-bound service:
Hudson-Bergen Light Rail tram 2031 arrives at 22nd Street, Bayonne, New Jersey, 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Double winners for everything
2002+2031 take us back to Exchange Place, having time-stamped the return portion of the tickets. Those locos sounded pretty good, it must be said, especially when they had dragged those tankers out. The noise from outside the station was epic! A coffee break is needed from Starbucks [no such thing as Costa over here, before you ask! - Ed] and was very reasonably priced at S2.62 including tax. The sun had cleared the mist from earlier by now, so here's the improved view over Manhattan:
During a coffee break, when the mist had cleared, north Manhatten is seen from Exchange Place, New Jersey, 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
And one of my favourite shots of the trip, a clearer view of Manhattan's financial district:
A much clearer view of Manhatten's skyline, dominated by One World Trade Center in the middle, viewed from Exchange Place, New Jersey, 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
After a while, we head down via the other entrance to the PATH station avoiding the lifts, and join double winners for everything
5791+5805 [I'm not sure I logged those sets properly now - Ed] back to World Trade Center on the PATH line. It appears a new platform is being opened, judging by the view shortly before arrival, but I'm not sure. We exit via the Occulus, as seen below:
Inside the Occulus (part of the new World Trade Center's PATH station), 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
We now visit one of the many sights we wanted to go to, the 9/11 Memorial site. It's a lovely place, but before we get to it we start gift shopping. We didn't find what we wanted in this expensive shop, then we saw a fire engine leaving its station. They look rather different to the British ones:
New York fire engine leaving its station, 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
The Occulus from outside, which I still say is fascinating looking:
The Occulus (part of World Trade Center's PATH station), 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
After some reflection and seeing both the North and South pools [on the sites of the original two towers - Ed] at the 9/11 Memorial, we briefly consider visiting the museum too. It's not entirely my thing, and since the weather was ridiculously gorgeous too we couldn't stay inside all day! Our bags were both full and heavy now, so we decide to first head back to the apartment, joining winners
1517+1465 from Park Place to Kingston Avenue. Before this though, we check out the Woolworth Building and St Pauls Chapel, which despite being so close to the towers was never damaged.
After a PNB and bag emptying back at the apartment, we join winners
1515+1345 [I only have 1345 logged here, I don't know what the other 4 vehicles in the set were now, but that will do! - Ed] to
Atlantic Avenue Barclays Center, where we change for line N to
Coney Island Stillwell Avenue. Winners for everything
9042+8913 take us there, and thankfully the train empties out after a while. This line is currently under modernisation, with northbound services not stopping at many of the stations, although Bay Parkway had a temporary platform installed on the northbound through line. One thing I did notice a lot around the Subway on our travels is a major lack of PIS almost everywhere. Kingston Avenue and Park Place certainly had screens, which we found most useful, but other stations where screens were didn't appear to work properly which was very unhelpful. A lot of places did have announcements mind, but compared to London's Underground this lot was in dire need of modernising!
MTA Subway car 8913 at Coney Island Stillwell Avenue, 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Above is a photo of MTA Subway car 8913 at Coney Island Stillwell Avenue. "Tech, where's the rest of the photos of trains?" I hear you ask. Well bear in mind most of it is underground, therefore photos were difficult. I also didn't want to stand out too much as a tourist, so there are not many photos of any of the Subway system. We've come here to visit the Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance, an amazing monument in honour of all those servicemen killed in the 9/11 rescue mission. You read all about it, but it doesn't hit home until you've stood here [as well as the 9/11 Memorial site - Ed] and seen all 4 panels of this monument. One of these is seen below:
Brooklyn Wall of Remembrance, 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
It's well worth pointing out I do have plenty more photos of all things on the trip, I'm only showing a selection of the 204 photos that made it to the final cut. We also visit the pier and take in the view along the long beach, this place must be packed in the summer! Luna Park is viewed below, taken from the pier:
Thunderbolt ride at Luna Park, Coney Island, New York, 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
And the sun sets over Coney Island:
The sun sets over New York, viewed from the pier at Coney Island, New York, 8th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
We're both rather hungry by now, it having been something like 6 hours since a light lunch, so we go in search of some food to tide us over before we get back to our favourite takeaway [yes the pizza last night was that good! - Ed], and we end up at Checkers just outside the station. Think of a Burger King but an improved version. Why improved? Well I get a Baconzilla burger for $5.32, and Oh. My. LORDZ! It's beyond hellfire, I would recommend this to absolutely everyone. It's not cheap no, but this massive cheeseburger and bacon was just so good, words cannot describe it! Back into the station we go after eating our food, and we join double winners for everything
9178+8807 on line Q for extra line coverage to
Prospect Park, where we change for line S [there's at least two line S services, just to make it confusing! - Ed] to
Botanic Garden on double winners for everything
2916+2919, the train absolutely stunk of something awful too! We were therefore more than happy to change and do the walk to
Franklin Avenue [there's a lot of walks via subway routes in New York, it must be noted - Ed] and to join winners
1320+1441 to Kingston Avenue to veg out after a long day. Well, first of all we were off to Kennedy Fried Chicken again, where I bought the pizza and Coke this time, James having done so last night so it was only fair!
That then was Day 2, another excellent day but with better coming up. If we thought there was a fair bit of walking done today, then we were in for a big surprise at how much we did during the rest of our time here! All will be revealed
Some stats then:
Rail fares: $10 (as my Metrocard was paid for by James)
General expenditure: $32.69
Accommodation ching: £147 (meant to add this to Day 1 but forgot!)
Total: £147 plus $42.69
Day 3 will be worked on as soon as I can. Maybe later, we'll see. I need a break from typing, I've spent over 90 minutes working on this day alone!
--- old post above --- --- new post below ---
Right then, I give up searching for that $200, I reckon it's lost forever :cry: Let's get on with Day 3 before I go and cook something up for tea:
09/03/2016 - Tech's in NYC, Day 3
It's another early rise, despite not wanting to be up too early. Catching up with the time zone change, not to mention traffic noise, was playing havoc with both of us. After some coffee, I was ready to get going, and James wasn't far behind with preparation, with us hitting the Subway again at peak time. We did tell ourselves not to do that again, but we are on it again and find ourselves on more rancid R62 Kawasaki stock [I did research it a bit, thanks to ac6000cw's link - Ed] with winners
1466+1411 to a winner shack at
Clark Street, as this was deemed to be the most convenient shack to alight at for Brooklyn Bridge Park. We get a little lost, unsurprisingly, but after a breakfast break at an on-street vendor we're both a little more ready for it. We end up doing the sensible thing and asking a NYPD police officer in the end, turns out we'd gone quite some way from the way we should have gone, but we'd have not got that hellfire hot dog or coffee otherwise, $6.50 well spent in my eyes. Eventually, 5 blocks later in a neighbourhood that was far nicer looking than our one was, we arrive in glorious sunshine and heat at Brooklyn Bridge Park. Here's a view we were soon treated to of Manhattan:
Brooklyn Bridge Park's view of the skyline, 9th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
And another one from the BBQ area, looking towards the Brooklyn and Manhattan Bridges:
Looking east towards Brooklyn Bridge from the park, 9th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
After some more walking, we end up right underneath Brooklyn Bridge, and end up in the bit we wanted to get to, a park area called Dumbo. I have no idea why either, before you ask! Apart from enjoying the view, James wanted to get an up to date view from this spot, as his Mum and Dad had been here and got a watercolour of it from years ago, and I can see why they did, the view is amazing. See for yourselves in the following photo:
Viewed from a park called Dumbo, Brooklyn Bridge and Manhatten skyline, 9th March 2016. One of my favourite views of the trip! by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Eventually after much looking around, in an area where former factories are being converted to residential and commercial properties [there's still part of the old industrial lines in the roads and pavements here! - Ed], we end up at
York Street on the Subway. By now we're both gasping for a decent drink, as the weather was just ridiculously hot and sunny, with no breeze, for early March! Apparently the average daytime temperature for New York at this time of year is around 7 degrees Celsius, during the peak of the day, which we still hadn't hit just yet it got up to 23 degrees Celsius! So when we learnt of flooding and freezing cold conditions at home later on we just couldn't believe it!
York Street (on line F) on MTA Subway, 9th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Yes I did manage to get a quick snap of a Subway station! Winners for everything
9278+9858 took us to
34th Street Herald Square, as the Empire State Building was on the agenda next. However, as we were exiting right next to Macy's we had to get a photo:
Macy's, 34th Street, New York. Apparently it's the largest store in the entire world! 9th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
After a Burger King break, where I had a breakfast croissant-wich with whatever was in it with some hellfire hash brown pieces and a coffee [just what is Half and Half exactly?! - Ed] for $8.81 and James had food too, which certainly helped fill an enormous gap, we headed in to see what the world's biggest store looked like. Sure enough, it's enormous, spread over 9 floors from memory. We see the Visitor Center and pick up various leaflets [note, they have free NYC visitor guides and maps here, so you don't need to waste money on them before you leave home! - Ed] before we have a look around. James doesn't find anything he wants to get until much later, but I find several gifts here which was most helpful. Also, before I forget, there's a machine in the Visitor Center, which upon a scan of your passport will give you a 10% off voucher to use in the store on almost anything. If nothing else, I would recommend getting one to cover the sales tax! I will never understand why they don't include it in their normal prices, as we do here, but there must be a good reason. After about an hour in here, we leave and head to the infamous Empire State Building. I know, I know, you can get better views from the Top of the Rock, but we still felt it necessary to visit the Empire State, it's a world famous landmark after all! Below it's seen from ground level:
Empire State Building, viewed from the street, 9th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
After working our way through an almost non-existant queue [we were visiting outside the main tourist season thankfully - Ed] the grandeur of Empire State really does rub off on you. We take one lift to the 80th floor, where we then have to change for the 86th floor via another lift. The views are just incredible, here's a few of them for you all to gawp at:
Looking north from Empire State Building, 9th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Looking west, towards New Jersey, from Empire State Building, 9th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
A south easterly facing view from Empire State Building, 9th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
I would recommend coming here on a first visit to New York, but as this trip report will hopefully demonstrate, with the visual aids at least, there are better viewpoints these days. Come for the monument of early 1900s construction if nothing else, it's a wonder of engineering that needs to be seen. Anyone interested in architecture, engineering or history will find this skyscraper fascinating, same for fans of How I Met Your Mother. After our visit, we do some more gift shopping and end up spending quite a bit but my shopping is now nearly done, including some bits for myself, the Subway t-shirt is being worn currently and will be a fond memory of the trip for a long time to come. On our way to Grand Central Terminal, which is certainly walkable [we did a fair bit today, but with far more to come on this trip! - Ed], we found JHU Comics, and we simply had to have a look. We came across it by pure chance, same as the one in Stockholm's Old Town in November 2014. James points out a Futurama comic, which for $3.99 I wasn't leaving behind as I'm a big fan of Futurama. It wasn't enough content for my taste, only taking just over 10 minutes to read, but it was still brilliant. We could both spend hours upon hours in here [I'm only a part time Marvel fan, but I'm getting there! - Ed] and quite some money, but after a while we decide we must move on to avoid emptying the bank accounts too much!
We eventually make it to Grand Central Terminal, which is seen from the approach road below:
Grand Central Terminal, seen from the approach road, 9th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
It's impossible to get a decent shot it seems from this end, although I admit I didn't look too hard. Annoyingly my shot of the main area of the concourse came out badly, but it is still on my Flickr. It stays there as testament to making sure photos come out properly in future! Here's a couple of the building itself, and I was only just beginning to nerd out:
Grand Central Terminal, 9th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Grand Central Terminal, 9th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Metro North Rail Road trains at Grand Central, New York, 9th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
One of the many passages through Grand Central Terminal, New York, 9th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
We also took in the transit museum's shop here, where I truely entered nerdiness, and if I had my own place I would have spent a very large sum of money easily. I wish I had now mind, one thing I would have bought was the Subway map shower curtain [I doubt it would have been appreciated by the rest of the household though! - Ed] and if I had a big enough case I'd have got the poster of the map too. Not to mention more t-shirts, caps, Metrocard holders [for use on UK bashing mainly - Ed] and who knows what else! As my $200 I brought home is 99.9% certain to have got lost, I wish I'd spent that now, although I'd have probably gone through more than that! Eventually we move on, and want to head back to the apartment for a rest and an evening meal. So we join winners for everything
1931+1952+1940 on line S [yep, two different S lines, not at all confusing! - Ed] from
Grand Central 42nd Street to
Times Square after one heck of a long walk to it. On board, a travelling artist does a portrait of James, impressively done in just 4 minutes! I've got to admit, it was well done. We transfer to winners
6526+6306 on line 2 as far as Park Place, as James wanted to return to the 9/11 Memorial shop to buy his kids some presents.
Onwards, with full bags again, we join winners
1336+1560 to Kingston Avenue for a PNB, general rest and some much needed food from, you guessed it, Kennedy Fried Chicken. I had the Italian Cheeseburger, fries and Dr Pepper, for $6 this was a huge meal and well worth every penny. I also went to Fine Fare in Brooklyn apparently, but I can't remember what for and what I got. I knew having a Bashing Expenditures file would be useful, but I also knew I'd forget a lot of things as a result of doing this trip report several days later [in the case of Day 3, a week later - Ed]. I can only assume it was drinks of some variety, oh well whatever it was it was an expenditure. I bet you're thinking we had an early night now. Well, umm, no not exactly! I'd got on the case of looking a few bits and bobs up using the WiFi in the apartment, included in this search was the Disney Store which is supposed to be enormous and on multiple floors. So I found it at Times Square and apparently it's open until 1am. I tell James this and all of a sudden he's got the same idea as me, let's go and see Times Square at night! We'd seen some of it in the daylight, which wasn't super impressive, but at night it could be.
So after preparations began for a last minute trip, we return to Kingston Avenue and join fresh duds 1336+1560 to Times Square-42nd Street. I didn't notice at the time that we had the same pair earlier that evening, what unfortunate luck! It's a long trip but we eventually arrive. I must note at this time that the announcements are almost always impossible to understand on the R62 stock, and maps are almost non-existant too. These trains also use the old-fashioned roller blinds for origin and destination of the trains, of which both show at the same time. It's ridiculously confusing for visitors, and I very much don't recommend line 3 to tourists or even enthiusiasts! These things are ancient and just horrible, they don't even make a decent noise!
Times Square at night with taxis and buses, 9th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Times Square at night, looking north, 9th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Times Square at night, looking south, 9th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
So was that the end of our day? Ha, no chance! Remember, we're in New York, the city that never sleeps, and we were certainly becoming part of that! We now join line R to
Whitehall Street South Ferry, and sadly the only numbers I got here were 5785+5784, which were part of the same set. So this move is going down in the books simply as winner for everything
5785. It's nearly 2330 local time [which would have been nearly 0400 UK time! - Ed], so what are we still doing? Well we wanted to see the Statue of Liberty, and the Staten Island Ferry runs every 30 minutes, 24 hours a day, and is free of charge. So we join the sailing at midnight, which is techically into 10th March 2016, also known as Day 4, which you're going to have to wait for, I need another break from a serious typing spree. However, one final photo for now in Day 3 of South Ferry's terminal for the Staten Island Ferry service, taken from the road from line R's Subway station:
Staten Island Terminal, South Ferry, New York, 10th March 2016 by
Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Some stats then for Day 3:
General expenditure: $27.12 (not including gift shopping!)
Total: $27.12
Day 4 may well get worked upon later, we'll see. Until then, I'm having a proper break away from the laptop!
Norwegian's Boeing 787-9 EI-LNI at London Gatwick Airport (gate 17), 7th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Port wing and engine, EI-LNI, 7th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr
Another view of New York from above on EI-LNI, 7th March 2016 by Julian Whitby, on Flickr
