“You Nork City!” a much younger Norah once called it. You
Nork. A place so big, so important, that toddlers mispronounced it
before they really even knew what it was. By now, our kids could pronounce it. They were older
and wiser, and knew what NYC was all about. Or so they thought. Buildings that loomed
overhead. Mobs of people. A colossal-sized city. Actually, to even
call it a city, felt somewhat like a slight. It was more than just
some big metropolis. So much more.
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| We wanted to be a part of it New York, New York |
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| If we could make it here, We'd make it anywhere |
We only had a few days to conquer what we could in the Big Apple.
Barely enough time. We would have to have a plan. The crowds. The
traffic. Both the hustle and the bustle. We couldn't roll in like a
bunch of small town gawkers. We'd be ready for it.
As first time tourists to You Nork, we had a lot of apprehensions.
Where would we stay? What about our car? How were we gonna get
around? How could we afford to do anything? Not to mention, we had to
make sure everyone had the full “New York City experience.”
There
seemed to be only one logical conclusion. In order to not merely
survive, but flourish in the Big City, we would have to think and act
like New Yorkers. Not tourists. Locals.
We would stay right in the middle of Manhattan. Of course.
We'd stash our car in a garage. Who needs a car?
And we'd walk and take public transit everywhere. Obviously.
And do it all on a budget. No problem.
After a little bit of research, we scored the perfect hotel for
us, right in the heart of Midtown. The Deauville Hotel, a cute little
brownstone building, that overflowed with charm was a great fit.
Besides being centrally located, we had a two room suite, and even an
elevator operator to take us up and down. All this, without having to
take out a second mortgage on our house.
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| Right through the very heart of it New York, New York
|
Add in the great views of
the Empire State building out our hotel windows, and city noises playing in
the background, like a setting on a sound machine, and we were ready.
Bring it on You Nork.
Now that our home base was set, it was time to hit the pavement.
First, though, the obligatory “big city walking” speech.
Manhattan was no joke. It was one crazy anthill.
“Pay attention.”
“Watch where you're going.”
“Especially at crosswalks.”
“Stay with us. Don't dawdle.”
..was what I thought we said. Apparently, to them, it must have
sounded more like:
“Pay attention only to the food carts”
“Bump into people, a lot”
“Invent elaborate hopscotch games at every crosswalk.”
“Be either a half block ahead of me or a full block behind me at
all times.”
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| Our vagabond shoes were longing to stray
|
Right away, instead of being awestruck tourists, who stared up at
skyscrapers, and walked into traffic, the girls acted as they
always did. Like crazy monkeys. Undeterred. Unburdened. At ease. Even
on the subway, they were pros. Always standing. Holding the poles.
Never sitting. So it “felt more like riding the subway.”
As the day turned to night, we headed over to Times Square. “Which
is not square shaped at all”, the kids reminded us. Triangle
shaped, quite clearly. The bright lights and Godzilla-sized screens
were mesmerizing. A trip to both the M&M store and Disney store
sealed the deal. Times Square was a hit.
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| We wanted to wake up in a city that didn't sleep
|
The one thing we unanimously agreed on before this trip even
began, was a visit to the Statue of Liberty. In the Hall of Fame of
American landmarks, she's a charter member. It is the definition of
iconic. We had to go. And go up it.
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| We were king of the hill, top of the heap |
This one took a little more planning than we thought. You see,
there are varying levels of tickets available for the statue. You can
just take the scenic boat ride out to the island and walk the
grounds. Which, just by itself, was worth it. To see the city from
the harbor should be mandatory for all visitors. If you're a little
more adventurous, you can climb up to the top of the pedestal. Which
doesn't sound all that much better, but it was. The pedestal is no
insignificant part of the monument. It stands just as tall as the
statue, and the climb up the nearly 200 stairs was no small feat. The
views from there were glorious. For the truly bold, there was the
highest ticket choice. The crown. All we had to do was climb up an
additional set of spiral stairs all the way to the top. That is,
providing we made those reservations 6 months ago (we hadn't). And
our party was 4 people or less (we weren't). And everyone was tall
enough to do so (not quite). So we “settled” for the pedestal.
Which was still super cool, and didn't feel at all like settling.
Lady Liberty was amazing. And beautiful. And everything we hoped it
would be, and more. The up close views of her gave us a whole new
perspective of her magnificence.
Stunning. Sublime. A must do. Just plan way ahead.
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As the sun set on our second day, we hoofed it on over to yet
another New York favorite: the Brooklyn Bridge. Spanning the East
river, and connecting the boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn, this
130 year old bridge amazed us once again. With cars driving below on
a separate level, a pedestrian walkway made it possible to traverse
the structure.
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| We made a brand new start of it, in old New York |
Mind you, this walkway was no tourist attraction
afterthought. No. Every day over 4,000 pedestrians and 3,000 cyclists
cross the 1,500 foot span. Most of them commuters. As we sauntered
across, gazing at the brilliant views of the city at sunset, dozens
and dozens of people sped by on their way home from work. We admired
the views, while they simply crossed.
======================
“Hey kiddos, it's our last day here, how about we go to Central
Park?”
“I dunno. What's it like there? Are there any playgrounds?”
“Let's see...there's over 20”
“20 different playgrounds?... Can we go to all of them?”
“I really doubt it.”
“OK... how about we just go to ALMOST all of them?”
"I don't think you understand how negotiating works."
Central Park was yet another gem. A stunning oasis amidst the
insanity. The playgrounds themselves would've been enough. But add in
the lakes, an abundance of trails, interesting topography, and even a
castle, and it was clear to us why New Yorkers revered this place. We
could have spent a whole week just exploring it. Instead, we hit the
playgrounds we thought looked the coolest.
An ancient Egyptian themed
one? You bet.
A wild west inspired one? OK.
A safari playground with
sculptures from St. Louis' own legendary Bob Cassily?
Ummm... of course.
The
weather was perfect, and that glorious day in Central Park was one we will always
remember.
In just 3 short days, we did it. We managed to squeeze in so much.
We did so much. We walked. We ate from street vendors. We took impromptu juggling lessons. We
saw so much. Street performers. Subway performers. Overly-aggressive pan-handling mascots. We heard so much.
Honking cabbies. Dozens of different dialects. Crazed people swearing
at each other in the streets. We even smelled so much. Bad smells.
Worse smells. Unidentifiable smells. Yup, we were big city folks. Or
at least, we were good at pretending to be. The megalopolis had not
swallowed us up at all. Surprisingly, we fit right in.
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| Our little town blues melted away |
“St. Louis is going to seem so small when we get home.”
“So tiny.”
“So lame.” they all said in a condescending way.
They were already beginning to sound like New Yorkers.
In addition, they have other comically oversized items that aren’t
quite records. There they sit, near the center of town, as if a giant
came through one day and just dropped off some of his stuff. We
explored. We climbed. We gawked. We even mailed ourselves a postcard
from inside a mailbox that was bigger than our first house. A huge
start to our trip.
Our next stop through the weird and wonderful U.S. took us to
another small town. This time it was Springfield, Ohio, just west of
Columbus. Here, during the Great Depression, a man named Ben Hartman
crafted an elaborate art piece in his own backyard. 
Following that stop, we left the small towns behind, and headed
for a larger metropolitan area. In the heart of Columbus, Ohio sits a
super cool topiary park. Using the famous painting 'A Sunday
Afternoon on the Isle of La Grande Jatte' as inspiration, a
sculptor has shaped the topiary in this urban park to match the work
by George Seurat. Dozens of bushes, artfully shaped into people,
animals, and even boats dot the scenery here. It's a landscape of a
painting of a landscape. All accurately and meticulously fashioned.
The extra round curves of a woman. The crouching of a dog. A rowboat
crew paddling across the lake. It was playful. Fun. We immersed
ourselves into a living piece of art, did some cartwheels, sniffed some dog butts, and hit
the road.
We arrived right as they opened, and 15 minutes
later the place was full. Clearly the pizza is a hit. Our large pie
arrived, and we dug in. It was... amazing. Everyone concurred. One of
the best and most unique pizza experiences we've ever had. A great
final stop on our detour through the weird.
