Weather Gods are with us today. It’s sunny and hot. We had breakfast in the pub again this morning and, due to the advice of the guy in the souvenir shop yesterday, we decided to do the Empire State Building this morning first. He said…Read More

Weather Gods are with us today. It’s sunny and hot. We had breakfast in the pub again this morning and, due to the advice of the guy in the souvenir shop yesterday, we decided to do the Empire State Building this morning first. He said there were not lines early in the morning. He must have meant really early because there were when we got there about 10:15.

Luckily we were still ahead of the worst of the crowds. The first queue was to go through security and it was steady moving. The lineup for the ticket counter wasn’t bad. We had to have our passes scanned there. Then there’s another line up to get to the elevator to go up. They get you to stop for a quick photo in front of a green screen in case you want to purchase your souvenir photo of yourself with the skyline behind you. Stop, blink, go to the queue.

The wait for the elevator took a bit longer but it wasn’t too bad. But look, the elevator stops at the 80th floor where there’s an exhibit. Tsk. Then yet another wait for an elevator for the last 6 floors unless you want to walk up. No thanks. Finally we’re at the Observation Deck of the Empire State Building. It took about an hour altogether so I think we got off easy. When we left there after noon, the line up to get into the security part was right out the building onto Fifth Ave.

The observation deck isn’t very wide, either and was crowded. You could feel very claustrophobic. People seemed fairly good about taking turns by the edge where you could look off and take photos. It’s all very safe of course. Also, it wasn’t windy up there at all like I thought it might be. It was beautiful and warm with just a little breeze. It was nice even with all the bodies. Views on a sunny day like this were spectacular.

We left there and had a cold drink in Starbucks next door and then it was time to head across town to the Intrepid Sea and Air museum and later, next door to that, we were taking a Circle Line cruise around the tip of Manhattan. Guess what? There are 13,000 taxis in New York but it turned out to be very hard to get one in mid-town on a sunny Friday lunch time. The subway wouldn't have been any good as we'd still have to walk blocks. Walking to a bus that went where we were going would be a walk from where we were and my feet were killing me. And it was hot. I'm a wuss.

We were trying to hail a cab when a guy on a bicycle powered buggy wheeled over. We looked at each other. Talked to the guy and showed him where we were going. It cost a huge tourist rip off amount but we did it anyway. Interesting view of the city, being pulled through the thick of traffic! There was a canopy so we had shade, and there was a lovely breeze. The driver took us right to the gates of the Intrepid.

The Intrepid is a decommissioned air craft carrier that was launched in 1943. The name Intrepid has been used before for naval vessels and this is its fourth incarnation. It’s enormous! There was a display poster there that showed that it is nearly the same length as the Chrysler building is high. It’s pretty freakin long. (see review for more details)

We really enjoyed it but we could have spent a lot more time there but were a bit tired and also we needed to get to the next pier for the Circle Line cruise at 4. In fact, we went over by 3:15 to get our passes scanned and the line ups were hundreds of people thick already. Didn't think they'd all get on the one boat but they did and we got seats up on the main deck outside. The only drawback is getting people’s heads in your photos but you can’t help that.

The cruise is narrated and various buildings and piers are pointed out. By the time we got to the Statue of Liberty, though, the people on the boat all started standing up for photos and blocking the views. Rather than taking a few and sitting back down, a lot of them stayed standing for a while which was annoying because then you had to stand too.

The guide had mentioned that there were lots of good restaurants a few blocks away so we decided to eat before going back to the hotel. We opted for Thai and it was absolutely delicious and it was one of the cheapest meals we had.

It was only about 5 short blocks back to the hotel and we got back about 8 p.m. I guess. In for the night, we were done in. We just can’t keep up the pace!
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It’s another rainy day. Really rainy this morning. We couldn’t face breakfast in the madhouse again so we headed out into that takeout café and sat on the bar stools there and had egg and bacon sandwiches. I liked mine. Graham didn’t. We got…Read More

It’s another rainy day. Really rainy this morning. We couldn’t face breakfast in the madhouse again so we headed out into that takeout café and sat on the bar stools there and had egg and bacon sandwiches. I liked mine. Graham didn’t. We got a cab to Broadway and 51st where we would later meet up with the tour bus for the tv and movie locations tour.

Today we've booked the On Locations Tv and Movie tour. We nipped into a bright 50s style diner/cafe there for a coffee while we waited. It looked as if it would have had a great breakfast. Damn. All of a sudden, though the music already seemed loud, it seemed like the song playing was being sung live. Why, yes, it is! Apparently this is a singing café where all the wait staff are actors and singers and take turns performing. Only in Times Square!

The guide’s name was Amadeo, Deo for short and he’s an actor and comedian. We drove around the city from midtown to lower Manhattan past lots of locations that have been used for movies and TV series. He showed clips of a lot of things as we were near some of the locations. We got to get off the bus a few times, the first time at Washington Square park which has an arch that has been seen in a lot of movies. There was a half hour stop in Soho where there were a half dozen places if we wanted to find them. Graham and I went to find the entrance for the apartment building that was used for the movie Ghost.

Just after that stop, the sun finally came out for the rest of the tour which included the stops for Ghostbusters (firehouse) and Friends (apartment building). Very nice to see the sun, too! The tour ended up near a pub that’s used as inspiration for a sitcom that I have never seen, How I Met Your Mother. Since we could get 15% off in there, we had a late lunch there and walked back to the hotel. It was a bit of a walk but it was nice out and we stopped in a souvenir shop and in a deli to get sandwiches for later after the theatre. We often end up doing that, eating a late lunch in the afternoon so that we aren’t hungry until late and then just having something light in the hotel later in the evening.

We had a rest in the hotel for a couple of hours and then headed back out for the theatre to see Rock of Ages at the Helen Hayes Theatre. It was only a few blocks away and in that area, each of the streets between 8th ave. and 7th or Broadway is lined on both sides with theatres. Rock of Ages is about a romance in L.A. on the Sunset Strip. It takes place in the 80s with all the 80s rock as the music. It is quite possibly the most fun I’ve ever had in a theatre. Great stuff! Excellent singers and lots of comedy too! The theatre is small and it has more of a feel of a nightclub.

We had thought about having a cocktail in Sardis but we were both hungry and wanted to come back and figured with the crowds getting out of the theatres, it would be packed. Lifes of the party, we are! So here we are, with our last day in New York tomorrow. We are going to go up the empire State Building, take a cruise around the tip of Manhattan and see the Intrepid Air and Space museum. The weather is supposed to be nicer so it should be a good day for all three.
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Day 2 was a bit of a disappointment overall though it wasn’t all bad. It started on a difficult note with the breakfast in the hotel. The hotel breakfast room is woefully inadequate for a hotel with 36 floors x 6 rooms. The food you…Read More

Day 2 was a bit of a disappointment overall though it wasn’t all bad. It started on a difficult note with the breakfast in the hotel. The hotel breakfast room is woefully inadequate for a hotel with 36 floors x 6 rooms. The food you get is mediocre, the coffee is awful and the bacon was that precooked and reheated stuff which always tastes like salty plastic to me. It was crowded and a bit of a madhouse. We did manage to snag a table. We thought we would have to take a (heavy paper) tray up to the room. All the dishes are Styrofoam or plastic. Not a very environmentally friendly set up. I don’t think we’re going to continue to partake, free or not.

It had been raining quite hard when we got up and we thought we’d take a cab all the way to the Guggenheim, but the rain stopped so we walked to the offices of the tour company that does the TV and movie site tours and get our tickets set up for Thursday. Now what?

I suggested, that since it had stopped raining, we take the Uptown Loop of the bus tours to the Guggenheim. Next disappointment, the guide for this route, while good and knowing his stuff, had trouble with the microphone in that it was very staticky and picked up the wind something terrible. It was difficult to make out what he said. If he stood in the stairwell it was better though still staticky. G’s earpiece really didn’t work at all so he didn’t listen. When the guide came back up top, the wind would make it bad again and when people kept complaining he got kind of cranky. Tough.

It was chilly on the top of the bus but I managed it until about half way through when the rain started again. We had plastic ponchos passed around but I just wanted to go down in the body of the bus where it was warm and dry. The guide kept telling people "it’s only rain!" To paraphrase a famous Seinfeld episode "No tip for you!"

We used our pass at the Guggenheim. There was a bit of a line up outside but I had brought my umbrella and we were ok until we got inside. Here’s where we got yet another disappointment. Though I knew it would be 20th century art, I didn't realize it would be mostly incomprehensible modern art, not really our preference at all. Turned out the exhibit in the spiral ramped main gallery was some incomprehensible Japanese art, modern, and most of which left us cold.For instance, there were two posts. One painted white and one red. With big nails hammered partway in. That's it. That's art?

We tried to get into the café but it was very small and very full. We did find the one area with the art we did appreciate. One small room. Maybe 2 dozen paintings. We tried to have lunch in the adjoining restaurant. That was rubbish too. We sat at the bar for a cold drink but you had to have a reservation for a table. One look at the menu with fancy and strange food, and we weren’t going to be partaking of any of that.

We headed to Rockefeller Centre. The tour bus wasn't forth coming, it was raining so we went by cab and got stuck a bit in particularly heavy traffic. Never mind. There would be restaurants there and we thought if we had the energy we might do the NBC Studio tour.

Got to Rockefeller centre, the rain had stopped again, so we took some photos then went inside to find a place to eat. We did find a proper restaurant though it was quite expensive, posher than we usually partake but we splurged anyway and had a really nice lunch, opting to pick up sandwiches later for the hotel room. The meal was very good, too. Graham had a burger but it was huge and heaped with things. He did say he wasn’t sure whether to eat it or ride it! He said it was excellent. I had a small Filet steak that came with creamy mashed potatoes. It was just the right size, not too much food though you’d think they would have thrown on a spear of broccoli or something. We also had cheesecake which was yummy. It was a big piece, enough to share with two or three people. It did say about sharing on the menu but we still didn’t expect it to be that big so each ordered one. I didn’t finish mine!

We had a browse in the NBC store and we also looked into a shop nearby for the Metropolitan Museum, they always have very nice things. It was a bit late to do the NBC tour so we went down around the corner to see St. Patrick’s Cathedral. (see review in this trip journal). Most of it is under scaffolding so that was another disappointment.

We got yet another taxi back to the hotel. There’s a little take out café a few doors down and we bought some sandwiches and drinks for later. We got to the hotel and guess what? The sun came out and 2 hours later, it’s still out. We’re too worn out to go out again tonight.
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We got to New York via Newark Airport on an early morning flight from Halifax. It's a 2 hour flight from here. We got the airport bus to Port Authority because that was very close to our hotel. We arrived at the hotel by…Read More

We got to New York via Newark Airport on an early morning flight from Halifax. It's a 2 hour flight from here. We got the airport bus to Port Authority because that was very close to our hotel. We arrived at the hotel by about 8:30 or so with no chance of getting into the room until after 4. We left the bags there and headed out. Start off with breakfast. We could have used the hotel but it was crowded and a bit of a madhouse so we had a nice cooked breakfast at a nearby pub we saw was open for breakfast. Walked a few blocks up to the Gray Line offices and got our hop on hop off tickets in exchange for our prepaid voucher and went across the road to get on a bus.

The weather is perfect for it today, too. Warm and sunny. We wanted to take advantage while we had it.

The guide on the first part of the tour, Dominic, was great! We travelled around through fairly heavy traffic through mid-town and down to the lower part of Manhattan. We got off the bus near Chinatown and walked from there down past the City hall and Justice buildings and then over to where the new "Freedom" Tower is being built. We didn’t find the actual 911 site which was around behind some other construction I think but we had a good look at the building, which is really beautiful and extremely high.

We had thought we’d try to take the Staten Island Ferry and then pick up the bus tour again but by this time we were beat. We walked a bit further and decided it was lunch time and we needed a rest. Found the Irish American pub which was below street level but it was a nice place, quiet and the food was pretty good. We had a good rest and availed ourselves of the toilets, too.

Down by the stock exchange and the big bronze bull, we spotted the tour bus so we picked up the tour again to finish that particular route back up to mid town along the east side of the island with views of Brooklyn, the bridges and the UN building. The guide this time around had a very strong Arabic accent and was very difficult to make out.

We could finally get into the room and had a couple of hours down time to rest. My legs were aching and I had a really sore spot on my toe. Later we walked around the corner to a brew pub we’d seen and I had heard was good, called Heartland Brewery. It was pretty decent we thought with nice beers and tasty food though it was a bit slow arriving.

Back to the hotel to finally get to bed. We had thought we’d walk over by Times Square but my poor toe was too sore and both of us had had enough after a very long day.
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Many of the big cities have sightseeing passes and New York does too. There's a New York Pass and a City Pass and with those, you can visit and do and see all you can fit in for a designated number of days, minimum 3.…Read More

Many of the big cities have sightseeing passes and New York does too. There's a New York Pass and a City Pass and with those, you can visit and do and see all you can fit in for a designated number of days, minimum 3. They all have a list of attractions that accept the pass and all are similar. I never find them worth my while as i just can't fit enough into each day to make it break even.

I discovered a pass called the New York Explorer Pass. It can cover 3, 5, 7 or 10 days with different prices for each, of course. The pass is valid for 30 days which is excellent to be able to spread things out even if you're only in New York less than a week. They have a fairly similar list of things to do as the other passes do including the Empire State Building, Most musuems, entrance and transportation to the Statue of Liberty and most of the big museums. There are also discounts at some of the museum gift shops and cafes and a few of the better known stores like Macys. Though they offer various hop on hop off tours, you can only choose one of them and the company they partner with for those is City Sightseeing. Your pass is validated the first time you use it.

The company will send you the pass via courier and it comes with a guide book as well with opening hours and location and websites for more information. Many of the museums and attractions are in the 20 to 25 dollar range so it might not be worth it if those are the only ones you're seeing but if you add a tour or a cruise it then becomes more economical. We took a tv and movie location tour as well as a Circle Line cruise.

New York Explorer Pass
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There is so much to see and do in New York, but here is my top 5 things that you have to see and do whilst you are there:1. Go Up The Empire State BuildingThe Empire State Building is probably the most famous of all the…Read More

There is so much to see and do in New York, but here is my top 5 things that you have to see and do whilst you are there:

1. Go Up The Empire State Building

The Empire State Building is probably the most famous of all the mega famous things in New York City and is well worth a trip up to the top. The views are absolutely outstanding, even on a not so clear day. We loved looking straight down the side of the building to get an idea of just how high up you are. Tickets aren’t as expensive as we thought they’d be – it’s about twenty dollars per person to get up to the top. There are queues, but don’t be fooled by the reps who try to sell you tickets to get to the front of the queue. They told us the queue was two hours at least and we only ended up waiting about thirty minutes, which we thought was a bit naughty really.

2. Get a helicopter ride over the city

It isn’t cheap, but it is fantastic. I think we paid about a hundred dollars each and we got a twenty five minute sightseeing flight over the city. The helicopters are very modern and very comfortable and they have glass sides so that you can see absolutely everything. If you are a bit nervous, you probably shouldn’t sit next to the window, because it is quite hair raising went the helicopter banks to the side! We got some fabulous photos of the city skyline, the Statue of Liberty and the Hudson River. I’d definitely recommend it.

3. Shop, Shop and Shop!

You can literally find everything and anything in New York – Manhattan has got to be the shopping capital of the world and for good reason. I loved the huge department stores; Macy’s, Bloomingdale’s and Saks Fifth Avenue are all world famous names and have a mind boggling amount of things in them. Expect to shopping with thousands of other people at any time of the day, but it is worth it – and don’t forget to pick up a small / medium / large brown bag from Bloomingdale’s!!

4. See a Show

Broadway is famous the world over and, as a result, has some fantastic shows and you really should try to see one whilst you are there. There is something for everyone – there are musicals, comedies, dramas and everything in between. We actually went to see The Addams Family which was nothing short of brilliant and I’d highly recommend it – great cast (including Brooke Shields as Morticia Addams), great stage design and great story.
Tickets for Broadway shows aren’t cheap – you can get cheaper shows at off-Broadway theatres – but there are ways to reduce the price if you really want to see one. There is a cut price ticket booth in the centre of Times Square where you can get up to 50% off any shows that have seats left, which is great if you aren’t particularly bothered which show you see, but you do have to queue and the wait can be quite long. We actually picked up a flier from one of the guys on the street which gave us 50% off without the queues – definitely worth looking out for!

5. Walk

You’ll need some comfy shoes, but it’ll be worth it. We loved walking along the narrow streets and just looking upwards at the inconceivably tall buildings everywhere. And everywhere you look there is something else to see, whether it is an overfilled shop front or a world famous statue or building. We loved walking around Central Park, which is a wonderful oasis of natural beauty in the middle of this super busy city.

These are just a few of the many things there are to do in New York. If I had the time I could do a list of 50 and still not cover everything, but if you only have a couple of days there, you should definitely do the above!
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Love it or hate it. New York City is one of the most recognizable cities in the world. It is known as the fashion capital of the world. It's well-known for its international cuisines. It has more Broadway shows play at anytime than any other…Read More

Love it or hate it. New York City is one of the most recognizable cities in the world. It is known as the fashion capital of the world. It's well-known for its international cuisines. It has more Broadway shows play at anytime than any other cities. It is the place movies like 'Spiderman' and 'Batman' call home, and it is 'Sex And The City' that put it in the world map as the place to be for guys and girls with dreams to succeed. With world class museums, galleries, and theaters, it is the most visited tourist destination in the United States, and it is constantly ranked among the top ten cities in the world.

I have lived and worked in New York City for the last eight years. The city that never sleeps is constantly evolving.

Known as the crossroad of the world, Times Square is the official site for the annual New Year's Eve ball drop. It is intensely lit with megawatts of animated neons and signboards. It's made into a traffic free zone a few years back, and most recently, it is also made into a smoke free zone. The Radio City Music Hall is located here. It is home to the Radio City Christmas Spectacular since 1933, which features the women's precision dance team - the world famous Rockettes.

Of course there is Central Park, which receives approximately 25 million visitors annually. Its 843 acres of artificially created lakes and ponds, walking tracks, the Central Park Zoo, a Conservatory Garden, wildlife sanctuary, swimming pool in the summer and ice-skating rink in the winter, is the most visited urban park in the United States.

Close by is 5th Avenue, which has one of the highest retail space at cost per square foot in the world. It is home to well-known designers' boutiques and high-end departmental stores, and it is constantly ranked among the most expensive shopping streets in the world. Many of these stores feature spectacular window displays during Christmas Seasons – some of the bests in world.

New York City is the world's 'melting pot'. It has a high population density and is exceptionally diverse with a multitude of different ethnic groups. People come here from all over the world. There are more than 150 languages spoken in the city and today, more than 40% of the city population is foreign-born like myself.

Take a walk down Chinatown in lower Manhattan, and you feel like you are somewhere in Asia. Or take a train to Jackson Heights, Queens and you think you are in Central America. Or further down Williamsburg in Brooklyn you might think you are in a tiny town in Poland. What makes the city so great is that its inhabitants are very tolerant of each other's religion, culture, and race, although every once in awhile you might find someone who is not.

Getting around the city is very easy and inexpensive. The mass transit system is one of the few in the world that runs 24 hours a day and 365 days a year. The subway system is the fourth busiest transit system in the world. Its 'one price fits all' system is one of the cheapest in the world; it does not matter how far or short the distance is, you can go anywhere in the five boroughs for just one price!

Love it or hate it, everything about New York is one of the bests in the world. No matter where you are, if you said you live in New York, it seems like people have a lot of respect to the ones living here cause if you can survive in the Big Apple, you can survive anywhere in the world. And, I'm proud to say I am a New Yorker.
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These days international travellers come not by ship but by plane. This means that they will generally land at either New Jersey’s Newark International Airport or New York’s JFK International out on Long Island. Flying with Delta from Manchester we touched down at JFK.I have…Read More

These days international travellers come not by ship but by plane. This means that they will generally land at either New Jersey’s Newark International Airport or New York’s JFK International out on Long Island. Flying with Delta from Manchester we touched down at JFK.

I have to say my memories of JFK are not great ones. The airport is rather run down and dilapidated to be honest – not exactly a great advertisement for the city. Upon arrival we had to walk down endless narrow grubby corridors with ‘70s decor and missing roof-tiles. Upon departure we couldn’t help but notice no less than 11 kite-like devices attached to the ceiling of Terminal 3 with hose running down from them to catch leaks. I also found the staff at Terminal 3 to be conspicuous by their absence. Arriving there to catch our flight home we found a melee of four separate queues but with no one to tell you which particular queue you should be in. We joined one, got to the desk at the front, and only then discovered that this was the desk for baggage drop and that we needed to check in either at another desk or on a computer terminal. The terminals did allow us to check in but curiously only gave Rebecca a seat number, 19B, which was in an emergency exit row (where she did not particularly want to sit !). I was not given a seat number though I was checked in. We managed to find a member of staff who had just come on duty who assured us that we would be seated next to each other at the gate. The desk attendant at the baggage drop counter (once we had got to the front of that queue for the second time) also assured us that we would be seated next to each other at the gate. At the gate I was finally given my seat number – 38F. Rebecca was still in 19B. We were assured that this was the best they could do. Only when I made a scene did they admit that, okay, 20B was actually free and moved me there. The next problem was that Rebecca did not want to sit in the emergency exit aisle where they had put her. The gate attendant then tried to move her to 38F. In the end we accepted the seats allocated to us but illegally swapped over once on board the plane so that I was sat in the exit row and Rebecca was in the row behind me. The really ridiculous thing was that she was then sat next to someone whose partner had been sat somewhere else on the plane. Every person we spoke to seemed to have a partner or family member that had been allocated a seat at the other end of the plane from them. I honestly don’t know who was to blame for this cock-up, JFK International or Delta Airlines, but it left a bad taste in our mouths after a genuinely lovely holiday. I can now understand why our friend Marie paid extra to fly into Newark on a carrier that was not Delta.

However, the one cause for concern I had prior to my arrival – Immigration – turned out to be painless. Frequent visitors to the US had laughed at me saying that with my passport being so full of stamps from North Africa, the Middle East, Russia and China there was no way I would be allowed into the country without a stern interrogation. As it was the fellow at the Immigration desk was friendly and even plonked my entry stamp right opposite my Syrian visa ! (It probably also helps that they have a video in Immigration explaining the process that seems to be narrated by Tom Hanks. If there is an American voice more likely to put you at ease and make you feel welcome than Tom Hanks I honsetly do not know who it could be).

There are a number of ways to get between JFK and Manhattan. One of the easiest – other than a private taxi – must be the New York Airport Service bus. These are regular mini-buses that spirit you straight from the airport to Grand Central Station (an easy walk from our hotel). At $15 per person and a 45-minute rideI can’t really argue with the service.

Coming back we found a cheaper (if slightly more time-consuming) way of getting to the airport from Penn Station. We caught the Long Island Railroad out to the Jamaica stop. There we bought $5 tickets for a shuttle monorail that deposited us at the terminal of our choice. Total travel time was maybe a shade over an hour but cost less than $10 each. Knowing how painless the journey was I would actually be inclined to use this method of travelling to and from the airport on any future visit.   Close

This was all about to change as we head back to Greenwich Village, the birthplace of the Beat Generation. Those who called "the Village" home: William Faulkner, Eugene O’Neill, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Truman Capote and Maya Angelou. It was here…Read More

This was all about to change as we head back to Greenwich Village, the birthplace of the Beat Generation. Those who called "the Village" home: William Faulkner, Eugene O’Neill, Jack Kerouac, William S. Burroughs, Truman Capote and Maya Angelou. It was here that Off-Off-Broadway found ground, Jazz and Folk music combined, and political unrest was not uncommon. Marcel Duchamp set off balloons from atop Washington Square arch, proclaiming the founding of "The Independent Republic of Greenwich Village". And, it was in this neighborhood that the gay community would be welcome.

Stonewall Inn
53 Christopher Street
(in Greenwich Village)

As my better half went up to the bar to order our glasses of wine I wandered through the small bar, which is all of 18 foot wide. The walls are completely wood-paneled, except for the red brick behind the actual bar, with wooden beams and pillars and a painted tin ceiling. Its boasts only one long room, with facilities and a coat area attached. The lone pool table is surrounded by mirrors, Tiffany-style lamps hang over the tables and little butterflies dangle over the bar. I followed the framed newspaper clippings and old black and white photographs hung along the walls, which tell the story of Stonewall.

The gay rights movement had predecessors in Chicago’s Society for Human Rights (1924), the Los Angeles-based Mattachine Society (from 1950) and DOB founded by San Francisco lesbians in 1953, but it was in this tiny bar during the early morning hours of June 28th, 1969 which brought the community into the national spotlight.

The Stonewall Inn was then owned by the mafia and attracted a diverse clientele from drag queens to transgendered persons, those on the fringes of society. The bar was subject to frequent police raids, but that fateful Saturday, the drag queens took their stand. Fueled by booze, and mourning the death of their beloved Judy Garland, chaos and violence ensued.

The standard police raid was to have undercover officers enter the few bars which allowed men to dance together and collect visual evidence. Then, uniformed officers would arrive to verify the customers identification. "Women" were taken by female officers into the bathroom to confirm if they were truly female. Men dressed as women were arrested.

That night things didn’t go exactly as planned. There was a crowd of nearly 200 -- and they were not going to show I.D. or be examined in the bathroom. A squad wagon was called as the bar’s customers were lined up outside. The end result: the gay community (which was sizable in Greenwich Village after WWI) joined in. A squad wagon was overturned, bottles, garbage, rocks and coins were thrown, and a parking meter was torn out of the ground. The police were outnumbered by 500 and took refuge in the bar. The parking meter was then used as a battering ram. Lighter fluid was squirted along the front of the bar, but before a fire could be lit, more police arrived.

The story spread because it was covered by major New York newspapers. The community began protesting over the next several evenings, and over a thousand people gathered in a rally outside of the Stonewall Inn. Two organizations were formed and by July 4th parades and marches broke out from New York to Philadelphia. The GLBT community had found its voice.

Julianna and I sat quietly reflecting on the meaning of the event in the tiny bar and toasted those courageous drag queens. "The key to change is to let go of fear."

The history of New York is exhausting, and the culture, architecture and people overwhelming. The best place to find solitude is Central Park, established in 1857 with 770 acres of landscaped grounds. We entered at "Strawberry Fields".

Strawberry Fields
West 72nd Street

On Monday, December 8th, 1980, in front of the Dakota building, John Lennon and Yoko Ono were returning to their home from Record Plant Studio, when Mark David Chapman shot at Lennon five times using hollow point bullets. Lennon was killed immediately.

Across the street from The Dakota is Central Park. In 1981, 2.5 acres of the park was donated as a memorial to the singer. It's called "Strawberry Fields", and every nation of the U.N. donated plants or shrubbery to enhance this living monument. The centerpiece is a simple mosaic with one word, "Imagine".

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From New York City we departed for Phase 2 of our journey, Budapest.    Close

You can only stroll so far in New York before public transportation because necessity. We jumped online to plan our journey on the MTA website, which has a "Journey Planner" on the front page. On the downside, it didn’t work. So we…Read More

You can only stroll so far in New York before public transportation because necessity. We jumped online to plan our journey on the MTA website, which has a "Journey Planner" on the front page. On the downside, it didn’t work. So we found a subway map on the same website (www.mta.info/nyct/maps/submap.htm).

The subway lines were listed in both numeric and alphabetic order, along with being color-coded. It seemed to be in completely random order. There wasn’t an explanation for how to read the maps either. How hard could it possibly be? We had used subways in London, Prague, Chicago and Boston. Once down in the tunnels, these systems all made sense. Three wrong train choices later, we gave up on the New York subway. It seemed disjointed, and I was determined to find out why.

The first subway system was only 312 foot long and opened in 1869. It was demolished. But, after a blizzard in 1898 the need for underground transport became clear. Today, the subway has grown to 660 miles of track, with over 6,400 subway cars making their way across them (the largest fleet of subway cars in the world). Perhaps the system simply grew too fast? We began our investigation.

In 1898, besides having a blizzard, greater New York city spread through five counties (New York, King, Richmond, Queens and Westchester). Each county, town, city and village within this area already had established their own form of mass transit. Combining these was anything but cohesive, and, add in the "War of Currents" . Should electricity be supplied by a direct current or alternating current? Eventually 600 watt alternating current would win out. But then it became the battle of BRT versus IRT. These two private companies owned "subways", one in Manhattan, the other in Brooklyn, and guess which company wanted to expand into the others territory? That’s right, both of them.

By 1940 the city realized how much these private companies were profiting from their services so the city took them over -- and tried to smooth out the discrepancies. The IRT became the A Division with numbered lines and BRT (which had swallowed up IND) became B Division with alphabetical lines. Now the only problem was that each division had a different length of train car (47 foot long vs. 51 foot long). The city underwent a series of expanding track and widening of tunnels to accommodate the cars.

This explains some of the disjointed plan, but we tired of the subway quickly and found the closest corner to hail a taxi. The driver recognized us as tourists instantly. Natives simply hold up their hold, while we flapped our arms like a chicken trying to get a cabbies attention.

Cars had invaded New York streets by the late 1800s, just as they had across the nation. By 1899 there were 100 taxis on New York streets. It was in that same year when Henry Bliss gained fame -- as the first pedestrian to be hit and killed by a taxi. Well, we know how the New York taxi driver’s reputation got its start.

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Between 1900 and 1930 there was another building boom throughout New York. During this era the Flatiron Building, Low, Morgan and the Public Libraries, the New York Raquet Club, Woolworth and Chrysler Buildings, Pennsylvania Station and the Daily News Building were all completed. But, it would be the following year before New York’s most famous building opened to the public: The Empire State Building.

This Art Deco skyscraper is 102-stories (1,250 foot) tall. For more than 40 years it was New York’s tallest building. It took a year and 45 days to build, at a cost of $24.7 million (not including the cost of the land). During construction only five workers perished, though more than 30 people have lept off the building in suicides. There are 1,860 steps up to the 102nd floor, and 6,500 windows so that the 3,400 workers inside can get a good view. The building itself can only be used commercially as there are not enough bathrooms to convert it to residences.

Its located at 350 Fifth Ave (at West 34th Street), but to get a better view try from Rockefeller Plaza’s observation deck.

The completion of this landmark came just a year into the Great Depression. By 1930 there were 50 breadlines serving 50,000 meals a day on the Lower East side of Manhattan alone. By 1932 half of New York’s manufacturing plants had closed, and one in six was unemployed. Vacancy rates doubled and 1.6 million were on some form of government assistance.

It was into this complete social and economical collapse that New York’s "greatest" mayor, Fiorello La Guardia, entered in 1933. La Guardia (yes, of airport fame) was close friends with FDR who developed the Civil Works Administration as part of his "Great Deal". By 1935 La Guardia had captured one-seventh of CWA’s funding.

These economic struggles and social change also transformed Broadway. During the 1927-1928 season 264 productions had taken place. It dropped to 187 in 1930-1931, and only 72 in 1940-1941. 80% of Broadway actors were unemployed by 1948. Television now offered free entertainment and many of the former stage theatres now served as movie houses. Yet large-scale productions still debuted. Most were musicals, including "Porgy and Bess", "Oklahoma" and "Meet Me in St. Louis."

Actors, artists, writers and musicians would find their refuge in Greenwich Village. But, we’re skipping ahead. For now the eyes of New York are on one thing. Baseball. The city hosted three major league teams. The "Bronx Bombers" (Yankees) were in the World Series every year but two between 1947-1957. They played in the "House that Ruth built", and it was in this stadium that legends played: Babe Ruth, Lou Gehrig and Joe DiMaggio.

Meanwhile, in Brooklyn, the Dodgers played in an area called Pigtown on a former garbage dump which became Ebbetts Field. The had several name changes from the Trolley Dodgers to the Dodgers to Robins and back to the Dodgers, but mostly they were referred to as "Dem Bums" by their fans. They managed to get to the World Series once before heading to Los Angeles. The Brooklyn Dodger’s biggest claim to fame was signing Jackie Robinson in 1947 effectively breaking the color barrier.

As the 1950s rolled into the city, New York was the music center, boasting three major record labels (RCA, Decca and Columbia), had become a leading city in the fashion industry, and jumped into the arts scene with Abstract Expressionism and the city was over-run by tourists. The 1940s and 1950s are often referred to as New York’s "Golden Age".    Close