NYC Day 7

Last day in NYC!  It has been a great trip and we have a little more sightseeing to do before we head home but I'm ready to get back south!

We started out the day with a late breakfast at the Carnegie Deli.  We were both kinda craving corned beef hash again so we split an order.  The portions here are huge!  I had hoped that it was going to be better than the hash we had the day we got here because they cure their own meats.  Unfortunately it wasn't.  Overcooked, dry, and greasy.  We definitely liked the other better.

We got on the subway and road the 1 down to Battery Park to catch a ferry to Liberty Island and Ellis Island.  At Liberty Island, they are currently not allowing entrance into the statue except for special ticket holders and they only allow 240 per day of them.  I was pretty sure that we may not be able to access the top of the statue but I was really surprised we couldn't go into the museum in the base of the statue either.  So all we could do was walk around it and then get on the ferry to go to Ellis Island.

Ellis Island is alot bigger than I thought and there is so much to see there!  We only had about an 1 hr before we had to get back to catch our plane.  I didn't realize that this island had not just the main building but also a ferry station, hospital, powerhouse, and dormitories.  Only the main building is currently in use but you could easily spend 3 hrs in it!  Definitely a place I need to go back to.

We were starting to get into a pretty big hurry once the ferry got back to Battery Park.  We had about 2 1/2 hrs to ride the subway back to midtown, get Jack a gift at FAO Schwarz, get our bags, and get to the airport before the plane took off.  Jack has a fascination with trash trucks and can you believe that we found a NYC trash truck at the store!  We darted down 5th Ave on foot stopping once for a hotdog to eat while running! 

When we got to our hotel, our street was closed because they were piling up the snow to be removed.....using a bulldozer!  That's just too much dang snow!  So a taxi can't come to the hotel to pick us up and we have to go down our street to 6th to hail one.  Now another snag...it is 4:15 and all of the taxis change shift at 5 and no one wants to take us to LaGuardia because it will put them past their shift!  After being turned down by about 5 taxis, one finally takes us!  I wasn't sure what we were going to do if we didn't get one.  The subway doesn't go to the airport but I was about to see if there was a bus route to it.  It shouldv'e been about a 30 min trip but a little traffic congestion made it about 45.  We got there about 5:15 and checked in with no problem before our flight at 6.  Nothing like ending a trip with a little unexpected excitement!

All in all, NYC was a great trip.  I was on my own most of the time since Bill was in school.  I never felt scared to be out on my own because where we were was a big tourist destination.  I was out there with other tourists, people who worked around there, and police.  I saw very little panhandling and never felt like I was somewhere unsafe.  I kept a little map with me and we paid $27 each for an unlimited pass for the subway and buses.  The subway didn't feel unsafe either.  I really want to go back and take the boys next time.  They would just love so much of it!

Top 10 Things I Learned on My First Trip to NYC
1.  Mass transportation rocks!  How else could a city like this function?
2.  There is a Starbuck's on every corner!  I thought it was pretty funny when the directions to one place I was looking for said that it was across from Starbuck's!  What isn't?
3.  Finding a grocery store in the city isn't easy.  I don't know why they eluded me!
4.  Eating out can get very expensive so it helps to do your research to find some cheaper options.
5.  Duane & Reade is the NYC drugstore and there are just as many of these as Starbuck's.
6.  You can easily walk 8 miles a day walking around sightseeing.  But don't look up too much!  You might just walk into an intersection or crash into another pedestrian.
7.  Research, research, research you trip!  You could waste alot of time figuring things out while you are there if you don't have some idea about what you want to do and how to do it.
8.  If it's winter, take boots!  It would have been a life saver for my feet the last couple of day we were there.
9.  Seeing at least one Broadway show is a must!  It is affordable too.  We got 2 weeknight tickets for Wicked the night before the show for only $56 each.  Our seats were labeled as having a "partially obstructed view" but they were totally fine.  Didn't miss a thing!
10.  Stick with yellow taxis.  Other taxis may take you for a ride...no pun intended.  We took yellow taxi to the airport for about $35 and Bill's coworker to another unmarked cab and paid $10 more.