USA: New York City

This article is a continuation of my trip across the United States with my daughter Erin. Our trip started in Los Angels and ended in Manhattan, with stops at Yellowstone National Park, Mt. Rushmore, Badlands National Park and Chicago.

I’m a train buff from way back. When Erin and I first talked about our cross-country tip, I thought it would be fun to take the train from Chicago to New York. Erin was less enthusiastic, particularly since we were not planning to get a sleeper compartment for the 19-hour trip.

I won’t go into detail, but I will admit I should have listened to Erin. The seats on Amtrak are not made for long-distance sleeping, plus, being summer vacation, there were lots of young children in our car. The 19-hour trip turned into 22 hours and I was very happy when we finally pulled into Penn Station in New York.


Erin was delighted to be back in the Big Apple. She perked right up and, like a native New Yorker, grabbed for our luggage and queued up for a cab to take us to the Bronx. There is a certain excitement about being in downtown Manhattan with the hustle and bustle of cars and people, like turning a video on fast forward and watching life go by in the fast lane.

We finally arrived at her apartment and I was immediately thankful we hadn’t been there a week earlier, during a blackout. Erin’s apartment was on the 27th floor!!!

Since I have been to New York several times I could be a more selective tourist. Within the past year I has taken the Circle Line tour around New York Harbor, visited Ellis Island, rode the elevator to the top of the Empire State Building and experienced the sadness surrounding Ground Zero. I walked from the East Village to 42nd Street and window shopped all along 5th Avenue.

This trip we decided to focus on museums. At that time Erin was a student at Albert Einstein College of Medicine in the Bronx. Just off campus is the express bus to Manhattan---within 45 minutes we were in the city and walking into the Guggenheim Museum.

The building itself is a work of art. Designed by Frank Lloyd Wright, it is a masterpiece of modern architecture. The art inside includes a world-renowned permanent collection of works by Chagall, Kandinsky, Picasso and van Gogh, plus changing exhibits from other modern masters. Compared to most museums, the Guggenheim is small and the layout makes it easy to see the art on display; you wind your way up on one side and down on the other.

By 3:00pm we were museumed out and we decided it was time to head for Times Square. We wanted to see a Broadway show and Erin was going to introduce me to the kiosk in Times Square that sells half-price theater tickets. For the past several years I have ordered tickets online, but Erin convinced me it wasn’t necessary, as long as I didn’t want to see the newest show on Broadway. Even though it was a Friday night, Erin assured me we would get good seats to a play. Plus standing in the middle of Times Square, just watching people, is a show in itself. Where else can you see the “Urban Cowboy” in a pair of jockey shorts, wearing yellow boots and a cowboy hat, strumming his guitar?

Erin was right. By the time we reached the box office we had several shows to choose from. For sentimental reasons I decided on “Gypsy” starring Bernadette Peters. Without aging myself too much, I had seen the original production on Broadway, starring Ethel Merman, back in the 60’s. Erin had never heard of Gypsy Rose Lee, or Ethel Merman, but thoroughly enjoyed the show. We sat in the front row mezzanine and the tickets cost $50.00 each (you do have to pay with cash, no credit cards are accepted).

Before the show we had an early supper at Ruby Foo’s, a Pan Asian restaurant off Times Square. A New Yorker friend recommended the restaurant because of its exotic drinks. I’ll recommend the restaurant because of its menu, a combination of sushi and Chinese. We had a great dinner. After the show, about 11:30, we walked back through Times Square. It could have been 6:00pm and the middle of rush hour. I couldn’t believe the number of people out in the middle of Times Square. We did some shopping at the many stores still open and then walked to Madison Avenue to catch the bus back to the Bronx; a fun-filled day in New York City.

The next afternoon we were back in the city to visit the Metropolitan Museum of Art. This is one of the world’s great art museums, definitely in the same league as the Louvre in Paris and the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. Their permanent exhibits span the centuries and the globe with treasures from medieval Europe to ancient Egyptian sculptures. No matter how wonderful the exhibits, I decided you could only spend so long in a museum. For a change of pace, and a breath of fresh air, we took the elevator to the roof to see the Iris and B. Gerald Cantor Roof Garden, which offers a spectacular view of Central Park and the New York skyline; a far different view then we usually see with the sharp contrast of green against the tall high-rises of glass, brick and concrete.

I left New York on Sunday evening. Our two-week trip across the United States had been wonderful. The Grand Tetons are magnificent, Yellowstone National Park a true scientific wonder, Mt. Rushmore is breathtaking, a must for all to see, the Badlands are awesome, and Chicago, a beautiful and fun city with wonderful architecture. Our biggest problem was time --- there is just too much to see in only two weeks.

I hope you enjoyed reading about our trip and learned from my mistakes. I also hope this inspires you to experience America --- in all it’s natural beauty.