Off the Beaten Path
By Ryan Seeloff
Day One; The arrival and the journey across Manhattan
A few months ago I was asked if I would be interested in accompanying the Orlando Firefighters Pipes and Drums to New York City where they were to march in the St. Patrick's Day Parade in order to document the whole experience.
Hmmmm. Let me think about it (for about .00005 seconds) since I have never been to NYC and of course I would have gone even if they were marching out in Bithlo (no offense to all of you Bithloites).
........Fast forward a few months........
Now the time has come and it's off to the big city for this small town guy. First of all let me give huge props to air carrier JetBlue. This was the first time I have ever had the pleasure of flying with them and it will most definitely not be the last. The seats on the planes seem to be a bit wider than on most airlines for starters, there are actually CHOICES for in-flight snacks including an option to upgrade to larger snacks for a minimal price, and best of all you can enjoy XM Radio or Direct TV in every seat for each flight (watching the NCAA Basketball Tournament on the way back home was great). All you need is a pair of headphones and you are ready for the most enjoyable commerical (non 1st Class) flying experience of your life. Also during both my flight to NYC and back home the aircrew were very friendly and even had a sense of humor when going through the preflight information.
Oh, and did I mention that JetBlue had the lowest airfare going into New York's JFK Airport (under $200 round trip)?
Well now the plane has landed in New York and it's time to figure out how to get to the Milford Plaza Hotel (located on 8th Ave between 44th and 45th in the Theatre District). Why not get a feel for New York by testing out the city's public transportation system and hop on the A-Train? Turns out that using the subway is easy even for a Big City First Timer like myself and just under an hour later I got off at 42nd St. which put me a two minute walk from the entrance to the hotel (and it cost under $8 for the Sky Train/subway fare compared to $17 - $30 for a shuttle van, $30 - $60 for a taxi, or $70+ for a private vehicle).
After a quick check-in, an interesting experience at the elevator (you push in the floor you want to go to when you walk up to the eight elevators and a screen assigns you to a particular elevator) and a quick scan of the room I was off to take a stroll around the city before meeting up with some of the group to head downtown to visit Ground Zero and to eat dinner.
Having never been to NYC I had no idea how easy or hard it would be to get around if I just wanted to walk for a bit. Turns out that it is a breeze to cover ground and not even realize how far you've gone (after all, you will be gawking at everything there is to see). I did know that going north to south or south to north meant crossing Streets and moving east to west or west to east meant crossing Avenues (I just had no idea how long it would take to walk between either). On average walking from Street to Street takes a couple of minutes depending on the amount of pedestrians walking with and against you. Walking from Avenue to Avenue can take up to five minutes depending on the crowd.
First on the agenda was to walk a block east and check out Times Square. The walk down 44th St. to Times Square past several theaters went quickly and before I knew it I was standing in center of all of Manhattan which was glowing with huge video screens even in the middle of the day. After strolling north through Times Square I figured that it was worthwhile to head east to see how long it would take to reach St. Patrick's Cathedral.
On the way I unexpectedly came across the Statue of Liberty.
And Radio City Music Hall. And the offices/studios of NBC inside the Rockefeller Center.
I couldn't pass up the opportunity to spend my first "tourist dollars" and take the trip up to the top of the "Rock" to take photos of New York City from 70 floors above the ground dwellers.
The view was spectacular even if everyone up there took an extra heavy dose of radiation from the big radar dome at the top of the building. I did notice a slight glow from everyone that was in the elevator with me on the way back down.
Here are a couple video clips from the top of the Rockefeller Center, inside the elevator on the way down, and from inside St. Patrick's Cathedral.
Then with St. Patrick's Cathedral silently calling my name it was time to head back down and continue my mini-journey through Manhattan.
The exterior architecture of St. Patrick's Cathedral is simply stunning and upon walking inside I was at a loss for words.
Absolutely breathtaking.
There was a service going on and not being one to be intrusive I snapped a few photos and continued the journey up 5th Ave. past the Trump Tower through F.A.O. Schwarz and down into the bowels of the New York City Apple Store (where literally hundreds of people were trying to get their hands on the new iPad2). Oh, I was going to take a stroll on the "Big Piano" in F.A.O. Schwarz, but the line was around the corner and the day wasn't getting any longer so I headed across the street to catch a glimpse of the southeastern part of Central Park and take a couple photos of the Plaza Hotel.
Here is a photo gallery of different buildings and other items of interest.
Right about then my stomach reminded the rest of my body that we (that would be me, myself and I) had not eaten a single bite today and it was WAY past time to take care of that little lapse in judgement. And what better way to sooth the savage stomach than to march several blocks west and then a couple blocks south to the famous Carnengie Deli and tackle one of their monster sandwiches.
After walking those several blocks west and a couple blocks south I saw the little red awning marking the location of the Carnegie Deli and luckily for me although there were no tables available there was not a line to get a To-Go order. I'll let this photo speak for itself.
Now that is just a simple ham on rye and as hungry as I was my stomach only let me consume half of this beast before surrendering to common sense.
Somewhat recharged and realizing that I still had time to spare before meeting with the group for the trip down to Ground Zero I figured that another mini hike of Manhattan was in order. Now let's see, where would a photographer wandering around New York City possibly want to stop by for a visit?
That's right, the "Holy Mother of Everything Electronic" B&H Photo Supply located a mere twelve blocks south of my current location (hey I needed to work off those Carnegie Deli calories, right?). So off I went in search of what I figured would be an outlandish exterior announcing to all the world that,"Yes you have arrived at B&H Photo". Well looks can be deceiving as the exterior of B&H looked as nondescript as could be, but once I walked through those (must've been magical) doors I entered Paradise itself.
Where to begin? Well to keep a long story a little less long I worked my way upstairs to the photography floor and satisfied myself by trying a new 8mm fisheye lens out on one of my cameras (see photo below) and picking up a wee trinket (an IR remote for the same camera).
Taking a peek at my watch I realized that it was time to head back to the hotel to meet up with members of the Orlando Firefighters Pipes and Drums to travel Downtown to check out the area around Ground Zero.
On the way back I had to stop at White Castle to try one of their little teeny tiny burgers.
Having met everyone in the lobby, we took the A-Train Downtown and as we continued south on foot saw this.....
Now looking across the street at the construction going on all around the area where the World Trade Center buildings once stood it really started to hit home exactly where we were standing. This became even more clear as we walked through the Tribute WTC Visitor Center.
Words can't describe the feeling I felt walking through the Center, seeing these pieces of memories from that tragic day and then realizing how the city continues to heal to this very day.
Then we walked over to the Hudson River and caught a glimpse of the Statue of Liberty in the distance (I didn't tell anyone about my encounter with Lady (it was a lady right) Liberty that I had earlier in the day). By now there were grumblings of hunger coming from members of the group and we decided to split up, grab some friendly New York taxis, and head over to Katz's Deli for dinner.
Katz's is famous for the scene from When Harry Met Sally where Sally, made every woman giggle and every guy that watched it go,"No way man, I've never had a girl do that to me".
Sure buddy, and I just saw a pig fly across the sky.
Now it's getting later and everyone is feeling the weight of the Katz's Deli sandwiches in their belly. What better time than now (when there's food in your belly to soak up what's coming next) than to head a few blocks northeast to the oldest continuously open pub in New York City?
The place was standing room only, but the owner made sure we had a table for some of us to sit down as soon as one opened up. McSorley's is known for serving two things to drink. Light ale or dark ale. There you have it.
The light ale was just what this pub goer reached for.
There are a couple of stories (I'm sure there are thousands more) that make this a must see on your next trip to NYC. First of all it is said that Abraham Lincoln frequented McSorley's "back in the day" and they even have a chair on display where "Honest Abe" (don't you just love that Geico commercial he's talking with his wife. We've all been there, done that, and got the t-shirt Mr. Lincoln) parked his keister for a pint or two (not sure if he went dark or light with his ale).
The other story involves this chandelier and the dusty turkey wishbones (yes I said turkey wishbones) that adorn it.
It is said that during WWI (that's World War One to you young whippersnappers and hooligans) many young men came into McSorley's and made a pact. Each soldier going off to fight in the war would leave a turkey wishbone on the chandelier before they left and would remove it once they returned safely home. The bones that remain to this day are from the young men that sacrificed all in the name of freedom.
Still, those are some DUSTY turkey wishbones!
After the group put a dent in the ale supply of McSorley's (I must let it be known that as the chronicler of this trip I had a single light ale so as to not take away from my photographic and cinematographic (I typed that one before looking to see if it was actually a word. It is, check for yourself) skills or lackthereof.
As we left McSorley's I decided to call it a night and head back to the hotel while some of the others continued their late night adventures.
What will tomorrow bring?
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