Whew, made it to the city! It was a bit of an adventure making it here. I messed up and put the wrong zipcode into the GPS and we ended up unnecessarily driving through Brooklyn. Then, we missed staying on Hudson Street and ended up taking the Holland Tunnel to Jersey, ha! We valeted the car, checked our luggage and then raced to the subway to try to make our 2PM cruise around Manhattan Island.
People on the street were so nice and helpful! We had our subway map out and a few different people actually walked up to us and asked us if we needed help getting somewhere. I thought that was really nice of them! My Frommer's guide did say that most New Yorkers will be really helpful and be willing to give directions as long as your polite and respectful (ie, don't stand in their way in the middle of the sidewalk). We barely made it to the Ferry Terminal in time, but we did.
The cruise went by the Empire State Building, Chrysler Building, and best of all . . . it got VERY close to Liberty Island. It hovered around there a bit and gave everyone ample opportunity to snap as many pictures as we could ever want of the Statue of Liberty. The tour guide was really informative and funny. The first time we zipped by the Statue he said, "Ladies and Gents, save your pixels! She'll still be there when we go by again." He also walked around the ferry at the end and handed out free maps of the city to anyone who wanted one.
We also lucked out and were able to ride the NY Waterway bus back to the hotel for free, so we saved a swipe on our Metro Card and didn't have to take the subway back.
The hotel is fantastic, much better than the one in Philly. It's got a very comfortable, plush King size bed, big screen HDTV, Nintendo, etc. Not to mention a nice view of the streets of New York. The hotel staff is extremely friendly, and I'm stoked about our stay here! And the car is parked in a garage that is part of the hotel, with 24-hour valet attendants. So, needless to say, I feel safe with my car where it is, which was a concern originally.
Ok, well, now we're about to watch a movie and pop the bubbly and enjoy our first night in NYC and get rested up for a big day out tomorrow.
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