Latest / Places of DK / New York City - First Time Visit

Transcript

New York City - First Time Visit · Places of DK

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to another episode of Places of DK, a travel podcast.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Today we are going to New York City.
• 0:08
  SPEAKER_00: This is not going to be a deep dive.
• 0:10
  SPEAKER_00: More of if you've either never been to New York or it's been a while since you've been there and you have a let's say you have a long weekend and you just want to see the highlights.
• 0:19
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, how do I get in?
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: Where do where should I fly into?
• 0:22
  SPEAKER_00: How do I get into the city?
• 0:23
  SPEAKER_00: Where should I stay?
• 0:25
  SPEAKER_00: How do I get around?
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: What are the top things to see?
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: You can probably guess what they are, but we're going to talk about it anyways.
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: And just a couple of other little tidbits here and there.
• 0:34
  SPEAKER_00: But before we go into it, I do want to thank everybody who has listened so far and has downloaded this podcast.
• 0:42
  SPEAKER_00: So far, not shocking.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: North America is in a dominant lead.
• 0:47
  SPEAKER_00: 94% of all of the downloads of this podcast.
• 0:54
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to tell you how many downloads it's been.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
• 0:58
  SPEAKER_00: Suck it, smartless.
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: No, I have a feeling they might have a little bit more.
• 1:04
  SPEAKER_00: Europe, 4%.
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: Just 94% North America.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: Europe just so tight, just right there, second place at 4%.
• 1:14
  SPEAKER_00: Asia, 1%.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then that brings us to Oceania, zero.
• 1:19
  SPEAKER_00: Africa, zero.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: South America, zero.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: I have work to do.
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
• 1:24
  SPEAKER_00: Hey, hey, it's a marathon.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: Not a not a sprint.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Um, speaking of marathons, humble brag alert, I ran the New York marathon three times.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I did.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: First time, 2001.
• 1:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so it was right after 9-11, very emotional.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: I ran it in, I think it was four hours and 41 minutes.
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: I was so happy I finished and ended up in the hospital that night getting two bags of IV, severely dehydrated.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then the second time I ran it in 2000 and oh, it was either 2007 or 2008.
• 2:05
  SPEAKER_00: I trained really hard.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: I wanted to get under the four uh four-hour mark, but I I the you know, last time ending up in the hospital, that's not something you want to do again.
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: So I really held back at the beginning and then realized I wasn't gonna make it at the end.
• 2:20
  SPEAKER_00: Uh and I, well, I I made it, I I finished, but I finished at four hours and seven minutes.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: So I felt, you know, really cocky that at some point, let's try this one more time.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: I waited until 2014 to do it.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: I did train.
• 2:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, eight miles in, I I wanted to quit.
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: I was like, what why am I doing this?
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: This is I waited too long.
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: My my legs don't want to do this, my lungs don't want to do this, my brain, my heart.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: None of us want to do it.
• 2:53
  SPEAKER_00: But we finished it.
• 2:55
  SPEAKER_00: I finished around, you know, four, I think it was like 420, something like that.
• 2:58
  SPEAKER_00: So uh that was it.
• 3:00
  SPEAKER_00: Never gonna run another marathon again.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: Glad I did it.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: Wish I could have gotten under four hours.
• 3:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but um that's how the cookie crumbles.
• 3:09
  SPEAKER_00: All right, well, enough about that and and enough about me and how I used to be in shape and now I can barely run two miles.
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: Ah, those were the days.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: So let's go ahead and talk about New York City.
• 3:31
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, New York City is made up of five boroughs.
• 3:34
  SPEAKER_00: You have Queens, you have the Bronx, you have Brooklyn, you have Staten Island, and you have Manhattan.
• 3:38
  SPEAKER_00: We will be talking about primarily Manhattan today.
• 3:41
  SPEAKER_00: There are many other reasons to go to all the other boroughs, all of them except Staten Island.
• 3:46
  SPEAKER_00: I have no idea why you would want to go to Staten Island rather than other than taking the Staten Island Ferry, which we're gonna talk about here in a little bit.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: Queens has cool things.
• 3:55
  SPEAKER_00: Bronx, great.
• 3:56
  SPEAKER_00: Brooklyn, super.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: Staten Island, uh I don't know why you'd go there.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but we're gonna be talking about Manhattan, sorry, Staten Island.
• 4:03
  SPEAKER_00: So to getting into New York, three major airports.
• 4:06
  SPEAKER_00: You have Newark, JFK, LaGuardia.
• 4:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you want to take mass transit, the the two easiest to go into are either Newark or JFK.
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: Both of them have a have an air train that um they call it the air train, so just follow follow signs.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um Newark will get you into the city, right into Penn Station.
• 4:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh JFK, same thing.
• 4:29
  SPEAKER_00: You can either get into Penn Station.
• 4:30
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Long Island Railroad actually now goes into oh, I guess I should mention that.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you're if you're taking it, um, if you're going uh through Newark, you'll end up taking New Jersey transit.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: Makes sense.
• 4:42
  SPEAKER_00: If you're going into JFK, take the air train, you take that to uh Jamaica, not the island.
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: Well, it is, I guess it's on an island.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: Not not the Jamaica you're thinking of.
• 4:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh this is quite quite different than the Jamaica that probably popped up in your head.
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but you take it to Jamaica, get on the Long Island Railroad, that either takes you into Penn Station, or as of uh just a few years ago, you can now go into Grand Central, so that's a really good option.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: I used to hate it.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: I had to fly in and out of there all the time, and it was just a nightmare.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: LaGuardia, not anymore, as of for the past, I guess, probably two or three years.
• 5:19
  SPEAKER_00: It's maybe even longer, it's great.
• 5:22
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we had to deal with a bunch of construction, and it it sucked for a long time, but it is a beautiful airport, it is really well done, easy to get in and out.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, great, great airport.
• 5:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna take mass transit, a little more complicated, you're gonna have to get on a bus, it's gonna take you to uh one of the subways.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: If you're schlepping a lot of bags, it's you can do it.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: It's just if you have like big bags, you're probably just gonna want to get a car.
• 5:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, just be aware that if you're taking an Uber or a taxi getting into the city from LaGuardia, it's gonna cost you.
• 5:56
  SPEAKER_00: So uh, I'd say roughly just plan on around$100, could be less, could be a little bit more, but that's what it's gonna take to get you from LaGuardia into Manhattan.
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, where do you want to stay?
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: If you've never been, you're gonna be like, oh man, I want to stay in Times Square, and I'm gonna tell you just don't you can if you want, but I would recommend if you really want to be near Times Square, go one or two blocks away from actual Times Square, Broadway, the lights and all of that.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Times Square, it's just it's there's no reason to go there.
• 6:33
  SPEAKER_00: I there no I take that back.
• 6:37
  SPEAKER_00: If you've never been, because I remember the first time I walked into Times Square and I saw all the billboards and all the lights.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I saw the the the ball, you know, the for uh New Year's Eve.
• 6:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's it's up there all the time.
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you could see it, even I wouldn't step foot there on New Year's Eve, but it's up there, you can see it.
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: And I I understand it's it's iconic, it's what everybody talks about.
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: Crossroads of the world, uh terrible crossroads.
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: Just don't recommend spending too much time there, and I certainly don't recommend staying there.
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: So maybe the the general vicinity of Times Square.
• 7:12
  SPEAKER_00: And and don't be put off if you're looking at a hotel and it says Times Square, just look at where it's located on the map.
• 7:18
  SPEAKER_00: Again, if you're like one or two blocks away, you're not in all the madness.
• 7:21
  SPEAKER_00: So there is Times Square if you really want that.
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: I frankly would suggest if you are a uh a first-time visitor to New York, maybe staying over near Grand Central.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: And I only mention that because it's not as crazy busy and tourist.
• 7:37
  SPEAKER_00: There's tourists, but um it's just not anything like Times Square, and you're right near Grand Central, and just getting around the city with mass transit, with whether it's the subway or you um yeah, anyways, that's a good option.
• 7:52
  SPEAKER_00: Where I uh where I like to stay when I go uh for work or or even when we've gone with a family is staying in an area called Chelsea.
• 8:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it's also Nomad, which stands for North of Madison, it's around 28th Street.
• 8:07
  SPEAKER_00: Uh a lot of different hotels, places to stay, great restaurants, so uh, and not too far from everything, and and actually not that far from Penn Station.
• 8:15
  SPEAKER_00: So again, you have options for uh for coming in and out of the the city if you're going into uh into Penn.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then if you really want to get swanky, you can go down to the Soho or Meepacking District, Greenwich Village, um, some really great places, you know, really all are all around the city and all around the island of Manhattan uh to check out and use as your base to get around.
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: Speaking of getting around, uh I like to walk as far as I possibly can.
• 8:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now, look, if you're staying around Grand Central and you're going down to the downtown uh southern tip of Manhattan down near Battery Park, you're probably not gonna walk that.
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: So uh get a taxi.
• 8:56
  SPEAKER_00: If you've never been in a yellow taxi, you can be like, hey, I've been on a yellow taxi.
• 9:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna get in the car, you're gonna be like, What what's that smell?
• 9:03
  SPEAKER_00: Why does it stink in here?
• 9:04
  SPEAKER_00: Why, why is the why is it 100 degrees in here and it's July?
• 9:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but you know what?
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: Get on, get on a New York City taxi uh at least once so you did it.
• 9:14
  SPEAKER_00: I prefer the subway.
• 9:16
  SPEAKER_00: I think the subway's great.
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: There's a lot of people that'll be telling you subway's dangerous, it's dirty, uh, I don't like it.
• 9:22
  SPEAKER_00: It smells, it's not dangerous, it's a little dirty.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: It does smell.
• 9:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but I I prefer the subway.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's the most convenient, cheapest way to get around the city.
• 9:32
  SPEAKER_00: It's um you it's actually a lot easier now.
• 9:34
  SPEAKER_00: You used to have to, oh boy, it's gonna date me.
• 9:37
  SPEAKER_00: First time I went there, and it wasn't that, I mean, it was I guess it was 90s, late 90s, early, yeah, late 90s.
• 9:42
  SPEAKER_00: I would have been with the first time I went there.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: Unless I'm misremembering this, I believe it was tokens.
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: So you had tokens at the time, and then they moved to um uh metro cards, which were like kind of swipe cards.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then now it's a lot easier.
• 9:57
  SPEAKER_00: It's like most places you can use contact list uh payment.
• 10:01
  SPEAKER_00: You can still get a metro card, I think they still sell them, or I mean just use your Apple Pay or whatever credit card.
• 10:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh put it up, doors open, you're good to go.
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: You can go wherever you want.
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: You don't have to tap out like some of the other um uh mass transit uh systems like the tube in London or uh the wildly popular Marta in in Atlanta.
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: Once you go in, you're gonna go and then get off wherever you need, go through the turnstiles, you're golden.
• 10:30
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so getting into things to do.
• 10:32
  SPEAKER_00: Of course, if you're going to New York, you're going to want to go see the Statue of Liberty.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: So there's two different ways you can do it.
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: You can go um on one of the dedicated tours, it's uh it's called the Statue City Cruises.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: Go online, you can book it.
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: Just know this is gonna take you probably four to five hours uh of your day.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: So plan accordingly.
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: If if if you're into wanting to go to the Statue of Liberty, you can you can go to you know walk around where it is.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: You know what's kind of funny is the first time we went there, we walked around to the back, and I'm like, that's the back of the Statue of Liberty.
• 11:11
  SPEAKER_00: And I took a bunch of pictures of my kids with the back of the Statue of Liberty behind them.
• 11:16
  SPEAKER_00: Because nobody ever shows a picture of the back of the Statue of Liberty, it's the side, it's the front, it's from up top, not the back.
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: But you can check out the back.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: I thought it was funny.
• 11:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and you can tour different parts, it you can go up to the crown, but you need to book that months in advance.
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, we have never been lucky enough to get up there.
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but you can get down to the pedestal, that's a little bit easier.
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: You do need uh the advanced reservation, but it gets you into the actual statue, you're not going up to the top, but it there's a lot of really interesting things uh in there as far as you know when it was built and how they constructed it.
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so it's uh I would suggest if you can't get into the crown, so certainly try and get into the pedestal.
• 12:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there are self-guided audio tours, so again, you'll be spending a lot of time there, and then you'll get back on the boat and go to Ellis Island.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: If you're really into you know tracking down maybe you had relatives that came in through Ellis Island, really, you know, uh getting a better understanding of what life was like with people uh coming into New York City, it's totally worth it.
• 12:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'll tell you, if your kids are little, they're gonna probably be bored out of their minds.
• 12:33
  SPEAKER_00: So just think about that ahead of time.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'd say if your kids are like teenagers, mid-teenagers, and then up, they'll probably be pretty interested in it.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: Little kids, not so much.
• 12:44
  SPEAKER_00: And again, it's gonna take about five hours.
• 12:46
  SPEAKER_00: Now, there is another way to do this.
• 12:48
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you can get on the Staten Island Ferry.
• 12:51
  SPEAKER_00: Sorry again, Staten Island, but but you can from my earlier comments, you can get on the Staten Island Ferry, takes you to shockingly, Staten Island, but on a on a nice clear day, you get great views of of the of the statue.
• 13:07
  SPEAKER_00: And if you don't care about you know getting over there and like really understanding the history and doing all that, and you're just like, hey, I just want to see it somewhat up close and get a picture of it.
• 13:17
  SPEAKER_00: This is a great way to do it.
• 13:18
  SPEAKER_00: You go to Staten Island.
• 13:20
  SPEAKER_00: Unfortunately, you have to hang out to Staten Island for about 45 minutes until the next one goes.
• 13:26
  SPEAKER_00: I am never going to be invited to do a podcast about Staten Island.
• 13:31
  SPEAKER_00: That's okay.
• 13:32
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so if Statue of Liberty ended up being number one on your list, I'm fairly certain Empire State Building would be number two.
• 13:41
  SPEAKER_00: If you really want to go up into the Empire State Building, do it.
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: Go for it.
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Book ahead of time.
• 13:47
  SPEAKER_00: You still may be waiting in a line depending on what time of year you go.
• 13:50
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, very popular.
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: But if you've always said to yourself, I need to get up there, go for it, go do it.
• 13:56
  SPEAKER_00: You do have other options though.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: If you don't want to deal with the the massive touristy crowds, there is another, it is a touristy, these are all touristy options.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: But you could also go to the top of the rock, which is top of um Rockefeller Center.
• 14:10
  SPEAKER_00: I kind of like this because when we've took when we used to live in New York and we brought our, you know, our family came to visit, that's the one we would do because you get up and you look south and you can see the Empire State Building, and you can see the Chrysler building.
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: So it I don't know, I think it's actually a better view.
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: And there's two other options that have recently sprung up in the last, I'd say, six to seven years.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um, there's Summit at Vanderbilt, that's more over toward Grand Central, and then there's another one called the Edge, which is at Hudson Yards, so that's further west, um, over near the Hudson River.
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: And you can go up to the top of those, and there's really cool places to like just you get to go out and you get to look and cool vistas.
• 15:03
  SPEAKER_00: And they each have, I think they each have one of those like floors that are made of glass that you can look down that make me sick and I can't deal with it because I am extremely afraid of heights, and I hate those things, but uh some people like them.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: And of course, you could also go to One World Observatory, uh, which is atop of One World Trade Center, uh, which I mean, you if you go up there, you're gonna it's about as high as you're gonna get, and you're gonna see all of Manhattan.
• 15:30
  SPEAKER_00: All right.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh you're you're gonna still want to go to Times Square.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: I know you are.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you've never been in New York, you're gonna go to Times Square, which is fine.
• 15:38
  SPEAKER_00: This is where you're if you need some souvenirs, is where all the souvenir shops are gonna be.
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: Being like, hey, I need a shot glass uh with with uh Times Square on it.
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: I need uh uh an apron that says iHeart New York.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: This is where you're gonna find all that stuff.
• 15:56
  SPEAKER_00: So you know what?
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: You know if I take it back.
• 15:58
  SPEAKER_00: Go to Times Square, have a blast.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna see people dressed up as Minnie and Mickey.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: You're they're gonna be like the the dirtiest costumes you've ever seen.
• 16:06
  SPEAKER_00: Some guy's gonna jump around like in Spider-Man costume.
• 16:11
  SPEAKER_00: If that's your jam, go for it.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna have a great time.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: Now, one one one thing that is there is TKS.
• 16:20
  SPEAKER_00: TKS is where you can purchase Broadway tickets the same day, a lot of times for much cheaper cost if they have them left over.
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, look, if it's some huge brand new production musical play that is sold out for months, you're gonna be out of luck.
• 16:37
  SPEAKER_00: But if you want to go see The Lion King and you don't have tickets yet, this is a good place to go check out.
• 16:44
  SPEAKER_00: You could typically get them cheaper because Broadway, it ain't cheap, it is those tickets are crazy expensive.
• 16:51
  SPEAKER_00: But another option, and I did this once when I was up there with my daughter, she went to go see another show that she really wanted to see.
• 17:01
  SPEAKER_00: She only could get one ticket.
• 17:03
  SPEAKER_00: I wasn't super interested.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: I was walking around and I saw SpamLot was playing, and I had seen it when it first came out, but it was 10 minutes before the show.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: I walked up, I asked the girl in the in the ticket window, hey, you know, do you have one ticket?
• 17:19
  SPEAKER_00: And how much would it be?
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: She got me fourth row, and I think I spent$55 because the show was about to start and they were gonna have to eat the money.
• 17:28
  SPEAKER_00: So that's one option to do too.
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, if you're going with a family or a big group of people, that's probably not gonna work, but that is an option.
• 17:34
  SPEAKER_00: If you're gonna be in Times Square, hey, go check out TKS, see if they can help you with some Broadway tickets.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: Parks.
• 17:40
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you're gonna be going to Central Park.
• 17:42
  SPEAKER_00: I I love Central Park.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: If I were you, plan on half a day, just walk the park.
• 17:49
  SPEAKER_00: You're gonna see everything that you've seen in all the movies.
• 17:53
  SPEAKER_00: You can go on like a little little you know, uh rowboat ride, you can see all the fountains, you can see all the horse and carriages.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, depending on the time of year, Wolman Rink.
• 18:07
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if they do they still call it Wolman Rink.
• 18:09
  SPEAKER_00: It's changed names a lot of times.
• 18:11
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's Wolman Rink.
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, that is on the southern part or south part of Central Park.
• 18:17
  SPEAKER_00: It's a great skating rink.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's better than the other ones just because it's big.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: But uh it the park is great.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: There's a carousel.
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: When my kids were little, they loved going to the carousel.
• 18:26
  SPEAKER_00: So just you know, get a cup of coffee, sit down or stroll around, just take in the sights.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: Central Park, it's it's great.
• 18:34
  SPEAKER_00: I I would also recommend going to Bryant Park.
• 18:38
  SPEAKER_00: It is super small, but I I love it.
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: It is right near um or it backs up to the New York Public Library.
• 18:49
  SPEAKER_00: It's just this is where if you've it you you may have seen pictures of it.
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's they they have these sort of iconic little green chairs and and green tables, and people just sit out there on their lunch break or or they're grabbing a coffee and just and just hanging out.
• 19:05
  SPEAKER_00: And during the summer, they they have movies, they have concerts out there.
• 19:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, and then also during the the the holiday season, they have a wonderful uh Christmas market where you can just buy some local homemade, yeah, home items.
• 19:25
  SPEAKER_00: No, not home items, homemade items.
• 19:28
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe they're not local homemade, huh?
• 19:31
  SPEAKER_00: Because I I saw one guy and he was selling these, like, you know, the rush Russian nesting dolls.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if those were homemade.
• 19:38
  SPEAKER_00: But anyways, you can get some ornaments.
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: Oh boy, one year did I buy some ornaments.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: And uh, and and they have they have like a bar and you can buy some get some food, and and their their rink, the the the rink there much smaller than what your the aforementioned woman rink, but it's it's uh it's cool, it's uh it's timed, so you know you're gonna get in and you're gonna have to you know get out, buddy, in about, I think, I don't know how long it is, but let's say 20 minutes, something like that.
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh also, since we're just talking about it, uh you're gonna if you're there during Christmas, you're probably gonna want to go over to Rockefeller Center and skate.
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: Plan ahead, just buy your ticket online.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: I see people just in these long lines waiting to get in.
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: Just buy your ticket and and kind of skip that uh skew.
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: It's also timed, so they put at least when we did it, you would like a little uh sticker on you, on you with uh a certain color, and so you're like, hey, hey, all the the magenta people, you can come on now, and then after a certain amount of time, they're like, Yeah, the magenta people get out.
• 20:44
  SPEAKER_00: Time for the the teal people to come in.
• 20:46
  SPEAKER_00: So it's it's timed, but look, you're gonna want of course you're gonna want to do it.
• 20:51
  SPEAKER_00: It's really crowded, but yeah, do that.
• 20:53
  SPEAKER_00: So I you know what?
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: If you're there during Christmas, I'd say do them all.
• 20:56
  SPEAKER_00: Do Brian Park, do uh Rockefeller Center, and do Wolman Rink.
• 21:00
  SPEAKER_00: Knock your socks off.
• 21:02
  SPEAKER_00: And I I mentioned the New York City Public Library, it's a great library, everybody knows it.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: You you you know it.
• 21:09
  SPEAKER_00: You see, you see a picture of it with the two lions, the ones from Ghostbusters that you know came to life, ravaged the city, you know that place.
• 21:16
  SPEAKER_00: You can go in there, it's free.
• 21:18
  SPEAKER_00: Um our oldest daughter, it's one of her favorite places, uh, not only in New York, I think on Earth.
• 21:24
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're a book person, I almost said book nerd.
• 21:31
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to, I don't want to insult people that like books.
• 21:33
  SPEAKER_00: I like books.
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: I was trying to think of a different word.
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: If you're a if you like the bibliothèque, I would say spend, you know, plan on spending maybe hour and a half, two hours at the New York Public Library, and it's free.
• 21:49
  SPEAKER_00: Alright, museums.
• 21:51
  SPEAKER_00: I personally love the Metropolitan Museum of Art, aka the Met, located up in Central Park, uh has pretty much Everything that you'd want to see in a museum.
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: They have ancient art, they have world art, they have American art, they have European paintings.
• 22:08
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, they have like European paintings like uh the young woman with the water pitcher.
• 22:12
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're like, I don't know what that is, you do look it up, you're gonna know what that is, and you get to see it in person.
• 22:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they also have uh Washington Crossing the Delaware.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: You know that painting?
• 22:21
  SPEAKER_00: And and there's a tie-in with something we're gonna talk about in a minute.
• 22:26
  SPEAKER_00: Foreshadowing.
• 22:27
  SPEAKER_00: Uh they have they have a Roman period Egyptian temple that was relocated and it's now housed in a large sort of glass wing overlooking Central Park.
• 22:41
  SPEAKER_00: Go there, you're gonna spend half a day, you're gonna love it.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then you have the Natural History Museum, equally as wonderful.
• 22:50
  SPEAKER_00: We took the kids there when we lived there when they were little.
• 22:53
  SPEAKER_00: There's a planetarium.
• 22:55
  SPEAKER_00: You've got you got dinosaur bones.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: Who doesn't love looking at good dinosaur bones?
• 22:59
  SPEAKER_00: A tyrannosaurus rex.
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I just looked it up.
• 23:02
  SPEAKER_00: There's a it's called the Titan Titanosaur, it's 122-foot long, something I can't pronounce, skeleton.
• 23:11
  SPEAKER_00: It's great, and and probably my favorite one.
• 23:13
  SPEAKER_00: There's this one area you walk in, and there is this 94-foot-long blue whale suspended from the ceiling.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: I love this natural history museum.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: There's only one other one in the world that I've been to that I might maybe love more than this, and we will talk about that in future episodes.
• 23:35
  SPEAKER_00: Again, foreshadow no, it's not even foreshadowing.
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: That is uh oh, it's a tease, is what that is.
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, I'm I'm I can't wait.
• 23:43
  SPEAKER_00: I'm I bet my listeners now in Oceania, Africa, and and South Africa are gonna come running to download now that I have I have teased that.
• 23:53
  SPEAKER_00: And look, this is a big city.
• 23:56
  SPEAKER_00: There are plenty of other museums.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: You have the Guggenheim, the Whitney, which I've not been to, but I've heard is great.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, you have MoMA, so that's uh modern art, which I I have been to.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: I liked quite a bit.
• 24:09
  SPEAKER_00: Uh so those are more of the the sort of you know art and and natural history.
• 24:15
  SPEAKER_00: Certainly you have the 9-11 memorial all the way downtown where um where World Trade Center used to be, um, the memorial and the and the museum.
• 24:25
  SPEAKER_00: The the museum is fantastic.
• 24:27
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that's been a lot of info thrown at you, a lot of things to do if you're just gonna be there for you know a long weekend, three days, maybe, maybe in four days.
• 24:36
  SPEAKER_00: But you know what?
• 24:37
  SPEAKER_00: While you're there, you gotta eat.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm not gonna talk about any while I am uh I am gonna talk about some specific places, but you know, restaurants come and go.
• 24:46
  SPEAKER_00: Look, it's New York, it's one of the largest cities in the world, it has some of the best restaurants in the world.
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: You can get anything that you want to eat in New York.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: But what I'm gonna talk about are are three locations, and I'm gonna bring these up only because I'm fairly confident that when my new listeners in Asia, or I'm sorry, even Oceania, when they hear this in you know, 20 years, they can go to New York and be like, you know what, it's still here.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: And that guy who I didn't listen to when he first started this podcast, he was right.
• 25:23
  SPEAKER_00: I love these places.
• 25:24
  SPEAKER_00: All right, so the the first two are pubs, and you're like, hey, I I don't drink or or I'm not into drinking, it's fine, it's cool.
• 25:32
  SPEAKER_00: Actually, one of them, yeah, you might not want to go to, but but the first one I'm bringing up is the Ear In.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: I love this place.
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: Uh it is a small little bar.
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: It was constru the building itself was constructed in 1770 for a man to live there, and his name was James Brown.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: Not the James Brown you're thinking of.
• 26:00
  SPEAKER_00: Not the guy can do splits, shake his hips, got all sweaty, guy from Macon, Georgia.
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: Not that James Brown.
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: This James Brown, he was an aide to George Washington.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: And George Washington helped have this building construction, constructing, constructed for him to live in.
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: He was an African American, he was sort of the right-hand man to uh George Washington, and I had mentioned earlier about Washington Cross and the Delaware, he is depicted in that painting.
• 26:33
  SPEAKER_00: Amazing.
• 26:34
  SPEAKER_00: So it uh it officially became a bar in 1817.
• 26:40
  SPEAKER_00: If you go there, what's kind of crazy is it used to only be about five feet from the Hudson River.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's about a block and a half, two blocks away.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: I because they over time they they built up the the island of Manhattan, but it used to sit right there at the at the river, and there's this whole story about how it's haunted, and there's this guy, Mickey, and I think it's Mickey, yeah, Mickey.
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
• 27:07
  SPEAKER_00: We're gonna talk about it on our Halloween episode, which I hope to have up by Halloween.
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so we'll be talking a little bit about that.
• 27:15
  SPEAKER_00: And um, so look, it was it was a bar in 1817, changed hands quite a few times, and then finally, it was the reason it was given its name the year in is the uh owners in the late 70s, there were all these issues that they were having with the landmark commission's reviews as far as hey, is this a bar?
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: Is it not a bar?
• 27:39
  SPEAKER_00: And different signage, and can it say bar?
• 27:42
  SPEAKER_00: You know how government gets, it just gets convoluted and it's hard.
• 27:45
  SPEAKER_00: So, what they did is they had a neon sign that said bar, and they they painted over the B just on the on the ends, and so now it says instead of bar, it says ear, and they've kept it and it's still there, and I love that story, and that's why it's called the ear in.
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: So, again, it's not a very big place, the bathrooms are crazy small.
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: Um but it's it's family friendly.
• 28:09
  SPEAKER_00: I've been there with my my family.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: I've been there with other friends.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: I actually that that third time when I did not want to run the New York Marathon, Eight Miles In, and then I I decided to finish it.
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: I met my my boss at the time there.
• 28:21
  SPEAKER_00: They came in from Jersey.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: He and his wife came in from Jersey.
• 28:24
  SPEAKER_00: We sat down.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: I the food, the food is great.
• 28:27
  SPEAKER_00: They have great, you know, like shepherd's pie, things like that.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: I love the hamburger.
• 28:30
  SPEAKER_00: It's like one of my favorite hamburgers.
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but they came in to meet me.
• 28:34
  SPEAKER_00: We sat down, it was hot in there.
• 28:36
  SPEAKER_00: I was not feeling well from running the marathon.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, within two minutes, I left.
• 28:42
  SPEAKER_00: I I couldn't sit there.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: I still feel bad that I had to leave.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: But that's what happens when you run a marathon, when you waited too long to run it the third time, but I digress.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: Okay, so that that's a good, you know, old bar where you again, if you don't drink, you can go there.
• 28:56
  SPEAKER_00: That's fine.
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: They have great food, different drinks to have.
• 28:59
  SPEAKER_00: Another one, you mean I don't know, go check it out.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: But you you're going there essentially to see the bar and just take in the ambiance.
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: This is Mixorle's.
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: It has been a bar, pub serving drinks, beer, only beer, since 1854.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: It has been visited by uh get this, you know, former presidents like like Kennedy.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: Kennedy was there, but guess who else was there?
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: Lincoln.
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: Abraham Lincoln went to this bar.
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: Crazy.
• 29:36
  SPEAKER_00: There's only two things that you can order there.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: Light beer or dark beer.
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: And they come two at a time.
• 29:43
  SPEAKER_00: Now they're not huge, so it's not a big problem that you're getting two at a time, and it's cash only.
• 29:47
  SPEAKER_00: Still, to this date, cash only.
• 29:49
  SPEAKER_00: They they do have some food.
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna do this justice, but I I think it's like you know, they have like a platter that comes out with saltines and and cheese and maybe some liver verst and things like that, but this is a bar.
• 30:03
  SPEAKER_00: Again, it it is worth checking out.
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: It gets very busy at night, and certainly during you know, events, if there's uh parade in town or if it's St.
• 30:13
  SPEAKER_00: Patrick's Day.
• 30:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so maybe try and go around mid-afternoon and hang out, have a couple of pints.
• 30:20
  SPEAKER_00: They're not even pints, have a couple of beers.
• 30:23
  SPEAKER_00: So uh again, this place has been around for a long time.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: They didn't even put a women's bathroom in there, it wasn't installed until 1986.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: Don't worry, ladies, you can go there.
• 30:34
  SPEAKER_00: There's a bathroom, but crazy that it took that long to put a women's bathroom in.
• 30:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's nuts.
• 30:41
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the other thing is so when I first went there, it must have been early 2000s.
• 30:49
  SPEAKER_00: There are, there were, there still are, I think they put them back up.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, but there there's this sort of a chandelier over the bar, and there were all these wishbones sitting there, and they were just covered in dust.
• 31:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm like, what is this?
• 31:02
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't know the background of it.
• 31:05
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but what had happened was when a bunch of these young men were heading off to World War One, they they they took the bones and they put them up, and I I believe I might be wrong on this, but I believe they, you know, somehow put like their initial just some sort of identification on on those, and they put them up on and hung them on that chandelier.
• 31:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then when they came back from World War One, they found their chicken bones, you know, they either you know broke them in half or took them with them, but there were a bunch, and I mean dozens that were just sitting up there that that had never been reclaimed and just covered in dust.
• 31:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um and then over the years I went back once and they were gone.
• 31:50
  SPEAKER_00: I'm like, what is happening?
• 31:52
  SPEAKER_00: No, they weren't gone, they were just cleaned.
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess in 2011, you know, health regulations, politicians, um, they made them remove them and and clean the dust, and then they put them put them back up.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: But crazy story, right?
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: So you can go there.
• 32:08
  SPEAKER_00: There's also there's some handcuffs that are on the rail.
• 32:12
  SPEAKER_00: I was told once that they were put there by Harry Houdini.
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: Uh from what I understand, I think Harry Houdini once put them there, and then some rascal took them and then they put them back there.
• 32:25
  SPEAKER_00: But there are, at least last time I was there, there are some handcuffs that are uh strapped to the bar.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: And if you're going to New York, you are certainly going to want to go to a Jewish deli and get one of the best sandwiches you've ever had.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: I know you've heard of cats, you've heard of some of the other ones.
• 32:43
  SPEAKER_00: They're good, they're perfectly fine.
• 32:45
  SPEAKER_00: My favorite, it's called the Second Avenue deli.
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: It is fantastic.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: When I have taken people into the city, I take them there, it's great.
• 32:54
  SPEAKER_00: I their lunch, it's I I I love it.
• 32:58
  SPEAKER_00: You get a bowl of soup.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: I typically get the matzabal soup, or as they call it Jewish penicillin, and I get a half of hop pastrami, and it's just stacked high, and it just melts in your mouth.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: I love it.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: Now, the name of it, it's 2nd Avenue Delhi.
• 33:12
  SPEAKER_00: It is located on 33rd between 3rd and Lexington.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: Not on 2nd Avenue.
• 33:19
  SPEAKER_00: Um, apparently it used to be the guy that started it, um he had it on 2nd and I was just looking this up.
• 33:28
  SPEAKER_00: 2nd and um East 10th Street in the East Village.
• 33:32
  SPEAKER_00: Uh after he passed away tragically, his family, they you know, things, you know, things happen.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: They had to they had to shut that location down, and and since um I think the late 90s, they've been on 33rd, but it's it's fantastic.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: But you know, if you're not near there, yeah, go to cats, go to one of the other ones.
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: But when you're in New York, go get yourself a salad deli sandwich and do yourself a favor.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: All right, and then as we wrap this up, and it's still on the topic of food, of course, you're going to want to get a bagel and a slice of pizza.
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: This is the the controversial part of my podcast.
• 34:09
  SPEAKER_00: There are some great bagels in New York, fantastic bagels, but they're not all great.
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: And guess what?
• 34:17
  SPEAKER_00: I've had just a good bagels in other places.
• 34:20
  SPEAKER_00: It's a bagel place from where I live.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: Uh I I live north of Atlanta.
• 34:24
  SPEAKER_00: That's it's great.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: So you know what?
• 34:27
  SPEAKER_00: Go get a great bagel, but just don't tell everyone, don't have people being like, eh, we haven't we're the only people that can make bagels.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: That's BS.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: So um I don't know, I don't know why I'm saying this.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna make so many people mad at me.
• 34:39
  unknown: You know what?
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna stand by it.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not deleting this part.
• 34:41
  SPEAKER_00: Bagels are great up there, but you can get great bagels anywhere.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: Now, pizza, that's another thing.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: You can get really bad pizza in New York, so don't go to one of these like little$1.99 places on the corner.
• 34:53
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, it's it'll fill you up.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: It's not gonna be good.
• 34:57
  SPEAKER_00: So uh there's some great, great, great pizza in New York.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna go talking about all the great pizzas or places that I've had where I can get a great slice, but the biggest thing that people always talk about is John's, John's Pizza, John's Pizza.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: You gotta go to John's Pizza, and there's like a uh 5,000 John pizzas, the OG, the original one.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: I I think this is real.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: I've done my research and I've been there and it's great.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's called John's on Bleaker.
• 35:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, it is one good pizza.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: Now, interesting thing is, whenever I think about getting a pizza or a something, you know, some pizza in New York, I think about just going and get a slice.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: You can't get a slice there.
• 35:36
  SPEAKER_00: At least when I was there, you have to get the whole of pizza.
• 35:38
  SPEAKER_00: So it's not a place you can go in and be like, hey, I just want a slice.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: Um, you're getting the whole thing, but man, it is good.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: So it's John's Pizza and it's on Bleaker Street.
• 35:48
  SPEAKER_00: So check it out.
• 35:51
  SPEAKER_00: And that is going to do it for a very, very 35,000-foot view of New York.
• 36:02
  SPEAKER_00: Again, barely scratch the surface.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: Just wanted to have this one on if you've never been, if you haven't been in a long time, how do you get around?
• 36:09
  SPEAKER_00: What should I do?
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: Where should I eat?
• 36:11
  SPEAKER_00: Where shouldn't I go?
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna bring it up again.
• 36:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, so I'm gonna plan on doing other episodes where we'll dig deeper into the museums and and restaurants and and unique things to do, but again, high level.
• 36:27
  SPEAKER_00: So hope you found this somewhat useful.
• 36:32
  SPEAKER_00: And as always, would love to hear from you in the comments.
• 36:35
  SPEAKER_00: I'm going to uh also put links to all the locations that I mentioned in the um in the show notes.
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: So again, please go on to Apple, go on to Spotify, go straight to the link on um where you can find my podcast, wherever you want to listen to it.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: But if you can, please subscribe, especially you people in Oceania.
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: I'm gonna get you Australians one of these days.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, please subscribe to it, rate it, like it if you liked it, and we will be talking to you soon.
• 37:09
  SPEAKER_00: Thanks again, everybody.
• 37:10
  SPEAKER_00: This is Places of Decay, uh, travel podcast.
• 37:15
  SPEAKER_00: Bye bye.