First of all I want to thank all of you that gave suggestions about things to do and places to eat. While, my wife and I didn't have time to do all of them we did and saw all of the suggestions we possibly could do and see. Again, thanks a million.
Things we did and places we ate.
1. We visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island a day after the protesters. I have a picture of me pretending to climb the outside of the Statue of Liberty.
2. We went to the Top of the Rock. We had our picture taken pretending to be sitting on the I-beam of the original picture taken back in the 30s. My wife is pretending to be pushing me off the beam.
3. We went to the 9/11 Memorial and it was very moving. I guess the thing that lingers with me now and I still can't get my mind off of it are the pictures of the victims that lost their lives that day.
4. We also visited St. Paul's Church across from the 9/11 Memorial. That was most inspiring as well.
5. We visited St. Patrick's Cathedral, it was the most elaborate House of God I have ever visited in my life and well worth the time to me anyway.
6. Visited the Freedom Tower and rode the elevator to the 103th floor. The elevator purportedly took 47 seconds from the 1st floor to the 103th floor. While I didn't time how long the elevator took to actually reach the top floor I certainly would not dispute that claim.
7. Took a tour of the Empire State Building all the way to the top. I only did this because I had seem pictures of the Empire State Building in movies and magazines all my life and have always wanted to go all the way to the top. At the ESB it costs something like $36 to go to the 86th floor and another $26 to go to the very top. The view at the top was good but it took much longer and was more expensive and more crowded that the Freedom Tower.
8. Visited the old Grand Central Station. All it is now is a bunch of fast food places and shops but it was still fun to visit from a historical standpoint. Again, it was fun for me and my wife because we had seen it in movies, etc ever since we were kids. And I can remember people saying things like, if we get a TV this house will be like Grand Central Station or if we get whatever it will be like Grand Central Station around here. LOL!
9. We really enjoyed Little Italy. It was fun just walking about LI and exploring the various shops, etc. We ate at a restaurant there and I can't remember the exact name but it started with a P. I ate the 2nd best lasagna there I have ever eaten in my life.
10. We ate at the Hard Rock Café in Times Square. I had the baby back ribs and they were good but the music there was just too loud for the older crowd. LOL
11. This was one of the most fun things we did. We were in China Town and my wife and this young man's mother wanted to do some shopping. This part is kind of strange, this young man that I met on the trip was only 23 and was a school teacher and he wanted very much to visit Queens and see the house where Archie Bunker lived in the TV series All in the Family. Apparently, he had just started watching re-runs of the show. He had the address of the house; 89-70 Cooper Ave, Queens, NY. So, we took a subway to Queens, we didn't know where to catch the subway and had to ask a lot of different people what train to catch and how to transfer, etc. And everyone was very nice but we got different answers from everyone we asked. Anyway, we finally figured out what train to catch and once we boarded the train we had to start asking people how to transfer and what train to transfer to. Again, everyone was very nice and tried to be very helpful. Finally, this man clicked the app for the Subway Trains and we figured out how to transfer and what train to take. I didn't have a cell phone with me and I can't remember if my friend did or not. Actually, we needed to transfer to a bus once we got to Queens but we just took a cab to Archie's old house instead. The house was actually two houses and looked the same way it did in the TV series but in the TV series it looked like there was house after house for blocks in the Opening Scene but actually there was only about one block of houses today and there were a lot of large four lane streets and open land spaces around the block of houses there today. I know this section is long but it was a fun experience so please don't fuss at me because I though a lot of the old guys on the board who remembered the show might enjoy the part about Archie's house.
12. We went to a Broadway Play, "Hello Dolly" starring Bernadette Peters and the show was fantastic. It was in an old theater build in 1919 and once inside one could tell it was from a different time period once you saw the ornate decorations of the theater.
13. On July 4th we went to the East River to see the fireworks but it was so hot we turned around and walked part of the way back to the hotel and gave out of energy and caught a cab the rest of the way.
14. We visited Trump Tower and had lunch in the lobby. Actually, the lunch was good and was reasonably priced for NYC.
15. As we were leaving Trump Tower we stopped in Tiffany's and my wife saw a beautiful gold chain necklace which was only $14,000 and some change. So I told her to go ahead and buy it. If you believe that I have some ocean front property in my backyard here in Marion, NC. Seriously, I would expect to give something like $800-$1000 tops in this area are even on QVC.
16. Someone on the board suggest that we eat a slice of junior's cheesecake. We did and it was without a doubt the best cheesecake I have ever eaten and I have eaten a lot of cheesecake.
17. We took a tour of Radio City Music Hall. It was very interesting the way things operated behind the scenes. While we did not see a show there, we did get to meet a Rockette. She explained a lot about what the Rockettes did in the show. She said, if I remember correctly, each girl performed 300 kicks during a show. She also said that the height requirements for being a Rockette was minimum of 5'6" and a maximum of 5'10" and the age requirement was at least 18 and the maximum age limit was 38. She also said they worked six days a week practicing and performing during the season.
I don't know how many of you that live in the upstate remember this but 5-6 years ago (maybe longer) the Radio Music Hall Rockettes performed in Greenville at (what was then the BI-LO Center). My wife and I caught that performance and it was very very good. I asked the Rockette did they do traveling shows anymore and she said they didn't. So, I feel very fortunate to have seen the show in Greenville.
I can't remember too much more off the top of my head and I hope I didn't bore everyone but I just wanted to show my appreciation for all the suggestions I got from the members of GCC.
Thanks so much, we had a really great time.
Sincerely,
Freddie.B.Cocky
Things we did and places we ate.
1. We visited the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island a day after the protesters. I have a picture of me pretending to climb the outside of the Statue of Liberty.
2. We went to the Top of the Rock. We had our picture taken pretending to be sitting on the I-beam of the original picture taken back in the 30s. My wife is pretending to be pushing me off the beam.
3. We went to the 9/11 Memorial and it was very moving. I guess the thing that lingers with me now and I still can't get my mind off of it are the pictures of the victims that lost their lives that day.
4. We also visited St. Paul's Church across from the 9/11 Memorial. That was most inspiring as well.
5. We visited St. Patrick's Cathedral, it was the most elaborate House of God I have ever visited in my life and well worth the time to me anyway.
6. Visited the Freedom Tower and rode the elevator to the 103th floor. The elevator purportedly took 47 seconds from the 1st floor to the 103th floor. While I didn't time how long the elevator took to actually reach the top floor I certainly would not dispute that claim.
7. Took a tour of the Empire State Building all the way to the top. I only did this because I had seem pictures of the Empire State Building in movies and magazines all my life and have always wanted to go all the way to the top. At the ESB it costs something like $36 to go to the 86th floor and another $26 to go to the very top. The view at the top was good but it took much longer and was more expensive and more crowded that the Freedom Tower.
8. Visited the old Grand Central Station. All it is now is a bunch of fast food places and shops but it was still fun to visit from a historical standpoint. Again, it was fun for me and my wife because we had seen it in movies, etc ever since we were kids. And I can remember people saying things like, if we get a TV this house will be like Grand Central Station or if we get whatever it will be like Grand Central Station around here. LOL!
9. We really enjoyed Little Italy. It was fun just walking about LI and exploring the various shops, etc. We ate at a restaurant there and I can't remember the exact name but it started with a P. I ate the 2nd best lasagna there I have ever eaten in my life.
10. We ate at the Hard Rock Café in Times Square. I had the baby back ribs and they were good but the music there was just too loud for the older crowd. LOL
11. This was one of the most fun things we did. We were in China Town and my wife and this young man's mother wanted to do some shopping. This part is kind of strange, this young man that I met on the trip was only 23 and was a school teacher and he wanted very much to visit Queens and see the house where Archie Bunker lived in the TV series All in the Family. Apparently, he had just started watching re-runs of the show. He had the address of the house; 89-70 Cooper Ave, Queens, NY. So, we took a subway to Queens, we didn't know where to catch the subway and had to ask a lot of different people what train to catch and how to transfer, etc. And everyone was very nice but we got different answers from everyone we asked. Anyway, we finally figured out what train to catch and once we boarded the train we had to start asking people how to transfer and what train to transfer to. Again, everyone was very nice and tried to be very helpful. Finally, this man clicked the app for the Subway Trains and we figured out how to transfer and what train to take. I didn't have a cell phone with me and I can't remember if my friend did or not. Actually, we needed to transfer to a bus once we got to Queens but we just took a cab to Archie's old house instead. The house was actually two houses and looked the same way it did in the TV series but in the TV series it looked like there was house after house for blocks in the Opening Scene but actually there was only about one block of houses today and there were a lot of large four lane streets and open land spaces around the block of houses there today. I know this section is long but it was a fun experience so please don't fuss at me because I though a lot of the old guys on the board who remembered the show might enjoy the part about Archie's house.
12. We went to a Broadway Play, "Hello Dolly" starring Bernadette Peters and the show was fantastic. It was in an old theater build in 1919 and once inside one could tell it was from a different time period once you saw the ornate decorations of the theater.
13. On July 4th we went to the East River to see the fireworks but it was so hot we turned around and walked part of the way back to the hotel and gave out of energy and caught a cab the rest of the way.
14. We visited Trump Tower and had lunch in the lobby. Actually, the lunch was good and was reasonably priced for NYC.
15. As we were leaving Trump Tower we stopped in Tiffany's and my wife saw a beautiful gold chain necklace which was only $14,000 and some change. So I told her to go ahead and buy it. If you believe that I have some ocean front property in my backyard here in Marion, NC. Seriously, I would expect to give something like $800-$1000 tops in this area are even on QVC.
16. Someone on the board suggest that we eat a slice of junior's cheesecake. We did and it was without a doubt the best cheesecake I have ever eaten and I have eaten a lot of cheesecake.
17. We took a tour of Radio City Music Hall. It was very interesting the way things operated behind the scenes. While we did not see a show there, we did get to meet a Rockette. She explained a lot about what the Rockettes did in the show. She said, if I remember correctly, each girl performed 300 kicks during a show. She also said that the height requirements for being a Rockette was minimum of 5'6" and a maximum of 5'10" and the age requirement was at least 18 and the maximum age limit was 38. She also said they worked six days a week practicing and performing during the season.
I don't know how many of you that live in the upstate remember this but 5-6 years ago (maybe longer) the Radio Music Hall Rockettes performed in Greenville at (what was then the BI-LO Center). My wife and I caught that performance and it was very very good. I asked the Rockette did they do traveling shows anymore and she said they didn't. So, I feel very fortunate to have seen the show in Greenville.
I can't remember too much more off the top of my head and I hope I didn't bore everyone but I just wanted to show my appreciation for all the suggestions I got from the members of GCC.
Thanks so much, we had a really great time.
Sincerely,
Freddie.B.Cocky
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