The Big Bus Tour & Time to Reflect

Today we got up with a mission. Free days are running short as we still have a Baseball and Football game to see this weekend. So we decided to do The Big Bus Tour and see as much of New York as possible in a reasonably short length of time. As usual this involved a walk to Times Square to the start point. A pleasant walk in cooler temperature than previous days but with glorious sunshine, and then we saw the line for the bus…and another Brit Whinge. Pushing in!
Hubby is a people watcher. Not much gets past him. He can spot a potential threat from a hundred paces. Or the back of the line in this case. There have been several incidences of this. It bothers him more than me and so we are told to spread ourselves out across the line to prevent ‘them’ - mostly Italians and Spanish from sidling past us. Nifty footwork today allowed us to regain our position in front of the group that had done just that. Smug looks all round.
Once on the top deck of the bus, armed with headphones and plastic poncho (not a cloud in sight but free, so taken for future use.) Our jolly tour guide introduced himself, and made sure we all knew that there was a gratitude box downstairs to show our appreciation.

We’d chosen to take the Downtown Tour first, so we could tick off a few of the things we wanted to see. I like bus tours, I like to just sit and see things rather than having to negotiate people and traffic at the same time. A lot of the time we were stationary in traffic but merry quips from the guide kept us mildly amused. We wound around the streets and avenues, and eventually found ourselves in Wall Street where we got off to go and visit the 9/11 Memorial. As I walked along the streets towards the place where the twin towers stood, images of smoke and ash covered people running for their lives filled my mind, smoke billowing from the burning buildings high into the sky.. those images we all have that remind us of a moment in time.

It takes you a few minutes to adjust to your surroundings when you enter the plaza, the two pools sit amongst lots of trees, overlooked by One World Trade Centre Tower and the more recent Oculus transport station. The pools are incredibly moving. I defy anyone to be moved by their significance (except those responsible for them being there). There was a quietness in the area as people stopped to pay their respects, looking into the pool as tiny sparkling droplets of water pour from the rim cascading down the sides of the pool and finally disappearing into the blackness of the square in the centre. Then there were others hurrying across carrying out their normal daily routine, just as they may have on the day it happened. How many of them think ‘it could have been me’?

I would have liked to have spent more time there, done the tour etc but hubby and LD wanted to move on and see other things. So we went via The Oculus. Built to symbolise a white dove and to replace the train station that was destroyed in the terrorist attack. I thought it was beautiful and the interior spectacular. A photograph doesn’t do it justice. It is huge, but apparently there have been mixed feelings about the building, the cost, design and fact that it leaks. Personally, as a visitor, I loved it.
From there we went into Century 21 – a store recommended as being the place to buy last year’s designer goods at discount prices. I’m not really fussed about designer clothes or shoes etc but I do like a nice handbag. Though the scrum that was going on in there put me off straight away and I had no desire to fight amongst the hoardes of rude women for a bargain. So we headed back to the Big Bus stop to continue our tour.

My favourite parts of the tour back uptown were the areas like Soho, and Little Italy, which looked just like the New York you see on the old TV shows and films like Sesame Street. Streets lined with tall narrow brick houses, escape ladders zig-zagging down to the ground. Shops, restaurants, cafe’s crammed along the sidewalk, trees, fire hydrants, trash cans..and the odd person sleeping out on the street in a doorway. Not unlike some parts of cities in the UK, but this was the New York, and there are a lot more – that’s another post!
The United Nations Building wasn’t what I expected either. It wasn’t as grand as I thought. Although much of it was hidden behind security screening buildings. I was intrigued by a statue in the park beside the UN building though…Good Defeats Evil. I must read up on it as I wonder who the ‘good’ and ‘evil’ are supposed to be here. St. George, a defeated dragon and a heap of missile/rocket parts…

From there we went back up to Times Square, and hopped off onto the Big Bus that went Uptown, taking us to the West Side, past homes of the rich and famous overlooking Central Park and then the not so rich parts of The Bronx and Harlem…unsurprisingly, few visitors felt they wanted to ‘Hop Off’ in these parts. For most of the trip I had the delight of an elderly Italian lady, who didn’t seem to understand any language the guide used to ask her to sit down. Her more elderly husband had difficulty negotiating the stairs and she seemed intent on getting him up there. She finally agreed to sit next to me, chuntering to herself, blowing her nose loudly and then inspecting the contents of her handkerchief thoroughly. I just concentrated on the view.
Back at Times Square, which was starting to become uncomfortably full of people as it did around dusk. During the day you could move fairly easily and the Bus Tour touts didn’t bother you once you said you weren’t interested. However at dusk it became a haven for selfie stick asians, and groups of people trying to sell you things like blank CD’s..we had been warned about them and to avoid conversation at all costs. By now we have become used to the hussle and made our way like a recon team across the square (which isn’t actually a square at all by the way) to Bubba Gumps for the second time.

You might be wondering why we went there twice, since there are a million other places to eat in New York. The answer is ‘Landry’s Card’. We’ve had these for a few years now and only use them in the US. Each year on your birthday you get a $25 gift. On top of that, walk into Bubba’s and regardless of how many others are waiting you will be taken to the front of the line and seated as soon as there is a free table. We have never had to wait. The Rainforest Cafe is another you can use it at amongst others. So having another twenty five bucks sitting there we weren’t going to let it go to waste. Plus the food is great!
By the time we’d eaten we were more than ready for a brisk stroll (our strolls are always brisk, heaven forbid we bimble along like everyone else on holiday..) back to the hotel. By the way I think the grid system here is brilliant! As brilliant as the idea they have in the new Disney multi storey car parks of little lights above each space that are green when free…makes it so much easier to park.
Another long day, but one where I felt I’d seen a lot of the New York I wanted to see – and without having to walk miles and miles to see them.
