This morning we woke up and went on the Uptown Tour. This turned out to be rather boring and we hadn't adequately planned ahead to get off at some stops for the various museums that are on the loop route. We really should have taken advantage of it. The most interesting part was when we passed the Dakota where John Lennon was shot. Right across the street, in Central Park, is an "Imagine" exhibit that we hope to visit. When we had about as much as we could take of the bus tour, we got off at the stop for the Central Park Zoo.
The Central Park Zoo is actually not that large although it has some impressive animals in it, the most notable being a polar bear. Sophie really liked watching him swim back and forth in the water. He got himself into a particular repetitive rhythm - first swimming from one wall on his back, then diving under to the other wall, then repeating the lap again. I'm not sure how comfortable he could be in New York in the summer. Maybe that's why he spends all his time in the water.
At 11:30 the handlers in the zoo feed the sea lions and this was a pretty exciting event for Sophie. I'd say about 100-150 kids were gathered around the tank to watch the sea lions. It makes you realize how many people there are in New York to see such a large crowd gathered on a Thursday morning. One thing that we noticed was that there seemed to be a lot of nannies with kids in tow at the zoo. The trainers had the sea lions do some tricks and fed them fish. Sophie got the most excited when they would jump in the water and she started shouting for them to jump in.
After we had toured the zoo we headed under 65th street to the children's zoo/petting zoo. Sophie enjoyed feeding the goats and lambs and we got some great photos of that. While we were in the children's zoo Heidi mistook a woman next to her for me, and grabbed her elbow, then quickly realized that the woman was Jennifer Garner, visiting the zoo with her daughter Violet. She was wearing big sunglasses, jeans, sneakers and a white T-shirt. She looked pretty normal. We didn't ask for autographs or take any photos since we thought that she would just want to visit the zoo with her little girl in peace.
We got back on the Uptown Tour but only went one or two stops before we got off to get something to eat. We ended up at the Brooklyn Diner, which served some delicious food that seemed pretty authentically New York to us. The burger I had won the NY Times best burger award. The bathrooms were in a weird spot, they were located across the plaza in some trailers. Space is at a premium in New York.
Next we headed to FAO Schwarz, which is a giant toy store. We told Sophie she could pick anything she wanted from the store. Most things in the store are actually quite expensive but we managed to distract her from a $55 stuffed lamb with a smaller stuffed dog instead. She also had a great time running on the piano keyboard on the floor - similar to the scene from Big with Tom Hanks.
After FAO Schwarz we headed to the Apple store right in front of it. The Apple store is quite distinctive and has a neat design, it's hard to describe without seeing it. There's a giant empty glass cube with a single white apple logo in it. You enter the cube and take a spiral staircase down to the store itself. Besides being distinctive, the Apple store was also extremely crowded so we didn't stay long. I wanted to check out the new iPods but they didn't seem to have any, although I saw one woman with a new nano in her hands.
After that we headed back to the hotel and rested for a bit before heading, once again, on the bus for the Nightime Loop. This was kind of lame since essentially they just drive you from Times Square over the Manhattan bridge to Brooklyn to take pictures of the New York skyline at night. It was still neat to see. Once again our guide was very good, he told us all about the trial of John Gotti.
After only two days here, some general observations. First of all we feel completely safe here. I remember when my grandparents went to New York, probably back in the 1980's sometime, and they told stories about how the doormen told them to hide their cash and never flash their credit cards in public. In the areas we've visited we've seen policemen everywhere in their distinctive uniforms and blue and white cars. Since 9/11 they are now required to patrol the entrances to most public areas, including bridges, 24 hours a day. We've even seen some of the other vehicles the police have, such as these three-wheeled scooter things and NYPD tow trucks. The traffic enforcement cars are completely black and look totally bad-ass.
New Yorkers have been so far extremely friendly and polite when we ask directions. One woman who saw me looking up and down the street asked me what I was looking for. When I told her I was looking for a Duane Reade (drugstore chain) she pointed me in the right direction immediately. It was cool to walk back from the Apple store in the middle of rush hour. There were so many cars and people everywhere. I think at that time every person we saw was talking on a cell phone, probably to another person walking down the street somewhere else.
We haven't seen many homeless people at all. Yesterday we saw one at St. Paul's Chapel, who fished Heidi's unfinished salad out of the garbage and started to eat it. That was kind of sad. But the only others we've seen was a guy with two cats in a shopping cart and a disabled man holding his hat out. I think that this has to do more with the areas we've visited so far - if we were more adventurous we'd probably see more.
New York is also changing way more than I thought it would be. You'd think they'd be finished it by now! All the bus guides that we've had bemoan the rise of the "fast food" and "chain" establishments, as the "greedy landlords" raise the rents that force the mom and pop stores out. So they've advised us to seek out different places to eat and avoid places like the Olive Garden. Our guide tonight told us that even the projects to the north of the Manhattan bridge in Brooklyn are all being converted to condominiums for sale. Gas station owners who can't make any money sell their land to convert to condos too. Entire neighborhoods are also changing, as rents and other economic forces move entire groups of people out. It's all very interesting and we're looking forward to the rest of our trip!
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