Autumn in New York: The Big Apple in the Waking Hours (Day 2)

Butter crumble and cappuccinos!

After a two-hour reprieve from Day 1, Patrice and I woke up early for a busy day of sightseeing, eating, and dreaming in New York city. Our Saturday began with a butter crumble and cappuccino breakfast from Cake Boss Cafe (42nd St and 8th Ave) followed by a hop-on, hop-off tour of the city care of Skyline Tours.

The Empire State

The tour started at Times Square and passed by a number of beautiful sights along the way, including the famous neighbourhoods of SoHo, Tribeca, and Wall Street and the iconic flat iron and Empire State buildings. Although we did not get off the bus to see any of the sights individually, we nevertheless enjoyed marveling at the beautiful city from our second floor of the double decker tour bus. The tour lasted for about ninety minutes and ended at South Ferry, the docking station for our ferry ride on the Hudson River. 

We arrived at the boardwalk at around 11:00 and were just in time for the ferry, which was about to leave the dock. We picked up our tickets from the collector booth at the edge of the boardwalk, made a run for the line, and boarded the ferry soon after. The timing could not have been more perfect. We immediately chose two seats at the third floor of the ferry and had an amazing view of the New York city skyline and, later, of the Statue of Liberty.

The New York City Skyline

The view was, as I had mentioned, amazing. I had never seen New York from that angle in any of my previous visits to the big city. Words fail me whenever I try to describe the sight I had the utmost privilege of beholding that Saturday morning. It was and is beautiful, understated, and, forgive me, magical. If I did not appreciate New York before, I definitely appreciated it then. I continue to sigh to this day in recollection of that spectacular view.

After one glorious hour aboard the ferry, our tour of New York via the Hudson river was over. We reluctantly left the boat in search of an equally amazing New York moment, which we found from walking on the famous Brooklyn Bridge.

Brooklyn Bridge

The trek to the bridge was short. However, we were sleep-deprived, hungry, and ill-soled. Moreover, the sun's rays beamed down on us as if it were a sunny afternoon in July. In spite of our childish complaints, the trek was worth it. All throughout our walk to the northernmost tower of the bridge, I kept getting flashbacks of the movie Kate & Leopold and quotes regarding "the fabric of time" kept popping into my head. When we finally made it to the first tower, we were relieved and amazed. We took our fair share of photos of the famous bridge and turned ourselves southward for more photos with the skyline as a backdrop. We then proceeded to make the ten-minute walk back from the bridge to mainland Manhattan where we treated ourselves to the Liege waffle I had been eying earlier that afternoon.

Liege Waffles!

Patrice wanted to see Central Park during our short trip to NYC so we hopped on the 6 towards Columbus Circle, Time Warner, and, finally, Central Park.

Postcard view

I had never seen Central Park in the fall and it was really beautiful. Fall colours never looked as well as they did on the leaves of thousands of trees scattered around the park. Autumn in New York may be a title of a movie and a cliche of four words but I clearly underestimated how amazing it would be to actually spend part of the season in the empire state. I could have sat on those rocks for the entire day. In fact, I could even imagine myself reading there or under a nearby tree for the better part of an October afternoon.

Alas, it was time to wake up from the Central Park reverie and make for the Upper East Side for the next leg of our tour. Our next stop was the Metropolitan Museum of Art or the MET as it is affectionately known to locals and to art-loving tourists alike. We took the subway to 86th st and walked southwest through the upper east side residences for the famous museum.

I sometimes hear that the journey to the final destination is often as fun (if not more!) as the destination itself. This was certainly the case for both Patrice and I. We had a real laugh imagining that we were residents of the apartment buildings that lined the streets of Park Avenue among others. It is so good to dream. :)

We soon found ourselves in front of the MET. Unfortunately, the perimeter of the museum was under construction, which obscured the view of the beautiful museum. However, we made do with the view that we had and took photos on the steps of the museum just like the actors of televison's past.

The MET

After our short stint at the MET, we decided to visit Central Park once more and walked down the street. This was a painstakingly difficult experience. I was, as I had mentioned, ill-soled and was in need of more comfortable shoes and, potentially, a nice, long bench to take a nap on. Nevertheless, we remained steadfast in our goals for the trip and soon found our way to the Conservatory Water where thirty or so sail boats floated serenely on its surface. We then walked further south and found the revered Loeb Boathouse.

In order to get the best view of the famed tourist attraction, you will have to make the short walk to the nearby Bethesda Terrace, which was arguably one of the most romantic spots in the park. If you are ever planning to visit the Central Park, definitely plan on bringing a really good camera. There was an exhaustive list of angles and photo opportunities at this terrace alone. It was, in my opinion, a photographer's paradise.

Beautiful

The day began to wind down shortly after we arrived at the terrace and the night soon took over to transform the city into a completely new one. New York city night life is not quite like Toronto night life. Unfortunately for you, reader, you will have to wait with bated breath for the anti-climatic ending to my second day in NYC.