Dr. Cerny's B-R Hype: Five Days in New York City

Hotel Carter

I traveled with my daughter Elizabeth for a 5-day vacation in New York City. Since I was on a limited budget, I found some cheap ways to have fun and see the “City That Doesn’t Sleep.”

Getting there and back.

There are three major airports that fly into New York City. The cheapest flight from Omaha was to the Newark airport (around $300 each roundtrip). We caught a shuttle bus at the airport that dropped us off two blocks from our hotel ($18 each roundtrip).

Where to stay.

Hotel Carter

The Hotel Carter is one block from Times Square. A room with two double beds was $110 a night. Don’t believe the Internet reviews. The Hotel Carter is like a Motel 6, a small room with a bathroom/shower and a television that gets only two channels. A lot of foreign travelers were staying there because of the price and the location. I didn’t plan on spending a lot of time in the room, so I was willing to accept modest accommodations. We were on the 6^th floor, but with three elevators, we rarely had to wait.

Getting Around

We walked to nearby sights the first two days. Then took the subway (and one awkward bus ride) the rest of the time. The subway entrance was at the end of the block from the Hotel. We purchased a MetroCard for $10 worth of trips (each trip is $2.25). You can add to the card at any subway stop. The people on the subway were very helpful and polite. One gentleman heard us talking about going to Chinatown and told us we needed to get off at the next stop or we would end up in Brooklyn.

The Book of Mormon

Food.

A guy could spend a lot on restaurant food. I chose a little place a block away that sold cheese pizza for $1 a slice (50 cents more with black olives on top). There were street food carts on every corner and we ate a couple $4-6 meals from the carts. There were some specialty places I wanted to eat at- Soup from the “Soup Nazi”, The Tasty Dumpling in Chinatown with their 5 dumplings for $1.25, a hamburger at the Shake Shack (expensive- a meal ran about $10).

Broadway shows

This is what I chose to spend money on. To get good seats for “The Book Of Mormon” was pricey, $200 a ticket. But this was the one I wanted to see. We also paid regular price ($120 a ticket) for the musical “Spiderman” (the theatre was right next to our Hotel).

The lucky winner of Priscilla tickets

Spiderman (Good Seats)

I wanted to see a couple more shows, but didn’t want to spend a lot of money so we tried the “lottery.” Some Broadway shows hold lottery drawings for a pair of discounted tickets a couple hours before the doors open. I found some shows that had open lotteries- anyone can enter-rather than student lotteries- only people with student ID’s can enter. Of the four lottery drawings we entered, my name was drawn twice. We had front row seats to the musical “Priscilla Queen of the Desert” and good seats to the play “Peter and The Starcatcher.” I didn’t realize “Priscilla” was about drag queens traveling across the Australian Outback until right before the drawing, but the seats were great and it was hilarious.

Central Park (wrong bridge)

Free Sightseeing

#1- Central Park. A long walk but worth it. We walked through “Strawberry Fields”- a memorial to John Lennon- and made it to Belvedere Castle. I didn’t realize Bow Bridge was such a big deal (it has been used in several movies) until it was too late to go back. I suggest finding it and walking across it.

#2- Staten Island Ferry. Free trip across the Hudson River and takes you close to the Statue of Liberty.

Little Italy

#3- 9/11 Memorial. Two large pools with the names of the victims engraved around the edges. The museum was not completed yet when we went. The new towers were under construction.

#4- Chinatown and Little Italy. Lots of restaurants and shops. They can’t charge you for looking. I did spring for some gelato and a biscotti in Little Italy (dessert after a meal at the Tasty Dumpling).

#5- Times Square. Lots of things to see, including people trying to make money, like the Naked Cowboy- playing the guitar in his white Fruit of the Looms, his boots and his cowboy hat. We went to look at most of the famous Broadway theatres around Times Square.

Times Square

#6- Wall Street and the financial district. Not what I expected. The New York Stock Exchange Building was fenced in and guarded. Didn’t see any of the Occupy Wall Street people. We stopped at Trinity Church and saw the gravesite of Alexander Hamilton.

The Toy Store with the giant keyboard

#7- Grand Central Station and Park Avenue. The station is worth the walk. Wasn’t impressed with the big corporate headquarters and department stores.

#8- South Street Seaport and the Brooklyn Bridge. We walked half-way across the bridge and walked back. Checked out the view of the East River and the Bridge from the Seaport.

We also ate in Bryant Park and visited the New York Library. And went to Greenwich Village at the corner of Bedford and Grove to see the apartment building where the TV show characters in “Friends” lived. We stumbled across the filming of a stunt scene for the movie “The Secret Life of Walter Mitty.”

Brooklyn from the Seaport

9/11 Memorial Pool

What we paid to see.

#1- Top of the Rock. Picked between the Top of the Rock and the Empire State Building. Went with the Rock.

#2- MOMA, the Museum of Modern Art. Lots of museums on Museum Row. Most are free one day a week, but we weren’t able to work a free trip to a museum into our schedule. My preference is for modern art over the ancient stuff. If you see a large gathering of people taking pictures, then you have found “Starry Night” by Vincent Van Gogh. Luckily, Beth took an Art History class and explained what the big deal was. I was surprised that the painting was only the size of a computer monitor.

If you were thinking there would be more in this section, refer back to the title.