Only in New York....

Bruce and I spent Memorial day weekend in the Big Apple with our friends Nate, Kaylyn, Jessica, and Emily Jack. While there, I found some idiosyncrasies that you may only find in New York city.
Only in New York....

• Is Vodka advertised on the back of busses. (I didn't get a picture)
  


• Do you see signs that specifically say "Don't Honk, $350 penalty." Do you think that is ever really enforced? (I didn't think so)


• Will you see "No standing anytime signs" on the side of the street. Once again... how do you enforce something like that???
  


• Will taxis have the right away, drive wherever they can fit, pay no attention to lanes, and act like they own the road.

• Will long dumpsters take up half the parking available on the street


• Will you pay 50 cents for 10 minutes of street side parking. That is assuming you are lucky enough to find street side parking. We did visit the Manhatten temple. It's amazing that there can be such a place of peace and refuge in an ultimately busy city.
  


• Will UPS trucks park wherever they want, turning driving lanes into parking lanes to block in those cars that really are in a parking lane. (When we came out of the temple, a UPS truck literally blocked us in our spot. He parked on the road, set up some cones so others would go around him. After 7 minutes of waiting, I got out of the car, stepped into the busy street, and helped Bruce maneover our car out of the spot. Someone we managed. Sure enough, just as we got behind the UPS truck, the UPS man came out, got into his truck and took off without even apologizing for the inconveience he caused us. Really! Does he own the streets. Too bad I didn't get a picture of it so you know what I mean.)


• Will bicyclists weave in and out of and cross through the middle of traffic and expect you to watch out for them.


• Will your GPS get dizzy because all the streets and lanes change on a regular basis.


• Is it better to take the train in, and ride the subways in stead of drive. (Bruce and I drove in New York city on Friday, but took the train on Saturday with the Jacks. The train is much less stressful.)


• Will you spend most of your day riding the subway, and taking nearly the entire day trying to figure out how it works. Once we went the wrong direction, once we got on the express subway instead of the local (the express doesn't stop at all the stops), and we ran into subway construction and had to take an alternate route.





• will about a dozen people stand up and offer you their seat when you are 8 months pregnant, carrying an 18 month old, and nearly fall over when the subway jolts to start. That's the secret to getting a seat on the subway. :)
  (This picture is actually us on the train from Secacus New Jersey to New York. It's not nearly as crowded at 8:00 Saturday morning as it is 8:00 Saturday night. )


• Will you get to ride on this free ferry to Stanton Island. Only this ferry's ceiling consists entirely of life jackets. Hopefully they are easy to get down in an emergency situation.

• Will you see "Lady Liberty"
  

• Can you walk down Wall Street
  

• Can you pose in front of the Bull market

(This man stepped right in front of Bruce and Nate right as we took the picture)

• Can you trade and feel a part of the New York Stock exchange

Will you see the Brooklyn Bridge

Will you walk along the board walk (watch out for the bicyclists.)

• Will you buy deformed cherries at 3 pounds for $2.00, the largest grapes you've ever seen, and green bean smoothies (no I actually had Kiwi, but green bean ones are available) from a side street vendor in Chinatown.
  

• Will you spend your entire time in Central Park walking around looking for a bathroom. When you do finally find one, it will be closed, and the search will start all over. The one you find will be filthy, dirty, and downright disgusting (I don't want to know what was on the floor), but you will need to use the facilities so badly that the filth won't bother you as much. However, while you are searching, you will come across some spectacular views of Central Park.


You can take a break in front of Belvidare castle,

and find some road side vendors when you get hungry.

Finally, you can take one last glimpse of Central Park before heading for the subway station on the way home.


• Will you trip over and weave around the people sitting on the steps in order to take this picture.





• Will you walk out of the train station, and come upon Madison Square Garden, which truely feels like downtown New York




• will you get to spend an awesome weekend in a crazy, yet fun city with such great, cool friends.

New York in all its craziness is fun to visit. It's only ~2.5 hours from us. One day in the Big Apple was enough for us at the moment. I'm sure we'll be back sometime. Good bye New York, until we meet again where we may have a completely different experience.