View from the Ferry approaching Manhattan
We set out to do plenty of walking on this day. Our plan was to go to the top of the Empire State building, walk around Times Square, go to Central Park and then go back to the hotel. Well things didn't exactly go according to plan. The cost for both of us to ride to the top of the Empire State building ranged from $20 to $47 each depending on the package purchased. We were also told there was an hour long line so we passed and admired the view from below.
We then decided to hit up the Square, which is not but a few blocks from here. As the pictures will show, it was crowded and there is a plethora of advertisements, digital banners, and lights in all colors. It was simply a royal treat for the eyes. It also made me wonder how many people's pictures I am the random guy in..
While we were walking around we were inundated by fliers, sightseeing tours, and comedy club salesmen, among other things. We decided we would oblige one particularly good salesman and buy tickets to a comedy show. He told us the place we were going to was recording a show for Comedy Central and that Caroline Rhea was going to be there. I didn't much believe him, but we bought some tickets anyway. During this transaction, we saw a man they call the Naked Cowboy. Apparently this guy has a trademark on his costume and imitators can and have been sued.
We kept walking and found more places we recognized:
It was about this time I had to use the bathroom something fierce. And it is very hard to find restrooms in the city. Most places either don't have them or hide them and have the old "customers only" attitude, which is totally understandable. So we found this place that is dedicated to the history of Times Square and had an old New Year's ball on display:
After this we walked around and found Rockefeller Center
... and Elmo!
It was getting later so we headed to Central Park to at least get a quick view of it. We found that they must do paddle boat rides as this little pond was full of them.
A nice photo-op and I wore my favorite shirt:
Now it was time for the comedy show. We found out that along with our cover that we paid the guy on the street, there was a 2 drink minimum at the show. I was prepared for this because I had been to a comedy club before, but I was not prepared for the $10 and above price tag on the drinks. That was not cool and the guy on the street lied about everything he told us, except the address of the club. Beyond that, the comedians were really funny and it was a place where some mega stars had done stand up in the past such as Chris Rock and Jerry Seinfeld. The crowd was multi-national with representation from Norway, Canada, New Zealand, Australia and more. The comedians did a good job picking on many of the countries, led mostly by the host as he had to keep the crowd involved. And as you might expect, we endured some Kansas jokes, though it wasn't the typical Dorothy and Toto lines we usually here when leaving the state. He made a joke about keeping it clean for the Kansas religious folks, and I about fell out of my chair when he was saying how he couldn't understand how the Midwest has obesity and meth problems at the same time.
By the time the show was over around 10 PM, we were exhausted and had to hop back on the Subway to the Staten Island Ferry. We were excited to take pictures of the city on the ride back, but the camera didn't like focusing in on the lights. There was a nice Ferry employee (he was uniformed and worked on the boat) who offered to take our picture, which came out good despite the blurry background.
All in all this was a day for us to take in the sights and plot some ideas for where we want to go in the coming months. There is no shortage of things to do, and we have barely scratched the surface.
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