Joan, my views: The best of New York

I am no fan of New York, having lived there for about six months many decades ago, before escaping to live in Canada.

What turned me off most of all then, was public transportation, especially the subway. As a result of my dislike for that particular state, I never returned for years, but when I finally did, I discovered I had an affinity to Manhattan, nowhere else.

So, on a recent trip there with a former school mate, we decided to do some touring in the city.

Fortunately, we were staying close to Central Park which I had explored some years ago with my daughter and granddaughter, in a carriage.

I really enjoyed that ride and am always in love with how they decorate those carriages.

As an animal lover, this time I decided to visit the zoo there, but it is by far the paltriest zoo I have every visited! Their only saving grace were the loveable penguins but apart from them, there wasn't much else to see.

The hop-on-hop off tour we took with Top View, wasn't bad in terms of the attractions selected for stops, but the lack of information was appalling.

For example, I wanted to spend some time in Harlem but only learnt after we were there, that there were only three buses travelling to that area in a 24-hour day!

Also, our purchase included the Statue of Liberty cruise, but they gave no information on where the pier was, how to get there, Nothing.

It turned out that the pier was so far away, that we had to get a ride share car to get to the boat on time, as the bus stop was so far away.

Also, while the numerous skyscrapers in Manhattan, give the impression of a concrete jungle, many buildings do have attractive facades, but no information on architecture was given on either day or night tour.

The night tour was good however and gave one a really good view of the city lights.

Despite these shortfalls, I really enjoyed learning a lot more about Manhattan and the Broadway musicals that we had the opportunity to visit were marvelous.

We had a really wonderful time in New York City but there was one glitch.....transportation.

To begin with we were departing from La Guardia Airport on St. Patrick's Day and despite Lyft finding three different drivers willing to pick us up, none could make it due to the traffic confusion caused by parades which the police did not seem to have a handle on. Eventually after about an hour, we did get a driver that was able to find his way out of the city.

Then came the real killer.

La Guardia Airport became engulfed by a thick fog which made it dangerous for planes to land all day.

This created a logistics nightmare for Delta which had to cancel a whopping 65 flights including ours.

With the airport undergoing massive upgrading, that did not make for a comfortable overnight stay in the adjoining terminal, but we survived after waiting for what seemed like a lifetime, to retrieve our luggage.

However, the next day, the weather was fantastic and we were able to return home safely.

Such are the hazards caused when Acts of God, but the trip was worth every minute.

https://joan-myviews.blogspot.com/2022/03/new-yorks-best-kept-secret.html

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