[plain old dan]

On a trip back east to see family we had one full day to see New York City. After arriving on the red eye, from JFK we drove over the Brooklyn Bridge and parked in what we thought, silly us, was a $29.95 dollar a day parking lot. We made it in time for the opening of the elevators up to the observation decks in the Freedom Tower. Having pre-bought the tickets for the fast line, the 46 second elevator ride had us up enjoying the 360 view of the city in no time. 9/11 memorial + Freedom Tower

Then we took the subway to Battery park. Those that didn't pre-buy tickets for the ferry got in the 4 hour line. We were able to get in the one hour line!

We didn't get to climb up into the crown because that requires a 6 month or so advance purchase of tickets (they sell out early) but were able to score tickets to go up into the pedestal. That also requires pre-buying tickets about a month or two in advance. Then we took the ferry back and rode the subway to the Natural Museum of History where we found the "missing" Willamette Asteroid. It fell in West Linn Oregon, one town over from us. We had heard about the asteroid but didn't know where they had carted it off too. Now we know. Thieves. It's the largest asteroid found in North America and 6th largest in the world.

willamette_asteroid

To cap off the day we went up the Empire State Building for sunset. The lines were long this time of day but the view overlooking the Times Square section of Manhattan was amazing.

Arriving back at the parking garage we discovered that "all day" really meant 12 hours and since we were gone for 13 hours our rate reverted to the standard daily rate of $75 bucks. More thievery but still a great day.

[GaliWalker]

I like the Statue of Liberty photos the best. I hate driving into Manhattan. Nothing but tolls. I prefer to park outside the city, sometimes in New Jersey, and then take the Park 'n Ride in.

[IanB]

This is so cool! The light and composition are striking. The patterns in the patina are beautiful. And it says more to me about the power of the idea than most of the usual photos.

[Malachai Constant]

I ♥️ NY, great place but expensive if you are an out of towner.

[Randito]

FWIW: The airtrain + A train will take you from JFK to mid-town for $7 and most times of day will be about the same speed as driving or faster at peak periods. A Taxi ride from JFK to anywhere in Manhattan is a fixed rate $52, at peak times you can wait a long time in the taxi queue. Uber or Lyft are slightly cheaper at off hours, more expensive at peak times. Usually faster to get in the car than the taxi queue. Google maps on a smartphone provides very good information for riding the Subway. Also you get to experience musical performances in the busier stations and trains. Also note that almost all museums in NYC are supported by the city. So admission is by donation, the listed amounts are suggestions. If you go in the ticket line with human (not the computer kiosks) you can pay what you want. The last time my wife and I took our grandkids to the AMNH I paid $20 for all of us vs over $65 if I had paid the listed donation amounts. With 3yo and 5yo attention spans our visits are pretty short.

[Roly Poly]

Really fantastic photos!

[plain old dan]

RandyHiker, good information. We were driving out of the city to New England to spend time with family in the area so wanted a car once we were done with the sightseeing. The subway system worked well for us getting around Manhattan but we did make a few mistakes which costs us (going into the wrong platform, buying new pass cards instead of re-upping the amounts on the existing cards which left small un-usable balances, and once the turnstile took the charge but didn't open). Oh, and once we got on a train going the opposite direction we wanted (the signs are really hard to understand without context ... i.e. knowing place names) got off at the next stop, jumped on the train on the other side of the track only to realize that train was also going in the same wrong direction. We realized we had to get off that platform, go up some stairs and down to a parallel platform. Lots of lessons to learn! You are right about Google maps... I was heavily reliant upon my son for navigation. So that's why the guard at the Natural Museum of history didn't really care or even look at the tickets we purchased to enter!

[Malachai Constant]

You can google for the cheapest way to get from the airports. From Newark you can get a free very funky monorail to a train station that goes direct to Penn Station. LaGuardia you take a subway to Harlem then a bus for cheap or an Uber. JFK as above. Subway is usually most convenient. Walking the most fun.

[coldrain108]

I spent a lot of time driving in Manhattan. The parking trick was to drive to The Village, street park somewhere in the vicinity of Houston St (took PhD level parallel parking skills) , then take a subway to whatever sights you wanted to see. For me that was MSG most of the time. I was in NYC this summer, stayed at the Marriott right off Times Square. We flew into JFK and took the 17$ bus into Manhattan. Got dropped of a few blocks from the Marriott as there was a huge traffic snarl right in front of the place so the driver declared this "the end of the line" and started putting our luggage on the sidewalk. We attended an event and in the morning walked to Grand Central Station and took a train to visit my brother in CT. I went to college in CT, and was very good at finding my way around NYC either in my own car or via public transport. This was especially fun at 3:30am, the city that never sleeps.