Saturday, April 14, 2012

Getting Around in NY

The best way to see NYC is on foot.  The funny thing is, my feet never seem to get tired when I am wandering around the concrete jungle.  I wore Sketchers wedge sandals the entire time and never experienced sore or tired feet.  I think it is because of the adrenalin I get being in The City.  There is so much to see and do, that the miles walked seemed like mere steps.


Of course stopping for delicious eats every once in a while makes walking even more pleasurable.

We had lunch at a crepe place one day, and I was very impressed with my prosciutto, potato and Gruyere cheese crepe.

 
 

We also went back to Pomme Frites, a delicious place for fries that we came across last year.  They have so many dips to choose from.  We chose 6 among the four of us, and then shared them all.

 
 
 

We stopped at Whole Foods where I picked up a Mamma Chia drink.  I LOVED this.  


It was full of chia seeds that felt really cool going down.  It was hard not to chew every mouthful.

We also took the subway a lot.  We bought an unlimited pass for the week (which was by far the best deal, especially for how much we used it).  The subway is extremely convenient, easy to use, and not scary at all.  There are even restaurants and shops underground!  The best part is listening to the music of the buskers, and people watching on the trains.  I have discovered that I am better off standing on the train or else I get a bit of motion sickness.  I have become pretty comfortable leaning on a subway pole as it speeds and screeches along, coming to an abrupt, jerky stop.

Taxis are pretty convenient too, and very easy to spot (yellow!).  They are much cheaper than what we pay here at home, although most of the drivers have no idea where any landmarks are.  You cannot give the taxi driver the name of the place you are going to, and you can't just give them the street address either ... you have to tell the driver the closest intersection to your destination.  I prefer the subway to a taxi in pretty much all cases.

We were going to hop on a train to get to Junior's for the famous cheesecake ... but as luck would have it we were closer than we thought and were able to walk a few blocks for this:

 

My eyes were bigger than my stomach and sweet tooth (as usual), so I had about 2 bites of each of these masterpieces.  I suppose it doesn't help that I downed a slice of pepperoni before breaking these out, and that I had eaten supper a few hours earlier - don't judge ;-).


My tips for getting around NY:

- Bring shoes that you can walk forever in, and then do it.  You will get to know the city intimately.
- Subway trumps taxi.  Buy an unlimited pass, grab a subway map and go for it!  If you get off at the wrong stop, another subway station is only a few steps away.  You can't get lost in Manhattan.

How do you get around your city?
Is your city good for walking, or is it too spread out?

Don't forget to enter my giveaway here.  Open to all.

9 comments:

Why am I here??? said...

I learned something new about taking a taxi. I'd love to go to NY!

Unknown said...

Oh wow ! Beautiful pics !

Lisa from Lisa's Yarns said...

I love walking around cities like NYC or Paris - or any large city really. It's best to see it on foot, in my opinion. I love transportation systems, too. Makes it so much easier to cover more ground and I have never felt unsafe.

My city is somewhat walkable... the downtown area definitely in, but there are other areas to check out and those are not really walkable, so if someone was coming to Minneapolis, I'd recommend getting a car...

Anonymous said...

I LOVE LOVE walking around everywhere in NYC. I don't want to waste a minute, a block of being there. G and I wanted to go for our annniversary but unfortunately we only have 2 days off so that's not enough time including plane rides. :(

Kacy said...

Since selling my car, I've been getting around DC pretty much exactly like you described. I use the metro the most, and walk anywhere I can. I also cab if it's really cold or I drank too much and don't feel like dealing with the metro :)
I agree that walking is by far the best way to experience NYC!
Oh and I love Pomme Frites. They have one at the Nationals Stadium and it's one of my fave places to hit up.

Ameena said...

I can't believe we missed each other in NYC! I bet we walked right by without knowing it. :)

I walk and walk in NYC. I walked from our hotel on 55th to Chelsea Market...and somehow I wasn't even tired!

Anonymous said...

I live in Philly, so it's an ideal place for walking. I love, love love walking around in NYC!

Alli said...

All of these posts make me very happy (especially the ones about the Upper West Side)! I'm so glad that you had such a great time a so much great food here in NYC.

sophia said...

LA is not good for walking at all...but if you visit, I'll give you a ride. ;-)

I love your NY posts! It brings me back. It was just so much fun, and I only took the subway about three times? We just walked most of the way, and we took the cab twice.