Travelogue V: New York City 1
New York City (NYC) or Manhattan Island is the busiest city in the world. Skyscrapers pile together. Tourists almost take any space they can get into everyday. It is not easy to drive around in the city. So many vehicles are filled on the narrowed streets. The best way to get around the city is to take the subway system, but the only inconvenient thing I note is that the wheelchair access is limited. Keep in mind that finding a place to park may take a lot of time.
The very first day, we tried to drive our car to get in the NYC. Before starting, we did our best to prepare the trip with loading the tons of foods, bottles of water and jackets. Unexpectedly, just getting in the city around only 20 minutes, my husband needed to find to a restroom urgently. We drove around the crazy streets for one hour and all fast food restaurants provided no way to stop. We had to drive far away from the city central area 30 miles for solving his problem. Then, it was hard to go back to the main streets because the traffic jam was terrible and unbelievable.
Section day, we got up earlier than the first day. Learning lesson, we did not drink coffee or water for the breakfast. We got in the NYC again. Luckily we found a road side parking place, it was not cheap and costed $20/per hour.
Therefore, it is good idea to seek a hotel in New Jersey close to NYC, park there and catch a cab to reach the NYC. Taxis in NYC are as easy to find like as in Beijing. So, taxi rides are one of the best options to take a tour around the Manhattan Island.
Another option is to take a tour bus. Buying an all-day pass is much better than the point -to-point ticket. You don’t need to worry about missing stop. It is easier to know that if you miss the stop, you are not going to have to buy additional tickets.
Eating in the NYC is also concerned by the most tourists. Mr. While though that if a restaurant is open for business in NYC, they must serve good enough food. Bad restaurants don’t last. He didn’t recommend their BBQ, Mexico food and steaks. There are some very good small, Mom-and-Pop style Chinese restaurants in the city. They are really worth to try.
We visited a Chinese buffet restaurant on Sunday. Unluckily, that one didn’t impress us positively. Dining there neither felt comfortable nor enjoyed our lunch. I didn’t complain service staff. They were nice and kind. I only could not afford to their dining environment. Anyway, just like you know that NYC is a place, where one inch land is worth to one inch gold.
Once going into the restaurant, a host guided us to a table. The restaurant was full of tables. That arrangement made the room be so narrow that the space between the table and chairs was too small to my legs. I am not fat, but I had to suck my belly, and then squeezed into the gap. In result, I was stuck between the table and chair and could not turn around the body. It seemed the restaurant didn’t want customers to take long to eat there.
Foods tasted Ok and the seafood was not bad. That day temperature was pretty low so that some foods were cold. Fortunately, at a corner, a chef provided heating food service. Please attention to pay tips. Totally, I paid twenty-five dollars for the meal, plus five dollars tips to my waitress and additional five dollars tips for the chef. If you want me to rank it, I can only rate it as three stars, instead of five stars. According to Mr. White opinion, this restaurant will not survive long in the city.
