Day 3 in NYC

After discussing several options for today with Tour Guide Barbara ([1]  walking around Central Park, [2] taking Ferry to Staten Island [3] Coney Island), we decided on the beach at Coney Island.  Barbara gave us explicit instructions on how to meet her at the subway again (we keep going back and forth between Grove Station (Jersey City) and 33rd Street.  Our PATH train does not connect with the trains she uses coming in from Connecticut, so she has to work her way down to us.  But that all worked, amazingly, and we were only about 2 minutes ahead of her.  Seeing her walk down the aisles in the subway, she was a welcome sight!

After our first train ride, with was probably 20 minutes for us, at least 40 for her, then another subway to meet us, we all boarded another train together for an hour ride out to Coney Island.  We decided our first stop would be world-famous Nathan's Hotdogs, where they hold the hotdog eating contest.  Although this is now a chain, I think this one here at Coney Island is the original.

I didn't think the hot dog here was as good as Costco's!  But from here we got our first glimpse of the beach and amusement park.  Joe looked over the rides pretty good -- they have a wooden roller coaster that was of interest.  We walked the boardwalk, and saw these two dogs are prettied up for their beach day.

There is a minor league baseball stadium right here (Brooklyn Cyclones, associated with the NY Mets), and they have erected a very nice 911 Memorial, which Barbara wanted to see, so we walked over to it.

Back past the amusement park, Joe decided on the Sling Shot!  So he handed off his glasses, hearing aid, and hat and off he went.

Obviously, he's nuts.

We headed back to the boardwalk.  By now it is warming up, so we (I) decided we should go down to the water's edge and walk along there.  The sand was hot getting to it, but the water was very refreshing.  Had we been dressed for it, we would have gotten in.

 This was a new experience for Barbara, she doesn't usually walk in the water along the shoreline, so we were glad to have been able to expand her horizons, at least in one direction.

We walked as far as Coney Island Beach turns into Brighton Beach, then we headed back to the streets.  There is a Russian settlement along here, with lots of ethnic shops, that Barbara wanted us to see.  Joe bought a backpack here.

Under the subway

The subway clatters through here above-ground, very loudly, but it gave us some good shade.  We worked our way over to the subway station here and headed back into the City.  Joe took a picture of the above-ground subway tracks.

Since Mazie got her Maine lobster, I was working on my New York cheesecake, and Tour Guide Barbara knew just the place.  Her tour guide friend, Justin, had told her that Junior's has the best cheesecake in the City, so we got off the subway at 42nd street to find Junior's.

42nd Street is a happening place -- this puts us back in the theatre district, and there are all kinds of "characters" out advertising different shows (or advertising something).  Masses of people.  Along here somewhere a guy was playing "drums" on various pots and pans  and buckets -- he actually was pretty good.

And the Lion King is still going strong.  I posted this picture for Bridgette because this is her favorite.

We finally worked our way through the throngs of people to Juniors and got right in.  We chose to sit inside where it was cooler, and the cheesecake was spectacular!@!!

Walking along 42nd Street is an adventure by itself.  You just can't imagine all the people, the buildings, the traffic, the pedestrians, the noise.  Who would ever want to live here!!!???

Barbara was leaving us here, so our cheesecake treat was a nice way to end our visit with her and our use of her excellent tour guide services.  There is no way we could have "done" New York City without her help -- and seen all we saw!  From here, she pointed us back toward our subway stop and she walked on over to hers.  Along the way, we went past the Empire State Building.  They were selling tickets to go up in it -- $30+ for the first level and $50+ for the second level.  We just took a picture of it.

We made our train stop, had to refill our Metro card for the last time, and worked our way back to our campground.  Another tiring day but we saw a lot.  We are now officially done with NYC.  We are pulling out in the morning.

Another check mark on my bucket list.