With summer arriving, a trip to enjoy the Big Apple with warmer temperatures...
But this time planning to see several places that I never visited before.
With summer arriving, a trip to enjoy the Big Apple with warmer temperatures...
Use the Article navigation drop down list above to browse through this vacation diary.
From there you can see the report of each day of the vacation, and you also have the option to see All pages together.
Also, you can find all the photos from this vacation in the My Photos section.
Day | What | Notes |
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12 Jun 2015 (Fri) | Milan - New York City
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13 Jun 2015 (Sat) | Chinatown, Little Italy, Bubble Battle in Union Square
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14 Jun 2015 (Sun) | Governors Island, Staten Island
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15 Jun 2015 (Mon) | Bronx's Little Italy
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16 Jun 2015 (Tue) | The High Line
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17 Jun 2015 (Wed) | World Trade Center 1
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18 Jun 2015 (Thu) | Roosvelt Island, Brooklyn in the night
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19 Jun 2015 (Fri) | Hudson River Park
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20 Jun 2015 (Sat) | Coney Island and Brighton Beach
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21 Jun 2015 (Sun) | Brooklyn
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22 Jun 2015 (Mon) | New York City - Milan
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Flight(s) | Flight # | Departure/Arrival | Notes |
---|---|---|---|
Milan Malpensa MXP -> New York JFK | EK205 | 16:10/19:30(30 mins delay) | A380-800, seat 85K |
Hotel | Room # | Notes | Cost |
Wall Street Inn (9 S William St New York NY) | 507 | Included in Expedia package | |
Expenses | Notes | Total | |
20 packets Marlboro Lights (Malpensa airport duty free) | 42.50 EUR | ||
Air train (JFK Airport, Jamaica Center) | 5$ + 1$ card | 6.00$ | |
Metrocard (refillable) (JFK Airport, Jamaica Center) | 10$+1$ bonus 1.10$, total amount on card 11.10$ | 11.00$ |
My experience with Emirates begins with a delay in the departure of 1 hour. But the arrival was 30 minutes late, therefore not so bad.
The A380 is a magnificient airplane : new conception in everything, starting from the seats with more legroom to the entertainment system and the cell/wifi network available during the flight.
It feels weird to chat with family and friends via Facebook or Whatsup during the flight, and sharing pictures etc.
Once in the hotel, nothing better than a walk to Pier 17 : the new building is not yet started... Probably because the old Fish Market building will be used instead for shops/restaurants.
I guess I'll have to come back in some time and check again.
Expenses | Notes | Total | |
---|---|---|---|
Metrocard (Canal st) | 31$ + 1$ card | 32.00$ | |
Shirt, long sleevs, grey (Macy's, 34th st) | + tax | 21.99$ | |
Shirt, short sleeves red (Macy's, 34th st) | + tax | 18.74$ | |
Shirt, short sleeves blue (Macy's, 34th st) | + tax | 18.74$ | |
Blue slacks (Macy's, 34th st) | + tax | 39.99$ | |
Levis 501, blue (Macy's, 34th st) | + tax | 49.99$ | |
Levis 501, black (Macy's, 34th st) | + tax | 49.99$ | |
Drinks and various (Duane Read, 67 Broad st) | with Campbell Soup - Vegetable Beef (2.39+tax) | 11.62 | |
Snack/dinner (Whole Foods, 4 Union sq South) | 6.64$ | ||
Bottle of water (Westside Market, 77 Seventh ave) | 0.99+tax | 1.04$ |
Very popular touristic detinations today.
It's worth to see how quickly Chinatown is eating up Little Italy's space around Mulberry St.
The battle was not actually a battle but rather a happy meeting of adults and kids, all equipped with soap bubble guns and stuff...
Very amusing, and very american. Union Square is the best location for this type of events, like the pillow war for example, which is another event I would like to attend to, one day.
Expenses | Notes | Total | |
---|---|---|---|
Water bottle (Governors Island) | 2.00$ | ||
Hotdog and Coke can (Governors Island) | hotdog 1.50, coke can 1.00 | 2.50$ | |
Big Mac meal (McDonald's 501 Bay St Staten Island, NY 10304) | 7.28$ | ||
Bottle of coke (Grocery shop ar 1203 Bay St, Staten Island) | 1.50$ | ||
Bike rental (Blazing Saddles, Pier 17) | 58.00$ | ||
Dinner (Adrienne's Pizzabar, 54 Stone St, NY) | 41.37 + 9 tip | 50.37$ |
My bike riding day!
With such a shining sun, this day was the best chance to do the bike ride to visit two places I have never been to, in all my visits to the Big Apple.
The bike rental is a new choice for me : Blazing Saddles, very good choice because it's very close to the docks of the ferries to my trip destinations.
And close to the hotel, so no long walks or subway rides after be returning the bike in the afternoon.
The trip was absolutely beautiful, both Governors Island and the Verrazano bridge offer opportunities to rest and relax admiring spectacular views.
Particularly stunning is the view of the bridge, comparable only to the Golden Gate Bridge in San Francisco.
Not so interesting are the areas of Staten Island, near the coast from the ferry docks to the bridge...
Expenses | Notes | Total | |
---|---|---|---|
Lunch (Warner Center, Columbus Circle) | 24.00$ | ||
Bottle of water | 2.00$ |
After the walk in Arthur Ave all I wanted for lunch was a sandwich with Genoa Salame (or Salami, like the Americans say).
The food store in the basement of the Warner Center was again a good choice, generally speaking : lots of varieties of food at the buffet, salads, ready snacks, everything....
BUT... the sanwich with the Genoa Salame was a disaster : the salame was very poor quaity and the bread "ciabatta" was a real italian ciabatta... Ciabatta in the sense of shoewear article.
After lunch, going down along 5th Ave for a walk was a must.
I finally got to see a bit of the popular Diamond District, full of jeweleries and stuff like that.
Probably what made the visit along 47th st less interesting was the rain. All the rest, shop windows with Rolex watches everywhere in them, etc, was interesting to see.
After 47th st I was exhausted and could barely get to the hotel still waking.
The nap I took was supposed to last till dinner, but instead I woke up in the morning after.
Arthur Avenue is the heart of the real Little Italy in the Bronx, and I finally got to visit there, a place that has always been depicted by friends as worth seeing.
And it was, despite my wrong decision of going there in a cloudy, humid monday morning at 10am.
Getting there from the closest subway stop can be amusing too, walking along some apparently neutral but potentially interesting streets of this part of the Bronx.
Once there, an important emotion : I could actually hear some old men speaking Italian, sitting at a table outside a bar on the street, smoking and sipping their glass of wine.
Something that is impossible to experience in Mulberry Street.
Repurposing of the railway into an urban park began construction in 2006, with the first phase opening in 2009, and the second phase opening in 2011. The third and final phase officially opened to the public on September 21, 2014. A short stub above Tenth Avenue and 30th Street, is still closed as of September 2014, but will open by 2015. The project has spurred real estate development in the neighborhoods that lie along the line. As of September 2014, the park gets nearly 5 million visitors annually.