New York – Titanic Trip Pt. 4

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New York. The Big Apple. The end goal of the entire cruise. It was incredible to finally be there but also a little heartbreaking. It was the start of the next adventure, but it was also the end of the biggest adventure either of us had ever been on.

The strangest part was having access to the city but still staying the last night on the ship. Everything was in an odd limbo. We were starting the next ‘part’ of our trip but were still living in the last one.

The morning we departed, the ship was chaos. There were so many people leaving and the lines were horrendous. We were feeling fortunate that we’d gone through customs the day before and didn’t have to face it with the other 80% of the passengers that morning. We made it out of the ship and into the sunshine, only to wait an hour for a taxi.

Out Into The City

We’d seen quite a bit on our tour from the day before, but almost all of it had been Titanic related. Originally, we had planned to go to Ellis Island, but we were feeling a bit ‘historied-out’ at this point. At the time, this is what we needed, but looking back on it, I regret this decision so much. Ellis Island has always held a fascination for me and we were RIGHT THERE! Seriously. Full of regret.

Either way, we only had one more day in the city so time was incredibly short here. After leaving the ship, we headed to our hotel and checked in. I can’t remember the name of the hotel that we stayed in, and this is also when we stopped writing in our journals, so things get a bit hazy. I remember that it was close to Times Square, but not close enough to be outrageously expensive.

We’d sailed past the Statue of Liberty when we arrived in New York, so we decided to pass on seeing it up close. Instead, we bought tickets for a show from our hotel concierge desk and then walked down to Macy’s (yet another Titanic connection, just in case you were wondering).

Country Kids in The Big City

Let me tell you something. A New York city block is a whole hell of a lot bigger than the city blocks we were used to. Billy had visited New York before, but I’d never been and I was unprepared. For some reason, I just couldn’t get a handle on the city. When we were in London, I’d known the streets without ever having set foot there. It was like they were a part of me. New York was the exact opposite.

I couldn’t keep track of which way we’d come from or where we were heading, which is obnoxious because the city is literally a grid layout. I was continuously looking for the sun to try and orient myself, but it’s like I couldn’t see enough sky. How hard could it be? Apparently, very. I never found my bearings there. One of these days, I’d really love to go back and give it another try.

Macy’s

After what seemed like days, we finally made it to Macy’s. I was feeling rather awful by this point. Perhaps it was going from the clear ocean air to the air of the city, with its construction work and hundreds upon hundreds of cars spewing exhaust, that really did a number on me. I was feeling nauseous and had a killer headache by the time we walked into the department store. We came across a Starbucks rather quickly and I promptly laid down in one of the booths and slept for a half-hour. This seemed to do the trick because when I woke up, I was feeling great.

Getting Lost

We spent a few hours roaming through the store, which was pretty spectacular. The place is massive and it can be a little maze-like in there. Two things stand out to me the most in my memory. The first was walking into the fur coat department. There was a very stylish woman standing on a pedestal getting a coat fitted and there was another woman serving champagne. The woman with the champagne gave us one look and turned away. No champagne for us. We walked over to the sale rack just to get an idea of prices and then turned and walked right out. If anyone could possibly break a fur coat and then have to pay for it, I knew it would be me. And I definitely didn’t have the several thousand dollars it would cost to cover it!

The second, and most prominent thing, I remember is the wooden escalators. I was seriously blown away. I’d never thought of a wooden escalator. In my head, they’d always been monsters of metal teeth that could snag your shoelaces and suck you in, chomping you to bits. But here I stood, for much longer than I should have, gawking at the amazing invention before me. Wooden escalators.

Taking In A Show

That evening, we had tickets to see Mary Poppins at the New Amsterdam Theatre. If you ever have the chance to take in a show there, do it. The theatre is gorgeous and there are so many beautiful details. We were seated in the balcony. Just getting to our seats was an experience! I remember the stairs being so steep that I felt like one trip would send me tumbling down and straight over the railing. If Will hadn’t been there helping me, I might have sat and scooted down to our row. Instead, I gripped his hand like a vice and leaned as far back as I could without falling over.

Mary Poppins

The show itself was phenomenal. I grew up watching the film version with Julie Andrews and Dick Van Dyke and was so excited to see the story come to life on stage. We were enthralled. During Step In Time, we were left gaping as Burt went over the rooftops, and at the end, we sat in amazement as Mary raised her umbrella and flew straight over us. It’s truly a breathtaking show.

That day was also Billy’s birthday, so I bought him backstage passes to meet the actors as a gift. We got to go up on stage and see the set up close (which is insanely detailed), and then we met the people who played Mary, Burt, and the children. As actors ourselves, it was such an honor to meet them. They were wonderful.

A Night In New York

We strolled through Times Square after our show and grabbed some late-night pizza before heading back to our hotel. We stayed up late and talked about the show, and our own acting careers, well into the night. The day had been good to us, but it had ended too soon.

Leaving NYC Behind

The next morning, we lugged our bags downstairs and caught a taxi to the train station. I was a bit nervous about boarding because I had conflicting information. When we booked our tickets, the website said there was a place to store large luggage, but when we got the email reminder the night before, it said that we could only take carry-on luggage. And we definitely had more than just a carry-on.

The line to get down to our train was incredibly long and we were stuck waiting. This did nothing to help my anxiety about our bags, and neither did Billy being pulled out of line to get randomly searched for drugs. For a moment, I wasn’t sure if I should hold our place in line or go with him, but I decided that I’d rather have to wait in line all over again than get separated. We were pulled maybe 10 feet away from the line and our bags were swabbed. Everything came up clean (as we knew it would), but the line had started to move and now we were way behind. The bright side? The officers walked us to the front of the line and straight onto the train. And you know what? There was a huge space to store our bags.

All major crises avoided, we were successfully on our train and headed to Boston. Admittedly, I hadn’t taken much of a liking to New York, but I don’t think that’s fair. We were only there for a day and a half and it simply wasn’t enough time to truly get to know the place. It deserves a second chance and someday, I hope we get to give it one.
Cheers,
Lydia and Billy