New York Tour Guide (1)

Your Day of Arrival in the Big Apple.

Most visitors arriving from Belgium will land in New York somewhere between noon and 2 pm. Once you’ve tackled immigration and customs (don’t forget your online visa waiver and for the love of god, don’t joke around about bombs or other devices in your luggage!), the easiest way to get to your hotel is taking a yellow cab outside the airport. They will take you to any destination in NYC for a prix fixe of $45, plus about $5 toll. Now, an important lesson for the rest of your stay: if you want to avoid a nasty look (or worse) from your cab driver, don’t forget to tip! For a longer cab drive, we recommend about $5 to $10 (depending on how happy you are with your driver’s skills). For shorter cab drives, you’re fine if you round up to the higher number plus $1 (e.g., if the bill is $7.40, you pay $9).

While we are on this (at least for Europeans) strange concept of tipping, let me lay down the rules for ya. In restaurants, you always tip – not tipping is like robbing your waiter. Depending on how happy you were with the service, you tip from minimum 15% to maximum 20%, with 18% being a good number in NYC. In NY state, the rule of thumb is to double the tax (on your receipt, the tax (about 9% in NY) is always indicated separately). If you’re in a bar or club, and you’re not being served at a table, you tip the bartender about $1 per drink (unless he reenacts a scene from Cocktail in which case you give a little more). If you go to the restrooms and there is a “toilet lady”, the decent thing to do is to tip her one buck. The guy taking your bags at the hotel, gets 1 to 2 dollars. Basically, anyone providing a specific service for you is tipped (even the hairdresser and shampoo girl).

So, you have successfully hailed your first yellow cab who drops you off (about 40 to 60 minutes later) at your hotel. Now, it’s time to go explore… I would definitely start with a visit to Times Square on your first evening. Living in New York City, it is definitely not my favorite place in New York (I even try to avoid it). However, I still remember that on my first visit to this decadent symbol of capitalism and consumerism, I was simply flabbergasted. To quote a hit single, the lights will inspire you… or maybe even blind you. You have to see this place by night!

If you get hungry while you’re here, I would not recommend to have dinner on Times Square itself – most of these places are tourist traps. There are a few hidden gems nevertheless. John’s Pizzeria started as a little restaurant in the Village (btw, also a very nice location) but has a branch near Times Square in what appears to be an old church or theater, and they serve excellent pizza. Another good option, is the huge, Italian American restaurant Carmine’s. It is always packed (be prepared to wait) and serves family-style dishes (such as huge pasta plates to share with 2 to 4 people for $20 and up). A little bit further away, there is the excellent restaurant Esca by, amongst others, star chef Mario Batali serving delicious, fresh Italian seafood and pasta dishes. If you’re already missing your home country and are craving some steak frites, Marseille serves pretty good French brasserie style food. For inexpensive, simple but delicious Greek food, we recommend Dafni Taverna.

One last tip for day one, fight the jetlag and try to stay awake as long as possible! This is the best way to adjust to the new time zone. But... if there is one place in New York City that will keep you eyes wide open, it is Times Square!

Preparing Your NYC trip - Continued

When to go? If you’re flexible, try to avoid the months July and August. At that time, the city turns into the firing pits of hell. Ok, that may be a slight exaggeration. But taking the subway is like stepping into an underground pizza oven and the streets get so hot (and sometimes smelly), you will be literally running from one air-conditioned building to the other. The best time to visit Manhattan is any other time of the year. If you prefer warmer weather, aim for spring (April – June) or Indian Summer (September – October). Fall foliage in Central Park can be really pretty in November. Even the cold months (December – February) are recommended. My favorite is definitely the Christmas season during which the Big Apple turns into one big Christmas Tree. Of course, it can get really cold so bring lots and lots of layers (and warm shoes!).

What to pack? Be prepared to walk a marathon! Exploring New York City can be exhausting – unless you are willing to spend a nice amount on cab rides. Even when you take the subway, just walking from the subway station to your destination can be quite a hike. So, this is not the time to show off your new pair of designer heels, instead go for comfortable flat shoes. One last tip, bring an empty suitcase! New York is a notorious shopping destination, and even the cheapest person will not be able to resist the temptation. So, in order to avoid a penalty when flying back to Belgium, either pack light or be ready to invest in an extra suitcase!

What else? In order to maximize your time, it might be useful to book some museum tickets online in order to avoid waiting lines. I would definitely recommend buying a City Pass – this is a great deal: $79 for the Empire State, MET, MoMA, Museum of Natural History, Statue of Liberty, and the Top of the Rock! These are all on our “no valid excuse to miss” list! You can buy it online or at one of the participating sites.

Another New York Tour Guide...

A lot of our friends and family have asked for tips and advice when planning their trip to New York City. Last year, we managed to streamline our tips in a long (Dutch) word document which has been distributed a few times now (maybe you have already read it?). I thought it might be a fun idea to also post our recommendations on this blog (plus, it will make our lives much easier just referring to our website). So yes, yet another New York tour guide... The idea is to make a kind of itinerary for your trip, from preparations to your last day in Manhattan. Of course, it's only a small selection of what New York has to offer, but we try to include in our little guide the things we think are crucial for any serious tourist (in our humble opinion).

Preparing Your Trip

Now, maybe you prefer to book through you local travel agency, but you might want to consider to do some online research. Thanks to Internet, the emancipation of the traveler is now a fact. I am not saying that your travel agency will not have the best deal, but it’s always good to double check with what is out there on the world wide web! For plane tickets and hotel reservations, we recommend the following sites.

1. www.kayak.com compares flight and hotel prices from different (mostly US) sites to ensure you get the best deal.
2. www.hotels.com gives you lots of good deals on hotels in the US and if you become a member, you may get your 11th night for free.
3. On www.hotwire.com, you can book hotels at discounts. The catch is that you don’t know which hotel you are actually booking – you do know the category (star rating etc.) and location. For the adventure traveler only.
4. On www.tripadvisor.com, you can check whether the hotel you are planning to stay at actually lives up to your expectations. Travelers around the world book reviews on hotels they stayed at (and some also post their pictures of the hotel), so you can get a good idea of the actual quality of the hotel (in stead of just relying on a quite vague star rating and the hotel website).
5. www.frommers.com has some good hotel recommendations and is in general, a very good website to prepare your trip! I especially love their suggested itineraries.
6. Jetsetter is an amazing site with discounts on luxury hotels around the world. Each day, different hotels come "on sale". We weren't able to try it out yet due to budget reasons - but as soon as we're back in the rat race, this will be our first place to look for that amazing hotel in New York City (or Greece, or Spain, or...).

Fort Greene

Brooklyn Treasures 

Yesterday, we finally made it to Brooklyn (as you may remember, this was on my to-do list) and we were pleasantly surprised. We visited Fort Greene, a beautiful area with rows of brownstone houses and charming, little restaurants surrounding the Fort Greene park (or rather Mount Greene, it's quite a hike to get up there!). 

We had a delicious burger at The General Greene, a restaurant recommended by my colleague who lives in this neighborhood. Afterwards, we browsed the Brooklyn Flea Market, trying to resist to urge to bring home beautiful and kitschy antiques. 

We did buy one thing: a US travel guide from 1955 - very appropriate since we'll be leaving soon on our road trip through the US. New York City is also covered in this 1950's travel guide, and the author's essay (Frederick Lewis Allen) on NYC is very amusing, moving and also confrontational. Such as his remarks on black Harlem for which he uses a different, nowadays politically incorrect word, which reminds me that only 50 years ago, the world looked quite different.

The author also criticizes: "There is much in New York that is ugly. A good deal of the city was built of brownstones in the latter half of the nineteenth century, and if there is anything more hideous than a long block of chocolate-colored houses with high front steps and curlicued moldings and massive, overhanging cast-iron cornices, I don't know what it is." The irony, these days New York is loved for these typical brownstones - people pay millions of dollars to own such a house!

But I do agree with the author on the following paragraph. In fact, I couldn't have put it any better myself and it makes me very sad to think I will have to leave this beautiful, amazing city:

"If you would look for what is really typical for New York, [...] look at the famous metropolitan skyline, for this cluster of soaring pinnacles is the very symbol of American aspiration. The view from almost every window or uptown hotel will give you the same sense of looking at the embodiments of an imagination which has defied ordinary common sense. Especially at night, the spangled effects are among the wonders of the American world. New York specializes in producing extraordinary effects with light. To see what it can accomplish, don't miss the gaudy dazzle of Times Square of an evening. But to see what delicate and unearthly beauty the city can convey without such premeditation, go rather into Central Park at dusk and look at the bank of skyscrapers along Central Park South. In the half-light they don't in the least look like the abode of human beings, you seem rather to be staring at a fantastic illuminated backdrop designed by a wildly imaginative artist trying to suggest the glitter of heaven. "

New York, I Love You

You are a true New Yorker , if…

you prefer to do all your shopping on a Sunday or after 8 pm,

you’re willing to wait in line for more than an hour for a good burger,

you own more flats than high heels,

you walk so fast you could easily defeat a gold medal race walker even when you’re not in a hurry,

you don’t look up when some crazy person is making a scene,

you rent storage room for your winter clothes,

you can’t do your laundry without bringing some quarters,

you only go up or down with public transportation,

you consider the city park to be your backyard,

you forgot how to drive a car,

you keep checking if the subway/train approaches the station even if you’ve only been waiting for a minute,

you only shop at stores that deliver,

you only wake up if there is a fire in your building,

you avoid going to Times Square at all costs,

you avoid going to New Jersey at all costs,

you only buy organic food but don’t recycle,

you know that Mr. Duane Reade does not exist,

you’re impatiently waiting on the street instead of the pavement for the light to turn green when crossing an avenue,

you don’t wait at all for the light to turn green when crossing a street,

you believe air-conditioning is a human right,

you have a cream cheese bagel for breakfast,

you experienced a close encounter with a rat,

you would commit murder for an affordable downtown convertible 2BR apartment with exposed brick and hardwood floors,

you don’t complain when paying 5 bucks for a pizza slice,

you expect there to be a Starbucks every 2 corners,

you only consider it to be a holiday when there is a parade,

you crave for some Italian-Indian fusion food in a Mexican-themed restaurant with Russian waiters,

you expect to find everything within a half mile radius of your apartment,

you have hand sanitizer in your purse (or man-bag),

you don’t sing Frank Sinatra’s “New York, New York” every time you see the Empire State Building,

you have killed at least 10 cockroaches,

you own a sleeping bag coat and huge moonboots although you never go skiing,

50% of your clothes originate from sample sales, warehouse sales or discount stores,

you’re not embarrassed to go sunbathing in a public park,

you don’t go “ooh” or “aah” when taking an elevator up more than 40 flights,

you don’t take a picture of every squirrel you see in the park,

you expect to be able to hail a cab 24/7,

you can order a customized “mixed salad with extra tomatoes, cucumber, bread crumbs, american cheese, olive oil, vinegar, pepper and salt, pepper flakes and a roll on the side” within 3 seconds without breathing once,

you tip by doubling the tax,

you only leave the city to visit family or go on holidays,

you don’t need a map to go to Macy’s,

you can vacuum your apartment by using only one plug,

you think Belgium is a quiet quaint little village somewhere in Europe where beer and chocolate grows on trees. :-)

A Washington DC Spring

Desperately Seeking Cherry Blossom

In the second April weekend, we traveled to Washington DC for the second time (the first time being on March 7, 2010 – see my post from last year). The reason: DC’s famous Cherry Blossom Festival! We carefully planned our weekend one month before, packed our camera and were ready to go experience some serious cherry blossom!

What a rip off! Turns out that the cherry blossom reached its peak in the first weekend of April and by the time we arrived in Washington DC, there were only 10 meager blossom trees left…  Of course, these trees were highly in demand and we ended up waiting in line with the other disapointed tourists to snap a picture of the one blossom tree left in front of the Washington Monument. So, behold below… the one and only DC blossom picture!

Nevertheless, we succeeded to put our disappointment aside and we visited the museums and sites which we hadn’t been able to visit in our previous trip. First of all, the Air and Space Museum. If Ward was writing this post (believe me, I’ve tried) he could tell you the type, year and make of every airplane, space shuttle and satellite we saw. But you’re stuck with me and I can only tell you, that there were a lot of them, mostly grey. Oh… and they were big. The National Portrait Gallery and the National Gallery of Art were worthy of our second visit, this time, taking more time to admire the collections.

The National Mall by night was another site we missed out on last time. The Lincoln, World War II and Washington Memorial as well as the Capitol were beautiful lit after dark. We ended the trip with a Sunday morning relaxing stroll in Georgetown, admiring the beautiful houses and spring gardens.

So yes, we only saw a little bit of blossom but in the end, we did not regret our second visit. Turns out it doesn’t matter how many times you visit DC, you’ll never get bored!

Brooklyn Blossom

Finally

I am ashamed to admit, but prior to this month, I had never been to Brooklyn – at least not further than the end of the Brooklyn Bridge. The perfect, much needed introduction was a visit to the Brooklyn Botanic Garden. Although smaller than the New York Botanical Garden in the Bronx (which I visited in May last year, see this post), the Brooklyn garden is definitely worth your time. The blossom trees made our trip especially nice.

After having had this little taste of Brooklyn, my to-do list now includes spending an entire weekend in Brooklyn!

Hidden Gems

Clouds Welcome!

Unfortunately, we have to deal with rainy, cloudy weather in the final part of our March road trip. Not the ideal circumstances, but luckily, we, Belgians have some experience with rainy weather (you could even consider us professionals, Belgium would easily win the "complaining about weather" Olympics if there was such a thing!). Plus, even in this grey, cloudy weather, we see some pretty interesting landscapes.


Such as this  view of (rather depressing, if you ask me) Myrtle Beach, one of the bigger holiday destinations in South Carolina:

Or the misty boardwalk in Georgetown, South Carolina:

On Friday, a glimpse of sun allows us to enjoy Cape Fear in North Carolina. Carolina Beach State Park is deserted this time of year (I can only imagine the crowds at this place in summer), the park is simply amazing.

The noise of ribbitting frogs in this Carolina Beach swamp is almost deafening:

A walk on windy Kure Beach and a visit to historic Fort Fisher (which had an important role in the end of the Civil War) concludes our visit to Cape Fear.

Back on our way up to New York City, we make four more stops. Since we visited Beaufort, SC (pronounced Bjufort), we also want to check out the Beaufort in North Carolina (pronounced Boofort). Although this little port city is probably at its peak in summer, we find it quite charming in the winter season.

On a memorable ferry trip crossing Cobham Bay in Virginia, I take this amazing photo (if I say so myself) of what seems like an ordinary landscape. That's what we love about road tripping in the US, the hidden gems!

We also stop at Colonial Wiliamsburg, what we call the Disneyland for colonial settlers. Still, Rockefeller did a great job at restoring this old 17th century town and the "reenacting" actors try their best at fooling us that we actually went back in time.

Annapolis, the capital of Maryland, is our last stop before going back to the urban jungle of New York. Again, clouds and mist shadow our visit but this city is still very beautiful. If only, we could visit back in summer...

The End
Nope, To Be Continued in May 2010!

South Carolina in Two Days

"Oh Carolina, Carolina..."

The fourth day of our March road trip, we leave behind Georgia to explore South Carolina. Our first stop is Hilton Head, a nice island which reminds us of the Belgian "Club Med" resort. Not really our cup of tea, but our lunch on the sunny beach is nice and relaxing.


Two hours (and some sunburn...) later, we arrive in Beaufort - pronounced Bjufert - a small, lovely town by the sea. We treat ourselves to an icecream and stroll through the city center, filled with beautiful, big, white mansions. The perfect retirement spot if you ask me!


By sunset, we find ourselves in Charleston, another must-see place along the Atlantic Coast. We are able to see some first sights before the sun sets and close the evening at Hyman's Seafood. A seafood restaurant, yes, but in the Southern style, meaning: everything's fried. Although delicious, the Southern food is starting to take its toll on our stomachs (especially Ward's...)



The next morning, we visit Magnolia Plantation. The slave cabin tour reminds us of the not so nice part of Southern history, and it makes the beautiful plantation garden a little more gloomy.


The wildlife in the swamp garden shows us a different side of South Carolina. I can't imagine having alligators in my backyard!


Finally, we return to Charleston one final time to conclude the tour we started the day before. I remember big, really big houses (Scarlett O'Hara style), colorful streets, palm trees, cobble stone roads, nice boardwalks, the sad remainings of the slave mart, and lunch at the wonderful Hominy Grill.

From Maryland to Georgia...

in Two Days.

The first day of our road trip in March, we started early so we reached Ocean City, Maryland just in time for lunch! Too bad most of the restaurants were still closed for the season - as it turned out, we (and a lot of other people) arrived on one of the first sunny days since fall.



Driving further South, we got to experience the Chesapeake Bay Bridge Tunnel, a 20 mile long bridge which turns into a tunnel twice... quite impressive!



At sunset, we reached our first motel in the Outer Banks, perfect location to start the next morning early with a walk in Jockey's Ridge State Park. The dunes in the pretty morning light made the photographer in me very happy! (I'll spare you all the arty-farty pictures though). We also stopped in Kitty Hawk to visit the birthplace of modern flight, the location where the Wright brothers managed to take their airplane up in the air for the very first time...



As the weather was still quite chilly in this region, we decided to drive down to Georgia as quickly as possible. However, we did make a detour to have some genuine pulled pork at Parker's BBQ in Greenville, North Carolina. My pulled pork sandwich set us back for the whopping amount of $2.78 - "Toto, I've got a feeling we are not in New York City anymore"!

In the evening, we arrived in Savannah, Georgia... and we realized very soon that this is a wonderful, mysterious city! I don't know if it is because of the Spanish moss hanging from the trees, the old houses, the many town squares, the spooky Bonaventure cemetery, the delicious food of Mrs Wilkes Boarding House or the friendly people, but I definitely developed a sweet spot for this beautiful place. So much so, that we will visit it again during our road trip in June.

Road Tripping the Atlantic Coast

What’s in a Mile?


During spring break, early March, we rented a car and drove South along the Atlantic Coast. This part of the US is fairly unknown (or unpopular?) to Europeans – a real shame, because even in the colder months of the year, there is quite a lot to see along the Pacific coast before you reach Georgia!

Our stops included (in chronological order):

- Ocean City, Maryland
- Outer Banks, North Carolina
- Savannah, Georgia
- Hilton Head, South Carolina
- Beaufort, South Carolina
- Charleston, South Carolina
- Myrtle Beach, South Carolina
- Georgetown, South Carolina
- Wilmington, North Carolina
- Beaufort, North Carolina
- Colonial Williamsburg, Virginia
- Annapolis, Maryland

… 2300 miles … in 7 days. OK, we admit, we underestimated the distances and we would not recommend you to repeat our mistake. After one week, we were exhausted! On the other hand, this was the ideal preparation for the 3 month road trip we are planning later this year.

Yes, you read it right, THREE WHOLE MONTHS! We will be travelling across North America, starting late May 2010 in Canada, flying to Texas, driving to Orlando, flying to Los Angeles, driving all the way up to Seattle, back down to Los Angeles via Denver to finally return to Belgium in late August 2010. The plan is to keep the folks back home updated as much as possible through this site – hoping to post a lot of pictures and some road stories.

I’ll be posting some highlight photos from our Pacific Coast road trip soon… so stay tuned!

Bostonian Encounter

Follow the Red Brick Road!

The end of our time in New York is unfortunately getting nearer. So, we are maximizing our time here to see as many sights as possible. As I am posting this, we just came back from a weekend in Washington DC but more about that later! I am (again) behind on posting our adventures in the United States. So the next days, I promise to post a lot of updates on our recent outings, starting with Boston in late February – a 4 hour bus ride away from our apartment (thanks to Megabus, the ride was free!).


We picked a bad day to leave New York, right in the middle of a huge snow storm. Our bus was the last to leave Manhattan. When we arrived in Boston, there was no sign of snow but we got another unpleasant welcome gift: a big windy rainstorm. I literally almost blew away because of the strong wind. To compensate for the bad weather, we indulged with a nice lobster dinner at Atlantic Fish Company followed by Boston cream pie. Hey, when in RomeBoston….!

The next day, the weather gods were smiling upon us and offered us one half day of blue, sunny skies. We grabbed the opportunity to walk the Freedom Trail, following a red brick line passing the historic sites of Boston. The trail gave us a really nice overview of Boston, which felt very European to us. 4 hours, and lots of pictures later, we finished the 4 kilometer trail, hungry for some more seafood. A lobster roll at Legal Seafoods stilled our craving. In the afternoon, we visited the Isabella Stewart Gardner museum (definitely worth a visit!) and the Boston Museum of Fine Arts.

On Sunday, we left the city center to explore the John F Kennedy museum. Now, this may sound like an old stuffy museum, but this is what we love about America. They may have less years of history than Europe, but they do know how to make a museum interesting! Jack Bauer ("24", remember) would feel right at home in the exhibits replicating the White House. We also saw Kennedy’s notes for his famous speeches (“Ich bin ein Berliner” and “Don’t ask what your country can do for you…”). We finished our Boston weekend in Cambridge to see the Harvard University campus – quite impressing. We also stopped by one of the other Harvard institutions, Mr Bartley’s Burger Cottage. Mr. Bartley himself was outside to take our orders for a nice big juicy burger and onion rings (the menu had quite original titles - you can read them here) while Mrs. Bartley accompanied us to our seats. Nice way to end our Boston trip!