"Listen to this address," Older Sister said to us when we were discussing our plans for moving our luggage from our hotel to her dorm room. "You'll never have another like it."
The address? 35 Fifth Avenue. That's where Older Sister's dorm is. Fifth Avenue in NYC has a certain prestige, so she was right. I'll never have another address like the one I had for the three days that I spent living with Older Sister.
35 Fifth Avenue, though, was more easily bragged of than reached. My younger sisters and I awoke fairly early on Thursday morning, despite having stayed up to eat dinner at Carmine's. We packed up everything we had and ventured down into the subway system of New York City.
Little Sister was pulling her suitcase and Baby Sister's. Baby Sister was carrying her pillow and pulling my suitcase. I was carrying my pillow and pulling the humongous, unwieldy suitcase. Getting that suitcase down the stairs into the subway station is an experience I'd rather not repeat. At least Little Sister and I were experienced in getting luggage into the subway station proper. After purchasing subway passes, we sent Little Sister through the turnstile first. Then we passed the suitcases to Little Sister before Baby Sister and I joined her on the other side.
The subway system was as grimy as last time but considerably more warm. Someone had warned me that July in New York City is blazing, so on a whim I'd put one of the fans that Porch had given me in my purse. Whenever we had to wait for a subway in the oppressive heat, I'd whip that puppy out and fan my sisters and myself.
After this particular subway trip, we emerged near Washington Square Park. (Getting that suitcase up the stairs and out of the subway station is another experience that I'd rather not repeat.) Then we essentially wandered around in search of 35 Fifth Avenue. I say "wandered" because Little Sister's iPhone suddenly became very confused.
Things Little Sister Said While Looking for Older Sister's Dorm:
"We need to turn around."
"I think we need to go the other way."
"What does that sign say?" (Little Sister has bad vision, but she doesn't wear contacts and she only wears glasses when driving and at movies/musicals.)
"What does that sign say?"
"Maybe we should call Older Sister."
I didn't mind any of this in the least, because we'd wandered into Greenwich Village Historic District. Or so I gathered from all the signs that read, "Greenwich Village Historic District." Every time Little Sister asked me what a sign said, I took great relish in responding by pronouncing "Greenwich" as "Grenwich." Also, the buildings were beautiful.
"I like this part of New York City a lot better," Baby Sister said as we hauled our luggage through the peaceful streets.
In the end, we found our way to 35 Fifth Avenue. Older Sister was waiting for us; she helped us get our guest passes at the front desk.
Older Sister's dorm room was tiny and cramped and had no air conditioning, and the elevator was tiny and cramped and slow, but the lobby was to die for. I began to wonder if it was a hotel right away because the architectural style of the lobby was just like the architectural style of the lobby in the hotel in the Tower of Terror ride in Disneyland's sister park, California Adventure. Sure enough, Older Sister confirmed that the building had once been a hotel. Research showed that this hotel (the Grosvenor Hotel) was built around the same time when the Tower of Terror hotel was supposed to have been built, thus the similar styles. Disney always does their research.
After dropping off our luggage at Older Sister's place, it was time for Older Sister to go to work and for my sisters and me to go to Brooklyn!
That's right, we were taking Baby Sister to Brooklyn. We would have loved to do the Slice of Brooklyn Pizza Tour again, but we were on a tight budget. Most of what we did had to be dirt cheap. That meant no tours, no museums, not even the Statue of Liberty. Instead, we were going to spend a quiet, inexpensive morning playing on the beach at Coney Island.
Here, I'll break down some of the ways we cut costs that day.
Don't:
Buy a townhouse on Fifth Avenue: $$$
Instead:
Stay on the floor of a Fifth Avenue dorm: Free!
Don't:
Sleep on a tour bus going to Coney Island: $$
Instead:
Sleep on the N Train going to Coney Island: $
(Don't worry, Mom, I made sure that the three of us were never all asleep at the same time. I dozed only when Little Sister was awake.)
Don't:
Ride rides or play games at Coney Island: $$
Instead:
Play on the beach at Coney Island: Free!
We jumped in and out of the waves and took pictures of ourselves with a selfie stick that Older Sister lent us. We also held a funeral for a dead crab that we found. I'd never been in the Atlantic Ocean before. It was considerably more tired-seeming than the Pacific Ocean, like maybe the Atlantic had seen too many tragedies and had grown weary of life. And I kept thinking about how maybe some of the water that was touching us had also touched the ruins of the Titanic.
Don't:
Eat an expensive lunch: $$ to $$$
Instead:
Split a $14 margherita pizza at the Coney Island location of Grimaldi's: $14
Although Little Sister and I also bought root beer. When we were sitting down, Baby Sister was all, "Wait, shouldn't we get something else on this pizza besides cheese?" and Little Sister and I were all, "No! This is the way that pizza was meant to be eaten." I like to think that we convinced Baby Sister to see it our way. She seemed to enjoy the pizza, at any rate.
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| Grimaldi's margherita pizza and fine Olde Brooklyn root beer. |
Sit down in a restaurant on Wall Street and order something so that you can use the "paying customers only" bathroom: $$
Instead:
Use the bathroom at Wall Street's Variety Cafe: Free!
On our way back from Coney Island, we suddenly decided that it might be a good use of our time to take Baby Sister to Wall Street. The only problem was that I needed to use a bathroom. Little Sister was all, "I'm sure we'll be able to find a bathroom!" However, there aren't a lot of public-type bathrooms around the city. Last year, Little Sister and Glory went to the courthouse in hopes that they would be able to use their bathrooms. In order to enter said courthouse, they had to relinquish their phones, and even after that it took them a considerable while to find the bathrooms.
I wracked my brain to think of a place on Wall Street that might have accessible bathrooms. Then I remembered the Variety Cafe, where we ate lunch last year! Because of the way it was set up, there was no way the cafeteria-style restaurant could have a "paying customers only" rule. And sure enough, I was able to use the bathroom there, no problem.
Don't:
Completely trash your family's fortune and reputation in a wild goose chase of historical clues that eventually lead you to some crypts beneath Trinity Church: Family fortune; family reputation; $$$ for gas, money, food, and gear to steal the Declaration of Independence.
Instead:
Visit Trinity Church as a tourist: Free!
There are lots of fun things to do at Trinity Church! You can stand where Queen Elizabeth II once stood.
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| "In this spot stood Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II on the occasion of her gracious visit. 9 July 1976. His Royal Highness the Prince Philip stood nearby." |
I also mentioned last year that Trinity Church has a graveyard with some very, very old graves. Apparently, when they started the graveyard they did not foresee the possibility of tourists over the next 300+ years, because the layout does not seem to have been planned accordingly. The stepping stones leading around to the other side of the graveyard included an actual horizontal gravestone. I guess that this guy was the only person buried where they wanted to put the stepping stones for tourists, so they decided to just encourage people to walk on his grave instead of finding another place for a path.
Oh, and last time we didn't get a chance to see Alexander Hamilton's grave, remember? Well now, thanks to those crazy Hamilton kids, we couldn't miss it. There were tons of flowers and wreaths and things all over it, and a big tour group was standing right near it. And part of me was all, "Hello? Did any of you even know Alexander Hamilton existed a year ago?" Because I knew all about A-Ham before it was cool. Because I'm a history hipster. (Hipstory?)
Don't:
Visit the 9/11 museum: $$ and a couple hours of your time. (At least, don't visit it if you're trying to save money. It's definitely worth visiting if you have the time and are able to spring the cash.)
Instead:
Visit the 9/11 memorials: Fifteen minutes of your time.
It was just as heartbreaking but a lot more crowded this time around. Lots of tourists were setting their bags and things on the memorial, which I was not okay with.
After our jaunt to Wall Street, it was time to get ready for Fiddler on the Roof and, after, Umami Burger. Neither of those things was exactly cheap. Umami Burger was not worth the price, but Fiddler definitely was. I love that show; it was the first musical I was ever in. Also, some of my Jewish family members lived in Russia around that time, and the musical gives me an idea of what their lives would have been like. The way they staged this production of the show made thinking about my family history easy; they had the actor playing Tevye start and end the show in modern clothes, reading from what appeared to be an ancestor's journal. Also, Older Sister kept praising the performance of Adam Kantor as Motel. He did do a really good job; when Tevye yelled at him he actually crawled under the milk cart to get away. It was glorious.
One last thing about living large in NYC on a modest budget...if you opt to sleep on the floor of someone's dorm, the dorm resident you are staying with may have a roommate. Older Sister had a roommate. At least, she said she did, but we never actually saw this roommate of hers. The roommate was supposed to be moving out over the weekend, and when we came home on Thursday night some of her stuff was gone and a half-drunk latte (at least I think it was a latte; I'm not really familiar with the coffees) was sitting on her desk. I guess she only occasionally dropped by the dorm but actually lived with her significant other.
We rolled out our pads and sleeping bags, plumped up our pillows, and settled down for a long night's sleep on a wooden floor.
It was not very comfortable, but it was very cost-efficient.
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