The Grayline tour helps you to understand the New York City geography. The double-deckered bus is open-topped. The top provides sightseers a great view - weather permitting. When it turns cold, it needs a stout heart to withstand the icy winds.
The buses begin their run from Times Square, on 7th or 8th Avenues, between 40-47th Streets. The avenues and the streets cause confusion until you realize that the streets run parallel to each other, while the wider avenues cut through them.
You find the tour representatives at the street corners in red emblazoned jackets and you can buy the tickets from them by plastic card or cash. A 44USD ticket is valid all day – but a three-day ticket gets you a huge discount at 64USD.
The city can be covered in three loops – uptown, downtown, and Brooklyn Trolley. This last begins midway of the downtown loop, at the south seaport stop. The visitors can hop off the bus at any of the city landmarks and explore further. When they are done they return to the bus-stop to board the next bus coming along in 15-20 minutes.
We start with the downtown loop. While we wait we can see the snowflakes streaming down. It’s unusual weather, say the tour guides who have to position on the freezing top deck. We huddle in the lower deck but there is little we can see of the grand old buildings being pointed out and talked about. (The next day we brave the weather and, despite the cold, the sights are well worth the effort!)
We realize that ‘old’ is a relative term. USA is a very young country and her past is only about a couple of centuries old. Comparatively, Asian and European civilizations date thousands of years!
The Native American people were overwhelmed by new settlers who set about create trade lines to and from other continents. These people came predominantly from Europe. The Dutch quarter for instance, was made by seafarers of Netherlands who established a colony in the region.
The American city is built on business, and the towering skyscrapers bear witness to it. It became a corporate race to construct the highest building. The landmark Empire State Building beat out competition only by raising its 90 foot antenna!
Downtown is the land between two rivers, the Hudson and East that join around the statue of Liberty. The bus meanders through Broadway and the Theatre district. We see the shopping paradise of Macy’s and note the Madison Square Garden where so many musical greats have performed live. Between the buildings the antenna of the Empire State Building peeps.
Greenwich Village conjures the image of struggling artists. Then there is SoHo, which however, means southern housing and has little to do with London’s bohemian Soho district. We ass Little Italy, home to the Latin immigrants,and Chinatown, which speaks for itself.
Further down is Ground Zero, the site of the World Trade Centre. Many visitors drop off to pay their respects. Then we come to the Battery Park where there is a boat ride to the imposing Statue of Liberty, to Ellis and Staten islands.
The bus then turns to the South Street Seaport, where the Brooklyn loop can begin. We go on through East Village, along the East River to the headquarters of United Nations. The premises are surrounded by flags of all the member nations, 152 perhaps, and that’s an impressive number.
We turn north again to see Waldorf Hotel. Was it the Waldorf that burnt down, and resurrected as the Astoria, where the rich and famous visit? The names are much in the gossip news now with the case of the late Mrs Astoria being defrauded by her son for his wife. We head further to the Rockefeller Center and eventually past the sprawling Central Park, and the horse-drawn carriages made famous by so many Hollywood movies.
Cont’d…
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