Uptown

Today started out rather rushed. We wanted to get to the city earlier than we did yesterday, so we tried to make the 2:15 pm bus today. Once we got to the bus stop we only had to wait a couple of minutes to watch the bus pass right by us, going the wrong way. The bus went by and never came back around to pick us up. We had rushed for no reason. We had to wait for the next bus in this cold weather with nowhere to sit for over an hour.

Then we got to thaw out on our ride into the city. Once there we speed walked to catch the last tour bus of the day to uptown Manhattan. This one did not have a cover on the top so we had to sit downstairs which is never any fun because you can't see as much but at least you get to stay warm. The tour guide knew a lot about where movies and TV shows have been filmed and where some real stars live or hang out.

Two of the places we drove through were the Upper West Side and Harlem. At least from the bus, it’s kind of hard to tell the difference between these areas and any other place in New York City. Today we got to see where John Lennon was murdered and the place where his wife still lives. We saw Will and Grace’s neighborhood. We saw where Jackie O lived. We saw Central Park and Strawberry Fields. We saw many of the things that make NYC what it is.

Our feet hurt and we were very tired so we decided that after the tour, we were just going to grab a quick bite to eat and return home. But when we got off the bus we saw a Hershey store right across the street from the M&M store, so we had to go see both. They are both fun places with bunches of cute stuff, but the M&M store is much bigger.

During two of our tours they mentioned that the best hot dog in NYC can be found at any of the places that has the word Papaya in the name. So we set out to find the closest one. We got their recession special, two hot dogs and a drink for $4.45. The only things you can get on your hot dog there is sauerkraut or onions. The hot dogs were pretty thin. As for the taste, not bad as hot dogs go, but certainly not the best. There is no place to sit, you eat your hot dogs standing up or a lot of people just eat them while walking.

For dessert we got a couple of sweet pretzels from Aunt Annie's. We decided to take them home to have with our own coffee. Bernie makes the best coffee and it will be great with the pretzels.

Because we got an earlier bus back tonight, we were able to catch the express bus, it saved us a lot of time because it skips over a bunch of stops. The bus was so packed we couldn’t even sit together, but it sure was worth it.