New York, Day 2: Part 1: Street Vendors

Yes, that’s right. We had lunch from food vendors on the street. We spent the day making our way from our hotel near Grand Central Station all the way down to Battery Park. It’s nowhere near as confusing as the map makes it look, since we were walking we didn’t have to worry about the one-way streets that Google Maps is trying to accommodate.

To summarize however, we started from the hotel, got some caffeinated sustenance at the nearest Starbucks (there are only about a million of them around) then headed towards the Flatiron Building which Jennifer really wanted to see. After admiring it, we passed the Theodore Roosevelt Birthplace, sadly closed since it was a Monday. Sheila got her picture in front of it though since she loves those National Park sites. Just a few blocks away was Gramercy Park, which we walked around and admired, although of course we couldn’t enter it because it’s a private park. That neighborhood must have some residents of power/influence/money or all three because there were lots of signs threatening hefty fines if cars honked their horns. It was kind of nice having a reprieve from the constant barrage of horns blaring like most other areas we’d been.

We eventually made our way to Union Square Park, and visited the Barnes & Noble near it for a walking guide to the city. Our AAA guidebook just wasn’t giving us the views we wanted. Sheila found a Knopf book with great maps and we used it the rest of our visit. It indicated that we were just blocks from Little Italy & Chinatown so we took a quick detour through them just to say we’d been there.

Although we’d been perusing the menus for restaurants we passed by, nothing sounded good to both of us, so by the time we reached City Hall Park we were famished and decided to try the next street vendor we found. Fortunately for Jennifer’s mood, we spotted one fairly quickly. A hot dog & soda later for each of us, consumed while sitting along the fence surrounding the park, and we were rejuvenated and ready for more. Jennifer enjoyed the spicy mustard but felt the dog tasted like it had been sitting out awhile. We were both so hungry that, in Jennifer’s words, “it helped fill a hole.” Sheila appreciated the cost – only $1.50 so it was cheap & quick leaving plenty of money for some of the later meals we have planned.

Just beyond City Hall Park is St. Paul’s Chapel and Ground Zero, so we spent some time there and then walked down Trinity Place/Church Street to Trinity Church. And thank you Trinity Church for having public restrooms. Next to Trinity is Wall Street, so we walked down it just to admire how amazingly narrow the street is (and we spotted the first of what would be many buildings named Trump). Our poor New York geographic knowledge showed when we stumbled upon Federal Hall National Memorial – we’d had no idea it was there! And happily, it was open so we spent some time in there admiring the artifacts on display. Favorite item? The HUGE inaugural Bible used by George Washington & a slew of other Presidents. Too cool!

From Wall Street, over to Water Street past the Vietnam Veterans Plaza we finally made it to Battery Park, where we took a well-deserved rest and admired the views of New York Harbor and the Statue of Liberty in the distance. We eventually made our way to historic Castle Clinton, and tried to take a water taxi back toward midtown, but had no luck (our first really rude New Yorker! I guess that counts for something…)

Our hot dogs had long since worn off, so we both grabbed pretzels from another vendor (Sheila’s verdict: ehhh, stale & kind of yucky. Maybe it just was too late in the day to not have it be dried out & old tasting. Pricey too for something so unappealing. Jennifer felt it was good except for the extra tough & chewy ends. And as simple an order as a pretzel is, the vendor still got it wrong, giving her a cheese stuffed pretzel instead of the plain one she wanted. Bummer.) After downing the pretzels, we hustled into the National Museum of the American Indian (located in the Alexander Hamilton Custom House) before it closed.

Once we finally made it past the extreme security screening at the door, we admired some of the exhibits and then perused the gift shop, looking for souvenirs for our occasional lunch companions. That accomplished, we made a brief stop at Bowling Green, and snapped Jennifer’s picture next to the Charging Bull a.k.a Wall Street Bull a.k.a. Bowling Green Bull. Finally, our feet killing us, we braved the subway to get back to our hotel, finally collapsing there for a rest before heading out for dinner… (to be continued in Part 2).

Overall feelings for our afternoon of dining via street vendors: so-so, but at least we experienced it and we felt awfully New York!