Hello from New York City (1) - First Impressions of the Big
Apple
So yesterday morning our American Airways flight (booked for
free with my Airmiles) left at 7:13 am to bring us to the Big
Apple, a place I had always had a fascination with, but only had
visited twice very briefly in my life,and that more than 10
years ago.
Just flying in over NYC was an experience itself, seeing all the
skyscrapers of Manhattan, the various bridges linking the
mainland with the island, and shortly after flying over the
Rykers Island prison we landed at La Guardia Airport, a rather
small airport actually, when compared to Toronto.
Our luggage was out in no time and we grabbed a couple of week
long transit passes (a pretty good deal at US$24 for unlimited
travel for a whole week) and we started our trip to Brooklyn.
One bus (through a mostly Latin area in Queens) and one subway
ride (through Manhattan) later, we ended up in our lovely bed
and breakfast in a gorgeous neighbourhood, just south of
Prospect Park in Brooklyn.
Since we didn't know the area and the website of our B&B had
provided just a tiny little map, we had chosen the wrong subway
line to get off from and we had to walk about 1/2 hour to find
the B&B, but it gave us a good first look at this part of
Brooklyn.
It is an area with stately homes and houses that are about a
century old. Magnolia and cherry trees are blooming everywhere
and gardens are meticulously kept around here. Our Brookly
neighbourhood feels very safe and we got to meet our bed and
breakfast hosts: a very hospitable and outgoing couple in their
40s by the name of Harry and Bibi. They showed us to our room, a
nice room on the third floor of this spacious house, with a
shared bathroom.
Actually the whole house has been turned into a B&B and there
are 8 bedrooms, the 2nd and 3rd floor of the house each have
their own kitchen and bedroom areas and it actually makes for a
really comfortable stay since it feels more like having your own
apartment, rather than just renting a room.
Before leaving I thoroughly researched accommodation options in
New York City, and after looking at all the options (hotels,
hostels, B&Bs), I decided the B&B option would be the most
comfortable route to go. And at US$90.00 a night it's definitely
turned out to be one of the most affordable options and a great
base to start exploring New York City...