The Mother of All Giant Things

Whew! As expected, today was a whopper of a day for all of us! It's hard to believe we ever had the stamina to walk around Manhattan all day, and then stand for seven straight hours in Times Square to wait for the ball to drop for the New Year! That was long ago, though, before the stroller. Actually, as convenient as the stroller usually is, it turned out to be an unexpected burden, as New York City was apparently not designed for the comfort and convenience of people with small children (or disabilities). We packed and unpacked, folded and unfolded, and dragged the stroller up and down flights of stairs all day long, just to use the subway. But we're getting ahead of ourselves. Let's back up to this morning.

We drove into the city bright and early. Actually, it was so early, it wasn't really even bright yet. On our way to Greenwich Village, where we were meeting cousin Brian for breakfast, we passed a car decorated to look like Pikachu of the Pokémon franchise. Since Victor is a huge fan of Pokémon, we had to stop to get a picture. It was a nice surprise to help us get our day started right.

Driving down Broadway, we were of course compelled to stop at Tom's Restaurant (better known as "Monk's" on Seinfeld). It was another quick stop, but a fun one for Andy, who is a big Seinfeld fan. Visiting famous movie and television locations is almost as fun as finding "giant things."

When we arrived at Brian's apartment, Kismet was introduced to Brian, and the rest of us were introduced to the Nintendo Wii! What fun! Victor enjoyed playing all kinds of sports, and beat Kala at tennis, although it was close there for awhile! We had bagels with Brian and wished him luck on his big test. Gena was out of town, and we were sorry to have missed her, but it was good to spend some time with cousin Brian.

After reparking our car for the day, we began our journey on the subway. The first station lulled us into a false sense of security, by being wheelchair (and thereby stroller) accessible. We thought, "Hey, this is going to be alright!" Boy, were we mistaken! It turns out that there is but one elevator in all of the New York subway system. Ok, we don't have any proof of that, but we only saw the one, and it felt like we stopped at every station in New York! There were stairs to get into the subway, and stairs to get out. There were stairs which led to other stairs, which led to even more! Sometimes we would have to carry Kismet's stroller down two sets of stairs, up a third, and then down another, just to find our platform. It was like walking through a Dr. Seuss book! By the end of the day, we were exhausted.

Our first stop on the subway was the World Trade Center site. After six years, they have the train station working again (though not the elevator), but little else seems to have changed since our last visit. We are sure that much progress has been made, but it was not apparent to us casual observers. On the walls of the station hang some very moving works of art by children of the victims of the September 11, 2001, attacks. Victor was only six years old when the World Trade Center was destroyed, so he remembers very little about it, but like anyone would have been, he was touched by the pictures and messages from the children.

We next took the train downtown to Battery Park to get in line to see the Statue of Liberty. Even with our advance reservations, we had to be there two hours early to file through security and wait for the next ferry. What we didn't know was that it would take about thirty minutes to get through the will call line to pick up the tickets before we could even get into the security line! The will call line is located inside Castle Clinton National Monument, so we took advantage of the time in line to look around. Built to protect New York from British invasion (no Beatles music for this town!), the circular fort was one of the original batteries for which Battery Park was named.

While Andy was waiting to pick up our tickets, Kala was outside the fort, purchasing a long-anticipated street pretzel, which she promptly dropped onto the street. The five-second rule does not apply on the streets of New York City, so she waited another fifteen minutes in line to replace her pretzel. It was so worth it!

Tickets and pretzel in hand, we were ready to enter the two-hour security line and wait. And wait. And wait. At least there were some really bad street performers to keep us "entertained." The guy with the steel drums only knew four songs. Four short songs. By the time we passed out of his area of influence, he had looped about five times. We will never hear "Qué Será Será" quite the same way again. There was also a guy who called himself an acrobat because he could do cartwheels, and another "performer" whom Kala can only describe as a professional crowd scarer. Dressed up as the Statue of Liberty, this guy stands next to people and creeps them out until they pay him to go away. Many people made attempts to scare off this creature with flashbulbs, but that only encouraged it. It took cold, hard, cash to send the monster on its way.

At long last, we reached our destination: The Statue of Liberty. We can't tell you how happy Kala was to be so close to it. Really, we can't. It was even more horrifying up close than she had imagined. From the base of the pedestal, Kala could look up and see the knobby bolts on those gargantuan green hands. Inside the museum, there were full-sized copper casts of her foot and face. Those cold, lifeless eyes staring out from her stern face caused Kala to steer clear. Kismet, however, didn't seem to mind. She's used to stuff being a lot bigger than she is.

Having toured the museum, climbed to the top of the pedastal (as high as they let you go these days), and peered up Lady Liberty's dress (as is expected of all good tourists), we took the ferry over to Ellis Island, the immigration checkpoint for millions of people entering the United States from Europe and other points east until 1924. We tried to locate the records for our own family members who we know crossed through the station, but, most likely due to the Americanization of their names, we were unable to locate them. Still, it was good to see the place where some of our recent ancestors first encountered America.

After a long day of touring (and moving the car again), we were hungry! Of course, we couldn't visit New York without stopping in for a slice at "The One & The Only Famous Ray's Pizza of Greenwich Village." The real one, on 11th Street. Boy, was that a good slice of pizza! The crispy, greasy, cheesy goodness alone was worth the drive in from Connecticut. Victor agreed that it was the best pizza he had ever had, which was a wise thing for him to do. You just don't disagree with Andy about New York pizza.

Although we had all just about had a full day by then, after dinner we mustered the strength to take another subway trip up to Times Square. Night was just setting in, and the lights were stunning. Video displays as large as buildings advertised everything from Coca-Cola to Ugly Betty. Even McDonald's sparkles and shines on Broadway!

We were sure to stop in and visit the five-story Times Square Toys "R" Us megastore, the largest toy store in the world. We marveled at the giant Lego sculptures, the twenty-foot-tall animatronic dinosaur, the life-size Barbie dollhouse, and the sixty-foot-tall indoor ferris wheel with gondolas modeled after classic and beloved toys. Victor spent much time in the Pokémon department (yes, there's an entire Pokémon department), while Kismet had fun playing in the Leap Frog department (yes, there's an entire Leap Frog department—like we said, it's a big store!).

We finally wore ourselves out, tracked down our car, and drove back to Ken and Sondra's house in Connecticut. It's been a long day, and we're looking forward to a good night's rest. Tomorrow we'll be flying home!