Day 3: New York: Contrast and afternoon tour in Brooklyn: Brooklyn Promenade, Empire Fulton Ferry Park - Jane's Carousel, Brooklyn Bridge, Front Street, Jay Street, Manhattan Bridge
It's 5 in the morning when we wake up and it is that even though it seems a lie we drag jetlag remains and it is that after the first day in New York, in which we went to bed at the many after watching the NBA game and yesterday that we enjoy a day in Central Park and the Natural History Museum, even today, that we have a day full of visits, with the Contrast and afternoon tour in Brooklyn, we have not yet recovered.
The first thing we do is look out the window and see again the impressive views we have of the Empire State Building from the bed, with which we immediately recharge our energy to prepare and start with the third day of this trip to New York in 11 days.
Today as we commented we have booked the New York Contrast Tour in advance, it is one of the best excursions in New York, with which we will know that other part from the city.
If you want to make the tour with fewer people you can book the New York VIP Contrast tour that takes place in a minibus for up to 15 people.
We have met at 8:00 in the morning at the Renaissance Times Square hotel on 7 Avenue, between 47th and 48th Street, right next to Times Square, so we don't get too entertained, leaving a few minutes before 7 : 00 in the morning of our hotel the Holiday Inn Times Square, for breakfast at Dean & DeLuca, another of the most recommended places in the area, where we can find a variety of fresh products, both for breakfast and for lunch.
We ordered a couple of pastries plus 1 cappuccino and a large American for $ 14.92, the price that we have been paying for breakfast these days or so and that we think is quite tight telling that we are in the heart of New York and part the coffees we have to say that they are size XL.
Breakfast at Dean & Deluca
Today we do not entertain too much with breakfast and it is that although we have the Contrast Tour at 8 in the morning, the sunny day has dawned today, so we want to take a few minutes before the meeting to be able to take some photos of Times Square now that there are not too many people, so with the coffees in hand, like two more citizens, we approached one of the most visited places in New York, two streets from our hotel.
Times Square
At this time of the morning it is a real luxury to walk through this area of New York and it is that although the city has already been launched for a few hours, most tourists have not yet arrived in this area, so that it is still possible to take a photo without many people and take the opportunity to sit at the famous red tables a few minutes to enjoy the atmosphere of this place more than symbolic of New York.
Times Square first thing in the morning
When we realize it is almost 8 in the morning, so we have to take a run until we reach the Renaissance hotel where Daniel is already waiting for us to indicate where the bus is where we can go riding in a few minutes to start with the New York Contrast Tour. Usually this tour is done in minibuses, which is why we were recommended to do the excursion on Tuesday or Thursday, since today the group was 20 people and therefore we would go on a bus. We had the idea of doing this tour at the beginning of the trip, since we were interested in having this experience at the beginning of the trip, to get to know these first strokes of the city.
We also took into account that today being Saturday, sabbath In the Williamsburg neighborhood, where Orthodox Jews live, the neighborhood would be more lively and to visit.
No more than 15 minutes past 8 o'clock when we set off for the Bronx, the neighborhood that will be our first stop of the Contrast Tour. One of the things we like most about the tour is the possibility of knowing first hand and we have to confess that with great skill from Daniel, the history of New York, its districts and a small summary of the city's policy, culture and some anecdotes that we probably would not have known otherwise. Something that confirms our idea that if you want to do the New York Contrast Tour, it is best to locate it in the first days of your trip, as we also indicated in the post What to see in New York by neighborhoods.
We also learned that tomorrow, Sunday, the day we planned to go to Harlem to enjoy a gospel mass, being Easter day, most churches will do special masses and will not let tourists or many people enter, so it is important to review of tomorrow's planning and check which churches do let tourists in and be there early in the morning to be able to follow the itinerary we had marked for these days.
And so, embarked on the explanations that Daniel is giving us as we travel through Manhattan, we begin to move away from the nerve center of the city, making our way to the Bronx, the first district of the Contrast Tour, where we will make a first stop to get closer and get to know the famous Yankee Stadium, located at 1 E 161st Street, become an attraction for itself.
Yankee Stadium
The current stadium opened in 2009 and was located next to the old one, which was later demolished. Although it has a lower capacity, the current stadium has won services, more stores, a museum and currently has better accessibility, apart from being used for other sports, such as football, when the Yankees do not play.
After a more than complete explanation about the Yankee Stadium and many curiosities about the sport and this team in particular, they leave us a few minutes to take a walk around the area, take some photos and above all feel again as in a movie , something we are sure, we will repeat many times during this trip to New York.
Sports next to the Yankee Stadium
From here, we cross the street, seeing the elevated subway, so characteristic of this area of the city to get closer to the graffiti that remind us of several famous baseball players, who are honored in this part of the city.
Metro overpass in the Bronx
Baseball in the Bronx
The second stop at Contrast Tour in the Bronx It is known in the station 42, famous for being the scene of Fort Apache, a film that was promoted with the famous phrase: “In New York there is a neighborhood where even the police are afraid”. And this neighborhood is the Bronx, in which we are now and in which today, hundreds of tourists come every day, usually on tours, trying to see or know better that place in New York where they continue happening things Every day and where, depending on what areas, it is advisable not to come.
Police station 42. Bronx
In this area we find a couple of groups that are also in front of Police Station 42, where we received a brief, but more than complete explanation of the police situation not only in this area of the city, but also in a generalized way, which makes us see this profession more closely and makes us understand many of the situations or many of the actions we read in the newspapers.
Police Station 42
Something that catches our attention is the explanation to one of the stickers worn by police cars, which is the reward given to anyone who identifies someone who has shot a police officer and that is that in the United States this is something very serious, so much that it would lead to the death penalty if it is legal (according to the state).
Police car at New York Police Station 42
After this stop, we follow the Contrast Tour by the Bronx approaching several points where we find the Bronx graffiti zone, the form of protest of this neighborhood before society and before events, which are often the most tragic, such as deaths of its inhabitants, often unfairly by gang members. We make the first stop at the Naño graffiti, a recognized tribute of the Bronx to which he was killed for being against gang members.
Graffiti Naño. Bronx
While we are moving from one graffiti to another on the bus we are attentive to all the explanations of Daniel that puts us in the background of the most important details of the neighborhoods we travel, such as the sneakers on the street lamps, which identify dangerous areas of the neighborhood, cartels in the houses in which the sale of drugs is announced or cartels in which it is identified that the house has been "cleaned"by the illegal sales police.
The next stop at the Bronx is at Simpson Station, where the famous Bronx graffiti, in which you can read the word "Bronx"and each of the letters with famous images of this area of New York inside.
Bronx graffiti
Here we have some time to walk around the area, so after taking the photo of rigor, we approach the subway station to know it inside and to see how it is one of these elevated stations, as well as to see the views from it.
Simpson Station
It's 10 in the morning when we follow the Contrast Tour, entering some of the most conflictive streets of the Bronx, in the southern part of the neighborhood, where we do not stop, but we can see through the windows of our bus and leave us with that sense of real danger that we we thought it didn't exist and that it was more a urban legend, that not a reality.
Bronx Contrast Tour
Streets of the Bronx. Contrast Tour
And we can not forget that every day, you just have to read the newspaper or watch TV to realize that certain parts of the Bronx are not exactly the best places to walk and less being tourists.
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Bronx
It's a little after 10:30 in the morning when we leave the Bronx and take the highway to cross East River and enter Queens, another of the districts that we will meet today in the Contrast Tour, passing through one of the most exclusive areas of New York, the “Queens Malba Neighborhood"And this district is so large that we can find practically neighborhoods within others, although in this case it is one of the most exclusive, so much that parking is not allowed if you do not have a home or are invited by one of the owners, although yes we can circulate and see for a few minutes how you live here, so close and so far away from the Bronx, where we were only a few minutes ago.
Malba neighborhood. Queens
After this brief tour of houses where security is present in every corner, in equal parts with luxury, we continue the journey to Flushing Meadow Corona Park, the largest park in Queens and one of the most emblematic of the city, passing also for the US Open tennis stadium in the United States.
In 1939 the Universal Exhibition was held for which the Unisphere was designed, a 42-meter-high globe designed by Clarke, which was a symbol of this Exhibition and today it is the park and is the place where we do A stop to stretch your legs and, of course, take some photos.
Unisphere Flushing Meadows
In Flushing Meadows we can also see The Observation Towers, famous for going out in one of the scenes of the movie Men in black.
The Observation Towers
We spend no less than 20 minutes in the area, but the cold starts to do their thing, so it's time to go back to the bus and continue with the Contrast Tour, this time to continue in the district, but entering the area of the Latin neighborhoods in Queens, where we make a technical stop to go to the bathroom and have a coffee in the famous place "Delicious little things".
Queens Contrast Tour
The little we have been able to see from Queens has left us with a very good taste, remaining in our memory as one of the places we would like to travel with more tranquility and to which we will surely return to soak up the cultural variety and see how incredible , from one street to the other the nationality changes and also the shops. It is increasingly clear that we will have to return to New York again but with more time.
Queens NY
After almost 4 hours of travel in the Contrast Tour, and now with a much broader vision of New York, we continue to Brooklyn, now to enter Williamsburg, where the largest Orthodox Jewish community in the city is located and where today Saturday (sabbath) we can know its activities on this seventh day of the week, sacred day of the Jewish week that we could already live on the trip to Israel and Palestine.
But before entering another of the most famous districts of New York like Brooklyn, we pass by the First Calvary Cemetery, which leaves us with stunning views with Manhattan in the background.
First Calvary Cemetery
It didn't take us more than 20 minutes to find ourselves in the center of Williamsburg, where we find a Jewish community that today, especially, invades the streets. We have to say that at this point of Contrast Tour We have encountered a series of mixed feelings and this is always something you face when traveling in a group, since logically not everyone can think or act the same as us. Precisely this is the main reason why we avoid, whenever we can organized trips or organized tours, preferring on many occasions to pay more but make it private and thus not have to encounter some situations that we find somewhat violent. Of course we recognize that this is something very personal and above all it is something very peculiar, and it is that we have to admit that in certain aspects, especially that they leave our understanding, we are quite closed-minded and even little tolerant in our opinions, something that as we say, certainly belongs to our personality and therefore we understand that there are many people who do not share or even understand.
Williamsburg
The point is that as soon as you reachWilliamsburg 99% of the bus have stuck to the windows, pointing, shouting and even, as Daniel gave some explanations, lavishing all kinds of opinions about his culture that sometimes scratched the unpleasant.
As we mentioned before, we consider that these things are out of place, since we are only spectators without more, and feel in full right to judge so quickly or to see ourselves with the right to take pictures by planting the camera in front of someone's face, simply by Do not go dressed like us, leaving respect at home, we believe that they are not unnecessary acts.
It may sound too radical, but we have to say that in the face of these attitudes we can only feel uncomfortable and even ask ourselves if this stop in Williamsburg is necessary in the Contrast Tour.
After the explanations they give us the possibility to take a walk around the area, crossing a few streets to meet later on the bus and to finish the tour. As you can imagine we are quite unmarked from the group, trying to avoid any setback when seeing that the camera zooms are going to stop and we tried to take this walk, simply knowing a little Williamsburg, a place that we believe, we would have preferred to visit for free, without cameras, just to know it a little more closely.
Williamsburg
After this last stop, we make our way to the Brooklyn Bridge, where we have the possibility to stop the ones we stay and stay in this area of New York or continue to Times Square, where they picked us up this morning. We opt for the first option and it is that these hours that we have left we want to know a little more about this area of Brooklyn that we have read and have told us true wonders.
New York Contrast Tour
The New York Contrast Tour It is one of the New York's most famous excursions with which you can see places farther from Manhattan, which are not usually visited for free on a first trip to New York such as Bronx, Queens and Harlem.
There are many companies that carry out this tour. We recommend this one, from New York Contrasts or the VIP Contrasts, an entire institution on this tour, from whom you can read countless positive opinions on the internet and with whom you can meet that part of the city that you probably can't reach if you don't This type of tour.
These tours usually start in downtown Manhattan, in Times Square and run through the following points of the city:
Bronx: Yankee Stadium, South Bronx, scene of films such as Fort Apache by Paul Newman, Police Station 42, Big Pun graffiti, Uncle Sam, Amadou Diallo, Headache Nelson, Jonathan and many others.
Queens: multicultural district where more than 50 different languages are spoken, passing through elegant private neighborhoods such as Queens Malba Neighborhood, the Flushing Meadow Corona Park and clearly Hispanic areas.
At this point in the tour you usually stop for coffee or breakfast in a Latin cafeteria.
Brooklyn: the tour ends in this district where artists such as Barbra Streisand, Eddy Murphy or Woody Allen or athletes like Michael Jordan or Mike Tyson were born.
At this point you will also pass through Williamsburg, where the largest concentration of Orthodox Jews in the city is.
The Contrast Tour Finish in this area of the city, where you can stay, right on the famous Brooklyn Bridge or continue to Times Square.
The duration is usually about 4 hours.
We recommend booking the Contrast Tour or VIP Contrasts in advance, it is the most popular excursion in New York and you could run out of seats.
Another good option is to book the Contrast Tour that includes the Gospel Mass.
Contrast Tour yes or no?
For us, who do not usually do any organized tour and less for cities, we have to say that it has been a pleasant surprise on New York Contrast Tour, since we have known places and details, both cultural and political, that we surely would not have known otherwise.
The possibility of entering the Bronx, where we probably would not have come for free or Queens, where we have been left wanting more and where we will surely spend a few days the next time we come to New York, have been an added incentive for take the tour
Another positive thing is the "quick" visit to the city that you have the possibility to do by car, a way to get to know the most important places of these districts in a quick way and to have a first vision.
If there is something we did not like is the visit to Williamsburg, given the "paparazzi" character that has acquired at various times of the tour, although we understand that this is given at all times by the character of the group in question, rather than by the organization, which at all times have been super respectful to the community. We also want to record that not because of them we believe it is better or worse than our attitude towards this fact, we simply have to say that we have not fit in our way of managing this visit.
In our case in several moments we have felt "attacked", seeing how photographs were taken with zooms, how certain comments or judgments were issued, which we believe were out of place and more when nothing is known about the community.
It's a little after 1 noon when we leave the rest of the group that follows Times Square and we make our way to Grimaldi's, the place we have chosen to eat and where we have to queue for 30 minutes and it could not be so Easy to eat a pizza in the best room in New York.
Queue at Grimaldi's
Grimaldi's. The best pizza in New York
Grimaldi's is an entire institution in New York in relation to pizzas. Considered as one of the New York's best pizzas, we recommend that if you are in the area, do not miss tasting it.
Normally you will find queue, but it goes pretty fast, so it is worth waiting for.
There are 2 sizes of pizzas, small and large, with tomato or without. We chose the small one, which is 6 servings, for 1 or 2 people for 14 dollars and then you add the ingredients you want: pepperoni, olives, tuna, cheese, chicken ... etc for between 3 or 4 dollars each.
Keep in mind that they do not accept credit card and you have to pay in cash.
Once located on the top floor of the restaurant we ordered a small pizza for two with pepperoni, double cheese and onion plus two soft drinks and coffees for 37 dollars, a price that we can say is expensive for what we have eaten, but that without a doubt , being in New York and considering the famous place, we believe that it is more than adjusted.
A few minutes past 3 in the afternoon when we leave Grimaldi's and despite going through Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory, where they say they eat the best ice cream in the city, we think it is better to leave it for a little later and we go directly to Brooklyn Heights Promenade, from where we have the first views of the New York skyline, how could it be otherwise, they leave us with their mouths open.
Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory
Brooklyn Heights Promenade
We can only say that Brooklyn Heights Promenade it takes your breath away and more on days like today that the sky looks blue, practically without clouds and although it is quite cold, the sun begins to caress the face at this time of the afternoon. This walk became famous for being the scene in several films such as Annie Hall or Moon Spell and has become one of the most romantic places in New York, where it is not uncommon to be a spectator of marriage proposals, anniversaries or photos of newlyweds .
Brooklyn Heights Promenade
From Brooklyn Heights Promenade we have views not only of the skyscrapers of Manhattan, but also of the statue of liberty, the first time we see it on this trip to New York at Easter and the majestic Brooklyn Bridge.
Brooklyn Heights Promenade
Brooklyn Heights Promenade
Surrounded by flowers, trees, benches and several playgrounds for children, the walk through Brooklyn Heights Promenade is a favorite for tourists, couples, families and of course, athletes who come to run and enjoy one of the views most impressive in the city.
Brooklyn Heights Promenade
After spending almost an hour, completely engrossed with the incredible views, we step back on our steps, to continue through the area, but this time in the opposite direction, approaching the Empire Fulton Ferry Park, where Jane's Carousel, another of the symbols from this area of the city and from where we can admire the Manhattan Bridge so close, that we can almost touch it.
Empire Fulton Ferry Park
Jane's Carousel
Following the walk, we find one of the quietest areas of the Empire Fulton Ferry Park and it is the new york beach, as some call it and where, with the first rays of sun, it begins to fill with people and there is no more pleasant place than this to enjoy a sunny day, in front of incredible views and why not, take a bath .
Empire Fulton Ferry Park
From here and after having first contact with the impressive New York skyline when we enter the neighborhood adjacent to Brooklyn Heights Promenade, where the reddish stone houses full of charm become the protagonists of this area of the city and where the quiet streets are part of the itinerary, reaching Front street, a little secret from Brooklyn from where we can enjoy unique views of the Manhattan Bridge standing out among the reddish stone houses, which give this street an air of essential place, which probably ends up in the city guides. And if you look, between the Manhattan Bridge, you can also see, right in the middle, the Empire State Building. Curious, right ?.
Front street
Manhattan Bridge from Front Street
It's almost 5:00 in the afternoon when we decide that the time has come to have that experience that many consider essential in New York: cross the Brooklyn Bridge. So we think about it and approach the stairs that give us access to the Brooklyn Bridge and enter one of the most beautiful routes you can do in New York. And if we think about those 100 things to see and do in New York, this should probably be in the top 10.
Brooklyn bridge
The Brooklyn Bridge links the districts of Manhattan and Brooklyn, built between 1870 and 1883, at the time it was considered the largest suspension bridge in the world as it was also the first suspended by steel cables and today one of the New York symbols.
Brooklyn bridge
Brooklyn bridge
Given that the Brooklyn bridge It is almost 2 kilometers long and at this time, in which the influx of tourists in quite high, it is going to go quite slowly and always controlling the bike lane, something to consider if you do not want to cause an accident, and we almost have no time Stop and take pictures, when we are nearing the end and a little overwhelmed by so many people, we decided that before returning, since we still have some time until sunset, stop for a drink to rest for a while, now that today is being a most complete day.
More practical information to prepare your trip to New York
- 10 things to book before traveling to New York
- The 10 best tours and excursions in New York
- 100 things to see and do in New York
- New York guide step by step
- The best travel insurance for New York
- The best viewpoints in New York
- What to see in New York by neighborhood
- The 10 best free things in New York
- 20 essential places to visit in New York
- 10 essential tips for traveling to New York
It is almost 18:30 in the afternoon when we assess whether to go back to the Brooklyn area across the bridge or by subway, but seeing what time it is we decided to use our Metrocard, arriving in the absence of a few minutes by 7: 00 in the afternoon to the area of Brooklyn Heights Promenade from where we have stunning views of the New York skyline, with a sunset in the background, which makes this the best farewell we would have imagined for a day like today.
Sunset in New York
Sunset over the Brooklyn Bridge
Despite the cold we can not resist taking a run up to a couple of walks from north to south until Empire Fulton Ferry Park to see the sunset from there and it is that this area is amazing both day and night, so we recommend that if you do the Contrast Tour In the morning, you spend the afternoon in this area of Brooklyn, so you can end the day with an incredible sunset over the silhouette of Manhattan.
Empire Fulton Ferry Park
As the afternoon progresses and the cold begins to get dark, it also begins to become more noticeable and today we have not exceeded 12 degrees throughout the day, but at this time of the afternoon we have no more than 6 degrees, something that , after all day on the street, begins to require a place to warm up and have dinner, but before we can not stop returning to Brooklyn Heights Promenade, from where we take the last Manhattan views at dusk.
Dusk over Manhattan
Brooklyn Heights Promenade
It is almost 9 at night when we decide that it is time to retire, so we return to the subway and we make our way to Times Square where we have our hotel and where we will look for a place for dinner hoping that there are not so many people as there were yesterday. It does not take us more than 20 minutes to plant ourselves again in the nerve center of Manhattan, at this time already fully illuminated and full of people when we approach the Red Lobster, but as we intuited at this time it is very crowded and they tell us that we have a minimum 1 hour and a half of waiting, so we decided that having been a day as complete as today, the best option is to go to a sushi shop that we have right in front of the hotel and load with a few trays of sushi that we tasted in the room our room at the Holiday Inn Times Square, facing the incredible views of the Empire State Building. And, thinking about it, are there better views than you are for dinner?
Day 4: New York: Harlem: Bethel Gospel Assembly (Apollo Theater in Harlem), Apollo Theater, brunch in Harlem, Central Park: The Pound, The Rocks, Wollman Rink, Tha Mall, Bethesha Terrace, The Lake, Alice in Wonderland, Fifth Avenue
