Friday, November 8, 2013

Hawaii 2013


Hawaii – Fall Break 2013
5 nights on Oahu and 4 nights on Maui with my 11 year old  child and my senior parents. 
Friday, Day 1:  We fly non-stop on United, Denver to Honolulu – 7+ hours.  We check into our hotel and walk around the beach a bit before heading to the International Market Place for shopping and dinner.  We start our adventure on Oahu, staying at the Outrigger Waikiki on the Beach hotel.  Our room was a “partial ocean view” on the Diamond Head side of the building and we could see the ocean and also see the city lights at night.  The location is great and we enjoy walking right across the street to the ABC store and the International Market Place.  My daughter loves shopping for trinkets there and we eat here a few times.  I say it’s kind of like eating at the “dollar a scoop” place near our house, only it’s $7 a scoop.   The location is also perfect for walking along the beach.  We are situated right between two historic hotels, the Moana Surfrider and the Royal Hawaiian – we take a stroll through them both one evening.  The Outrigger has a medium sized pool and a hot tub.  My only complaint would be that the pool closes at 8pm and the hot tub even earlier on weekends because they expand the bar area into it.  Other than that, the pool area was great – warm enough for us and never crowded.   The beach access is also super and makes strolling along the beach or going for a swim quite simple.  We found a neat sandbar that let us walk way out into the ocean and still only be in waist deep water.  This hotel is kind of odd in that it’s sandwiched narrowly in here and doesn’t feel like a big resort.  The location is really the draw.  It’s the heart of Waikiki and there are people out and about at all hours.  I’m dismayed to hear the International Market Place has been bought and will be “redeveloped” with Saks Fifth Avenue as its anchor store.  There’s already enough high-end shopping up and down the street so it’s nice to have this low end shopping nearby.  It reminded me of shopping in Thailand or Mexico and we all enjoyed it. 
 



Saturday, Day 2: We tour the North Shore area today.  We drive through the beautiful mountains behind Honolulu.  Now, I live near some of the most beautiful mountains in the world, but these were a sight to behold – very different than the Rockies.  All green and lush, they look like giant slices of stone.  We enjoy the view and the wild chickens at the Nu’uanu Pali Lookout.   We stop at various beaches and see the Chinaman’s Hat Island where they have a sign up warning about sharks in the area due to a whale carcass.   We stop at La’ie point to see the arch and enjoy watching people jump off the cliff into the ocean.  Like the locals, we have lunch at Giovanni’s Shrimp truck and the shrimp is good but the real find is the roasted corn from the stand behind the truck.  Delicious!  We’ll stop here again just for the corn on another day.  The kid also gets a coconut.  The coconut water is still bland, even though it’s twice as much ($5 in Hawaii compared to $2 in Denver) and the inside is like gelatin!  She’s thrilled with her island treat – a young coconut.  We head for the Waimea Falls Park and hike back to the waterfall.  They have life jackets for all to wear and this makes it very easy to plunge into the cool water.  It’s about 75 degrees so tolerable and we are able to sit in the waterfall.  One of the highlights of our trip!  It’s nearing sunset so we head to Waimea beach and watch more jumping and diving off the cliffs.  The waves here are larger and we were not at all tempted to join in the jumping.  Dinner is at Ted’s Bakery and then we drive back to the hotel after a long day.

Sunday, Day 3:  The day is spent at Pearl Harbor.  We opt for the audio tour and this keeps us all moving at a good pace and lets us learn as much as we can without having to stand and read it all.  I had forgotten how much of the population in the 1940’s was Japanese, but looking at a map it should be no surprise how much Asian influence and heritage there is on Hawaii.  Oahu is full of Japanese tourists and some of the stores even accept payment in Yen.  With Japan at the top of my travel wish list, it’s exciting to hear all the Japanese being spoken.  We tour the USS Arizona Memorial (I had secured tickets in advance online) and then everyone but Grandma decides to tour the Battleship Missouri.  My mom and child also do the “pick a pearl” booth and both are thrilled with their picks – a white pearl for Grandma and a black pearl that looks violet for the kid.  My child loves those pearl places and now has a white, blue and black pearl from them.  We head back to the hotel for our dinner at Dukes -- our most expensive meal of the trip.  My child and I split the moonfish with a caper sauce – it’s delicious! 

Monday, Day 4:  Today we climb Diamond Head and drive up the Windward Coast.  Diamond Head crater provides great views but the climb up is a bit of work.  It’s also hot.  HOT!  We have to practically drag Grandma along but convince her it will be worth the walk.   Near the top we see ambulance and fire and rescue trucks drive up.  As I walk down I see them hauling some old man off the hill side, probably heat exhaustion.  Did I mention how HOT it was on Oahu?!  We enjoy one of several shaved ice treats after the hike and then drive up the eastern windward side, admiring the wealthy homes and beaches.  Another drive back to Honolulu through those velvety green mountains and we are back for dinner on the beach at Duke’s Barefoot bar.  More shopping at the International Market Place concludes this evening.

Tuesday, Day 5:  I eat pineapple pancakes at the Hula Grill in the hotel – they are even more delicious than they sound.  Today we are headed to the Polynesian Culture Center after we stop for some of that roasted corn on the North Shore.  The Polynesian Culture Center is like Disney Epcot meets the Renaissance Festival, only with less food and shopping.  We only have time to see the shows in 3 areas, Samoa, Tahiti and Tonga, and we really enjoy all of them.  We enjoy all the dancing at the canoe parade while we eat more shaved ice.  Even the locals that work here are talking about how HOT it is and how there is no wind.  The news talks about the lack of trade winds.  We are melting.  We enjoy a ride in a little outrider canoe – I sit in the back near the driver so I don’t have to row. Yay!  Feeding the ducks here is a highlight and we do a bit of shopping while we wait for the Luau.  We all find the food to be quite acceptable for buffet food and we even try the poi (gross).  We attend the “Ha, Breath of Life” show and really appreciate all the dancing from the different Polynesian cultures.  The show is fantastic, on par with a Broadway show.  At one point I counted over 50 dancers on the stage and they are talented.  I appreciate seeing more than just the Hula as I find it a bit of a bore.  The frantic dancing of Tahiti and the drums of Tonga are very exciting.  The show ends with fire dancers.  This was a great way to spend a day in Hawaii and I could have easily spent more time here.

Wednesday, Day 6:  We walked down Waikiki to swim at the part of the beach that is walled in so that we didn’t have to dodge surfers.  After a bit of beach and pool time we hop islands to Maui!  Here we are staying at the Aston Maui Kaanapali Villas that I booked through Aston.  These are time share condos and ours was huge!  We were in the Aloha building, 201. It was a garden view 1 bedroom and it was beautiful.   It was really nice having the kitchen and the living room so we could spread out and even watch TV.  The grounds here were meticulously maintained with beautiful plants and flowers. The pool had waterfalls and a great hot tub that were both open until 10 pm and never crowded.  The pool was warmer than the ocean.  The beach was just a short walk from the pool and was perfect – no rocks or coral or seaweed -- just blue water.  It did drop off deep fairly sudden but I had inflatable pool noodles with us so we just bobbed around.   About a 10 minute walk down the beach was coral good for snorkeling.  This was a great, great condo location on a wonderful beach.  The whole resort felt very quiet and welcoming and on the smaller side.  We all loved this resort just north of Black Rock.

Thursday, Day 7 and Halloween:  The first part of the day is spent at the beach and pool swimming and relaxing.  In the afternoon we head into Lahaina for their huge celebration.  They block off the street and have a huge kid parade in the afternoon.  Still no trade winds and stifling heat.  More shaved ice!  The kid dresses as a black cat, I’m a cheetah and the grandparents wear orange pumpkin shirts.  Many people comment on the kid’s costume and ask to take her photo which thrills her.  My favorite costume was a girl dressed as a Barbie in a pink Mattel box.  I’m not sure how she could even breathe in there in the heat.   We eat at the Old Pioneer Inn in town, having a salad with the best raspberry vinaigrette, and then walk around at night a bit to check out the elaborate adult costumes.  It was a fun and different way to spend Halloween.


Friday, Day 8:  We drive up the western side of the island a bit to see the landscape and beaches.  The highlight was stopping at Makalua-puna Point to see the unique lava shapes known as “Dragon’s Teeth”.  This was so fascinating looking, you could just see the lava, bubbles and channels of it that then formed these spikes that look like giant teeth.  It was like walking on the shoreline of another planet.  We also walk a trail described in the Maui Revealed book to see the remains of a Malibu Grand Prix car.  Have no idea how it got there!  We end the day with another highlight of our Maui vacation – a sunset cruise. I booked Paragon Sailing in advance because it’s a smaller catamaran that docks at Lahaina – no wading through the water to board.  There were only about 15 people on board so plenty of room for all of us.  The best part is that they sail and they sail fast.  As luck would have it those trade winds we’d been missing showed up this afternoon – perfect timing!  The captain said they had not been able to simply sail for weeks due to the lack of winds so they were excited to go fast.  My child was eager to sit in the splash zone and made fast friends with the couples sitting there.  By the end of the ride her lips were blue and she was soaked, but she had a blast.  We were delighted with colorful rainbows and a beautiful sunset.  This has been a perfect Maui day.

Saturday, Day 9:  This long day is spent driving the Road to Hana. I make everyone get up early and we hit the road about 7:30.  They are not kidding when they talk about how winding this road is.  We make several stops to see the various beaches and waterfalls.  Many of the little one way bridges are over 100 years old and they are a sight to see.  We are charmed by little weasel like creatures as we eat our lunch in a park.  One of the most breathtaking sights on this drive is the volcanic black sand beach.  I’ve been to a black sand beach in the Caribbean, but it was nowhere near this black.  This is simply gorgeous!  We reach our final destination, the Seven Sacred Pools area, where they don’t seem to allow any swimming these days, and then turn around to head back – 65+ miles of windy, slow road called the Hana Highway that seems to only have room for one lane much of the time.  The child is somewhat bored today because there is no cell phone reception and no radio stations.  Oh, the tragedy!  We have dinner at Aloha Mixed Plate – more local food.  They eat a lot of rice here. 


Sunday, Day 10:  We have a full day to kill before our red eye flight home.  We start it with a snorkel session just up the beach from our resort.  Just a few days ago there was another shark attack off Maui so I consider it no small victory that I was able to get my child into the water at all.  She just wears her goggles, no snorkel, but we both have pool noodles so we are able to float out quite a distance over the coral and see all kinds of fish.  We are hoping to see a turtle, but no luck for us even though others around us spy them.  We see a scuba lesson going on below us which clues us in to just how deep the water is here.  The highlight of this morning is that as we are out bobbing around in the water a pod of spinner dolphins swims back and forth just a ways out from us.  We can see their fins and the splashing as they leap and play.  We even see one jump up and spin around.  It was so cool.   After we check out of the resort we drive into central Maui to the Iao Valley State Park and see the Iao Needle.  This is a lovely park, easy to get to and requires little hiking to see.  We capture one last gorgeous sunset from a southern beach before dinner at the resort and then a late flight home.  Those overnight flights are brutal, but flying home from Hawaii doesn’t offer any other options.  There’s a bit of excitement with our flight being delayed or cancelled so we hop onto an earlier flight so we can make our connection in Phoenix.  We arrive home around 1pm the next day.
 

We had 10 fun filled days on Oahu and Maui, driving all around each island and hitting the tourist highlights.  My family is not interested in water sports so we didn’t book many tours or do many adventurous activities, we mostly drove around, tried the local food, soaked up the atmosphere, walked around looking at the scenery and swam at the beach and pool.  Everyone really enjoyed their time on the islands.  I enjoy each island for different reasons and think we had a nice mix of both the quiet isolation of Maui and the frantic tourist area of Oahu.  Mahalo!

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Saturday, April 13, 2013

New York City - Spring Break 2013

New York City - Spring Break 2013

It should be noted that prior to our trip I have been watching the PBS Documentary on NYC by Ric Burns.  I have appreciated knowing so much about the city prior to my visit and recommend the series of DVDs.

We arrive late Easter Sunday and catch the midnight NJ Transit train into Manhattan. It's about a 2 block walk to our hotel and we walk by trash piled waist high.  We had been told about the middle of the night trash pickup but I had no idea we'd be walking by trash piled high in the streets every night of our trip.  Welcome to New York!  We felt completely safe as we made our way to the hotel La Quinta.


During our stay we'll have 5 full days and will see 4 Broadway musicals.  I'm so glad we have sprung for 4 shows because they will be some of the highlights of our trip.  This also caused us to be in Times Square more than anyone should on a trip.  I can see why the locals avoid the area.  So crowded and chaotic. We shopped at Toys R Us, Disney, M&M Store, Aeropostle, and Hershey's, which is worth the stop just to get your free chocolate kiss. Times Square is a must see once for any tourist, but I think I've had my fill of walking and shopping in that area.  The shows however -- I long to go back just to see more musicals!

Since we've already seen Wicked and Lion King and Jersey Boys and Mary Poppins we plan to see some different selections.  Our first show is Newsies and I am blown away by the dancing and choreography.  A stage full of young handsome men dancing -- what's not to love?  This is my favorite show of the week.  I really hope it tours some day.   Our next show was Annie.  I have been to Annie years ago but my daughter hasn't.  She loved it as expected.  Next up was Chicago.  We had plans to see this in Denver but then it was cancelled so we jumped at this opportunity.  It's a very simple set but the dancing is impressive and my daughter declares this is her favorite musical of all time.   Our last show was Nice Work if You Can Get it.  I wanted to see this for one reason: Matthew Broderick.  I figure this is a uniquely New York experience -- he'd never tour with it, so this is my chance to see Ferris Bueller and War Games Broderick live on stage. I worried a bit that my tween child would not appreciate the show, but my fears were soon gone when she was laughing at all the jokes.  She thought the show was hilarious and enthusiastically agreed that we should line up to try to get an autograph at the stage door.  Getting that autograph and photo was a thrill for both of us and a great way to end our week of Broadway.


Just a comment about the theaters.  I loved them.  I feel so spoiled now to have sat so close to the talent on stage.  In Denver the Mezzanine feels so far back, not desirable seats.  Here we sat in the Mez for all 4 shows and I couldn't have been happier with the seats.  Many of those theaters are about half the size of what we're used to and we loved the intimacy of them.  I really do want to go back and do a long weekend of Broadway shows.  I'd better start saving my money!

Our days were full of tourist attractions and sites in the city.  We planned to do and see a lot and we accomplished nearly all of it in spite of the cold weather.

Monday:  We walk by the Time Warner CNN building -- no sign of Anderson Cooper -- and make our way to the Original Soup  man to grab a snack which we eat while sitting on a bench across from the historic Ed Sullivan Theater, home to David Letterman.  We then go on our Onboard bus tour.  What I like about tours is the narration and getting to see a glimpse of places I may not have otherwise gone.  What I dislike about them is that you don't get to spend any significant time anywhere and often only see things out the bus window.  We did enjoy this tour and it was a good introduction to the city.  It also provided a boat ride by Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty, since both are closed due to hurricane damage, this is as close as we'll get to them.  The boat ride was very cold and toward the end it started to rain and drizzle.  A cold front was moving in and it was so windy you couldn't even use an umbrella.  Thankfully the precipitation would be brief, but the cold temperatures would remain for the week.  After our bus and boat tour we head into Times Square for a quick dinner and then Newsies.  Great first day.


Tuesday:  This is our coldest day and we have set ticket times for the 9/11 Memorial and Tenement Museum.  We head to the memorial at 10am and the line moves along reasonably well.  It's a beautiful and fitting memorial and after we pay our respects we decide to continue with our plan to walk the Brooklyn Bridge in spite of the cold temperatures.  We take the subway into Brooklyn and it is so cold we nix our plans to walk around the promenade but instead have a delicious lunch at Siggy's before heading across the bridge on foot.  Thankfully it is not windy on the bridge as I feared it  might be; it is also not scary, which is a relief because I have a fear of heights.  The views are wonderful and I'd love to take this walk again on a warm day. As we are crossing we see a digital display on a building tell us it is 36 degrees.  Brrr!  No wonder we are so cold.  We spent time in Chinatown and my daughter loves this area.  She loves all the jade and Chinese trinkets.  She makes several small purchases and really enjoys shopping.  We buy mini cakes from a food cart for $1.  I have no idea what they are, probably similar to waffle batter, but they are yummy.  We also eat ice cream, green tea and taro.  We walk to a small park and sit on a bench enjoying our ice cream in the cold while we watch Chinese locals playing music and games in the park.  While we are in Chinatown we experience the quintessential NY traffic experience as we see a lady get out of her car yelling at the guy behind her who's leaning out his car window cursing and honking at her.  My daughter laughed at the scene of drivers behaving badly. 

Tuesday continued:  We head to the Tenement Museum for the Irish Tour and I appreciate the narrative about life in the late 1800's.  There isn't a whole lot to look at as you only see one part of the building on each tour, but it was interesting and worthwhile and I wish we'd had more time to do another tour.   My daughter loved Chinatown so much that we head back for more shopping and a noodle dinner before making our way uptown.  We don't have show tickets for tonight so we decide to swing by the Empire State Building and go up at night.  The "touts" in front are shameless, telling us all sorts of lies about how long the lines are, trying to get us to buy their upgraded tickets.  I'm so thankful I've read to avoid them and we go in to the regular ticket line.  The line for security is nearly 30 minutes long, but once we are through this line it's easy to get tickets and ride the first elevator.  The second elevator takes you the last 6 stories and since the line is long we opt to walk up the stairs.  We are breathless before we even take that first breath taking view of the city all lit up at night.  


Wednesday:  Museum day!  We start at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, spending a lot of time looking at the Egyptian art trying to wrap our minds around how old these artifacts are.  We also look at some Medieval and Asian art.  We ate lunch here and then saw some of the Monet’s Picasso’s and van Gogh’s.  There is so much art to see here I thought about just staying but really wanted to venture north to the Cloisters.  We took the subway and enjoyed the rest for our legs.  At Fort Tryon we really enjoyed our stroll through this beautiful park.  We hit the ice cream truck and then walked to the Cloisters.  This area feels very isolated and we didn’t run into many people as it was a cold windy day.  We only had about an hour at the Cloisters but I’m so glad we went.  The building is so amazing, made from parts and pieces of old monastery buildings mostly from France.  We enjoyed the Unicorn tapestries because we had read the Magic Treehouse book about them.  The art here is interesting and the building is magical.  It’s about a 15 minute walk from the cloisters back to the subway.  We have dinner in Hell’s Kitchen at Pam Real Thai and finish the day at Annie.
 

Thursday:  We start our day at the American Museum of Natural History.  Maybe it’s because we have such a fantastic museum in Denver that we don’t feel like looking at much here.  We look at some of the Native American artifacts and then spend time in my daughter’s favorite:  the gem and mineral room.  We are thrilled to see the huge star sapphire.  For lunch we try the Shake Shack and really love the burgers and fries here.  It’s a sunny day so we meet up with New Jersey friends in Central Park.  As I suspected the paths are not well marked so we spend time aimlessly wandering around, but it’s such a great area we don’t mind.  We find the Shakespeare garden and are thrilled to see the first signs of spring. We watch a squirrel eating the flowers and see a little owl in the shrubbery.  We climb Belvedere castle for the great views and walk toward Bethesda fountain letting the kids climb on the rocks along the way.   We venture all through the lower part of the park seeing the Balto statue before heading down 5th Avenue.  I would love to see the park when it’s all green and not still in its dormant spring state.  Our intention is to go to Top of the Rock, but that’s a mistake.  At 5pm the next tickets aren’t until 7:30 and we are told that after your ticket time it still takes 45 minutes to go through all the lines to get to the elevator.  I’m a planner so it goes against my nature to not have a set plan and this is why!  We walked all that way for nothing.  We part ways with our friends and eat at Junior’s in Times Square before seeing Chicago.

Friday:  Our last full day and time to squeeze in the things we didn’t get to do yet.  My tween is tired so I let her sleep in while I visit B&H Photo.  I mail order from them and have heard how vast their store is.  I’m impressed by the inventory as well as the sheer number of employees.   I wake my tween and we head down to the Merchant House Museum.  We do the self guided tour and appreciate life in the early 1900’s.  It’s a sunny spring day so we spend time in Washington Square Park.  I sit and listen to some musicians while she does gymnastics on the lawn.  The park is full of locals and we ask one where she bought her tasty looking lunch and she directs us to Sushi Yawa.   After lunch we head back uptown via subway to 5th Avenue.  I must see the “Big” floor piano and Zoltar machine in FAO Schwarz.  We walk down 5th, stop at Tiffany’s so we can say we’ve been there and also in Trump Tower for a chai latte.  It’s free day at the Museum of Modern Art so we head that way.  I expect it to be busy but I had no idea what awaits us.  The line to get your free ticket and to check bags is so long we contemplate skipping it all together and check out the museum store which really has some interesting household items.  As we are leaving we notice the line for tickets is gone so we decide to go in and take a quick peek at some of the main attractions, mainly the Andy Warhol’s, van Gogh’s The Starry Night and Munch’s The Scream.  A quick bite at McDonald’s and we’re seated for our last Broadway show:  Nice Work if You Can Get it.  Getting Matthew Broderick’s autograph afterward left us floating on cloud 9.


Saturday:  We only have a few hours before we have to catch the NJ Transit train to the airport and fly home.  I purchased Top of the Rock tickets in advance to avoid the drama of the other evening.  This was not necessary as the place was quiet with no lines for security or the elevator.  10am on a Saturday was the perfect time to go and when we reach the top and see those stunning views of Central Park we realize this was a great way to cap off a great trip.  As we walk back to our hotel we stop in the Public Library so we can see the original Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Piglet and Kango stuffed toys. 
 
 
Our impression of the city is that it is lively and vibrant and energetic. We loved everything about it and would love to return someday soon!
 
 
A few remarks about food, our hotel, and the subway....

We found great meals all around the city. Wonderful food at reasonable prices. Only once did we eat at a national chain -- the McDonald's in Times Square. My tween insisted and we were running short on time to grab dinner prior to a show. As I expected, finding quick food in Times Square proves to be a bit of a challenge. The area is so busy and so packed with people. We did eat in the area 4 times.

I think the best quick food in Times Square would be the Europa Cafe -- nice fresh chopped salads and Chai tea latte is what we had. Very good and fast.  We also ate dinner at Juniors. Yes, it's pricey, but we split the salmon salad and it was enough for 2 and very tasty. Of course we had cheesecake too.  Our other Times Square dinner was over on 9th at Pam Real Thai Food. Excellent food and so obvious this is a favorite with the locals. Highly recommend.  Our other dinner was in Chinatown at Great NY Noodletown at 28 Bowery -- we shared a huge bowl of noodles and chicken. So good and so inexpensive!

One of our 5 various lunches was at the Original Soup Man. I can't say I'd rave about the soup, but we had to go for the experience. We even got to see him scold someone for trying to cut in front of us. We ate at the Met cafe and it's exactly what you'd expect for a museum cafe -- overpriced and chaotic, but the food was fine. We ate Sushi Yawa, about a block from Washington Square Park in Greenwich Village. Huge lunch sampler plate for $10 and plenty for us to share. Delicious.  We tried the Shake Shack behind the American History museum. Line was out the door but it was worth the wait for those french fries.  Our favorite lunch was Siggy's Organic in Brooklyn. We had the salmon dinner and it was delicious and plenty enough for us to share.

Our hotel was the La Quinta Manhattan in Korea Town, right near the Empire State Building and 1/2 block from a subway station. I thought the location was great. They provide free wifi and continental breakfast. The accommodations were great for the price I found (cheaper than most in the area). The breakfast room was crowded so we often took breakfast back to our room. We also had to wait a few times for an elevator, but overall I'm pleased with the room and would stay there again. The street noise didn't bother me at all. The British girl in the next room over sure did. I had to call the front desk and my other neighbor just stood in the hall and screamed at her to shut up. Thankfully this only lasted 3 nights and then she was gone. Even earplugs didn't drown out her booming voice in the middle of the night. Amazing.

Lastly -- we used NJ transit to get to Newark airport. NJ Transit from Penn Station NYC is a bit of a chaotic mess, but we still got on the train. It worked very well to get back and forth to the airport. And we used the subway to go as far north as Fort Tryon park and as far south as Brooklyn. I'm proud to say we never got on the wrong train or in the wrong direction! It took a bit to figure out the map and reading tips beforehand helped immensely, but until you're there and trying to read the map and figure it out... well it does take a bit of patience. I often found when we'd come up after riding that I would have a hard time getting oriented -- sometimes we'd walk a 1/2 block in the wrong direction, *sigh*, but I got better as the week wore on! "Dirty" is the word my daughter would use to describe the subway.  I think the newness and cleanliness of the DC Metro system set the bar very high.  "Efficient" is the word I would use for the subway and I can't imagine travelling around the city any other way.

NYC has a pulse and I now understand people's passion for this city.  It was a great way to spend our spring break.
 
 
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