Much like New York City, this post is big.

The September 11th terrorist attacks were shocking and tragic, and changed the world and the way in which we live in it. The subtler aspects of this are seen in the birthdays and other events that happened around them. I can't imagine what it is like for kids who were born on September 11th or 12th, 2001, or even for their parents, in 2001, trying to celebrate the new life they'd brought into this world while the rest of the country was mourning. I do, however, have a bit of knowledge about older folks who simply happened to be born around that date, in that my mother-in-law celebrates her birthday on September 12th.

As a result of this, I found myself thinking a lot about New York City on and around September 11th, as my wife and I were planning on visiting my in-laws in the City on the 13th and 14th. Had I known exactly where we'd been staying, I'd have thought about it a bit more.

It's time for a confession: I know almost nothing about New York City. It wasn't important to me as a child growing up in New Hampshire. When we went to a big city, we went to Boston. We never went to New York. It's far, it's hard to drive in, hard to park in, and expensive to stay in. Boston was an hour away, and, while it is also hard to drive and park in, we know tricks to get around that. Frankly, even after all these years and all this exposure, Boston's geography is still somewhat confusing to me, so New York is just a cosmic mystery.

For example, I didn't know Bowling Green
State University was a New York Subway stop.

I don't think I could even feasibly list all of my misconceptions here. Basically, I always thought that all the big buildings were right near each other, all the sports teams played in the city, all the burroughs were all the same place, and it was slightly larger than Boston.

Working backwards, that was the first misconception destroyed when I learned that Central Park was bigger than Boston. Over the years, I learned more truths, but I still know next to nothing about the city or its layout. Some of what I learned was a couple of years ago, when I made my first-ever trip into the city to celebrate my (then future) sister-in-law's graduation from her Masters program. The biggest thing I learned from that trip: I don't really like New York.

For clarity, we stayed near Times Square, possibly in Hell's Kitchen, and spent the weekend in that area. My father-in-law drove us into the city and found parking. That was terrifying. Driving in Boston sucks, but is doable. Driving in midtown Manhattan is one of the circles of Hell, from what I can tell. We then proceeded to walk pretty much the entire breadth of the island to get to my sister-in-law's apartment, a sixth-floor walk-up, and then walk what felt like half the length of the island to get back to the hotel (but was probably only like a mile). There was a fantastic street fair on 9th Avenue, though, so that was awesome.

That trip, we ate dinner at a Greek restaurant that was somewhere around the northern end of Central Park (we took the subway there and a cab back). The food was great, and I got to try octopus and sweet breads. Then, my wife and I wandered around the city seeing some of the sights (Madison Square Garden, a great little breakfast place) before hitting Grand Central Station and taking a train out of the city.

My impressions were that the city was crowded, dirty, crowded, and noisy. Also, crowded. I was both irritated by the near-constant honking of horns and impressed by the way New York drivers (particularly cabbies) had developed their own "horn language". A quick series of three short beeps meant something different than a quick honk and then a longer one, which meant something different than just laying on the horn. Pretty much all of it was lost on me, but it was kinda cool.

All in all, though, I didn't like the City. Times Square was pretty much the low-light. What a wretched place it has become. Yes, it's technically better than 20-30 years ago, when it was a seedy cesspool of strip clubs, prostitutes, and drug dealers, but that doesn't make it "good". It's basically become a giant outdoor mall, full of neon, noise, and commercialism. New York City has some of the best restaurants in the world, but all you'll find in one of the most well-known sections of the City are chain restaurants like Bubba Gump Shrimp Co, Applebee's, and yes, even McDonald's. Oh, and Gui Fieri's latest "Man Cave" themed assault on our senses and colons. It was interesting to see once. I never want to go back.

The Times Square subway stop is way more
enjoyable than the actual Times Square.

 Apparently word had gotten around to the family, because at the conclusion of this last trip, both my father-in-law and my sister-in-law hoped that I had a better experience in The City this time.

Let's start with getting in. We decided to eschew driving in for taking the train early Saturday morning. We got to the train station plenty early, bought tickets, and listened closely to the announcement that the train we wanted to take was coming in on Track 1. A few minutes later, a train arrived on Track 1, so we hopped on, and were off.

In the wrong direction.

Ten minutes later, at the next stop, we hopped off this train, and waited for the correct train to roll in. Fortunately for us, trains were using Track 1 to go both directions, so the New York-bound train was running late, and was due to arrive any minute. Had the trains been running on time, we'd have had to wait an hour. Hooray for being behind schedule!

Finally on the right train, we pulled into Grand Central Station and went in search of breakfast, finding bagels, croissants, and coffee so strong that I could feel the new chest hairs as they grew in.

We looked up where we were going - the Financial Distrtict, on the southern tip of Manhattan - and set off to take the subway, getting on the wrong train (though going in the right direction), finding out the train we needed to take wasn't going where we needed to go, and finding our way on a different train to Battery Park, around the corner from the hotel, and from where you can glimpse both the Statue of Liberty as well as the new World Trade Center tower.

Ok, so another preconception set on its head. I'm sure people explained it 13 years ago, but it never sank into my head that the World Trade Center, isn't really near the Empire State Building, or Times Square, or Central Park. Again, it's a big city. Lower Manhattan on the weekend is pretty nice - it's practically empty. No traffic, few people.

Not pictured: most of what I picture when I think of New York City.

We met up with the rest of the family, dropped of our suitcase, and set out for our first destination: Governor's Island. Ok, this is pretty cool. It's an island that was first used to defend New York City. As such, there is a large, walled fort with a bevy of canon mounts on the points of the walls. Eventually, it was transformed into a military post, at which my mother-in-law's father was stationed at the time of her birth. She's been back at least once, but neither my wife or I had ever been, so it was cool to see where her mom had been born and grew up.

Those concrete platforms at the base of the wall are canon mounts.

 It also gave a slightly different perspective on the city, as we took the short ferry ride across the bay, and could see the entire financial district, as well as the Brooklyn Bridge and Brooklyn itself. The city is at once both smaller and larger than you think. From this perspective, all you can see is Lower Manhattan, a handful of buildings making up the Financial District, a space probably smaller than Boston. You have to keep in mind, though, that most of the city is actually hidden from view by this relatively small chunk. And then you note that those 30+ story buildings are built right up to the edge of the water. In most cities, you have an almost Gaussian distribution of building heights from the city limits on in to the downtown area. Not New York.

We also played mini-golf on an art-project course that made
fun of Chris Christie (the giant ape) and Mayor Bloomberg (not pictured).

One thing I've learned about vacations with my in-laws is that it involves lots of walking. As noted, the previous trip to New York felt like we covered the entire width of the island. On a recent trip to Washington, DC, I'm pretty sure we walked about 5 miles each day we were there. The family talks about a trip they took to Arizona years back, and I'm pretty sure they walked there from Pennsylvania. They refer to their trip to Nevis as the "worst vacation ever", and I'm guessing it's because walking through the Caribbean Sea probably sucks.

This trip, I was prepared. At least, I think I was. I forgot to check the pedometer app on my phone, but I would guess we walked somewhere between 3 and 5 miles on Governor's Island. When we got back to our hotel, I needed a rest, but I wasn't exhausted, as I had been on earlier trips (most notably, the Washington DC trip). I did, however, take advantage of the comfy bed to catch a few minutes of shut eye before showering and getting ready for dinner.

For dinner, we were heading to Little Italy. Being of Italian heritage on my father's side, I was excited. Also, as a fat kid who loves Italian food, I was doubly excited. When I found that we'd be walking the entire way, I was less excited, but not much, and I didn't want to let it bother me. So we walked. And walked. And...actually, it wasn't that bad. As we moved further up the island, the crowds did increase, which did bug me, as our little group continued to get stretched out, and the pod in front had to periodically wait for those in the back to catch up. As frequently happens, I ended up in between the two groups, eavesdropping on both conversations, but involved in neither.

After a short time, we arrived at The Feast of San Gennaro. Sadly, we missed the parade. Not that I'm a huge fan of parades, but this particular parade is featured in "The Godfather, Part II" as Vito Corleone scampers across the rooftops in order to take out Don Fanucci and take over his territory. The rest of the weekend, the feast is a large street fair, reminiscent of the Hell's Kitchen fair in which we partook a couple of years ago.

Not pictured: Robert DeNiro.
Pictured: a bunch of guys who think they sound like DeNiro.

 Right away, we were presented with rows of food carts lining either side of Mulberry St with the space between filled with people. Normally, I would shy away from this. During fair season (the few months around the Hopkinton and Deerfield fairs), I am better able to deal with crowds. I still don't like them, but they don't make me want to walk in the other direction. The biggest issue was that we hadn't eaten since breakfast. I'd tried to have a cup of coffee in the hotel room, but spilled most of it (sorry Hampton Inn!).

This is when my wife showed why I married her. She sensed my growing frustration - not to mention my sensory overload - and knew exactly what I needed: food. I know how that sounds, the fat kid needing food to keep himself happy, and while that is something that I certainly do sometimes, this was more a situation of not having eaten in almost ten hours, and just needing something to recharge. Those candy bar commercials are not just shameless attempts to get you to eat junk food - sometimes hunger makes us cranky, and a little food can help us re-energize. In this case, it was an order of Zeppoles.

Zeppoles are a uniquely Italian delicacy, and by "uniquely Italian", I mean "something that shows up in nearly every culture in some form". They are basically small balls of fried dough. Some call them doughnuts, others call them munchkins (though zeppoles are usually a little larger than that). When made right, they are best called delicious. These came in a paper bag, with powdered sugar sprinkled in. A quick shake, and they were well-coated, and yes, delicious.

Top: the remains of a stuffed artichoke.
Bottom: the remains of some calamari.
Below the frame: my nearly-full stomach.

From there, we met up with the rest of the family towards the far end of Little Italy, and got an outdoor table at a little restaurant called Puglia. We started the meal with some Chianti, some bread, and three stuffed artichokes. For the six of us. Someone (father-in-law) was a little excited about them being on the menu. After destroying that, we had some calimari, and then dinner. By this point, I'd gone from "need food to recharge" to "need sleep to digest". We truly celebrated the Feast by feasting. Instead of napping at a popular restaurant's table, we decided to walk the length of the festival, ignoring street hawkers and taking in the sights and smells of the different food stands.

After one final stop at Ferrara to pick up some cannoli for later, we headed back to the subway, which reminded me of some things I don't like about New York. It is noisy. All cities have some noise, but like so much else, New York does it on another level. The festival was noisy, with people talking, music blaring, vendors yelling. We left Little Italy and walked through part of Chinatown, where the music was replaced by the near-constant honking of traffic, and the street hawkers were out in full force, chattering away at all volumes, trying to entice us into their tiny little storefronts to buy various items of questionable quality. We finally got to the subway, and descended into the relative peace.

Which was quickly disrupted by a train pulling in, and another pulling out.

And this is the problem: you are constantly assaulted by this noise. You can't maintain a conversation, because you can only get a few words in before the next barrage of noise hits you. It's wave after wave, and just when you think it's going to settle down, another wave of noise crashes over you. It, even more than the walking, is exhausting.

Fortunately, our hotel was fairly quiet, and we slept quite soundly.

The next morning, we walked up to my sister-in-law's apartment and had a quick breakfast on the roof of her building. The sun shone down on us as we took in the sweeping views of the city. You can see a lot from 33 stories up. From one corner of the building, we could see the Brooklyn Bridge, the new World Trade Center tower, and all the way up to midtown, including the Empire State Building and the Chrysler Building. The view was, in a word, majestic.

Top: World Trade Center not far from the apartment building.
Bottom: Empire State Building in the distance. Not really anywhere near each other.
Not pictured: My preconceptions shattering like the T-1000.

Ho-hum, just the Brooklyn Bridge. No, seriously, the view from up here was amazing.

In the end, this was a better trip to the City than my first one, and I can see myself willingly going back to see more. There is a lot to see and do in the city, and it is awesome to behold some of the landmarks that we see in movies and on TV in person. I do think we made the right decision not to spend our honeymoon there, but I wouldn't mind spending more time there, and I can understand why people love living there. Personally, I will stick with Boston.

Click to enlarge.