This morning, Nathan and I decided that it would be best if we took a break in the apartment search.
We had been looking on all the apartment listing websites: Craigslist, Pad Mapper, Naked Apartments, etc., and it seemed like nothing new had come up over the weekend. Our hosts reminded us that many brokers and landlords are Jewish, and observe the Saturday Shabbat, so there wouldn't be much activity.
We decided to take our own little day of rest.
I wanted to go to one of the many Greenmarkets in the city - I will do an entire post about those soon - and we also needed to go to the grocery store. We had consulted with our hosts in the morning and divided up the food duties, as well as consulted on several housekeeping points.
We were originally going to go to the Trader Joe's in Brooklyn, but instead chose to go to Manhattan instead, due to its proximity to the train.
We took the L into Manhattan and got off at Union Square.
We stopped at the grocery store here and got some lunch. It had a cafe above the store, so we sat there and looked out at all the passers by.
The weather was gorgeous - a high of only 81! - and so there were lots of passers by.
We then decided that we would go down to the Staten Island Ferry for a little adventure.
We took the R train downtown, and then, once we were on, overheard that, due to weekend construction, it was going to be re-routed. So we got off, and then walked upstairs with the stroller to connect to the J train.
While waiting for the J train, we realized we didn't know which side to take - we let two trains pass before we asked someone, and they said it was also rerouted, so we would have to change again to the 4 or 5 train at the next stop.
We saw that the 6 train (which is green on the map, like the 4 and 5) left from our station (Canal Street), and that it would be an easier transfer to 4 or 5, so we went back down the stairs to the R platform, down the line, and then up some different stairs to the 6 platform.
We caught the 6 to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall, which was the end of the line, disembarked, and then waited on that same platform for the 4 train. Or maybe it was the 5. By this time, we were a little frazzled.
We took that 4/5 train down to Bowling Green, and walked up the stairs into Battery Park, at the very southernmost tip of Manhattan.
The Staten Island Ferry is free, and runs every 30 minutes or so, at least on the weekends. We told ourselves that we were doing a test run - after all, who doesn't want to live on an island? - to see if we might look for places there, by experiencing the commute.
We entered the station, which is large and beautiful, and immediately walked over to the windows to see the water.
Behind them, you can see the two ramps that connect to the ferry when it arrives. The ferry soon came, and we all funneled onto it. We went to the front, to see the waves, and we were very excited to see the Statue of Liberty.
It's there in the middle. Elsie keeps calling it the Eiffel Tower, which is much easier to say, I think. Maybe we will move to Paris next.
We rode past another Ferry:
and disembarked at Staten Island. Usually, at least, in my memory, some people got off and others got on and the ferry would go back right away. But everyone had to get off this time, so we sat in the terminal on Staten Island. Nathan declared that the commute was right out. Although it was beautiful as a treat, it would get rather tedious, especially the waiting for the boat part.
On the way back, we passed a tug boat pushing a barge. I have always liked tug boats.
Here is a picture of us on the Ferry:
Back in Manhattan, we got a treat for the girls at one of the many food trucks.
Then we walked down to Trader Joes, where the line wrapped right around the store. Nathan stood in line with the girls and the cart and I ran to and fro, finding groceries to buy. It was a good system.
We took the L train home, and came in just in time for dinner.
Tomorrow, we are going up to Inwood to look at apartments. Nathan says he will get up early, so we can leave at seven A.M., but we shall see.
We had been looking on all the apartment listing websites: Craigslist, Pad Mapper, Naked Apartments, etc., and it seemed like nothing new had come up over the weekend. Our hosts reminded us that many brokers and landlords are Jewish, and observe the Saturday Shabbat, so there wouldn't be much activity.
We decided to take our own little day of rest.
I wanted to go to one of the many Greenmarkets in the city - I will do an entire post about those soon - and we also needed to go to the grocery store. We had consulted with our hosts in the morning and divided up the food duties, as well as consulted on several housekeeping points.
We were originally going to go to the Trader Joe's in Brooklyn, but instead chose to go to Manhattan instead, due to its proximity to the train.
We took the L into Manhattan and got off at Union Square.
We stopped at the grocery store here and got some lunch. It had a cafe above the store, so we sat there and looked out at all the passers by.
The weather was gorgeous - a high of only 81! - and so there were lots of passers by.
We then decided that we would go down to the Staten Island Ferry for a little adventure.
We took the R train downtown, and then, once we were on, overheard that, due to weekend construction, it was going to be re-routed. So we got off, and then walked upstairs with the stroller to connect to the J train.
While waiting for the J train, we realized we didn't know which side to take - we let two trains pass before we asked someone, and they said it was also rerouted, so we would have to change again to the 4 or 5 train at the next stop.
We saw that the 6 train (which is green on the map, like the 4 and 5) left from our station (Canal Street), and that it would be an easier transfer to 4 or 5, so we went back down the stairs to the R platform, down the line, and then up some different stairs to the 6 platform.
We caught the 6 to Brooklyn Bridge/City Hall, which was the end of the line, disembarked, and then waited on that same platform for the 4 train. Or maybe it was the 5. By this time, we were a little frazzled.
We took that 4/5 train down to Bowling Green, and walked up the stairs into Battery Park, at the very southernmost tip of Manhattan.
The Staten Island Ferry is free, and runs every 30 minutes or so, at least on the weekends. We told ourselves that we were doing a test run - after all, who doesn't want to live on an island? - to see if we might look for places there, by experiencing the commute.
We entered the station, which is large and beautiful, and immediately walked over to the windows to see the water.
Behind them, you can see the two ramps that connect to the ferry when it arrives. The ferry soon came, and we all funneled onto it. We went to the front, to see the waves, and we were very excited to see the Statue of Liberty.
It's there in the middle. Elsie keeps calling it the Eiffel Tower, which is much easier to say, I think. Maybe we will move to Paris next.
We rode past another Ferry:
and disembarked at Staten Island. Usually, at least, in my memory, some people got off and others got on and the ferry would go back right away. But everyone had to get off this time, so we sat in the terminal on Staten Island. Nathan declared that the commute was right out. Although it was beautiful as a treat, it would get rather tedious, especially the waiting for the boat part.
On the way back, we passed a tug boat pushing a barge. I have always liked tug boats.
Here is a picture of us on the Ferry:
Back in Manhattan, we got a treat for the girls at one of the many food trucks.
We took the 4 train back up to Union Square, where we passed a man selling bubble blowers. That was some good fun:
Then we walked down to Trader Joes, where the line wrapped right around the store. Nathan stood in line with the girls and the cart and I ran to and fro, finding groceries to buy. It was a good system.
We took the L train home, and came in just in time for dinner.
Tomorrow, we are going up to Inwood to look at apartments. Nathan says he will get up early, so we can leave at seven A.M., but we shall see.
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