We found the wild, weird and wonderful not-so-known sights, sounds and flavors of The Big Apple! Even if you are a New Yorker -- we bet you don't know most of these!
There is a dirty rectangle on the ceiling of Grand Central Station. When the ceiling of the main concourse was restored in 1994-98, a patch was left untouched to show just how filthy it had been.
It took us forever to find it, but now that we know it's there, we can't stop picking at it.
The lions in front of the Public Library have names -- and a cool way to remember them: Patience and Fortitude are the two lions that guard the entrance to the massive archives. Fortitude is pictured above, and the easiest way to tell them apart is that Fortitude is closest to 42nd Street. --> 42=fortitude!
There's a "tropical beach" off the coast of Manhattan. We found a place to get our feet in the sand without straying far from Manhattan! We took the free ferry ride, rented bikes and spent the day in (relative) quiet on Governor's Island.
The island boasts a fort, an outdoor art gallery along the bike and foot paths, laid-back attitude and a sandy beach -- complete with a snack shack and plastic palms.
We discovered new sides of Lady Liberty and the busy heliport across the channel. A perfect tropical getaway in the middle of the city.
The first "White House" was where the Brooklyn Bridge now stands: After looking high and low, peaking through fences and around construction barriers, we got a peek at a decrepit old inscription marking the spot of the The Samuel Osgood House, our first nation's first executive mansion.
Yes, all that is left of the site where George Washington lived and worked as our first president is a dirty old marker on an abutment of the Brooklyn Bridge.
There are tours dedicated to the history of pizza in NYC: If there is one food that screams New York City from the top of the Empire State Building, it has got to be pizza.
How did this happen? We didn't know, but we do now--because we took a pizza tour!
Forty percent of the subway system is above ground. And it's LOUD. The trains rumble noisily overhead -- setting off car alarms in their wake, but they're still referred to as subways.
Other subway fun facts:
-Over five million people ride on an average day.
-There are 840 miles of track.
-The deepest station is on 191st Street in Manhattan at 180 feet below street level.
-Back when tokens were still in use, thieves would suck tokens from the turnstiles with their mouths. Yuck!
Arthur Avenue in the Bronx. Manhattan's Little Italy is not the only game in town. The Bronx version might be even better. We love Saturdays on Arthur Avenue when the markets are in full swing.
Fight little old ladies for the best cuts and finest cheeses before settling down to some of the most delicious Italian food this side of the Atlantic.
The Whispering Gallery at Grand Central Station. Walk around Grand Central Station until you find the Oyster Bar Restaurant and a bunch of folks who look like they just got sent to "time out." Were these folks exceptionally naughty? Nope, they are sending secrets to each other via the Whispering Gallery. Whisper into one corner and a buddy can hear it behind you in the opposite one all the way across the hall! We tried it out -- it really works! Kinda creepy, but fun.
There's a hotel based on the Dewey Decimal System: Books are everywhere at the Library Hotel and, from the moment one arrives at the card catalogue-decorated front desk in the shelf-lined lobby, to the hundreds of titles in each room that correspond to its number in the Dewey Decimal System.
For example, room 905, is based on 900.005 in the famous library-organizing system, which is the travel and geography category. Absolutely a perfect fit for us, and we fell asleep blissfully reading of far-off places every night.
There are ALWAYS batteries on the subway tracks. A great mystery to us. Every station, every time. We always look and they are always there.
Why? What are they used for? Are they left over from back in the days when walkmans used AAs?
Is this where all of the "batteries not included" end up?
David & Veronica, GypsyNester.com
YOUR turn: Did we miss anything? Have you got a one to share?