Home exchangers can have house guests too. Ours are from Costa Rica. These two women spent a week at my agency. They were learning about our methods for teaching people with severe disabilities how to live independently. They are heading home tomorrow. "Why not see a little of Manhattan before you leave?" I suggested. They took me up on it.
Brave women, to commit to staying at a stranger's home without having seen it! Personally, I insist on photos of each bedroom and the kitchen before I even consider sleeping somewhere new.
We took a walking tour of my neighborhood, Chelsea, which the women could not stop raving about. They love our nearby Hudson River linear park, which extends for miles in both directions. When I took them to my favorite discount store they practically bought out the entire place. On the edge of my neighborhood's border with midtown is the Empire State Building, which was a thrilling sight.
From there we walked a few blocks north to Times Square. I think tourists should see it, briefly, and perhaps attend a Broadway theater. But it is really just a tourist trap, with the same chain restaurants you will find along any US highway and generic attractions having nothing to do with New York City, like a wax museum and "Believe it or Not" oddities display, both of which have branches in major cities worldwide. I was astounded when a swapper wrote to me wanting to use our place "just to sleep" because her teenagers want to visit Times Square each day. That's a guaranty that family will not discover any authentic aspect of New York City.
From Times Square we walked three blocks east to Grand Central Station. From the outside it was impressive but inside their jaws literally dropped. "This is the grandest building we have seen!" They took dozens of photos.
Inside Grand Central Station is a subsite of the NYC Transit Museum. They have a taste of the larger exhibits at the main museum in Brooklyn. Admission is free. We saw beautiful murals and ornate signs taken right from the subway stations. One, with ornate bronze seahorses entwined around each other was so gorgeous it was hard to imaging that it had spent years on some dirty street corner subway sign. Outside we had a perfect view of the Art Deco Chrysler building, the most beautiful one in New York, in my opinion. Again the cameras came out.
The women were tired by this point. We headed back to Chelsea. They wanted to eat lunch so I took them down Eighth Avenue, which is lined on both sides with amazing restaurants for half a mile. Did they want Thai food? Country French? One of the best Italian places in New York City? Chinese noodles? There were dozens of options but the Costa Ricans settled on an authentic Bar-B-Que restaurant. I explained that the food was not native to our area, but the restaurant owners were award-winning smokers from North Carolina, so the food should be good. And it was.
We spent an entire day touring some of Manhattan's most interesting landmarks. Our total cost was $10 each for lunch plus the souvenirs purchased by my guests. When people say New York is an expensive city to visit, I get confused. There is so much to see and do here that is completely free it is impossible to get bored.
Today we are off to a (free) Bar-B-Que and Blues music festival on a pier along the Hudson River half a mile from my apartment.
Next time: What Costa Ricans think about home exchange.
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