One thing I have to say about Citi Field that was a letdown, was the home run celebration. Now, you have to understand, the first time I went to Rangers Ballpark and one of the Rangers hit a home run, the fireworks went off, the theme from "The Natural" was played over the PA system and it gave me goose bumps. And 22 years later, it's still exciting to me. The Mets leadoff hitter launched a home run to start the game . . . and an apple came up out of the center field area beyond the fence for about 10 seconds and then disappeared back into the ground. That was it. Come on NY, you can do better.
On Sunday, we went to a game in Philadelphia, to see the Phillies. Or I should say, we tried to go to the Phillies game. We tried to use the train system again to avoid driving in Philadelphia. But this time we weren't as successful. It took 4 and a half hours to get to the stadium. The game was in the top of the 6th when we finally got to our seats, which gave us a great view of downtown Philly, which we thought was pretty cool. They also have a really nice stadium.
Not knowing the train schedules and where to go to transfer cost us a couple hours. I got us on the wrong train at one point and we had to call Uber to get us back to the train station so we could get on the right train.
Next up Yankee Stadium, the new one, of course.
As much as I dislike the Yankees, this was the most impressive park we've been to. While Miami's new stadium might be a bit newer and visually stunning, Yankee stadium is almost as incredible AND when you visit Monument Park in center field and see all the tributes to the greatest baseball players who played on the best teams in baseball history, well it's unmatched.
There are photos inside and outside the stadium of all the greats in Yankees history. Still, I can't help feeling a little disappointed that I didn't get to attend a game at the old stadium. It would be great to look down on the field where Ruth, Gehrig, DiMaggio, Mantle, Maris and Berra played.
Now that we're experienced train and subway riders, we figured out how to get to the game and back for less than $50. We thought briefly about trying to go see the 9/11 memorial, but we're not THAT experienced at riding the trains. And if we had, we might still be trying to figure out how to get back. BUT we did manage to sneak in a visit to New York's most famous department store.
One other truly NY experience, on the subway going home a group of about 6 teenage African American boys got on our train with much fanfare (noise). We, being tourists, immediately thought we were going to be mugged. Instead, we were treated to a show of athletic skill and strength that had everyone on the train pulling out their cell phones and recording it. It was dancing complete with music and wild moves. When they were finished, they passed the hat and at the next stop, went to the next car and performed again. I tried to include my video, but I guess the file was too big. What made it even more impressive was that they did their handstands, backflips and other gyrations on a moving, shaking, bouncing subway car.
I (Jane) have a couple of things to say about New Jersey. First, I had never heard anything good about New Jersey. Have you? My only Jersey experience was a trip to Atlantic City with Jim on a business trip once. On this trip, we camped in rural New Jersey.....Jackson, to be exact....and it was beautiful. Nice, two-story houses with wrap-around porches on nice lots. Trees, trees, and more trees. The campground smelled like the great outdoors instead of the toxic waste dump I expected Jersey to be. Second, on the main streets through town, there would be a sign when approaching an intersection that said "U and left turns from right lane". What?? Upon reaching the intersection, there would be a sign that said "No Turns". What?? After passing through the intersection, there would be a sign for an exit to take for all turns. So the exit made a little loop and what would have been a left turn is now straight ahead and what would have been a U turn is now a left turn. I suppose they want to keep traffic from backing up for left turns on the main street.
As Jim said, the train system was NOT fun. There was NJ Transit, Long Island Railroad, Southern Pennsylvania Transit, Amtrac, New York Subway, New York Trains, some with tokens, some with travel cards, some with tickets, and only one friendly person who was very helpful. Directions from other people turned out to be a little fuzzy and assumed that we knew more about this than we really did. On one train, as we sat comfortably in the rear of the train, the ticket-taker said, "Oh you're going to Hamilton. This is Hamilton and only two doors open for this stop. You have to go to the other end of the train to get off." So we sprinted through eight train cars to get to the door, against the flow of people getting on. Being polite was not an option, so we had to push and shove to get to the doors.
And then there were the signs along the highways that were warnings that the trees had been sprayed with "noxious sprays". Interesting.
We went to Panera Bread for lunch one day and the young man taking the orders and running the register was not moving very fast. So a member of management came up to the front to open another register. When he took my order he said "apple, bread or chips" so fast that I had no idea what he had said. When I said "I beg your pardon" he started spinning his hand in the air as if to tell me to hurry, and then asked again just as fast. So I started spinning my hand at him and said "apple" as fast as I could. Yankees! What're ya gonna do?
Our trip from Virginia to NJ was fraught with tolls ---every few miles someone else wanted $12.00 or $24.00 or $16.00. We will try to avoid the NJ Turnpike from now on. (Jim again, yeah when you come up to the Northeast, bring your wallet. It might be the birthplace of independence, but it's also the birthplace of the toll road, the subway and anything else you can charge a fee for.)
But we wouldn't have started this lifestyle if we didn't want adventure and it seems to find us at every turn! Onward!
