NEW YORK BASEBALL TRIP - Part 2

In part 1 , we had great, cheap hot dogs; went to a Yankees game; and paid our repects at the World Trade Center site.

The next day it’s bagels for breakfast again as we do some sightseeing and shopping around Manhattan in the morning.

For that, we head downtown to the South Street Seaport, a nautically themed shopping area facing the East River.  It's kind of quiet and not a lot going on.  We browse some of the stores, but frankly, there is nothing here that you can't get at any of a hundred other tourist spots.

Taking our leave, we head up to the city hall with it's beautiful fountain and gas lamps before heading back to the hotel.

In the afternoon, it’s time to get ready to go to our next game. We’ll be seeing the Amazin’ Mets take on the San Diego Padres at Shea Stadium.


Unlike Yankee Stadium, the subway stop at Shea is not accessible. It could easily be made accessible…the exit from the elevated station includes a spiral ramp down to the parking lot but it stops about 10 feet from the ground with a set of stairs leading the rest of the way down. Why not just continue with the ramp?

This means that we take the train one stop past Shea to Flushing-Main Street where the station is accessible. Outside are dozens of bus stops, our job is to find the one that goes back to the stadium. I see an MTA worker in an orange vest and ask him. He’s friendly and points us to the correct stop where we catch a 48 bus back to Shea.

When we called for tickets at the number listed on the Mets website, a friendly gentleman helped us out and quickly sold us three seats very close to home plate. They were very good seats.

Inside the stadium, however, friendliness from the employees was in short supply. From the snack bar to the gift shop short, rude service was the order of the day. It was not anywhere near the great service we got at Yankee Stadium.

The Scoreboard Sums Up the Weather

The game itself was good. The Mets came from behind to beat San Diego. There was a light drizzle and it was chilly during the entire game but it was never stopped. A highlight was seeing George Thorogood sing Take Me Out to the Ballgame during the stretch standing on the dugout just a few feet away from us.

After the game, we made our way back to Main Street on the bus, got on the subway, and made our way back to the hotel.

In the morning, it was time to checkout and the doorman helped us flag down a van taxi. He couldn’t quite work a miracle to find a fully accessible one, but this would do. The van took us over to Penn Station where we boarded a southbound Amtrak heading to Philadelphia.

Next week, it's on to Pennsylvania for more baseball and Amish country.  Stay tuned...

-Darryl
Copyright 2010 - Darryl Musick