New York, New York

"Start spreading the news / I am leaving today /I want to be a part of it /New York, New York" - leaving Naples ("upstate New York" as they say) south-east towards Big Apple we could be singing like Frank Sinatra. Even though our starting point and destination were in the same state we broke our record in number of state lines crossed in a day... And to make us a bit nostalgic, navigation led us through Warsaw, NY.

Warsaw, NY is a bit smaller than it's Polish namesake, although not the smallest out of all American Warsaws. It has over 5 thousand residents, while Warsaw, Ohio has less than a thousand. Crossing it made us smile: Warsaw Fire Department, Warsaw Town Hall and "Welcome to Warsaw" sign - made us want to stop, shake somebody's hand and say" "I'm from Warsaw too".

Founded in the beginning of 19th century it didn't have too much to do with Poland. Its name was probably chosen by chance, maybe to honor some Varsovian from local authorities. Small, provincial town is proud of the first abolition party with Afro-American politicians and a few people like Barber Conable who in the 80s and 90s was head of World Bank. So we can say there was a Varsovian once in charge of this institution...

Upstate New York

These vagabond shoes / They are longing to stray /Right through the very heart of it / New York, New York 

It was nice being in Warsaw but that was not our destination. We were hoping to go to New York since the very beginning of our trip. Ola has been there over a decade ago, Paweł never got a chance to leave Chicago during his American vacation. There was never enough time or money.

Our plans changed somewhere in Oregon, maybe even earlier, when we sat down with a map and a calendar and we realized that we wouldn't have enough time for the East Coast. We got an idea back then that some day we'd like to bike along the entire East Coast, or travel there in some other way that would not require a car with all the repairs and fuel costs. Instead of going few hundred miles per day we'd take smaller paths instead, take our time and at the end spend some time in the city.

Those plans changed again for two reasons. First of all we sold the trailer, which paradoxically made us more mobile and lowered costs of a long drive. And then Agnieszka and Scott whom Ola used to work with invited us to Scott's mom who lives in Staten Island. Cordial invitation to Delaware to Malcolm and Terry, whom we met in Louisiana, settled all doubts.

I want to wake up in that city / That doesn't sleep /And find I'm king of the hill /Top of the heap 

It took us some 6 hours to get from Naples to New York. We drove through green hills. First we entered Pennsylvania for a while, than we returned to New York, then Pennsylvania again, and then through New Jersey we finally returned to New York state. New Jersey was a nice place as gas prices are up to 30 cents per gallon lower than in New York state (New York state has the highest "fuel tax").

70 miles before New York new lanes appeared on the highway and it got really crowded. Even with GPS it wasn't easy, and our navigation didn't make it any easier, once it told us to take off the highway just to make us go back the same way we left it five minutes later. To make it even worse, to get to Staten Island where we were staying we had to cross the bridge. You thought Golden Gate Bridge was expensive? Well, it wasn't. Crossing Goethals Bridge cost us…13 USD (it's toll-free towards New Jersey)! Few days later to leave Staten Island we paid 15 USD!

We finally made it. Helen, real New Yorker with a distinctive New York accent welcomed us with sandwiches and sangria. We got a spacious room with bathroom in a basement and for a next week she was really patient with us when we were coming late (one time Helen and her partner Michael locked the doors, other time we forgot the key, every night there was some other reason we had to wake them up). And we spent all days (except one) in NYC.

Helen with Kalina

My little town blues / They are melting away /I gonna make a brand new start of it /In old New York 

You can either love or hate New York, it's hard to stay neutral. For sure it's not an easy place, especially with small kids and especially coming back from months far from civilization. New York is noisy, crowded, dirty, and this time of year it's sticky and smelly, and going down to subway with a stroller is a real challange.

Despite it all we loved it. For Pawel first couple of days were difficult, but then he started thinking what to do to stay here for longer. For Ola it was third or fourth time, just as fascinating as previous ones. We'll be back for sure.

If I can make it there / I'll make it anywhere / It's up to you / New York, New York 

In New York, as usually, instead of going to the museums, operas and climbing viewpoints on skyscrapers we just walked the streets to feel the heart and soul of the city. We spent there six days in total, one of which we went to Long Island to see an old friend from university. In the next post we'll tell you what we've seen in New York and what for different reasons we didn't see but we wanted to.