Day 2 - Subway and Chinatown CNY Parade

Day 2 of our NYC visit was a very full day. We rode the NY subway for the first time, visited Chinatown, ate in Little Italy and visited the Empire State Building.

This post will be about the subway and Chinatown.

We were very excited when we found out that the huge NYC Chinatown parade was happening on that Sunday we were in town. We knew we had to go. I was very, very nervous about the crowd, but it was an experience we just couldn't pass up. The parade was scheduled for 1PM, but we knew we'd have to get to Chinatown way before that in order to find a place to see the parade. We got up and early and hit the Times Square Starbucks across the street from our hotel...

Then it was time to ride the subway. I was so grateful to Doug (and his app) who helped us figure out which stations to go to and which to get off at. It is quite confusing if you haven't done it before. Only certain stations get you to certain places - it's just confusing!

(You seasoned New Yorkers are probably laughing about our bewilderment/excitement over a subway ride. It's pretty cool for us Atlanta folk! LOL!)

Going down a dingy stairway to get to the subway...

Buying our cards...

Waiting for the train...

The car wasn't too crowded luckily...

Lots of people were actually headed toward Chinatown...

We made it!!!

It is really something...

This lantern shop is the only shop we went into the whole time we were in Chinatown...

We had planned to do a bit more shopping, but we saw the parade already starting to come together as we were walking (it was almost 11AM)...

For some reason, there were numerous, expensive cars lining the streets (Doug was in heaven)...

We found the street for the parade route (Mott Street) and saw the crowd already forming - at 11AM. Gulp. So we decided to pick a spot and go with it (We found a good spot, but there was a very tall man with his family in front of us. They were the only ones in front of us though, so we stuck with it. We figured we could look around him. And we were at the beginning of the parade route, so that was a bonus.). Look at that crowd...

The street was lined with people...

Mayor Bill de Blasio opened the parade...

Dragon passing right by us...

Photo opp...

Dragon making its way to the beginning of the parade route...

You can see it filling up more and more...

Right before the parade started, the tall man and his family left (as the man said expletives). I have no idea why they left but the dad wasn't happy - they had been waiting hours!! I would have been cussing too! LOL! But some short people filled that space in front of us and that allowed us to see the parade perfectly!! 

It was a bit uncomfortable as people started filling in behind us and they were jamming in trying to get closer. It felt a bit claustrophobic. But it's NYC, so you go with it.

And as we stood there, the temperature was dropping a bit and the sun started getting covered by clouds. The wind was blowing nicely too. Bri and I were pretty cold!

The parade started a little late (and I don't know how I didn't have to hit the potty - totally lucked out). We kept waiting for the cops to close the cross street (Canal Street). Finally, they stopped that traffic and the parade commenced down Mott Street.

New York Auxiliary Police...

Beauty queens...

Yep! Chuck Schumer was in the parade!!

Love all the colorful outfits...

Lions and dragons, oh my...

Bag pipers...

My two loves...

The parade was just so colorful...

Doug took this pic of me and Bri watching the parade - I have confetti in my hair...

Smiling through the cold...

More dragons...

Here are some great videos Doug and I took of the parade...











The only issue with the parade was that it kept stopping. The cops would stop the traffic on Canal Street, and after a few parade groups crossed through the intersection, they would stop the parade on Mott Street and open Canal street back up for a few minutes to let traffic through. It wasn't a free flowing parade - it was a stop and go parade. That meant the parade was going to last a very long time.

We watched the parade for about an hour and we were getting colder, kind of tired (we had been standing in the same spot for over three hours) and pretty hungry. We had gotten our fill of drums and dragons, so we decided to head out to get some lunch.

Here is an article about the parade...
https://katu.com/news/nation-world/nycs-chinatown-welcomes-year-of-the-pig-with-vibrant-parade

Chinatown was packed, so we headed next door to Little Italy to try to find some lunch. More on that in my next post.

The parade was cold and crazy crowded, but what a neat experience! Especially for my Chongqing spicy girl. She really enjoyed it - we all did!