An Afternoon & Evening in Hoboken

Hoboken, New Jersey

Yesterday was President's Day, and as it turns out, my son had off for both the holiday on Monday, as well as for Tuesday, which is a professional day for staff. Kids had off. 

As it happened, I just got past one of my brutal weekends (I refer to weekends when I work both jobs, which is to say five shifts total from Friday night until early Monday morning, as "brutal weekends"), and saw that I was going to be off on Monday night, which coincided with my son being off from school.

It did not take long for me to arrange to have him for these couple of days and the overnight, so that we could take advantage of one of the few mutual consecutive days and overnights off. Then, the focus was on what, specifically, we should do. A day trip to the big city is always one of the main options. I enjoy taking him there, and feel that these short trips may be something that he not only enjoys, but benefits from with (hopefully) lasting memories, as well as some familiarity with New York City, and specifically, Manhattan. 

But what part of Manhattan? Perhaps the Rockefeller Center with a side trip to St. Patrick's Cathedral, and maybe even Central Park? Maybe, but we had done that together more than once before. And as far as Central Park is concerned, I intend to take him there for a more thorough visit when the weather gets a bit warmer. Perhaps a picnic with a view of Belvedere Castle across the pond, which is one of my favorite spots in the whole city. Maybe a visit to Bethesda Terrace and Fountain, which also is one of my favorite spots in the entire city. Another visit to Cleopatra's Needle, since the one time that I did take him there, it was well below freezing, and so we paid a cursory visit before rushing into the Met to visit the museum. Yes, all of that was possible and, in fact, it was a nice day for it in terms of weather, with accommodating, incredibly mild, unseasonably warm temperatures for the greater New York metropolitan area for mid-February. 

All of that sounded great, but even with days growing noticeably longer during this time of the year, we really would have had to leave fairly early and get a good day in for all of that. And having not only just gotten off shift on Monday morning after a very full weekend, I needed to catch a bit of sleep first, and that just did not leave much time. So perhaps the Village? There is no shortage of charming places to sit down and eat or have a drink, and other attractive little oddities in a part of the city with a lot of character. After all, there are parks and beautiful spots there, as well. One of my favorite spots is Washington Square Park, with the Arch (which I felt always lent this part of the city a nice European flavor) as well as artists and street performers who tend to congregate there. Maybe Union Square Park, another favorite. But I had taken him to both of those spots, as well. Again, though, the time. After I woke up and was ready, it was well past noon, and it would take at least one hour and a half to get into the city, which was feeling less and less doable. 

Philadelphia was a possibility, and there had been plenty of places there that I had not yet taken him to. We had gone to the Camden Aquarium and taken in the view of the skyline for the City of Brotherly Love, but that had been a number of years ago. It was a possibility. So was Independence Hall, or perhaps seeing the Liberty Bell. Or maybe the Franklin Institute, or the Philadelphia Art Museum. But once again, time was a huge factor. It would actually be easier to get back home to Hillsborough from there rather than from the PATH trains that would take us to Manhattan, presumably. But I definitely wanted at least part of the visit to be during daylight, and time was running out for that, as well. 

There were other options, of course. Hoboken and/or Jersey City, particularly Liberty State Park. The grounds of Princeton University, although since that was so close to Hillsborough, that would not require nearly so much time or effort, and it seemed best to push that off to some other day. I asked my son, and he was not sure which one he wanted to do.

So, with time pressing on, we opted for Hoboken. This is a pleasant city in New Jersey, which sometimes feels almost like an impossibility. There are charming parts to some cities in New Jersey. I love the Cherry Blossom Festival at Branch Brook Park or the library and museums in Newark, for example, or the old buildings that dominate the skyline (for now) of Paterson. Jersey City is starting to have some very nice spots as well, especially near the waterfront. Trenton has the area around the State Capitol, as well as the historic Old Barracks. But by and large, those are not the places that usually immediately spring to mind when you think of those specific cities. 

Hoboken is different, though. It almost feels like an extension to New York City itself, almost like an outer borough, or something. It has a remarkable view of the Manhattan skyline, and I might argue that it potentially is the best view of it that you can find anywhere. And they really did a nice job on the waterfront there, as well. It is one of my favorite spots in the Garden State. The city itself is busy, and also feels very much like a cosmopolitan city. 

And so we decided on Hoboken. One thing that is nice about Hoboken, is that there are areas where you can park for free, at least for a short while. That is true in particular away from the residential areas, near the cliffs and the waterfront, and that is what we did. We enjoyed a nice walk on a perfect day for it, and we stayed in Hoboken for hours, long enough for day to turn into night. In fact, maybe it worked out best this way, because in terms of views of the skyline, we got the best of both worlds in this regard, as the pictures below probably show.

I had meant to take my son to the Cafe Archetypus in Edgewater for dinner, having played up the interior, which resembles a cave, somewhat. But we ended up instead eating at Blue Eyes Restaurant, right on the waterfront, with a spectacular view of Manhattan as dusk was just hitting. Really, even though it was a bit pricey, it was perfect in it's own way. I asked my son if he understood the reference for the name of the restaurant, and he said no. I told him that Frank Sinatra had been known as "Ol' Blue Eyes," and that he had come from this city. He was a native of Hoboken. 

So, we had ourselves a very decent afternoon and evening. We enjoyed a nice walk along a historic waterfront, with a world class view of a truly great skyline. We absorbed the mixed energetic and relaxed vibe among city residents in Hoboken, many of whom clearly were off for the holiday, as well, and who, like us, had decided to take advantage of the beautiful weather, with unseasonably warm temperatures. And we had good food at an Italian place.

Here are some of the pictures which I took of the memorable day:

Pictures of the Manhattan Skyline:

New York (Manhattan) at Night:

Hoboken: