5 minute freewrite 2529 prompt down in the subway

This is my post for #freewriters 2529 prompt down in the subway hosted by @mariannewest

Several years ago I went to NYC with my 2 daughters, daughter-in-law, son, and grandkids. I thought it was going to take most of my money for us to get to the City, I think it was 10 dollars to go through a tunnel and something close to that to go over roads and they charge 10 dollars to go across bridges. Once we got to the parking place which was Grand Central Station we found out it was 25 dollars to park our car.

Stepping out of the parking place and walking to the main area was something I had never experienced I had never seen so many people walking and going in every direction, cars on the street were bumper to bumper, cops on horses, and even though there was a sign every 100 foot or so, saying 100 fine for honking, it was nonstop cars honking. Sirens could be heard in all directions. There were noises that I had never heard before.
Some kind of stinky crap is being blown from underground up into the walkways and if you happen to be walking across one of the grates, you got a good whiff of it and the wind from it would even blow your hair. It was crazy and trying to cross a street was crazier.

When you are in NYC and do not have much money, you find ways to be creative. Everyone has heard about it being a thing to go to the top of the Empire State Building and all 9 of us wanted to do it.

We made it to the 2nd floor, or was it the 3rd? I do not remember but it is as far as we made it. The lady behind the desk wanted 20 dollars for us to go to the top, they wanted 20 dollars each.

After leaving there we found a set of stairs that went to the subway, I think we were leaving it in this pic. None of us had ever ridden in a subway or train so it was something we could afford to do and it sounded like fun.

Once we were down in the subway, I think we were all in a bit of shock. Each person had to pay into a machine and take a card, next you had to take the card and slide it through a machine so the wildest gate walk-through thing would let you pass.

I think everyone enjoyed the ride, we even had entertainment, two men came into our car singing Down by the River, we got a ride and a concert and it only cost us a few dollars.

We found out that the Staten Island Ferry was free to ride, I was happy, we found something in NYC that was FREE. We rode it to the New Jersey side and back to NYC.

By taking the free ferry, we were able to see the Statue of Liberty. We had already looked into taking a ferry to it and knew it would cost too much for us to do it.

We also found out that on Wednesdays the Bronx zoo was free, so we went back to NY on Wednesday and went to the zoo.
photos are mine