Take Me Underground, Please.

(Photo I took last summer on our way uptown)

I love the subway.  For $2.25, I can ride underneath the great city of New York all day if I want, traveling anywhere from Coney Island to Harlem.  I'm used to driving everywhere, battling traffic and looking for spaces in huge parking lots so letting a train carry me from one part of the city to another is a treat.  Even when we were in Washington DC this January, we adored the metro and took it as much as possible.  Subways are just a great way to explore a city quickly and efficiently, and an added bonus is getting a taste of life as a native citydweller. 

No matter how much I enjoy the subway, it does scare me a bit.  Looking down onto the tracks always makes me feel like I am falling, like when I look down towards the ground from the top flight of stairs and get a touch of vertigo.  Also, and I know this is a girly thing to say, but the threat of rats along the tracks creeps me out.  You can only imagine the thoughts rushing through my head when I read this article from the New York Times online about jumping down onto the tracks for dropped items.  Three people have recently died trying to rescue things like a gym bag and a women's coat and it's come to light how many individuals actually try to rescue fallen belongings.

Frankly, there is very little that I would jump down from the platform to retrieve.  But if I did decide to make the leap, I do think that I would at least ask for help so that someone would be there to help me up again.  The article is a lesson for even the most savvy riders.  The trains come regularly and they are fast, and it's best to remember that at all times. 

I also came across this really interesting post about how the subway was free to ride on New Year's Eve in 1984 and 1985, something I never knew.  So much has changed in the past 25 years, right?