Wednesday morning I took the bus to NYC, a 5-hour ride, and arrived at 9:50am. The bus I would leave on departed at 8:30, so I had 10 hours to do as much exploring as I could in one day. It wasn’t important for me to go to any museums or galleries this time. I just wanted to hustle and get to as many neighbourhoods as I could see. But I had already bought a ticket online for the Empire State Building observatory, my only real plan for the day.

Note: There are several photos following so if you’re on dial-up, I suggest you go watch a movie or something while this downloads ;)

On the outskirts of the city, the first thing I saw in the skyline was the ESB. The morning was foggy and the tower looked like a lead mark on the sky, and hugely surreal and exciting!

Our full bus arrived on time at the Port Authority Terminal, basically a full-block parking garage for buses. I stepped out to 42nd and stayed there for several minutes to pinch myself and absorb the surroundings. Beforehand I was apprehensive about how safe I would feel, but immediately felt comfortable. I made my way to the ESB, surprised at how thick with people the street corners were, and how aggressive the interaction between pedestrians and drivers was. I made a stop at Bryant Park, a beautiful treed area covered with ground ivy, and with several tables and chairs where people were sitting, reading, hanging out. Nice.

The wait wasn’t excessive at the tower, and within about 1/2 hour the elevator opened on the 86th floor. As I brought both my digital and film cameras, I was a shutternut, shooting all sides with both cams. These were taken with the digital.

Looking South toward downtown, financial district. I think that bright red thing in center at the top is the site of the World Trade Center. And to the right of that, the small island at the tip is Ellis Island and the Statue of Liberty.

Looking West toward Madison Square Garden & Garment District:

Looking Northwest toward Times Square & Theater District:

Looking North toward Central Park:

Looking Northeast toward Midtown East/United Nations:

I walked toward Greenwich Village and on 7th Ave found many Japanese restaurants to pick from for an early lunch. There are a couple of Japanese spots here in Ithaca that we haven’t been to yet, but I miss my Vancouver sushi and hapas! So I picked Tono Sushi and ordered ’sushi regular’ for 6.95. The room was air conditioned, hallelujah, so I took off my sweater, cooled off & enjoyed a lovely little sushi platter. mmmm. These guys were cleaning pea pods at the next table:

I half-heartedly looked at my maps, so didn’t really know where I would go next. I wandered about for many blocks, carrying a freaking heavy bag, knowing my feets would suffer for this adventure. I saw the Gershwin Hotel, which Karl told me about (for cheap but funky rooms), and the Museum of Sex next door.

Here’s the Flatiron building, don’t know the history though:
UPDATE: This was the tallest building in the world from 1903 to 1909.

Saw this fence with hundreds of handpainted tiles sending well wishes to New York:

And was disgusted by this hydrant spewing toxic slime down the street:

I realized I was walking in circles at some point, but I enjoyed weaving up and down little streets and seeing how the locals live. There were some great cafes and lounges around in Greenwich & Chelsea.

Matt had asked me to check out the Strand bookstore, supposedly the largest in the world, so I found it on Broadway and searched for a physics textbook he wanted. It didn’t seem all that huge, but the aisles were many, squeezed in tightly and up to the high ceiling. Didn’t find the book, but did get Matt a t-shirt & coffee mug.

Coming out of the bookstore I turned east on 4th ave. toward the East Village, where siren sounds became quite prevalent. Came across a neato joint called Knit New York Coffee, where you can buy wool & knitting supplies, sit around & drink coffee, eat food and KNIT! Though I loved the concept, it was such a small, modern place that I felt no compulsion to get cozy with a ball of yarn. But others certainly did. A few doors down I ducked into a cool hideaway spot called Cellar where I had a beer on the patio and took off with the Brooklyn Brewery pint glass. Guilty.

A few blocks up was Kiehl’s, the store that makes hair, skin & beauty products that are oh so fine. I touched many bottles and sniffed many scents, but ultimately left empty-handed.

I walked up Broadway again:

oooh, painted brick:

toward the park, where all this garbage came from - New York - garbage crisis? - no!

and stumbled into this huge produce market at Union Square:

And took my very favorite of these NYC photos:

Lots of street vendors in the city, of course - food, t-shirts, newsstands, and pretty bags:

Then I realized what an idiot I was not finding the Chelsea Hotel while in the vicinity. In fact, I walked within a block of it earlier on, so back to Chelsea and I found the beautiful, enormous hotel and snapped this:

All this backtracking put me in the mood for a metrocard

where I hopped on the first train to Central Park. So many people, very clean, air-conditioned and fast as hell! YA I LOVE NEW YORK! A model-looking girl sat down beside me as a few older guys were speking in Spanish, taking mamacita this and that and laughing. She turns and says to me, “Do you think we should kick these assholes off the train for being so disrespectful to women?” And of course I don’t understand. But she does and she’s getting heated. I informed her I would back her up if things got ugly. So she starts yelling, “You better watch what the fuck you say,” to their amazement. It seems to me people aren’t afraid to unleash their thoughts in this city. Or their car horns!

I exited the subway at 72nd ave, and shot this pic of the Dakota building. Same one where Mr. Lennon lived and was gunned down in front of:

I sat for a bit, then walked up and down Central Park West (the street) on the edge of the park. But with metrocard in hand, must make use! So I boarded at 72nd (right under the Dakota) and went north to Harlem. At 125th (also Martin Luther King Blvd) the street was packed with vibrant people, shoppers and vendors, and I walked toward the Apollo Theater which ended up being boarded over for renovations. So no photos. Also, being the only white ass on the street, I was not so comfortable drawing attention to myself by snapping pictures. Next time.

Back on the subway I headed for SoHo. For those familiar with the city you’re probably getting a chuckle now at how disorganized my movements were. Anyway it’s crowded, tight and happening there, to be sure. Hipsters, restaurants and beautiful loft buildings:

Want an idea of how much some of these might go for? Peruse the listings over at Sotheby’s.

I LOVE NEW YORK!

I recently read an article about New Yorkers making good use of their fire escapes as makeshift terraces:

With all my wandering with heavy baggage, I was pooping out, and had to depart in a couple hours anyway so I jumped the subway back to the Theater District, near the Port Authority. I was astounded at the number of restaurants packed in side by side there, serving prix fix dinners. Me, I had fish & chips at O’Flaherty’s, an unpretentious pub with a few couches & a lot of books. It felt great to wind down.

The lineup for The Producers show was in full spread:

I headed for Times Square, as this time (7pm) would be the darkest I could see it. A couple blocks up:

More painted brick, yippee:

And of course where the lights are brightest, South view:

And North view:

It all makes sense now, the I heart New York thing. It’s very much an internal, glorious feeling to be there - if you’re not adverse to big gritty cities and more people than you’ve seen in your life, unleashed! I like LA, but it seems like the polar opposite to New York in many ways, with the exception that both share a vast array of multicultural inhabitants.

Here are some lovely quotes I read online today:

“Some people have religion, and some people have politics, and some people have art. And it makes sense to me to find salvation in any of those things, to find comfort in singing their praises. For me, finding a city I love was comfort. It was a place I belonged after spending my entire childhood in a place where nobody else looked like me, nobody else was raised in the religion I was, nobody else spoke the same language I did at home, and nobody else seemed to care about the things I cared about. In New York, everybody was just as weird as me, and it didn’t stop them from inventing and being creative and changing the world.” ~Anil Dash

“I would give the greatest sunset in the world for one sight of New York’s skyline. The sky over New York and the will of man made visible. What other religion do we need? I feel that if a war came to threaten this, I would throw myself into space, over the city, and protect these buildings with my body.” ~Ayn Rand

I was sad to go, but on the bus home listened to the Beastie Boys To the 5 Boroughs album, with An Open Letter to NYC and that made me happy.

Also, I regularly read quite a few NYC blogs and today all the kids are getting a laugh listening to this crude track by X1, New York is So Cool

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