living like a local: NYC

Tuesday, August 25, 2009

NYC - Day TWO!

the skyline from Katie's apartment on Sunday night

If I had to describe this city in one word, the word I’d choose would be overwhelming. If you gave me a second word? Amazing. Day two here was as busy as the streets are full, and we sopped up the sites and sounds of this city with a whirlwind city escapade. Griff and I completely shocked ourselves by getting up extra early to hit the hotel gym (ugh), but managed to get it done and get out of the hotel by 8:30 – good on us, I must say. We walked up to Times Square – which has got SO much going on – billboards, ads, electronic signs and tickers, colours, flashing lights, people people people, and an eat-here-buy-this vibe that is fully charged. Anyways, it was bus tour day, so we hopped on the red double decker to do the downtown line first. From Times Square, we passed and saw: Madison Square Garden, the Broadway theatre district, Macy’s (the original), the Empire State Building, the Flat Iron building; at Battery Park we stepped down from the big red and did some exploring on foot. From Battery Park (at the southern tip of Manhattan), we looked out to the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island (two to-dos for the next trip), saw Castle Clinton and the warped wreckage of a metal art-globe that had stood between, and then below, the twin towers. From there we walked up to the Ground Zero and the World Trade Centre site - what a charged experience. There was such an emptiness there, and the three of us shared some of the same thoughts: what it must have been like, for people in the buildings, the people in the next-door buildings, the people working at the lunch place or the hot dog stand just below, and everyone else in the city on that infamous morning of 9/11; I thought about the emptiness there in the sky (and in a theme (or something-or-other) that pervades all parts of all of our lives - that you most notice something/pay attention to something when it’s gone), the fear and terror in the streets, the split-second decisions made by all of the people, city-wide… For an empty space, there’s a LOT going on. From there we walked up to Wall Street – a very small street – where we had a highlight of the day moment with some NYPD uniforms. These guys were hilarious – outgoing, sassy, loud; they’d almost bark at people saying NO! to a timid “can I/she/we take a picture with you?” and then wipe the nastiness off their face with a smile and a New York “aaaaaah of course you can take a picture with me darling!”... it was awesome! There was a lot of banter flying back and forth in front of the Federal Building, just down the block from the NYSE. I admit that I should have been paying more attention to one of these historic places (Washington was inaugurated on the steps of 26 Wall Street on April 20th, 1789), but, real NYPD blues? Talking to us? It was fun.

An onwards. We hopped back on the bus, and saw more of the sights: Chinatown, City Hall, the Brooklyn Bridge (from afar), the UN, the Waldorf Astoria Hotel, Rockefeller Centre, Radio City Music Hall and the south end of Central Park. And, there’s more: on the Uptown Loop we saw (from the bus only) lots of Central Park, Columbus Circle, the Lincoln Centre, the Dakota Apartments (where John Lennon breathed his last breath), the American Museum of Natural History, the Upper West Side, the Cathedral of St John the Divine (it was HUGE), Harlem, the Apollo Theatre, the Guggenheim, the Met (also huge), and the Time Warner Building. We got off the bus at the southeast corner of Central Park (we actually barreled off the bus – our tour guide was not only super annoying but incomprehensible) and continued on our way. Thanks to a reco from a good friend, we made our way to the Parker-Meridian hotel where we had a SUPER delish burger at a small, inconspicuous diner tucked in a corner of the el-fancy hotel – it was gooooooood; a definite re-recommendation from all three of us. From there, the ball kept rolling: we spent a few hours in the MoMa, hit up and were dazzled by Bloomingdale’s and then finally, after a quick trip to Whole Foods for to-go dinners, made it back to the hotel. Wow… it was a lot. Our feet were dirty and tired and we were hungry hungry – but still, ready for more. We napped, got NYC dressed up, and by 9:30 or 10 headed out for more.

On a recommendation from Katie, we cabbed to The Spotted Pig (another very cute re-reco), where we shared a cheap bottle of Cab Sauv, resisted the delicious menu-treats, and gabbed. From there we walked down a few blocks to The Rusty Knot, a “tiki” bar – it was decorated with tiki torch wood (you know what I mean - what sort of wood that is I have no idea), colourful banners and boat and ocean trinkets. We picked up some really yummy light beer, and observed; the vibe was way less pretentious and way more casual and relaxed – definitely our style. And then... we suddently realized that we may have walked in on a private party when everyone started singing happy birthday (to whoooo?). It was potentially awkward, so we asked the dudes standing beside us if this was the case, and got talking to them… Venus was all sass once she found out they were skateboarders – her best line of the night was, without a doubt, “hey… 1990 called, and they want their skateboards back”… it was priceless. After a few beers there (and a few debates about Nike’s new spray-on runner product, PLUS Venus challenging dude #1 to a race), we made our way (Venus tried to skateboard – another quotable quote: “so eventually I’ve got to try to get two feet on this thing, right?”) up to an apparently very tough to get into bar called Employees Only. It was a cool scene, very friendly and, again, not at all pretentious … but it was late and we were tiiiiired girls. It had been a long day… so yellow-cabbed it back to the hotel, where we finally crashed around 3:00. And voila.. day two!