New York - 2nd Day
Slept restlessly - the others in my dorm had left the noisy but ineffectual air conditioning unit on right by my head, the room was far too hot and I was quite dehydrated after previous evenings adventure. At 07h, got up for iced tea from vending machine and passed out again. At 10h finally gave up on hopes of sleeping soundly and went to look for James - found him in his room rather worse for wear. He was staying in a room full of girls, on a floor seemingly also only girls - surely some mistake (in his favour)?
Eventually both he and I were up and awake and ready to set out on a whirlwind tour of the city. We started at coffee shop, where I ordered "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot" with a splash of milk and sugar - I realised after I had said it tht I had ordered in the style of Captain Picard. We walked down Broadway from 103rd to about 86th drinking our tea, then got subway to 42nd/Times square. Times Square reminded me quite a lot of Leicester Square in London. Cinemas, shops, tourists tourists tourists. Even the actual shops seemed to be the same (a Swatch shop on the corner, for example...)
The Empire State Building - queue length to go to the top signposted as 75-90 minutes, so we did not. Instead, wandered around in the lobby area a while. Noticed the flight path of many planes was pretty much directly over the building so spend some time attempting to get tasteless 'plane+empire state building' photographs.
WTC/Ground zero - I've previously visted this place, when there was actually a WTC there. Now it is mostly a giant concrete-lined hole, a hive of construction activity. We walked all the way round looking for some kind of information/memorial area - on the fourth side almost back to where we had started we found an information post with plans for new development on the site, posters of the history of the site from the 1950s onwards and a big cross formed from the twisted girders of the wreckage.
Wall Street - NYSE decorated for Christmas with illuminated American flag lights and a large pine tree. Also decorating Wall Street were a number of heavily armed NYPD officers.
We walked down to Battery Park at the southernmost tip of Manhattan. Most of the park seemed to have been dug up and under construction, but we were able to get to the waters edge and look out to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in the distance.
Our final stop on the tour was nearby Fraunces Tavern where Washington said goodbye to his officers in 1783. The bar was deserted when we arrived at around 1530 aside from three attractive bargirls but as happy hour started workers poured out from the financial district and filled the place. One barmaid in particular appeared to command the attention of many of the males lining the bar (including James), fitted as she was with a slim body, chirpy personality, a skimpy top and massive breasts. Three pints there (and some free happy hour spicy chicken wings), and then we headed back to the hostel - James to get his bags and head to the airport and me to pass out on bed. Awoke again at 21h, found a nearby kebab shop (always good to find one of those by hostel), attempted to read in the hostel library a while, but soon found myself drifting off and so ended the day.
Eventually both he and I were up and awake and ready to set out on a whirlwind tour of the city. We started at coffee shop, where I ordered "Tea, Earl Grey, Hot" with a splash of milk and sugar - I realised after I had said it tht I had ordered in the style of Captain Picard. We walked down Broadway from 103rd to about 86th drinking our tea, then got subway to 42nd/Times square. Times Square reminded me quite a lot of Leicester Square in London. Cinemas, shops, tourists tourists tourists. Even the actual shops seemed to be the same (a Swatch shop on the corner, for example...)
The Empire State Building - queue length to go to the top signposted as 75-90 minutes, so we did not. Instead, wandered around in the lobby area a while. Noticed the flight path of many planes was pretty much directly over the building so spend some time attempting to get tasteless 'plane+empire state building' photographs.
WTC/Ground zero - I've previously visted this place, when there was actually a WTC there. Now it is mostly a giant concrete-lined hole, a hive of construction activity. We walked all the way round looking for some kind of information/memorial area - on the fourth side almost back to where we had started we found an information post with plans for new development on the site, posters of the history of the site from the 1950s onwards and a big cross formed from the twisted girders of the wreckage.
Wall Street - NYSE decorated for Christmas with illuminated American flag lights and a large pine tree. Also decorating Wall Street were a number of heavily armed NYPD officers.
We walked down to Battery Park at the southernmost tip of Manhattan. Most of the park seemed to have been dug up and under construction, but we were able to get to the waters edge and look out to see the Statue of Liberty and Ellis Island in the distance.
Our final stop on the tour was nearby Fraunces Tavern where Washington said goodbye to his officers in 1783. The bar was deserted when we arrived at around 1530 aside from three attractive bargirls but as happy hour started workers poured out from the financial district and filled the place. One barmaid in particular appeared to command the attention of many of the males lining the bar (including James), fitted as she was with a slim body, chirpy personality, a skimpy top and massive breasts. Three pints there (and some free happy hour spicy chicken wings), and then we headed back to the hostel - James to get his bags and head to the airport and me to pass out on bed. Awoke again at 21h, found a nearby kebab shop (always good to find one of those by hostel), attempted to read in the hostel library a while, but soon found myself drifting off and so ended the day.
posted by benc at 22:14 GMT
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