...Big Apple.

I recaaalllll,... CCCeentral Park in Fall,
how you ate your pretz, what a mess...

This was mine and Millie's first meal in New York: a pretzel in the park. And it was delicious, apart from the coating of giant salt crystals which the vendor smothered it in (I had to knock the damn things off to be safe when i fed some to the ducks). It was boxing day. Millie and I had both spent Christmas day on aeroplanes and then met up that night at JFK airport. We had a little family Christmas present swapping party back at the hostel, before heading to bed, both exhausted from our travels.

Boxing day was the first day in more than a month that I had not been subjected to constant pouring rain. It had been raining for at least a month in Vancouver when i left. I took a bus to Seattle for a night and it didn't stop. I jumped a plane to New York and when i was walking from the airport to the train, the rain was coming in sideways under the canopy. When i emerged from the subway station at Columbus Circus, I tried to look up in amazement at the towering buildings of Manhattan, but it rained in my eye and i had to put up my umbrella. I secured a room for me and Millid at the "Y". While i was waiting in line to check in, i kid you not, the song YMCA came on the radio. With out flinching the guy at the desk casually walked straight over to the radio and switched it off. I laughed but he didn't?

I had some sushi and then trekked back to the airport to meet Mullie and guide her safely back through the savage jungle that is the New York subway system. The fact is that the New York subway is about as dangerous as I am (That is to say that is not very dangerous). The most scary thing that happened to me on the subway was when this huge guy pushing a cart got on and addressed the whole carriage "Excuse me ladies and gentlemen, can i get your attention please...", at which point my safety senses switched on. ...he then proceeded to hand out packets of food while he explained that he was part of a group who distribute food to the homeless and would anybody be interested in donating money. The thing is that people actually started giving the guy money. I started to feel something for New York at this point. The second most scary thing that happened on the subway was when another even larger guy got on and started yelling at people at the top of his lungs,"JJJJEEEEsus LOves You! JJJJJJJEEEEEEEEEEEEEsus". He was kind of scary but he meant well. Another time, this guy in a wheel chair got on and addressed the carriage explaining that he was disabled and homeless and was just trying to get some money together for a meal. This guy actually looked to have gangrene in one of his legs. With out hesitating, a well-to-do young business man, looking sharp in his fancy suit and felt hat walked straight up to the guy in the chair and tucked some green notes in his hand before exiting the train. People from all walks of life offered money to this guy-in-need. This is not what i had heard about New York, the subway, or it's people. Now i loved the place.

It was great to see Midlie again after so long on different continents. She had made the trek all the way over from London and she and I were both pretty excited just to be in New York. We spent most of our time in the first few days, just walking around looking at the beautiful buildings and the hordes of people, finding cool places to eat and drink and just generally lapping up the freedom of being travellers in a foreign land, once again. We met up with her friend Hayley, who had flown in at about the same time, and she joined us in our aimless wandering consumption. Little did Hayley know that all the while I was delighting in hearing her Melbourne accent. Ours is such a soft and subtle way of speaking. I like the fact that people still have trouble understanding me here in the New World, despite my having lived here nigh on two years. Not so much because my accent is so thick anymore, but more because sometimes i just can't be bothered saying anymore than is absolutely necessary to convey something to them.







This is a nice photo i think, i like the fact that you can see Mildie and Hayley in the corner of the picture, but they are not the main focus. You get more of a sense of what they are experiencing here of the beautiful scenery, the statuesque buildings enclosing the vast open... wait a minute what is that...? oh I see. Upon closer inspection, in the corner of the picture we find... oh dear. That's right, i forgot for a moment that we were in Central Park.
























We did all the touristy things in New York. We spent quite a lot of time in Central Park including an evening ice-skating, and we visited the shopping shopping district of Soho, where, much to my chigrin, Miljie spent at least a day hopping around, trying on just about every shoe in New York. The only thing more painful then the incessant squeaking of her one faulty shoe (which accompanied us from JFK all the way to the bus in Montreal), was the fact that she didn't even buy anything that day in Soho! We went to Times Square, which apparently Mudlie thought was really funny.





Me and Nhillie were both really excited to see that what we knew to be a famous New York landmark visible from the window of our second YMCA room (we moved just to get a feel for a different part of the city). The next day we were up early and sure enough there it was, clear in the light of the new day. After a proper new York breakfast we eagerly headed toward the building we had sighted. As we approached, the awesome structure loomed above us. When we reached the lobby and entered we were disappointed to learn that we could not climb any higher than this lobby level, and that this building had no observation deck that we could gaze out over the city from. Even more disappointing was that the plaque above the elevator was not welcoming us to the Empire State Building at all, but it read "Welcome to the Chrysler Building".





We eventually found the Empire State building, from the observation deck of Rockefeller Plaza. We met Hayley there and forked out the very reasonable $17.00 to ride the elevator to the top of the building owned by one of the richest families in the world. By the look of the building it was clear that they needed the money. The view from the top was obviously spectacular, but that was a given. We had already visited Rockefeller Plaza at night and viewed the spectacular light-up dead Christmas tree, which they had chopped down and dragged into the plaza and propped up for idiots like us to marvel at. It was really shiny and bright. That same night we were headed home and passed one of the many street vendors found littering the sidewalks of this tourist district of downtown New York. I can't quite remember what t was but something about this particular guy was really convincing. I insisted that me an Mildrid should get 'one of those' New York caricatures. So i sat down and the very enthusiastic artist began his master piece. As I sat there grinning like an idiot i couldn't help but feel like I was starting to fit in, in this crazy town. I looked at the picture that was being drawn. "Hey, that does kinda look like me!"I thought. A sense of belonging overtook me and my stupid grin turned to a genuine smile. Then my butt and my smiling cheeks started to hurt and my patience began to wear thin. Finally he finished me and i jumped up and Millle took her seat. As our new friend started to draw her i started shaking my head. "Yeah, i guess that does kinda look like her", i thought, but who the hell is that guy he has drawn next to her. I looked around for this guy that he had drawn on the page, but he was nowhere to be seen. How was it that when i was sitting across from the artist, it had looked so much like me, and now that i had come around to his vantage point could i not recognise myself?
He then proceeded to draw a love heart floating in the air next to me and MY SISTER, we both quickly interjected and he tried to turn it into a big bright star, which i guess was in the Christmas spirit. It turned out looking like some weird catholic symbol of a bleeding heart, the blood of which "I" was collecting in a martini glass to toast in the new year. I have included a photo of this picture but have placed it upside down so that you can recognise me and Millic in it.







This was as close as we got to the what's her name, in fact not even this close, i zoomed in quite a bit for this photo. We had spent a long day walking around, and were pensive after visiting the World Trade Centre site. We just couldn't be bothered getting any closer so we just waved at her from here. That evening we headed to China Town and Little Italy. China town was, well china town, they all look the same to me. Little Italy was actually great, really electric atmosphere. There were lights everywhere. We had Chinese dinner and Italian dessert that night.







We spent an afternoon at the Guggenheim which was a little disappointing as the exterior was shrouded in construction scaffolding and the exhibition was largely made up of portraits of Spanish Lords and Ladies or some such shit. We spent the good part of a day at the Natural History Museum, most of which was really amazing. We got sick of New York after this and decided to take a trip to Africa. We joined a safari group and managed to get pretty close to the wild animals there. Sorry, i am kinda running out of material here...












We had some great nights out in NY, especially when we teamed up with some locals. We stayed a couple of nights with a friend of mine's sister, Nancy. One night we were out at a cool NY pub (that apparently The Strokes frequented) and we had a few. At the end of the evening a friend of Nancy's recounted his experience of Sept 11, 01.
He had lived in the shadow of the Twin Towers and was just getting up when all hell broke loose. He went outside to investigate the source of the thousands of sirens and alarms that were simultaneously sounding and found himself caught up in a crowd at the base of the towers, "watching bodies dropping from the sky and crashing down onto the fire trucks" below. Then he witnessed the second plane hit and was frozen there with so many others, compelled to watch in horror. When it became apparent that the buildings may collapse the crowd dispersed and he was freed. As the buildings fell he fled, running as fast as he could, but he was caught by the cloud of dust and ash and ended up face down in it. After some dust had cleared he got up and ran clear to the river and understandably in shock by this stage, he just kept going. He and many others were picked up by a boat in the river.
Me, Millie and Nancy sat mesmerised and humbled by his recollection of this event which mesmerised and humbled the whole world when it occurred.




We stayed in New York for new years eve. The atmosphere was predictably vibrant on the night and all week leading up to it. We got caught up in the crowd of revellers and watched the Times Square ball drop from ten blocks away. There were over a million people there that night, the funny thing is that i reckon i did not speak to more than five.


All in all I loved NY, adding it to the list of big cities that i have visited and felt right at home in. I never realised just how much of a city boy i was until I went and lived on a farm in the country. The buildings tell a story of exploding progress and inconceivable wealth and decadence. Yet the people who populate the city are so humble, interestingly interested in you and surprisingly tolerant. I guess they have to be. Diverse extremes of culture and class coexist in a familiar flow. I expected NY to be 'fast paced', and it is busy, but life just flows efficiently and effortlessly.

YAY, MILLIE!

to be continued....