(Still) living in America

1 A.D. (Continued) 

We ambled down to Grand Central Station to take in the art deco (or is it nouveau? I can never remember). The place was vast, bustling with commuters, with stunning architecture, only ruined by the presence of an Apple I-shop overlooking it all like an evil electronic emperor. I put on my Ipod and kept walking. Because it was still early and technically rush hour there was no way we were prepared to risk the crush of the subway so we decided to walk it to Times Square – the morning’s mission to decide whether or not to buy a New York City pass, which gives sizeable discounts to the main attractions.

After a pleasant walk to Times Square, we were constantly accosted to take up the open top bus tour, which coincidentally was run by a firm called “Graylines”. An omen? Who knows – it was too pricey, so we didn’t bother. And we were too early for the ticket office to open, so we headed north to Central Park, pausing before entering to enjoy the first coffee of the day and a bloody tasty hot dog.

At first central Park just looked like any park you’d find in an English city, but then it went on...and on...and on...and so on. It was so gigantic that we just had to walk the whole length of it, occasionally veering from our linear course to take in such attractions as the zoo, the reservoir, a softball game and a bench named after “Madonna”. By this point the sun had come out and any memories of yesterday’s rain disappeared. Shortly after Tim did a photogenic jump across the top of a mini-waterfall, we decided that it wasn’t worth us spending $90 on a New York City pass as we only wanted to see a couple of the attractions on offer.

One thing we did want to see though, was Harlem, and once we exited the north end of the park, Adam Clayton Powell Junior Boulevard welcomed us forth. Ten minutes later and we were heading west towards the nearest subway station, given that we stuck out like two sore thumbs (with slightly sore feet).

Of course, by now we were seasoned pro’s at riding the subway, and we alighted at the Rockefeller Plaza to check out what time it was open `til. Our plan would be to go up either “the Rock” or the Empire State Building at night and view the city in all its neon-lit glory. But that’s tomorrow’s story. For now it was time to head back to the good old YMCA for a half time beer, then do lunch in the form of a $1 slice of pizza bought from a nearby parlour and eaten in the street, New York style folded over in hand.

An aside – it may be early days, but I find the other guests in the YMCA to be a bit standoffish. They come in all shapes, sizes, ages and nationalities, but I find my warm greetings in the elevator regularly falling flat. Maybe it’s that infamous New York crankiness kicking in? Let’s hope it never affects me!

Downtown beckoned for the afternoon’s adventures and we took the train south and alighted near Ground Zero. These days Ground Zero is a building site for the Freedom Tower, so the waterfall monuments were inaccessible behind construction walls. That aside, I still found a deep sense of feeling for an area where eleven years ago events took place that literally shook the whole world. But it was also pretty hot by now, and we needed to head for the shade.

Somehow we walked straight past Wall Street and got the Staten Island ferry to...Staten Island. This gave us a great view of Ellis Island (heard the museum wasn’t up to much), Liberty Island (very majestic, though I’d imagined it to be taller) and Noo Joisey (slightly smaller skyline than NYC and docks like Seaforth (from a distance, at least)). Once we’d stepped foot on Staten Island for all of two minutes and taken the return ferry back, it was off to cross Brooklyn Bridge to...Brooklyn. As splendid as this was (and it really was splendid), by this time we’d been walking for ages and something had to give. The pristine, high-end area of Brooklyn Heights only got a brief look before we were subwaying it back to Manhattan.

An aside – three times I have been sitting on the subway and a woman has gone to sit next to me, then thought better about it. The first time today she went to chose a another (presumably better) seat, but on the way back from Brooklyn she chose to stand instead! I’ve been spraying deodorant like it’s going out of fashion, so it can’t be my scent. I’d say I’m delirious and imagining it, but Tim’s backed it all up (and he claims I smell fine, but to be fair, if I smelt a bit off after all the walking in the sun then he probably would too!)

With 9 o`clock closing in, we went to get some pre-made sushi meals from the Korean deli across the road, but they’d all sold out, so we ended up buying a salad and some beers each. That’s right, we may be drinking, but we’ll damn well eat healthily while we do it!

Signing off from the second day’s fun!