To be honest with you all, I have re-written the start of this post a few times as I lost the flow of events about New York, my final destination, but with the boys being around, it whizzed by and they have to be my excuse. So, this is how I remember it…
As we made our way up to New York on Wednesday…no, it was Tuesday…(another delayed flight unfortunately), you could see the weather changing and the touch down at New York’s JFK was in heavy rain. Such a contrast to my Southern States venture as I had been getting used to being bathed in Sunshine not Water.
Having Tom and Jon as travelling companions was an added bonus as the thinking was being shared and decisions much easier.
After a quick train ride into the city, we were down into the City on a Friday evening, in rush hour and in a thunderstorm. The ‘decision’ was made to walk the ‘few’ blocks as the traffic was all static anyway. Working against the crowds wanting to go to the station and also avoiding all the tourists using every bit of shelter to avoid the rain, was a pain, but we were led by our lead Guide…Tonto…well Tom who kept the pace and run the lines between each of the pedestrian crossings at the end of each of the blocks. The few blocks was actually 13 blocks which in American terms is a bit more than a stroll. However, with his lead we were soon there and wringing ourselves off in the Lobby of the Paramount Hotel, just off Times Square.
The Paramount is another one of the up and coming boutique hotels that does things funky. What that means is that they turn the lighting down to dim, spray the hotel with ‘atmosphere’ which is the sort of thing you get in the Abercrombie and Fitch stores (think of a choking dust, the sort of thing you would get in the loft of an old house mixed with a vanilla room freshener), then add some music played directly from a live DJ, looking down from a first floor window to the reception below, a bit like a modern-day court musician.
All checked-in, we felt our way to the lifts and then used the braille buttons inside to select our floors. This was a New York Hotel in a prime spot just off Times Square, so I wasn’t expecting greatness from our rooms. I was in a small room by myself, which was more akin to a Japanese Capsule Hotel, but funky, so I guess that was good for me? the Boys shared a larger room with a view, so made no time in holding back their laughter at my suite. But then again Funkiness would override our stay and I had dunmoanin for the day. I worked out where I could place my Bag to be the most efficient for walking to and from the Bathroom and I was done. And the view?… X…”I’m sorry Dave, that is not one of our top 5 answers…” Thank god I like arty stuff and funky is like art?? (to be questioned in a few days).
This is the City that never sleeps so it was important for us to have a walk out to get a bite of dinner and to do some people and light watching. Yes, Light watching. If you haven’t seen Times Square before, most people look up rather than at their feet as the massive adverts on the buildings are quite amazing. You can’t help but feel excited about New York when you see Times Square.
You will also never starve in New York. Quite the opposite…so we didn’t, and a nice little Italian meal finished off the night. I managed a single glass of Merlot, Jon managed nothing as we were still a bit sluggish from the night before. As for Times Square other than the Lights and the Yellow Taxi’s, anything goes! Not sure why nipples have to be hidden by band-aid plasters when the rest of your body is naked and spray in silver paint, but fairly liberal all the same. Everyone is trying to hack a living out here and they try so hard. An old guy approached us and asked if we knew how to tell the difference between a Male and Female M&M..”one has nuts!”. Not sure what he was selling though.
So evening one over and back to the Hotel for a comfy nights sleep, in the dark, in my capsule…I wonder if the book would have sold as many copies and become an Oscar-winning film if it was titled ‘The room without a view’.
Wednesday’s weather was a complete change and it would get hotter and hotter through the week. The sky was a clear blue and the whole place looked different. It was also quite fresh as the rain had dampened down a bit of the haze that New York gets. Times Square changes through the day, just as the Red Rocks in Uluru or the Grand Canyon change their colours in the sunshine. In bright sunlight the buildings make you feel like you are in the great outdoors surrounded by huge mountains and at night it is as if you are in a huge room with all the lights turned on and the TV blaring.
I guess we headed out by 10am for some Pancakes at a Restaurant that Tom (don’t forget he is Tonto) had sniffed out on a previous trip to New York. They were absolutely yummy. As a Pancake connoisseur I really can taste the subtle changes in milk, eggs and flour, honestly. Out onto the streets everywhere is crammed with thousands of people and taxi’s are whizzing or beeping their horns up and down the avenues. It is funny, the first time you hear a car horn or a siren you look around to find it, after 10 minutes you just ignore it…This is New York, it’s loud and it’s in your face. We were milling around the shops and just taking in everything New Yorker style. Tonto guided us up to Central Park after various detours looking for shops. Enjoying New York means, Hot Dogs from street vendors, drinks when you are thirsty and simply just taking it all in. A trip to the Zoo, again!, was a nice attraction and good fun just because it was there. Central Park was heaving with Bikini clad girls taking good opportunity of the great conditions. Everyone’s relaxed…this is a really cool place. I’m saying ‘cool’ too often in my diction and something I must work on. The conversations with the boys just bounced back and forth, an enormous amount of making fun out of one another which is par for our course and the odd bit of philosophy, which then got debated. Tonto would love to live out here, I would love to visit him.
Our evening was probably the highlight of our stay. We went off to see the New York Yankees baseball team who were playing the Los Angeles Dodgers. It was really quite exciting. We got there early to take in the Ground to snap a few pictures and have a Hotdog and a Beer. A mortgage later (even the regulars moan at the prices they get charged) we were sitting in the gods with some of the locals watching the Yankees get slaughtered, much to the abuse of their loyal fans. I am not too sure of the rules, but it is a bit like a man’s version of Rounders with better uniforms. The passion shown by the whole crowd at the start of the game to national anthem was special and standing looking at the flag you feel part of it, if for a Brit, 250 years too late. A great night.
Taking in New York challenges all the senses. First there are the sweet smells from the cart vendors and the vile smells that come out the ground or are distributed by the few police or carraige horses that trot up and down the streets (not exactly like Delhi) and the din out on the streets whether they be people calling out, the odd musician or just people shouting. New Yorker’s do have loud voices and aren’t shy at using them. And there is just what the eyes see. In The centre of Times Square if you just stop and stare for a while, you will notice that everyone is doing the same, stopping and staring. Big screens of adverts flashing 24 hours a day are as fascinating as a Broadway Play, Colourful characters roam the streets as Super Hero’s or just some weird or risque costume. You don’t need depth of thinking in New York you just have to accept it for what it is and let the senses do their job. I sometimes feel that I shouldn’t be a fan of this type of City, but as you look and listen it just draws you in.
Our journey downtown to the Financial District and the obligatory passing of the rebuilding of Ground Zero, gives you a sense that things are back to normal. The streets are full of tourists and business people alike, especially at lunch time, but the tall buildings are as beautiful as a range of mountains in their own way. We caught the short ferry across to New Jersey where you get a full appreciation of the NY sky line from Upper to Lower Manhattan. I was a bit irritated that Jon’s iPhone produced a panoramic photograph in seconds which my Olympus (or my ability) couldn’t deliver. While we were out there I have to mention Deli’s. New York does Deli’s exceedingly well. I am not sure how they make money on their sandwiches that bulge with content and flavour at pretty low prices. The New Jersey sandwich of Italian Meatballs with Tomatoes and Peppers was just wonderful. Which was marginally better than the massive Pastrami and Mustard sandwich of the day before. All you need is the confidence to order something sensible before the server works out that you are a novice to ordering and shouts to the next in line.
So what are the other fillers that we have been doing? Well the Finals of the NBA basketball reached the pinnacle this week. Tied 3 games all, Miami Heat and San Antonio Spurs had a nail-biting finish which we shared on TV with Americans cheering for both sides at an Irish Bar, where else? It lasted almost 3 hours, seems like Americans like the number 3, and we survived on Beer and a shared plate of Irish Stew and Mash…what a sufferance. This was a late night so the next days breakfast went back even further. As a City which never sleeps, it doesn’t really matter when you drift in and out of its fun and bright lights.
I can’t quite remember the full details of Friday and Saturday. What I can remember is the Heat and Humidity. We have had some great weather. Oh I remember how we finished the Friday. We headed up to New York’s Dave and Busters and played games until Tom had enough points to win a basketball. Good fun and although not strictly a cultural event, was really enjoyable.
Central Park on Saturday was great. We took the sweaty subway up to about midway through the Park. It is a very big Park. Everyone was out. On bikes, skates, skateboards, playing Basketball, playing American football, playing guitars, frisbees were flying around and the grassy hills were coated with prostrate sun bathers. It was a really cool, albeit hot, place to be. But our day was coming to an end for the Boys had to head off to the Airport.
My consolation for Saturday night and now that I was once again the Lone Ranger, with Tonto and Silver (Jon had to be one of the 3!) on their way back to the UK, was to go back to the Irish Pub for another bowl of Irish Stew, all to myself and to chat with anyone who wanted to chat.
On Sunday the heat and humidity went sky-high, but I was determined to get out to snap some photo’s and to do something a bit ‘cultural’. For photo’s I found the streets of New York with the groups of darting Yellow Cabs fascinating. It is a bit like the Red Bus thing in London and maybe the few artists who have painted scenes like these before. For real culture, I then headed off to the Museum of Modern Art or MOMA for short. The MOMA was loaded with the works of some of the 20th Centuries big name in art. I was amazed down in Fort Worth and here I was similarly aghast with both familiar names and the volume. Andy Warhol’s ‘Marilyn Munroe’ and his Cans of Campbell’s Soup paintings were some of the ones which I had seen for years on TV, but the volume and quality of the Monet’s, Picasso’s and Cezanne…wow…plus a biggy..another Van Gogh oh and, and, and…it was just like that at every turn.
Now I see these artists as poets with paintbrushes, but what I don’t get are the artists that produce things like, the Pink Plank leaning up a wall, a bicycle wheel attached to a wooden stool or the minimalist paintings of a single colour or no colour on canvas…hmm, I believe I am missing something here. I think if Michelangelo had seen such pieces he might have been inspired to white washed the Sistine Chapel ceiling, finish early and pop off for a vino.
So, amazed at both ends of the spectrum (those that respected the spectrum and those that worked off the Dulux paint fobs) I had had my cultural moment and my time in New York was complete.
And my trip out to the Airport was one of mixed feelings. The last port of call, but the thought of sleeping in my own bed. I’ll leave the balance of thought to my final Post.
Dave's Sabbatical 