New York !!!!
The entire 40 minutes that it took the cab to drive us from JFK thru Brooklyn to Manhattan and finally 63 Wall Street (my daughter’s place)— I tried to marshall my thoughts/ expectations and wonder what I really felt — at one end was this dizzy excitement that i was in NYC — the so called mecca of the world and on the other all I see are these tall multi storey colourful buildings with their small brick or entire wooden planks facade- each building joined to its neighbour at the hip — with maybe a quadrangle of shared open space in front — either a park or a parking- till I remembered that we were still in the outskirts.
As soon as we crossed the Hudson via the Brooklyn bridge (a marvel of iron and steel — two bridges the Brooklyn and the Manhattan bridges) and entered the heart of Manhattan — the old part of the city — where the city centre and all government offices are.
Huge IMPOSING concrete buildings in greying stone ( or was it plaster) tall thick round pillars holding up the facade, imposing doors — archways and interesting figures and figurines carved into the face of the buildings- Other buildings had green domes, golden figure statues (shining in the sun) and other interesting domes and stuff on the building pinnacles (will need to browse the net to learn which building was what — the cab driver did not know- nor did some friends-when we later drove out with thm to the IKEA store)
WALL STREET- the street that goes from the City to the financial district (where she stays is called the Gold Street) walking distance from the Financial Bull. the street which is so busy during the day is cordened off during the evenings when restaurants and bistros bring out their table with their colourful tablecloths and chairs and turn the entire cobblestreet into a huge bistro.
My duaghter’s address- sounds impressive but the first impression of her studio apt was — oh it is so small- BUT on reflection it was 2.5 to 3 times the size of her first year dorm room we saw and it totally fulfilled her needs tho’ in a compact manner.
As soon as you enter there is a bathroom on the left and a walking closet on the right- a narrow passage and the room opens up — a square room with two huge windows on the wall facing the passage- a small kitchen on the left wall of the room (wall shared by the loo and the room) ( complete with oven/ microwave/dishwasher/and sink/ cupboards ( not very deep ) the apartment people obviously do not want residents to be cooking inside- a fridge on the side ( in an alcove in the wall. Nice wooden tiles all over the room — AC in place ( heats in winters)
SUBWAYS– dirty and smelly with waves of heat rising from them (the metro trains run so fast — your hair flies all over with the speed when the train comes in or goes out the station- and invariably there are homeless men and women sitting on the steps going in or out of the station- with their plastic bundles scattered around them and the cardboard placards in front boldly stating HOMELESS. as we went to the subways during the daytime — these homeless ones were invariably eating or drinking some stuff or rummaging in the rubbish outside the subway stations. I think they would be scary at night.
the subway:- the most amazing thing in New York- giving life to visitors such as me — who would like to explore and move around without being dependent on the hosts- such a luxury to be able to say to someone — I will meet you there you do not have to come and pick me up or drop me someplace.- something I have always hated to do whenever we’ve come to the USA in the past.
Unlike the metro’s in India the subway people do not look you in the eye- each is busy reading, fiddling with their phones, listening to music or sleeping- even have medical students- in scrubs reading up their huge tomes of anatomy- in all the times I have travelled till date in the subway ( nearly 20 times or more in the last 4 days) I have yet to see someone who looked up to my face even.
another interesting thing I noticed is that the subway gives a fair representations of the demographics of New York- from white americans to black brothers and sisters, hispanics, asian, chinese, korean, etc — come to think of it — i have not seen as many Indians as i thought there would be — -but maybe that could be because we have not travelled too much on lines going into Brooklyn or Queens or even New Jersey — where I guess most Indians would be living.
SOHO/ The Union Square/ Madison Avenue / Chinatown and Little Italy areas.
SOHO is the fashionable hub- apparently most expensive apartments are here with amazing views ( as is close to the city centre- it would have the views on the river/ sea/ original city buildings and other iconic buildings around.
Union Square is this huge crossroad with 4 big streets and one-or two smaller roads converging on a crossing and there was this huge square surrounded by tall buildings all around. NYU is close by. There is a huge Metronome, the 62-foot-wide, 15-digit clock- where digits change at a maddening speed. We asked some people what it meant and they said it showed the National Debt of American ( However when I just googled it — it is a much more mundane explanation )
Went to a chocolate place founded By Max Brenner — Chocolate Restaurant– a MUST for chocolate lovers. the senses are assaulted by chocolate as soon as you enter- smells and sights- all kind of chocolates in one corner, chocolate desserts on another- menu has chocolate starters ( fondues with fruit and marshmallows, etc) shakes and cocktails, as well as main dishes like chocolate pizzas and pancakes and of course desserts. Tried half of a chocolate pizza (had hazel nuts, chocolate, peanut butter and bananas)
Chinatown was amazing -as soon as we entered the avenues all shop signs turned chinese, the people on the streets turned oriental, street food vendors stalls were seen, jewelery pawn shops, etc dominated. the street vendors were speciality too — one sold just chinese greens (various types) another sold varieties of lychees (the hairy ones, ones like we get in India, the passion fruit variety) another sold just fresh coconuts while another sold only vegetables or only fruit. Had dumplings at JimFong Dimsums Restaurant — A highly rated one. The decor was exactly like we have at our banquet halls weddings with gilded chairs in red upholstery and white table clothes over square tables we had a sampler of dumplings which gave us 2 dimsums each of 5 varieties-
Little Italy was two streets away and as soon as we crossed the road all signs suddenly turned english with Italian names — hardly any shops just eating places on each side of the streets- pretty tables with checked table clothes spread out outside the cafes and lovely smells of pizzas wafting through. Picturesque and inviting.
the crowds at Times Square– the locals are easily distinguishable from the tourists — by their focused expressions and a fast pace of walk. I used to think I walk pretty fast New Yorkers beat me hands down and that too while wearing heels !!!
One thing for sure — all that walking does keep them in shape
Despite the huge crowds I donot know how they do it — but a new yorker never seems to brush up against another person -nor do they come in your way while you are walking — it is nearly always the tourists who are coming in the way- forcing you to slow your own speed. I slightly touched another guy while we were walking (my shoulder brushed his arm) and wow did he get upset. I could hear him exclaiming to his companion- Man she just pushed me aside- the way he went about it you would think I had pushed him on to the road (and I swear it I had just briefly brushed his arm !)
Crossing streets at the white walk sign is something we all know — we have to do — still have not figured out how new yorkers know just when the sign is going to change from red to white — by the time the sign changes to white and I start to walk the locals are nearly half across the street. Need to look around more to figure this one out.
Americans do things on a grand style- and they do it well. Went to see Ground Zero — you need to book your appointment with the site online. you reach pickup your free passes and get in line to reach the ground zero. as they are building 4 new towers (one for each of the planes which turned the american psyche vulnerable) around the two infinity pools ( each at the site of the original blown up towers) the entire area is under construction and we had a long route to reach ground zero. No rushing and pushing — no running on ahead- each person more or less maintained their position with respect to others in line — as was when they started in the line. anyway- security check — quite thorough ( tho’ we could keep our belts and shoes on) a lady in front had to show her medical prescribed drugs when they showed up in x-ray.
GROUND ZERO is well thought out — 2 square infinity pools — each covering the base where the original towers were- made in black granite- with water running down as a water fall all around from the highest level then flowing down form the second to the third level till it went down the last square in the centre- i guess it is then recycled back to the first level. the pools are made such that the water cannot be touched by anyone even if they lean inside towards it. Names of people who were unfortunate enough to lose their lives have been carved on the top flat side of the edge of the pool. the carving is sharp and deep enough that it will not wither away with human rubbings and with time. There is a key provided as to where each person’s name can be found — those who died on plane 1 are in a specific section, those who died in the towers at another, firemen who lost their lives in a third are and so on. both pools are surrounded by well-maintained greens and trees. Alone survivor tree at the site- which survived the attack and the mayhem that followed is honored by a plaque.
In between the two pools a glass structured museum is being built which will have memorabilia, recordings from survivors, images caught and blown up like posters, etc.
I guess the other sights I saw — central park, top view from the Rockefeller terrace ( 70th floor) , free champagne on roof top bars, Ripleys museum, times square- did not really strike a chord as I just cannot figure out what to write about them- excepting I expected to see some rooftop helipads and or rooftop gardens and cafes ( when I saw the view from top of the rock) — I could see only two cafes and no helipad.
Oh yes- saw the Musical -Ghost — followed the story line of the movie but presented really well- with a lot of innovatively used modern technology. wasn’t just an ordinary musical with people dancing and singing on the stage rather they used a lot of laser imagery and graphics to show special effects like humans going through doors, getting shot and yet looking down on their own bodies, getting into the body of another person, person being dragged off by demons, or going to hell or heaven, etc. (you may have difficulty understanding references given — unless you have seen the movie) — enjoyed the show thoroughly.