To commemorate this, my 30th blog entry, I’m going to tell you all about my third venture into the city. This time, however, my entourage wasn’t comprised of Rachel, Toni or Janice. Nope. Actually, my parents and brother have come out to the shore for a long weekend to visit and see the sights. My parents are big Springsteen fans, just like me, so they thought it would be a fun vacation. So we all together went to the city. It was their first time, and my first time in daylight.
This trip started out very different from my other trips, aside from the company. We decided to take the train in because, honestly, I didn’t want to put my father behind the wheel of a car in Manhattan. Not that I would want to do it myself, either, mind you. Anyway, so we took a train. It was about an hour ride, and we had to switch trains once.
The NJ Transit deposited us at Penn Station, which is pretty much in the middle of it all. It’s actually below Madison Square Garden. From there, we walked down a few streets to stand at the base of the Empire State Building. It’s a lot more impressive from close up. We didn’t ride to the top, though, because the line was all the way out to the street. We did buy some roasted nuts from a vendor there. They were a lot better than I expected roasted nuts to be. Yum.
From the Empire State Building, we decided to see Times Square in all its glory. It was OK. Kind of busy for my taste. Lots of tourists. They were, of course, just like us. But maybe they like that sort of thing. I guess huge billboards just don’t impress me as much as they might impress others. We got lunch at this place called Roxy Deli. There we paid a lot of money for basic lunch items. I think my BLT cost $15, and that was just for the sandwich, and that was on the low end of things. Maybe New Yorkers are used to selling kidneys to eat, but it seemed a little exorbitant to me, and to my father who was footing the bill. OK you New Yorkers who might be reading: Roxy sucks, doesn’t it? We were just drawn in by the crazy flashing lights on the sign, weren’t we? The thing I liked the least about it were the bad caricatures of celebrities on the walls with shameless plugs in cartoon speech bubbles. I was embarrassed for the celebrities, whose most famous whatever was shanghaied to sell pastrami. I decided that Times Square is for “the stroller crowd” and that subsequent visits to the city should be more focused on the niche attractions, the places that actual New Yorkers go to. Had to see it, though.
After that, we walked some blocks to Central Park, where I found giant rocks the likes of which I had no expectation of finding in the middle of Manhattan. We didn’t walk all the way around Central Park (it’s like 40 blocks!), just enough to get a taste. We watched a little bit of a couple of softball games, saw the carousel, saw some water, and then decided to move on. It’s a bunch of trees, after all. Come on, we’re from Indiana, it’s not like we’ve never seen trees before. As a matter of fact, I bet Central Park is more extraordinary to people who’ve lived in the city their whole lives than it is to people who’ve lived in the suburbs all of theirs. But again, had to see it.
After that, we braved the New York subway to get down to the financial district to see the WTC site. The subway was just about what I would expect, except the trains started up a lot faster that I first expected, which caught me off guard the first time. No matter how many times you see it one TV, no matter how many 6 column photos overlaid with expensive serif type with names like Hoefler you’ve seen, seeing the place in person still demands awe. I guess to me I never realized how BIG the place was. This wasn’t a normal city block, it was more like 5 or 6. And seeing the place there, in the middle of all the other buildings still working, still alive and well, you can’t help but feel a little proud of our country. I know there’s a big hoopla about what the Memorial World Trade Center Disaster Center for Peaceful Pacification Memorial should look like and be about and who should build it, but I can’t help wishing they would just rebuild the towers as they were, and put them back to use. I know that probably wouldn’t fly, but maybe it would say something about our resolve. The world changed that day a couple years ago, and I guess sometimes I wish we could go back to those days.
After WTC, we went on our marathon hike. First we walked to Chinatown, which was just about what I expected. There was Chinese writing everywhere and a lot of Chinese restaurants and shops. There were also a LOT of street vendors selling crap. You know, the kind of vendors who pack up very quickly when they see guys with badges. I could have bought have a dozen movies that aren’t even out, on DVD no less. I could have bought any kind of watch or pair of sunglasses that I wanted. I could have eaten just about anything I could imagine. I could even have bought all manner of Chinese pornography, which I can’t believe is much different from U.S. pornography. After all, how naked can you possible get? There were some neat places. There was this one shop that was selling some kind of green drink with what looked like chocolate chips or tapioca or something in the bottom. I’m not sure, I never saw a picture of one with an English name on it. I wanted to stop and get one, but by then the fam was pushing to move on to the next area. Anyone know that that stuff was so I can look for it again?
After Chinatown, we walked a little ways to Greenwich Village, which I liked because I’d been there before and could actually point things out that I knew. We stopped at a restaurant called Caliente for dinner. They had decent margaritas, only they cost $15 a piece. Fortunately we got to keep the glasses. We didn’t eat much just shared an appetizer plate, which was plenty for all four of us. The margarita wasn’t the best I’ve had, but it was pretty damn strong, so I had a decent buzz for the walk back to Penn Station, which was a lot longer than my dad seemed to imply.
Once in Penn Station, we figured out which track our train was arriving at, and we got on. The ride back was kind of uneventful, except for some rowdy drunkards who were being very loud. I kind of slept for part of trip. Once back, we got back in our car and called it a trip.
The trip was pretty cool. There are pictures, but they’re on my dad’s camera. Once I get them from him, I’ll try to augment this post to include the photos. That’s my third adventure in the city. Stay tuned, and take care…
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