Big day in the Big Apple
My first day in New York: very eventful. I'm exhausted now but not sleepy. Walked around a bunch in the financial district toward the end of David's workday. Took the Staten Island Ferry round trip just to see the city and Lady Liberty. Got 1/2-price tix to 42nd Street. Walked around Times Square. Ate some authentic New York Pizza. Hung out at a bar, where the first few beer went down so easily after being rather famished and dehydrated prior in the day. Walked around quite a bit downtown at nite, and made a few subway trips already. Have tentative plans (a.k.a. it's going to happen, just don't know when or where) to get together with Nick and with Matt over the rest of the weekend.
New York really is a big city. Being raised so close to Chicago, I didn't expect to be that awed by NYC, but Times Square is really something else. And when you get out of the bars at 2am and the streets are still as busy as they were at 8pm, wow. Very nice place to visit. I'd need a lot more time to decide if I could ever live here, but I'm thinking probably not, if for no other reasons than the "rich culture," high prices, and high fashion that I've seen thusfar.
posted by Stu at 1:58 AM
Gears and Coffee
2 Comments:
Boo. Fuck rich culture. I hate hate hate the stuck-up overpriced stuff in the city. There's so many really cool places all around both in manhattan and outside. Rent is often more expensive in the city if you want to live in certain neighborhoods -- I don't say nice because there are plenty of nice & cheap neighborhoods but they may be harder to get to -- but the rest of your time in the city doesn't have to be that much more expensive. It is possible to eat groceries and do free things -- it's just that most folks want to "experience" the rich aspects when they come to the city so they don't get a sense of how else it could work.
Well, certainly seeing Central Park and walking around a bit on my own during the mornings remedied the problem of only experiencing the "rich" part of the city. Money aside, it is like any other city, only bigger, and probably with more to do.
On the whole, I was impressed with New York. Yes, traffic was bad, but I didn't see any accidents (other than bumpers tapping during a parking job) and no pedestrians or bikers got hit despite their crossing against lights and weaving haphazardly. Yes, it was pricy to eat and drink at some of the places we went, but I'm glad we found inexpensive restaurants as well and glad we didn't ever pay cover. The live entertainment and the peoplewatching were stupendous. The subway was convenient. The little food stands and flea markets and parks along every mile gave the streets "personality."
When I come back, I'll take more time to go in-depth, perhaps doing a museum, or, like you suggested, a self-guided tour of all the ethnic neighborhoods. This time was a good overview, and great to catch up with those who I saw.
What do you think?
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