Prolix Travels: NYC Recap Part II

AKA “The Long Day of Walking Commences”

Saturday, February 28

So yes, the title gives you an accurate depiction of what this day was like. When Emily and I woke up, we were pleased to see it was sunny outside. However, as we soon found out, sunny doesn’t mean warm. Oblivious of this initially, we got all cleaned up and ready to go out. I was contemplating just wearing a sweatshirt (2 layers) because it looked so nice and warm. Thankfully, the logical part of my brain kicked in and I realized that it would be a loooong and dreary trip back to the hostel should I need my coat, so I brought it a long.

Thank goodness I did. The most frequent visitor to NYC is not, in fact, tourists or insanely rich people who can go to all the smancy stores (we stepped into Catherine Malandrino’s shop in SoHo and it was niiiiiiiiiiice. There was a guy to open the door. Fancy. Unfortunately, we could only look and dream. I love her designs though – she’s great. I would wear her stuff if I had the money), but rather, the most frequent visitor to the grand city is wind. It is always windy. I went to Chicago many years ago in the summer and while I though it was windy, I think NYC is even more so. Or maybe it’s just more memorable because it was February and the wind was cold. So yeah, even if it was sunny it was probably one of the more cold days, as there was no cloud cover to keep the heat in. So yeah. Thank goodness for my coat! And thank goodness for cheap gloves that while are not waterproof, do quite well in keeping your hands warm.

So Emily and I decided we were going to get a little snack at the grocery store right near our hostel (since the breakfast at the hostel left much to be desired; warm milk for cereal is NOT OK, PEOPLE) before meeting up with Romain at the Subway. You can’t tell in the pictures below, but we were always ALWAYS being nearly blown off the sidewalk. Especially in Brooklyn. Probably because there is less building cover.

The grocery store we went to is called Brooklyn’s Natural and it’s a fantastic little shop, with lots of organic and vegetarian/vegan goodies that are good for you and look so delicious. The only problem is picking the right thing, since you don’t want to necessarily lug around a big bottle of juice or a package of rye crisps, good as they may be. Whenever I could, I opted to get the “super fruit” type drinks that had stuff like acai and spurilina (however the heck you spell that) because I knew I would need the energy. The whole neighborhood is really great – right next to the grocery store is this place called “ad art hoc” (I think that’s what it was – the title of the place was painted on using stencils so it wasn’t very clear) that looked to be a place where underground artists would come showcase your work. It was painted bright red and littered with street art – from what looked like clippings of newspapers arranged in a stenciled outline (usually of a figure) to carefully crafted stickers promoting the artist themselves. Of course, there’s also the ugly squiggly lines from taggers, but there is more good stuff than bad stuff. On a wall right outside our subway stop, someone had done this great stenciled figure of a woman wearing a gas mask. She looked naked though no body parts were really defined – just the shapes. Not a day later someone had drawn circles where the nipples would be in pink chalk. *head desk* People…

Once we met up with Romain we got on the subway heading towards Manhattan and our day of walking commenced. First, we got off at 1st avenue, which is in the East Village. I don’t know if I’m correct in stating this, but it seemed to me that The Village (Greenwich) is too posh and expensive now and where the hipsters and bohemians were in the 70’s have now been pushed further East – in fact, I would say that Brooklyn has become what the Village was in the past. But on Manhattan, it seems as though there’s still the underground, artsy culture around in the East Village. I liked it – lots of character. We ate a fantastic brunch at this placed called Café Orlin that wasn’t that expensive, especially for what I got (Smoked Salmon on English muffin with poached eggs and hollandaise…. Mmm mmm). From here, we made our way West. Our plan was to walk all the way down to the Staten Island ferry and ride that since the weather was nice. It was good once we got there, but it was a long walk! We passed through Chinatown, which I thought was great. It was like we had just been transported to Beijing or something. I mean, we were the only Caucasian people walking around! xD I would have loved to explore it more but we didn’t have time. Next time, I guess.

Then, we passed through the financial district – along the way we stopped by Ground Zero, but didn’t go to the monument itself where it has some information and pictures of the people that were lost there. It was crazy to see this one building still getting cleaned from the disaster over 7 years ago! Also, all the street signs in that area are black to commemorate the event. A sobering site, but it made me thankful that other buildings were still standing. I loved all the architecture in NY, but it was great to see the mix of styles. Also, it’s always nice to get a sweeping sense of your own smallness when you’re walking past giant, monumental buildings. And yet, in the midst of these huge buildings, there were these little playgrounds surrounded by metal fences that I thought were neat. I would have loved to come to one of those as a kid.

On the way to the ferry, we passed by a square that looked like it was being used for some kind of ethnic festival. There was a bronze statue of an Ox for the Chinese Year of the Ox – my year! So of course, I had to take a picture of it. Interestingly, it took me about 10 minutes to wait for all the Asian tourists who wanted to take one first. Ha! Oh, and it’s snout was nice and polished from all the people who had rubbed it for good luck. It reminded me of Japan (lol, not China I know) and I missed it!

The ferry was nice, though short. We didn’t get off at the island except to get right back on the ferry (which was SO COLD when you were outside. Geez. The wind is crazy). According to Romain, there’s “nothing to do there” so we didn’t bother. The views were great though – I got the classic pictures of the Statue of Liberty and the Manhattan skyline. For some reason it looked smaller than I thought it would be (as in, I thought it would be wider across than it was). Still cool though. I think my favorite building is the Chrysler building, especially at night. Oh, on the ferry there were these two pigeons that had gotten trapped in, though one was lame with only one working leg. I think that’s what you call homeless pigeons, but I kind of view pigeons as flying rats – ie, they have no real home, they just always wander.

After the ferry, we walked up around the other side of Ground Zero through Tribeca (which is an acronym but I’ve now forgot it). The architecture is great in this neighborhood as well and I will have to go back and explore it in more depth. From here we went on to SoHo where we stopped at this chocolate bar called Marie Belle where they serve you chocolate drinks like its espresso (really really dark and rich chocolate in short little cups), Aztec style. I had an iced drink though that was so good. I never want Starbucks again. We walked around SoHo a little more, though we didn’t really go into any shops except French Connection (where Emily found a gorgeous dress) and this GREAT shop called Evolution. They had all kinds of crazy stuff in there – fossilized fish, bits of shark, beetles in test tubes, petrified wood, etc. They even had stuffed animals like full on baby deer and owls just staring at you creepily. I have no idea who would want to buy that stuff, but maybe it would be useful for a high school science class… I have no idea. Also, I thought the appeal of having a deer head put on your wall was due mainly to you having killed the deer yourself, thereby rendering it some kind of “prize” or something (I honestly don’t understand this appeal at all. Why on earth would you want a dead animal in your house as a decoration? Why??? Something is seriously wrong with those people). I bought a couple things there for the fam back in Chico and then I showed mah peeps the Kid Robot store (I knew the Bape store was around there but I had no idea where and I wasn’t about to try to find it. It’s always an ordeal to find the Bape stores, except for the one in LA).

Later, we stopped by this place called California Pizza (lol) and had a slice of NY pizza which was DELICIOUS. And cheap for only 3.50. We chose this place mainly because it was close to Union Square Station because we had to go home so Romain could pick up his laundry. I am painfully jealous of this ability to send out your laundry to someone else so they can do. Though it costs money so I guess that’s the deal. But still, not doing your laundry would be worth it. And apparently, many people do this. I guess not many people have a washer and dryer in their apartment, which is foreign to me as a West Coast native. It just seems like it would be VERY costly to have your laundry done every two weeks or whenever you need it. There are Laundromats too but it seems like I saw more “laundry service” places than “do it yourself” ones. Interesting. It’s EXPENSIVE to live in NY!

Once home, we got ready and went over to Romain’s to eat dinner (leftover vegetarian lasagna that his roommate had made. SO GOOD). Then, we placed some games (since we were all tired) and then went out to go dancing at this place called the Ritz in the Hell’s Kitchen area. It was a gay bar, LOL, but I didn’t mind. It was funny seeing the gay guys all lip-syncing when Britney Spears came on. The place itself was great too – smallish, like you’re at a party. The only thing I didn’t like was the fog machine. At this point though, my back was really killing me from all the walking and so we only stayed an hour and a half. I’m glad I went though. It was a good time!

Pictures below:

Writing at the top of one of the buildings near our hostel.

The street that leads to the Morgan Ave/Bogart St. stop of the L line. That art place on the left.

Street art on the building.

More art. I love the cyclops guy.

Brooklyn's Natural - a great grocery store!

Inside Café Orlin (with Emily)

What I ordered. Not a bite leftover.

In the East Village. See it was windy.

Walking in the Financial District. Justice building to the left.

Hope you're not afraid of heights if you have to cross this bridge.

There aren't that many bike riders in NYC. Because it's scary! Plus, they do not have the constitution of Oxford bike riders. Those people have nerves of steel. See that building in the back? That's the one that's still being cleaned, 7 years later.