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Published: December 8th 2008
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As planned, Friday night was a couple of beers in a hotel with Alex and one of the other guys, and he dropped me back at the station. By then it was getting seriously cold. I stood on the platform shivering and swearing under my breath.
The train was easy enough but it took me an hour to get to Penn Station, thankfully the hotel Wolcott wasn’t far from there so I walked. Lots of delis, restaurants, shops, all entertaining the millions of people who were wandering about despite the temperature. The hotel was pretty nice - too nice. Will had booked it pretty late and claimed it was the best he could find, but it was going to cost almost $500 AUD per night so is possibly the most expensive hotel I’ve ever stayed in.
It seems all bars in New York are Irish pubs. They certainly are around here anyway. I wandered, ate, drank, wandered some more. Still felt like New York wasn’t as friendly as SF or Austin, but I got chatting to a couple of Irish lads and we overdid things quite well in bars called O’Reilly’s and Foley’s.
The next day didn’t really
strange hotel
Interesting xmas lights..... exist. I’d had a dodgy meat pie and it had done nasty things to me. I emerged from the hotel at about 11am, but thought better of it and swiftly retreated back indoors. I tried again at about 2pm but it still didn’t feel good. I eventually left the hotel at 530pm, of course by then it was dark and getting colder.
The few blocks around the hotel are good. There’s Madison Sq Garden, some major department stores…..and a whole lot of people. Macy’s obviously make a big deal of their xmas window displays and the punters were 10-deep trying to catch a glimpse of what looked to me like glitzy xmas tat. Humbug.
Had a nice browse through a huge Borders bookshop and bought myself something new to read. The thing that really hits you about this town is the vertical space. Every building’s enormous, every square inch packed. I took a couple of pics of the Flatiron building that’s not far from the hotel.
Coming from Australia, it was quite a challenge to bring enough warm clothing with me. I’ve taken to wearing 2 fleeces, 1 on top of the other, then my gore-tex over
the top. The first problem with this is that I’m still too cold, but a more amusing issue is the interaction of all these man-made fibres. Ever time I touch something metal there’s so much static electricity that I’ve actually yelped a couple of times. I know they’re trying to invent clothing that powers ipods and phones, all they need to do is wear 1 fleece on top of another and walk. Nature will do the rest. I’ve scared a few people I think. But I guess this city’s full of nutters.
I saw a troupe of maybe 20 Santas, all properly dressed up, skateboarding through the streets. They were having fun, and everyone else seemed to enjoy it. Ho Ho Ho.
Will turned up at about 930, by which time I was safely installed in a brewery - Heartland - at the foot of the empire state building. They did a decent Pale Ale. Great to see Will after so long - last time was almost 3 years ago for R&Cs wedding. We slipped straight back into our procession of social commentary and pointless banter. All good. As I said to him 3 weeks earlier, I have
a stupid idea for you and I’ve never known anyone more receptive to stupid ideas. So at the drop of a hat Will took a week off and flew out from the UK to meet me here.
At closing time, poor Will was struggling on an empty stomach so our noses led us to ‘The Hollywood Diner’. A busy little place, and just like Hollywood if you can imagine celebrity extravagance replaced by cheap tatty décor and straightforward food. We asked for a bottle of wine - not something that happens very often I guess as our waiter had to ask for help. He wanted to bring us a glass….but no……a bottle…..we got there in the end. Pancakes with bacon and maple syrup, washed down with cheap merlot. Great stuff. And it was snowing outside.
Slept like a baby and woke up keen to get more out of Sunday than I got from Saturday. But flip was it cold. The forecast said it was going to get colder, they weren’t wrong, so I was now wearing pretty much everything I owned. Even with my hood up, my head was freezing. I bought a beanie. We had to check
Ricky's kinky clothing
This one's for you fella...... out of the extortionately expensive hotel and move down the road to one that was just damned pricey - Hotel 31. Nice enough though, and there’s a posher hotel next door that’s kind enough to share its wireless internet with us.
We walked south all the way down Lexington, passing through posh bits, shopping areas, federal buildings and what I guess was financial district (and therefore quiet ‘cos it’s Sunday). I was quite looking forward to seeing Ground Zero, but in the end it was just a big hole in the ground covered with cranes and building kit. It was all fenced off so you couldn’t really see anything. I don’t know if there’s any kind of monument nearby, seems like there would be but I didn’t see anything. I can still picture the towers collapsing, on my birthday 7 years ago.
It was still daylight but not for long and surprisingly we happened upon an Irish bar and called in for a refreshing Guinness. I’d read about a gourmet bar / restaurant called the Spotted Pig in Greenwich and that was next, although rather a long walk. Greenwich seemed like a really lovely part of town, lots
building
This is the Woolworth's Building of little stores and places to cower out of the cold, people buying xmas trees. The Spotted Pig was excellent, although not exactly cheap. I had scallops (3 of them, albeit very large ones) and they were about $50 AUD………oops.
Along the way I took a picture through the window of what I guess was a hairdressing college or something. Looked very odd, heads on spikes sitting in rows on benches. I also took a nice shot through the window of a firestation. But Will wasn’t delighted each time I stopped to take a picture, I wasn’t allowed the time to tinker with the white balance and we didn’t hang around long.
Next stop, another tiny bar. The temperature was really getting funny, we were able to walk for about 10 minutes before seeking out the next refuge but it made for an amusing pub crawl. The barmaid found our ability to cope with the cold so funny she bought us a beer. She had the nicest little tummy I think I’ve ever seen.
Another 10 minutes, another bar. This one had Ice Hockey as its theme and sport of choice. The local team - the Rangers
misc. building
something federal....dunno what - were just finishing up a game at Madison Square Garden around the corner, and a few fans wandered in soon after we arrived. We met the lovely Maggie, her grumpy fiancée, her friend (Rachel?), her friend’s mum…….had a good chat with all of them. Fiancee was grumpy because Maggie wanted to take him snowboarding in Chamonix, and he didn’t want to go. Maybe also because she was chatting to strange guys in bars. Muppet.
We were now spending longer and longer in each bar, and less and less time walking. It started to look unlikely that we’d make it home. It was so cold. Even in the daytime it hadn’t got above freezing, and by now the wind was cutting us to pieces.
Last stop was O’Reilly’s - again - for a nightcap, then home to bed. Thankfully we remembered we’d moved hotels. Another day completed without major mishap.
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