A Quiet Day in New York

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I woke up later than normal because I went to bed so late the night before. New Years Day and everyone else was sleeping. I woke up, showered and tried to get my currency card loaded for the first time in two weeks. I wasn’t able to get it done quickly and I was on the phone for over an hour, which really ate into my day after waking up late.

I was still waiting after the phone call for people to get ready, so I went into Queens with Tom to Target (a local department store). The food was so cheap compared with Manhattan and even California. I bought coffee and a muffin for $2.50, which was the best value I’ve had since visiting the US.
I forgot my metro travel card, so had to go back to the hotel before I could go into town. It was around 1.30pm before we were all finally ready to go. We got the train to 86th street near Central Park and visited the Guggenheim museum. I was really excited to see the Guggenheim as I’d heard good things, and the art museum we visited in Chicago was really good.

Unfortunately, I was disappointed with the displays. Only a couple of the exhibits proved to be interesting, and nothing was outstanding enough to be worth the $15 entry. Despite works by Chavall, Monet and Picasso, nothing really stood out enough to justify visiting. The museum was also extremely busy. The one positive observation that I had about the Guggenheim was the obscure architecture that made the building far more interesting and was one of the benefactors drawing me to visit.
We left the Guggenheim and Central Park and then went to a bagel shop which was close to closing for cheap bagels. It was a decent lunch and made for much better eating than New Years Eve where I just had one meal all day – Burger King. Before making further plans, the 3 of us decided to text the two girls to ask them if they wanted to meet up in China town for a meal. We had arranged to meet at 7pm for something to eat.

We decided to head towards Times Square to see what it was like when it wasn’t filled with a stage and crowds of people celebrating the New Year. First we stopped by Grand Central Station which was amazing. After seeing it I was sure I’d seen pictures of it before, but it was still amazing how a train station could be so big in New York City and so central, especially when the above ground train service was not particularly prominent.

We walked to Times Square which was covered in people and adverts. There were also many promoters trying to sell tickets for their comedy show. We were at first interested by their $20 a ticket show, and after haggling down to $4 a ticket we considered buying tickets. We then realised that the night would end up costing us about $20 when considering the compulsory two drinks purchase along with tax and tip, and the fact we’d have to rush the plans we’d already made, meant that we turned down the offer, despite the considerable reduction the person was willing to make for us.
We took some pictures and then left for China Town. Times Square was far too busy and expensive to spend any time there.

We headed for China Town to try and find some good restaurants and good prices before we all met up. There were a few good restaurants, including one seafood restaurant where you select your fish from the menu and then from the fish tank in the restaurant for eating.
We instead opted for the hotpot restaurant, all-you-can-eat for $20. Carlotta and Jenny turned up with two friends so we had dinner with the seven of us. The other two people were both also students in Edinburgh at Napier University. It was interesting to meet people who were also studying in Edinburgh in New York. The service wasn’t particularly good, but we did get as much seafood and meat as we wanted and as many cans of coca cola as we could drink– so definitely got value.
We split up again after we left the restaurant and headed for little Italy. Little Italy was more expensive than China Town, and was also a lot more touristy and cleaner. I was glad we ate in China Town due to the price and value. We passed through and found a street of backstreet dealers selling counterfeit watches, sunglasses and handbags etc. The street of stores was impressive as they all sold exactly the same products. I considered buying one, but after finding almost nothing I liked, and getting quoted an initial price of $160, I left quickly – I would only have been willing to spend $15.
We saw China Town McDonalds – the menu was in Chinese, that was amazing and something I didn’t expect from New York City. We were all tired and had to get up early (5am) to visit the Statue of Liberty in the morning so we went to the subway and headed back to the hotel. It was another good day in New York City and I’m looking forward to the final day here tomorrow.

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