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Published: October 1st 2006
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As soon as I wake up and have breakfast, I check out of Jazz on the Park. There has to be another hostel around here that has an elevator. Of course, I only have to carry my stuff back down when I do leave New York, but I need to find somewhere else that is cheap, has elevators and less cramped areas. I shouldn’t have looked any further than the Hostelling International hostel, which was spacious, had elevators as well as being secure. The front desk won’t let me check in until 2pm but at least they’ll let me leave my bags here while I decide to get out and explore NYC.
In the locker room, I meet a lady who is sifting through her luggage. She’s come back to finish writing a book about her favourite city. She lived here before but now lives in the Deep South. There’s nothing better than hearing it from locals who know the ins and outs of a city, and I listen to everything she tells me as well as taking a spare subway map off her. I could have done with one of these yesterday!
The lady’s first recommendation is
for me to check out the Grant tomb, over near Columbia University. I caught the subway up to 116th St and walked around Columbia University, marvelling at the sight of such a fine university. I strolled along College Walk, where I was entangled between people walking through on their way to Sunday Church and people heading over to the Sunday Markets.
Soon after, I headed down towards the Hudson River, before veering north to have a look at Grant’s tomb. In here lies the body of Ulysses S. Grant, the general who led the Union to victory in America’s Civil War as well as becoming the 18th President of the USA. The mood here is a lot more solemn here than at Lincoln Memorial. I feel a little afraid to take a photo but I click away, grabbing more snaps as I go along.
It’s now mid morning and I start feeling a little peckish. I have to say that although Kansas City had the best pizzas so far, I wanted to see what a New York pizza would taste like. Thick crust, supreme topping and lots of cheese. This had to be one of the best pizzas
ever. I could picture myself in a MasterCard ad…7 day NYC Subway pass: $24…Dorm for two nights on 103rd and Amsterdam: $52…Getting back your MasterCard so that you can feed yourself a slice of New York Pizza - PRICELESS! So priceless, I had to get myself another slice because it was so damn tasty!
I took the train downtown (Oh my Gawd, I sound like I’m a Noo Yawk Naytive!) and ended up on 42nd Street. This is where all the theatres are. I could have caught a Sunday matinee of
Mamma Mia, but nothing prepared me for what I was about to see…
I kept on walking east because I heard the sound of big brass band and loud music. The sound grew louder as I ventured past Radio City and before I knew it, marching up Fifth Avenue were members of the Polish Community, celebrating Polish Day. It reminded me of the scene in
Ferris Bueller’s Day Off, where the trio somehow end up in a parade with Ferris jumping on the back of one of the trucks, singing The Beatles’
Twist and Shout. But I didn’t have to jump on the back of any trucks
to get the most out of today. This was totally something I didn’t expect.
This was indeed
Priceless.
The marching bands didn’t stop, nor did the convoy of fire trucks, floats with huge portraits to Pope John Paul II, more school marching bands, more kids marching with their Polish flags, semi trailers with more people on the actual trailer, blowing horns and waving flags, a float with a DJ and about 100 people on the flatbed of the truck (I’m surprised the wheels didn’t fall off), beautiful Polish girls, all sitting in convertibles with the tops down (the cars, that is), bands on the back of trucks, MORE marching bands (and not the same ones from before), more fire trucks… and then one little girl who might have found trudging up Fifth Avenue a little tiring, as she rested in her Dad’s arms. This parade went on for hours and hours and I was not bored at any point in time in its duration. I think the White Eagle Hall back home in Sydney has to get on board with something like this!
The sun started sinking behind some of the buildings but the parade looked like
it was never going to end. I started walked in the opposite direction of the parade, hoping to see if it did have an end at all. I surveyed some more of the parade at the Empire State Building, and wondered what the view would be like from up there. But you had to be here, amongst it to be soaked in the atmosphere of a parade in New York City.
As the tail of the parade finally came around, I walked west along 34th Street towards Broadway. There was no way my feet would carry me all the way to Times Square, so I had to catch the subway up there. My feet were shot and I didn’t even know if I could even walk back to the hostel from the subway station on 103rd St. I consoled myself with a stroll around Times Square as the bright lights of all the advertising started to take over. Anywhere you looked, there was a logo, a slogan or a symbol. Judge Judy stood next to Beyonce on top of the Virgin Megastore while Carrie from
Sex and the City overlooked everyone.
I retired back to the hostel as
my feet were very worn and I couldn’t walk any more. I put my feet up while watching the end of Sunday NFL in the common room. I caught up with the Locker Room Lady and told her everything about my awesome day today. I conveyed the great day in all the postcards I wrote and only then, did I realise that 24 hours ago I didn’t know if I wanted to be here. There’s a sentence in the first paragraph of
Lonely Planet’s entry on New York, and it read, “NYC is certainly not easy, but it’s rewarding - and wonderfully surprising - in all the best ways”…
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