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Published: November 18th 2005
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Times Square from the piers
And the Lion King looks down from on high Ok, so it was a round-trip of Manhattan island, but considering all of the communities and the ethnic microcosoms crammed into that 23 square miles, it's almost a trip round the world.
I decided sometime in the middle of last week that I'd been spending far too much time piddling around New Jersey and not enough time actually seeing Manhattan itself. Sure, I spend every single day traveling in and out of the place, walking past the Empire State and the Chrysler buildings, but for some reason I just don't feel like sightseeing at 8:15 in the morning. Or 6pm for that matter (it's dark by 4pm now anyway, boo!). Instead I decided to dedicate my precious weekend to the pursuit of looking like a geeky tourist and seeing a bit more of this infamous city.
The first and most simple answer appeared to be a ferry or short cruise. I had picked up a leaflet a few weeks ago, in some misguided notion that I'd be able to see it all before the winter set in. NY Waterway promised a 2-day Hop On, Hop Off pass for just $20. Bargain. Until I discovered their cruises don't run in
A festive Herald Sqaure
Deck the trees with boughs of umm... fairy lights and big red bows. the winter season and finish on October 31st. Bugger. I had ventured up to the 38th Street pier on the west side of the island, after taking the ferry from Newport and bouncing gently up the Hudson shoreline. The walk up to the NY Waterway pier had taken me past Circle Line and so after the crushing devastation I'd encountered, I sadly meandered back the way I'd come.
The Circle Line is one of the oldest ferry companies in Manhattan. Pier 83 on 12th Avenue heralds its long history and culture with a huge cut-out of the ferry's stern (also known as the back bit) crowned by the Statue of Liberty's head. It screams 'tourist'. Needless to say I was drawn to the beflagged site like a patriotic moth and picked up a leaflet which proclaimed a three hour cruise with commentary around the island of Manhattan, including an "up close encounter with Liberty herself". I was intrigued, bemused and a little bit scared. But seeing as it all came at the price of $28, why on earth not? Bargain. Except that it left at 12:30pm every day and it was now 1:30pm. Bugger. But not to worry. It
Flatiron Building
Now from the side... was a Saturday and the rest of the weekend stretched out before me and I was determined not to spend it languishing in Newport, NJ wondering if that amazing suit in Macys was on sale yet...
So I went for a walk. Despite spending much of my time in New York already, there wasn't really much that I'd seen in between the places that I'd been to, if that makes sense. That's the problem with the subway. It gets you where you want to go but it doesn't show you how you actually got there. I was pretty solid with the area around Fifth Avenue, from about 33rd Street up to 53rd so I had central Midtown covered. I decided I'd have a bit of a poke around Broadway. Maybe I should rephrase that...
From the piers, I walked along towards Times Square. A feast of neon, the place really puts Picadilly Circus to shame. What the two centres have in common though is that a genuine native - whether they be a New Yorker or Londoner - is rare to be found in either. Notorious for its hoards of tourists, New Yorkers avoid the entire surrounding area
Buildings around Madison Park
Complete with wonderfully autumnal foliage like the proverbial plague and I can sort of see their point. There is absolutely nothing more irritating when, if trying to get somewhere with the vaguest nuance of hurry, you become trapped behind a mass of tourists, all walking at the speed of disinterested turtles. They crowd around at pedestrian crossings and coo at the H&M billboards and tipping Pot Noodle adverts. If there's any sign of a camera about your person, you are automatically accosted by them, asking so nicely if you'll take their picture in front of the 40 ft Victoria's Secrets sign. And if you're not taking the picture, you're politely waiting to one side as some other poor victim tries valiantly to fit the entire group, the 40 ft Victoria's Secrets sign and the essential yellow cab into the same microscopic frame. You can't help but think it would have all been so much simpler if you'd walked up one block the other way instead...
But anyway, I began my jaunt down Broadway, the only avenue to run the entire length of the island from tip to tip. From the garish, heady lights of 42nd Street, I began making my way down towards Herald Square and 34th Street. Similar to another London hotbed of tourism, Oxford Street, 34th is a street mostly dedicated to the hedonic pursuit of spending the money you make in the rest of the city. The title of largest store in the world is claimed by the Macys there and the Empire State building towers above the shopping minions back towards Fifth. It seems quieter and less busy than Oxford Street though, possibly due to the fact that there are fewer Essex girls shouting at one another across a crowded bench. Or as I discovered later on, it could be that they're all shopping somewhere else.
They'd just started putting up the Christmas lights in Herald Square as I walked past. It's going to be fantastic seeing all of these lights every evening as I trundle my way back to Newport. Christmas lights have this twinkly ability to make even the crappiest of places more inviting. To be fair though, it's not like Macys actually needs any help getting more people through the doors...
After following Broadway down through the bright lights of 42nd Street and then past the elegant shop windows of 34th, I was somewhat bewildered to find the next chapter of Broadway (between 33rd and 23rd Streets) to be a mass of seedy shops and table-top sellers, purveying an array of cheap and nasty perfumes, bags, 'jewelry' and the inevitable pashminas. Surrounded by commercial and corporate districts on almost all sides, it feels like you just wandered into a sanitized ghetto. Sadly, I didn't see my bhangra dancing experience coming in handy just then, so I hustled my way on down the street, politely sidestepping their offers of 'real designer goods'.
After the ghetto, I had a lovely seat in Madison Park watching the fat squirrels (seriously, I have NEVER seen squirrels that huge before) frolicking in the sunshine. The Flatiron building was just behind me and Union Square was just another little jaunt down the road. Broadway beckoned me back after some brief respite and I suddenly found myself in the hustle-bustle of Union Square market. The market there is easily one of the best I have seen anywhere. There were fruit and veg stalls clustered together in the square itself and then stretched all the way down University Place were stalls offering much the same wares on offer in the aforementioned ghetto, but none of this 'real designer' crap. Instead they were hand-made or prepackaged and came without the trademark yelling of streetside sellers, promising you the bargain of your life. Personally I instantly distrust any seller that shouts that. A deal like that would only make sense if my life were to be hideously shortened as a result of actually purchasing that product... It was here that I bought my gorgeous wooden necklace, as well as a number of little Christmas presents (just 5 weeks to go now!) and felt like I'd secured massive bargains. Always good.
Turning out of University Place and heading back towards Broadway was where I saw Apple bar (see the previous post). It looked inviting, the cocktails looked yummy and I made a little mental note for any future reference. I just didn't think I'd be acting on it quite so quickly...
As soon as I hit Broadway again I realized just where New Yorkers spent their weekends. Apparently NoHo and SoHo are the places to be if you want to buy anything. Ever. The sky was starting to darken as I wandered past, and having already shelled out a little cash on my market wares, I put my purse firmly away in my bag and marched purposefully onward. Walking on down towards downtown Manhattan took a surprisingly short stretch of time and soon I found myself nearing Battery Park and the WTC Path station. Having nearly worn holes in my oh-so-glamorous-they-used-to-be-blue-but-now-look-as-though-they-can't-even-remember-blue trainers, I thought I'd give the sightseeing a rest for the moment and prepare for my night out on the town.
Sunday's events are yet to follow...
Cxx
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Mayrad
Simon Wadsworth
all that in one day?! You're a hare on heroin!