You Can't Leave the USA Without Seeing New York, Supposedly

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March 8th 2008

Published: April 13th 2008

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mattylee

The Way I See New York

Just kidding, it's a great place to visit.

Welcome to New York

They say that you can’t visit the USA without seeing New York and despite the fact that you very well could do such a thing, it not being physically impossible or anything like that, and also forgetting that a lot of US citizens never leave their home town anyway let alone visit New York (I guess they never exactly “visit” the country though so they can be excused), I figured that I ought to at least prove this rule one way or another. So, bravely going where only a handful of million others had gone that week, I boarded my flight across the continent.

My first impressions of New York turned out to be somewhere completely different. I had awoken part way through my flight and what I was seeing outside my window was still Seattle. Shockingly the sprawl of that miniature city managed to cover my entire field of view (a city the size of Seattle would not warrant even the smallest mark on a Chinese map, and even compared to Australian cities it is cute and small). How such a massive space, for the view from 5,000m up is quite massive, could be

New York Stock Exchange

Hmm... all it's missing is the theme song from "Team America". Actually, that may well have been playing in the background.

completely covered in lights, buildings, roads and housing, without enough people to actually fill said space is quite beyond me. Unless of course all the animals need night lights.

I arrived in New York on a drizzly morning and was promptly fooled by the local dialect of American. They probably thought I was a complete fool because I couldn’t understand how a $1 note did not constitute “change”; to them a pile of shrapnel large enough to kill a small militia is the only legal tender. Nevertheless, I managed to find my bus, pay the driver in a solid lump of nickel, and was quickly on my way towards Manhattan Island. Unfortunately the weather was rather terrible so I had absolutely no view on the way. This meant two things: I didn’t get to see any of the city, and I very nearly missed my stop.

Now, as a tourist in New York there are many options of where you can stay. There are hostels all over, but I instead chose to stay with an old friend who I had met in Xishuangbanna (south-western China) almost a year earlier. So, instead of staying Downtown, or even in Midtown,

Trump Ice Rink in Central Park

Ice? In March? Outside?

or on the Lower East Side, or anywhere classy-sounding, I went to stay in Harlem. Now, personally, and I imagine also for a lot of others who don’t keep up with local issues in New York, the only things I knew about Harlem came from some news reports from over a decade ago so for all I knew I was living upstairs from the Globetrotters and below the Black Panthers. Of course, that obviously wasn’t the case; they all lived across the road.

Harlem itself didn’t really excite me once I’d gotten over the similarities to Chinese cities: identikit apartment blocks, no green or any colour other than grey for that matter, millions of buildings cramped together, and street food stalls all over the place (although the ones in China serve much higher quality food). After I’d met Erin (my friend and accommodator) and slept off my jetlag (a little bit) I headed to the subway and towards Downtown, hoping to see the exciting place that New York is supposed to be.

Downtown Footpaths, A Giant Hole in the Ground, and Oh My This City is Huge!

Downtown Manhattan is, quite simply, an amazing place. Imagine

Sunset over the Hudson

if you took too other famous places, say Shanghai and London (it better be those two or my argument won’t work), and melded them together. The resulting city, provided you melded in a sufficiently orderly way so as not to result in the largest ever M.C. Escher picture, would be New York. Just like Shanghai the entire city is chock full of skyscrapers, so much so that you can’t see most of them because of the intervening ones (I tried for ages to find the Empire State building without the aid of a map, I figure such an iconic building would be self-evident, until I found out that it was in a completely different part of town, how was I to know that New York essentially has two central business districts?) Truly a case of can’t see the forest for the trees, not that forests of skyscrapers are even remotely like real forests, trees can’t grow that big. Downtown New York is a little bit more compact than Shanghai though, the buildings are closer together and it does feel a lot more cramped, but I guess you could construe this as a good thing. The London connection comes in the

Statuesque Liberty

The view looking south from Battery Park.

age of the buildings. Whereas a Shanghai building is a shiny, metallic, glass covered, TV screen to the world, a New York building is an ancient dull-coloured edifice of stoic proportions. Imposingly dominating your view, these old skyscrapers exude a sense of wisdom and experience, as though they’ve seen the rise and fall of man and lived to tell the tale, just like the monuments and old civic buildings of London or other European cities.

Where Shanghai looks forward as a glimmering view of the future, New York looks backwards and tells us to learn from the past.

I started my exploration from the very southern tip of Manhattan, it seemed logical at the time but after experiencing just how long it takes for the train to travel the length of the island (I was living on 135th Street, and the numbers only start counting from about a third of the way up the island) I felt that it was a wasteful idea. However, from Battery Park I caught a distant glimpse of that most French of monuments, the Statue of Liberty. Unfortunately the wind was whipping up along the Hudson so I chose not to take the

The Beginning of Downtown

It doesn't get more "down" than this. I started walking north up Manhattan island and the buildings seemed to get bigger and bigger as I went along.

ferry out to see the statue and instead I started wandering north along Broadway. Between hundreds of buildings of all different styles (New York has some wonderful new buildings as well as all of its old ones) and down myriad streets I wandered aimlessly. Occasionally I’d read one of the map signposts to see if any important buildings were nearby, but more often I’d just walk towards the most interesting thing I could see. No, that doesn’t mean I just kept walking into restaurants.

Surprisingly I found that there are little gems hidden within Downtown. The sight of a four-hundred year old church and graveyard, no more than twenty meters on each side, sitting elegantly like a miniature park between four towering buildings of 40 stories each really came as a shock. It just didn’t look right, but it did look nice.

Wall Street came and went, the Stock Exchange showing American Pride with everything but a marching band, bank after bank, inescapable major corporations and obscure local businesses, everything was packed into Downtown. I was thoroughly enjoying my time there. And then I found myself standing in an open space. . .

The site of the

Modern Buildings

old World Trade Center appears out of nowhere as the buildings part and all of a sudden the sky becomes visible. The area was much larger than I had imagined, positively massive in comparison to the surrounding blocks, and there was simply nothing there. Well, there is a massive worksite but as yet no building is rising from within. It was an eerie place when I stopped to think on what had transpired there, it was actually impossible to put anything into context, and as soon as I turned my back I was faced with a perfectly “normal” New York in front of me. The two facets, New York on one side, vacant moonscape on the other, were so totally opposite to one another that I can not even think of the two as existing in the same city.

Heading north I tried to walk towards midtown and the Empire State, but due to the massive size of the city, and the general monotony of the areas between Midtown and Downtown, I gave up the effort and simply meandered my way around town until I found a subway and headed back to Erin’s house.

Great Birthday Party

Probably Something Important

I really can't remember what each building was, there were simply too many of them. This one was pretty important though.

Ideas For People You Don’t Like

Two years in a row I’ve had to celebrate my birthday on the road. To me this says that I ought to plan things out a little better, to others it indicates that I ought to stop bumming around the world. Either way, a birthday is a birthday so celebrations are required. Last year I used the big day to finally discover how Vientianne operated, how to have a good time there, and I ended up spending most of my time eating confectionary, drinking coffee, and trying to find disused bowling alleys in small Asian countries. Did 2008 have a chance of competing with that spectacular day? Well, I was in New York so how could it not?

This is how:

First off, thanks to a three hour time difference, a sleepless plane flight, and a late night trip to what was quite frankly the worst Reggae Bar I’ve been to (and I’ve been to quite a few now) I managed to sleep in well beyond when I had intended to. Being woken up late by Erin, realising that I’d slept through my alarm, still feeling tired, and having lost a

Progress In Action

Ahh... it's nice to be in a country where protests aren't forcibly quashed.

good five hours of birthday time, I quickly pulled myself together and headed outside.

First of all Erin took me down to a small Hungarian café - of course, what else would you find? - where I somehow completely failed to find anything remotely breakfasty on the menu. I also managed to annoy Erin somehow by trying to get her to explain American tipping culture to me (as I’m used to things you tip people more if they give you good service so individual staff are encouraged to work harder. I understand that their main income is from tips so you have to tip them even if they’re bad, but then all the money gets put into a big jar and shared between all the staff. . . isn’t that communism?)

Anyway, after that whole debacle, a quick tour of Columbia University (where Erin studies), and a quick internet stop to buy tickets for later that evening, I discovered that it was 4pm and I hadn’t actually done anything on my birthday. Usually by 4pm I’ve managed to gain 5kg from my doughnut quotient alone! To rectify this I immediately got onto the subway and headed for the

Welcome to Wall Street

This photo is obligatory, right?

Natural History Museum only to find that it was nearly closing so instead I went for a walk through Central Park.

Central Park is an odd place, but I think that was mainly to do with it still being very much winter. Even now I’m not at ease with deciduous trees, they freak me out. Nevertheless, the park is a really beautiful retreat in the middle of the city. Considering where it lies, you really do feel as though you have escaped the world when you enter the confines of the greenery (so long as you avoid the roads running through it). All around you there are trees, grassy hillocks, ponds, lakes, flowerbeds, squirrels, and sculptures (more sculptures per square kilometer than most art galleries), and only the slightest hint of the city is visible above the trees. Although it doesn’t come close to being in the countryside, Central Park is a place to go when you’re stuck in the city. Plus I got to see an outdoor skating rink for the first time in my life.

Heading southwards in the early evening I found myself wandering towards Times Square, a place known to everyone for reasons that

Really Tall Old Buildings

are hard to define. If you were unaware of its significance you would walk right past it as it really is just another corner where a few streets meet. For about five blocks in every direction you can see just as much neon lighting, as many big name stores, and just as much confusion as you get in the square itself. However, standing on the side of the square and looking around really does give one a sense of that old-time Sinatra “New York, New York” feel.

To make the experience even more New York-ish I picked up a greasy slice of pizza which actually turned out to taste pretty damn good and an oversized Coca-Cola (although they never asked me if I wanted to “supersize”). For once I felt as though I was actually doing a “typical” USA sort of activity.

My walk had been fun, and the food had been good, but it was hardly a memorable birthday yet. All of my hopes rested on one last dash: a trip to Broadway. Thanks to my family I had some cash for just such an occasion so I quickly headed home to pick up Erin so that

Jefferson

They love their presidents, and a surprisingly large number of them can remember all of their names. Even though that might be useless information, it shows a level of commitment which Australia doesn't have.

we could head out to a show. Now, women are notorious for taking their time getting ready, but I figured that as it was just a couple of friends going out to a show I wouldn’t have to worry about that issue. However, that didn’t stop Erin (I really can’t explain why though, it’s beyond me) from taking nearly an hour so that the show was practically about to start just as we were leaving her house. That’s fine if you live in Midtown, but not if you live in Harlem. . .

Somehow we arrived at the show only 10 minutes after it had started and I hurried inside to watch. Erin on the other hand had to borrow some money to buy herself dinner. Now Erin, if you’re reading this (which I doubt), I’m sorry if the show didn’t mean much to you, but it was my birthday, my money, and my first Broadway Musical so it meant a hell of a lot to me and no matter how many times you tell me to “calm down and relax” I’m still going to be annoyed after such events.

So, you could be excused for thinking that

Beautiful Building

I had a terrible day. That wasn’t the case though as I simply made the decision to run my birthday on Hawaiian time which meant that it all started when I walked into the theatre at 3:10pm “local” time. The musical was Monty Python’s Spamalot. Now, I quite enjoy musicals and have been in a few myself, but this one put everything I’ve seen back home to shame. It was simply fantastic! I’ve never been so entertained in a theatre before. That alone was enough to make my birthday a good one.

After the show, which did unfortunately have to end, Erin ran off home which was shockingly pleasing for me and I walked off to fulfill my second birthday requirement: a pint of Guinness. Rather accidentally I found myself in yet another cliché USA circumstance as I ate Buffalo Wings, drank beer, watched basketball, and talked to a bartender in a place all too reminiscent of the bar in “Cheers”. I suppose that’s a perfectly normal thing for a tourist to do in New York, but I thought I was better than that.

In the end my birthday was pretty good, nothing spectacular overall but still a

Church Hiding in the Wings

good day. I even managed to get into bed at the respectable hour of 11pm (although I’ll leave it up to you to figure out which timezone).

Seeing the Sights

Unfortunately my last couple of days in New York were marred by bad weather so I was forced to limit my wanderings. I managed to peruse both the Museum of Natural History (fantastic place, check out the exhibit which displays the scale of the universe using comparisons between irregular lumps of silicon-gel and large planetarium theatres) and the Metropolitan Museum as well as a few other places in between. I tried my best to sample all the food available in New York as I had been told that “if you think of a food then it will appear around the next corner”. However, this only works if you have a single minded obsessions with burgers, sandwiches and pizza (which covers very many people).

I had a really good time wandering around the giant city. The city is full of things to see and do, but in a rather monotonous way, after all, you can only look at buildings for a couple of days before you want

Freakishly Thin Building

to try something different. A lot of the people who live in New York are quite barking mad with the way they rush about and I don’t think I could handle that. It was definitely a great place to visit, but I wouldn’t want to live there.

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