Didn’t really stay out late last night – got back to the hotel around 11pm, tired and with my feet aching.
Woke around 9am to another sunny morning and, my last day. I really, really need to get some presents sorted for folks at home, so I decide to make that the aim of the game for today, and, I think I’ve done ok. The weak dollar at the moment makes New York an attractive proposal – and its clear that I’m not the only nutter that’ll be going home with a shiny new suitcase, full of booty.
All the ‘discount’ electronics and giftware stores have hastily arranged ‘Luggage’ sections, with all manner of cases, from $400 Samsonites to cheap Asian knock-offs. I, obviously, plump for the cheapest bag I can find that’ll hold my stuff – $45 for a mid-sized expandable suitcase with a trolley handle. If it only lasts this one journey, I’ll be happy!
Wandered around the Flatiron district this morning – disappointing (though probably unsurprising, really) that most shops seem to close on Sundays (or not opening til mid-day, at the earliest). The Flatiron building is architecturally beautiful – if the people who owned the building across the intersection from it let people take photos of it from their rooftops, they’d make a killing.
Stopped for a chai latte at a popular coffee store whilst I got my bearings. The last person to sit where I was had left the sports section of the New York Times, which I had a quick thumb through. It’s all baseball, NFL and basketball, of course, but I spot a small article about European ‘Soccer’. It was an interesting read – explaining how having a ‘home advantage’ is a real plus in soccer games, drawing up statistics about how many points and goals, on average, teams take from home and away matches. To me, the average Brit, surely everyone understands the home advantage? Don’t American sports follow the same pattern? Anyhow – I point out the article, because having read it, I had to stop and re-read four times the following sentence: “But Barcelona – the second winningest club in Spain, holds one of the widest margins in La Liga.” What in Gods name is winningest supposed to mean?! This is the New York Times! Jesus Christ!
I took a subway to Grand Central station – another ‘must see’ in most of the tourist guide books. It was very uninspiring – a fairly big train station with a really high ceiling. If Americans think Grand Central is beautiful, they really need to pop into St Pancras the next time they’re in London, St Pancras’ trainshed knocks Grand Central into a cocked hat. However, coming to Grand Central did have one happy unexpected outcome – as I left the building – going through the MetLife building, and walked across the city, I bumped into a carnival parade, marching down 5th Avenue!
It’s Columbus Day tomorrow, and I thought this was an early celebration of it, but it quickly transpired that it wasn’t. All of the floats and dancers and singers were representing South American countries – Brazil, Argentina, Colombia and so-on – dressed in brightly coloured clothes and partying down the street. It was quite a sight!
I wandered past the Empire State Building and got a look at it from ground level – it’s weird, you look up at it, and you think “hey, it doesn’t look so tall”, and really it doesn’t – until you remember that New York is a city full of skyscrapers, all around you, and this skews your perception a little bit. In reality, it’s pretty massive. It once was the tallest building in the world, but to think that the current tallest building, the yet-uncompleted Burj Dubai, is over 880m tall – not far shy of 3 times the Empire State’s height – makes you wonder how long it’ll be before the Empire State is ‘just another skyscraper’, like so many others.
I caught up with my shopping in the afternoon – the highlight (or lowlight, depending on your viewpoint) was probably visiting the gigantic Toys R Us at Times Square, searching for things for Aimee. This is not a place for the faint-hearted! Do not visit this place with children, particularly your own, as I suspect you’ll leave with a bucketful of toys and a line of credit longer than your arm, not to mention a killer migraine. Still, needs must!
And that about brings us up to speed. Its my last night, and I have an early flight back tomorrow, so I will be taking it very easy tonight. I’ve packed up my new suitcase, and have just my laptop and a few bits to load into my rucksack (which, incidentally, has broken. Annoying), and that will be that.
I’ve been thinking of what I could write to sum-up my visit, and I’m not sure what to say. One thing I know for sure – 3 days is not long enough and you end up trying to cram so much into each day that you get sore feet and tired out! There’s so much more I want to see and do, but there just isn’t the time. I will definately come back here – maybe for longer next time (thinking about it, maybe not, the hotel prices are absurd!) – I feel like I’ve merely scratched the very tip of a gigantic iceberg, and there’s so much more left to visit.
When I was in Flight 151, the other day, with Justine and Bullen, another guy came into the bar – he was an older guy, in his mid 50′s, greying and balding simultaneously. He sat at the bar with us, and chatted with us while he ate his lunch. He said, “I’m not an American. I’m a New Yorker. We’re different to them. They can do what they want and say what they want, but we’re New Yorkers.”
I think that says it all – It’s been great, New York, thanks for having me. Just one last thing though, what the hell is a ‘knish’ anyway?
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