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 WANDERING WITH MIKE |
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New York City, Part IIJun-12-2009
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 From Twitter: 2009-05-30 // 1:12p EST Staring at a spot where there should be two towers. Got off the PATH train at the World Trade Center exit. This place messed me up; I have no direct or even really indirect connection with New York or the events of 2001-09-11, but the sight of the area, the big blank spot where there's now nothing, brought out some pretty strong emotions. I had to pause on the sidewalk for a bit and take it all in. There's a very powerful feeling in that entire area. After this I decided to start walking. I was closer to the southern end of Manhattan so I headed south, towards Liberty Island and the ferry crossings. On the way I saw a couple iconic New York streets: Wall street and all its fun financial locations, and a section of Broadway. Apparently these places are in fact real! I got to the Staten Island ferry station and saw the Statue of Liberty herself from the window. I didn't really feel like paying ferry costs so I just enjoyed the view from the south end. After this, I happened across Battery Park, which I had heard about the day before. Here is where I happened to catch an actual acrobatics/breakdancing show thing! A group of people called the New York City Acrobats were putting on a show in the park; it was incredibly entertaining and the guys speaking (yelling) to everyone were hilarious [video]. On the way through and out of Battery Park there were all kinds of mini street performers, vendors, photo ops, etc. The city is alive and it wants to sell you things. After this, MORE WALKING. I happened upon Chinatown next, which is apparently gigantic when on foot. I hit the area and couldn't walk my wandering ass out of it for about an hour. Chinese writing and people all over the place. While there I grabbed some "fresh" produce -- a delicious orange and some tasty grapes. I had sticky orange-scented fingers forever and got totally sick of the grapes (the only ones I found came in something like eight-pound bags). When I did get out of it I was in a sort of boring area on the eastern side, and I wanted to be a lot farther north than I was, so I flagged down a taxi because I've never done that before (I know, right?). My cabbie's name was Henry Shaheen (or Shaheen Henry, I don't know) and he tried his darnedest to be friendly despite not understanding the words coming out of my mouth. I told him to drop me near the Empire State Building. My brief ride cost me something like eleven bucks (ouch). I got out and there it was, tall as hell and looking just like in the movies. At this point I was getting hungry for real, so I asked a random trapped worker where I could get some genuine New York style pizza, and got directed to Empire Pizza nearby. APPARENTLY, genuine New York style pizza is larger than the average flat-panel television. I ordered two slices and wondered why it was so expensive until it got served to me and it dwarfed my hands and the two spread out paper plates it was on. I managed to eat both pieces and was good on food for a while, and I can eat my body weight in an average feasting. After I left this place I gave the rest of my grape kingdom to a hungry-looking fellow digging through garbage cans. I figured he would appreciate them more than I would.  I discovered I was close to the highly-televised Times Square, so I headed that way, rumbling the earth with my pizza-weighted footsteps. This place is animated. I took a couple still shots but switched to short videos after a while, because a still image doesn't really capture it. LED signs and flashing lights ALL OVER the place, most far larger than your average person or billboard. I talked to a possibly drunken guy who tried to get me to go to his car & smoke weed with him ("we'll find some somewhere"). He talked about how he makes a ton of money but would rather leave all that behind and do what I'm doing. I responded with what I usually say, "so do it", and he did what people usually do and pussied out of the thought. Anyway, I shortly ran away and continued north-like, seeing a bunch more big-ass buildings and Rockefeller Center and the like, until running into Central Park. When I envisioned Central Park before, I pictured a standard city park: flat, grassy, a few trees and benches, nothing special. Not so! Central Park is like a sculpted forest in the middle of the city. Rolling hilly areas, huge rocks, lots of trees. A couple hundred feet in and it's easy to forget you're even in the city, as most of the sounds get muffled out. This place is fantastic. People walking and riding and skating all over, couples holding hands, horsedrawn carriages, baseball diamonds, a little refreshment building or two. I spent a good hour or so just meandering about on my sore legs before heading to the subway and finally on my way out of the city.Next: New England Comments Pictures     
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