2002 NEW YORK
Friday 26th July
Leaving Princeton and Kam was hard. When you have chatted with someone for 3 years, then meet them in person and they turn out to be exactly as you thought they would be, a lasting friendship is formed. I will always hold Indiana in my special places memory box and would love to come back again.
After a minor problem with my cell phone, ( I left it at Kam’s house), which my trusty formula one driver, Kam, solved by racing back to the house and returning to the bus stop before the bus left and I set off on the long journey to New York.
The journey to Indianapolis was uneventful. I met a really interesting couple who had worked in Rwanda. I also met a man from Nepal travelling with his daughter. He was a school principal and told me about a voluntary teaching scheme where board and lodging are paid if you teach for 3 months. I have tucked this information away for later.
Saturday 27th July
The bus was fairly crowded, as one would expect on this route. It is amazing how on long journeys the people tend to group together more and form alliances.
On arriving at the Port Authority Bus Station New York I had no trouble locating the subway and after a minor altercation between the turnstile and my back pack I was soon on my way to the hoste. A lady had given me a metro card so I didn’t have to pay for my first subway ride.
Finding the hostel was easy and it appears to be very well run with the exception of the elevator which doesn’t work at all. I am on the 3rd floor by British reckoning or 4th floor by American reckoning ….. either way it is 60 steps each way.
I made myself some dinner, met another Aussie who was travelling for the first time and full of trepidation. Watched a bit of tv, read my emails and received a fax from the big Apple Greeter confirming my appointment and then off to bed early to be ready for as big walk in the morning
Sunday 28th July
My Big Apple Greeter, John arrived at 10:00 am and first thing he did was present me with a letter of introduction and a metro ticket for the day. He was a delightful 32 year old Chinese American.
We set off for the World Trade Centre site via the subway. What a devastating place it was so silent and eerie. So difficult to contemplate the pain and agony suffered here on that fateful day. So many lives changed forever.
From there we walked to the fish market and got a glimpse of the east river and the Brooklyn Bridge. Then it was on to China Town which was particularly interesting because the prevailing atmosphere was Chinese and not American. Little Italy came next but it did not have the same intense ethnic atmosphere as China Town had had. John was most informative on the development of both places. It took a bit of persuading to get him to agree to take a picture of me with a New York cop. He was quite convinced the cop would not agree to it but I was sure he would. Greenwich Village teemed with the more expensive tenements or ‘brownstones’ as they call them. To find out more about New York’s Manhattan neighbourhoods have a look at this site.
http://www.iloveny.com/travel_ideas/nyc_manhattan_neighborhoods.asp
Monday 29th July
I signed up for the free Monday tour of the Empire State Building with Michael the volunteer guide who worked from the hostel. Lygia, a Brazilian Veterinarian, from my hostel room, Natasha, a teacher from London, Rachael, also from the UK, enjoying her GAP year, a couple from Canada and two girls from Belgium to name but a few of the 20 or so were also on the tour with us.
The tour was excellent and Michael made all the difference as he pointed out the buildings and gave us some relevant information or titbit or just plain gossip. It was certainly very crowded up there. The Empire State Building became the world’s tallest skyscraper in 1931. At 102 stories and 1,454 feet tall, it bested the Chrysler Building by only four hundred feet.
Afterwards we walked to Bryant Park and saw up close one of the buildings he had called “the radiator”.
Next stop was over to Mr Vanderbilt’s Grand Central Terminal, which was stunning.
http://www.nyctourist.com/grandcentral1.htm
We went on to the library and four of us signed up for half an hour on the internet, more to get out of the hear than anything else. We left Michael at this point
We wandered around a bit by ourselves, had some lunch then wandered off to see Times Square. Now this was more like the New York I had been expecting to see. We all had a bit of fun with the so called “naked cowboy” who wasn’t naked. Lygia and I bought tickets for “Phantom of the Opera” that night and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It was so nice to have someone to share the show with. We treated ourselves to a late supper at Times Square prices but what the hell……….. who cares. It was about 2:00 am when we arrived home at the hostel.
All in all a great day!
Tuesday 30th July
Lygia and I tried to stand in line for the free tickets to 'Shakespeare in Central Park' but to no avail so we just went walk-a-bout ourselves. We walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and went for a ride on the Staten Island Ferry which was free by the way. This was the closest we could get to the Statue of Liberty. We finished the day off with a nice ice-cream.
Wednesday 31st July
Today I visited the Guggenheim Museum, something I have looked forward to for a long time. It was well worth the wait.
I took another wander through Central Park again.
This last picture really impressed me. It was a community garden round the corner from the hostel and was like a breath of spring in the middle of a bustling city. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to New York and I will be back some day.
Leaving Princeton and Kam was hard. When you have chatted with someone for 3 years, then meet them in person and they turn out to be exactly as you thought they would be, a lasting friendship is formed. I will always hold Indiana in my special places memory box and would love to come back again.
After a minor problem with my cell phone, ( I left it at Kam’s house), which my trusty formula one driver, Kam, solved by racing back to the house and returning to the bus stop before the bus left and I set off on the long journey to New York.
The journey to Indianapolis was uneventful. I met a really interesting couple who had worked in Rwanda. I also met a man from Nepal travelling with his daughter. He was a school principal and told me about a voluntary teaching scheme where board and lodging are paid if you teach for 3 months. I have tucked this information away for later.
Saturday 27th July
The bus was fairly crowded, as one would expect on this route. It is amazing how on long journeys the people tend to group together more and form alliances.
On arriving at the Port Authority Bus Station New York I had no trouble locating the subway and after a minor altercation between the turnstile and my back pack I was soon on my way to the hoste. A lady had given me a metro card so I didn’t have to pay for my first subway ride.
Finding the hostel was easy and it appears to be very well run with the exception of the elevator which doesn’t work at all. I am on the 3rd floor by British reckoning or 4th floor by American reckoning ….. either way it is 60 steps each way.
I made myself some dinner, met another Aussie who was travelling for the first time and full of trepidation. Watched a bit of tv, read my emails and received a fax from the big Apple Greeter confirming my appointment and then off to bed early to be ready for as big walk in the morning
Sunday 28th July
My Big Apple Greeter, John arrived at 10:00 am and first thing he did was present me with a letter of introduction and a metro ticket for the day. He was a delightful 32 year old Chinese American.
We set off for the World Trade Centre site via the subway. What a devastating place it was so silent and eerie. So difficult to contemplate the pain and agony suffered here on that fateful day. So many lives changed forever.
From there we walked to the fish market and got a glimpse of the east river and the Brooklyn Bridge. Then it was on to China Town which was particularly interesting because the prevailing atmosphere was Chinese and not American. Little Italy came next but it did not have the same intense ethnic atmosphere as China Town had had. John was most informative on the development of both places. It took a bit of persuading to get him to agree to take a picture of me with a New York cop. He was quite convinced the cop would not agree to it but I was sure he would. Greenwich Village teemed with the more expensive tenements or ‘brownstones’ as they call them. To find out more about New York’s Manhattan neighbourhoods have a look at this site.
http://www.iloveny.com/travel_ideas/nyc_manhattan_neighborhoods.asp
Monday 29th July
I signed up for the free Monday tour of the Empire State Building with Michael the volunteer guide who worked from the hostel. Lygia, a Brazilian Veterinarian, from my hostel room, Natasha, a teacher from London, Rachael, also from the UK, enjoying her GAP year, a couple from Canada and two girls from Belgium to name but a few of the 20 or so were also on the tour with us.
The tour was excellent and Michael made all the difference as he pointed out the buildings and gave us some relevant information or titbit or just plain gossip. It was certainly very crowded up there. The Empire State Building became the world’s tallest skyscraper in 1931. At 102 stories and 1,454 feet tall, it bested the Chrysler Building by only four hundred feet.
Afterwards we walked to Bryant Park and saw up close one of the buildings he had called “the radiator”.
Next stop was over to Mr Vanderbilt’s Grand Central Terminal, which was stunning.
http://www.nyctourist.com/grandcentral1.htm
We went on to the library and four of us signed up for half an hour on the internet, more to get out of the hear than anything else. We left Michael at this point
We wandered around a bit by ourselves, had some lunch then wandered off to see Times Square. Now this was more like the New York I had been expecting to see. We all had a bit of fun with the so called “naked cowboy” who wasn’t naked. Lygia and I bought tickets for “Phantom of the Opera” that night and we thoroughly enjoyed it. It was so nice to have someone to share the show with. We treated ourselves to a late supper at Times Square prices but what the hell……….. who cares. It was about 2:00 am when we arrived home at the hostel.
All in all a great day!
Tuesday 30th July
Lygia and I tried to stand in line for the free tickets to 'Shakespeare in Central Park' but to no avail so we just went walk-a-bout ourselves. We walked over the Brooklyn Bridge and went for a ride on the Staten Island Ferry which was free by the way. This was the closest we could get to the Statue of Liberty. We finished the day off with a nice ice-cream.
Wednesday 31st July
Today I visited the Guggenheim Museum, something I have looked forward to for a long time. It was well worth the wait.
I took another wander through Central Park again.
This last picture really impressed me. It was a community garden round the corner from the hostel and was like a breath of spring in the middle of a bustling city. I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to New York and I will be back some day.
posted by Maureen at 8:58 PM
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