Day 3 started off slower then day 2 due to the fact that I had some early afternoon plans and I got a tad more sleep then the night before, but not much. I was meeting Sean and Jenny for lunch at Ippudo (Ramen place) near Washington Park by NYU. They were taking the bus, so I got to the area first and decided to explore Washington Park for a bit. This seems to be a popular area for street performers because they were all over the park. Most of them were musicians performing individually or in groups. There was a performer covered in yellow chalk and I had no idea what they were doing and never found out because I had to leave as I noticed them.
I arrived at Ippudo and Sean tried to sneak up on me, but I saw him from a block away. For lunch we had these delicious buns with pork in the middle and bowls of ramen noodles with bamboo and pork. It was better than Superior Pho here in Cleveland.
I parted ways with Sean and Jenny and headed south to Times Square. I've seen it on TV many times, especially the early mornings for high school when I watched some of the Today Show. But to experience live was sheer joy. All the giant advertising screens, the hustle and bustle of everyday New Yorkers trying to get from point A to point B, the street performers, the stores, and the organized chaos. When I say organized chaos I mean that cars are nearly gridlocked, thousands of people are in and out of buildings, crossing streets, construction, people trying to sell you stuff at every turn, bikers and skateboarders are zipping in and out, etc. And as you watch, you're almost expecting a car to hit someone, or traffic to never move, or a fight to break out. But everything flows in it's chaotic way and life continues on.
The first two stores I entered in Times Square were the Hershey store and the M&M's store. The Hershey store was cool and probably would've wowed someone who had never been before, but I grew up an hour from Hershey, PA so I've been spoiled by the original itself. The M&M's store was awesome. It has giant M&M statues and three levels of store to shop. There was an entire wall of different flavor and style M&M's so you could mix and make your own bag. And the smell was so tantalizing. I thought about buying something, but it was all over priced and a bit too touristy for me. I then decided I was going to sit on the red steps in the dead center of Times Square and just take it all in. The crowds, the traffic, the performers, the vendors, the big screens, everything. It was a grand sight to see and actually added to my perspective of daily life. You hear about these things on TV, in the news, and from your friends, but you have to truly experience NYC for yourself to understand it all.
Another interesting occurrence in TS was that everyone standing around was trying to get you to buy or donate to something. One guy's opening line was to ask me where I was from and upon finding out I am from Cleveland to then relate to the Buckeyes, then ask for a charity donation. The one that took the cake though was a dude with a bunch of his CD's with his music that he was trying to sell. He greeted me with a friendly fist pound. Then he explained his CD and asked me my name. Upon hearing it, he said he was going to call me J-boogie (horrible name), signed the CD cover J-boogie, placed it in my hand without letting go, and asked if there was anything I could "donate" for it. I told him I'd give him a buck, but he said he couldn't let it go for less then $5. Since I don't usually carry cash, I didn't have $5 on me. He said he accepts donations. I felt a little sorry for the guy so I gave him the buck and moved on.
I'm not really the shopping type, so I checked my phone to see how far away from the Empire State Building I was. Oh look a fifteen minute walk. So off I went. This trek was truly the greatest experience of the NYC masses. There were two types of people: the ones who walked if the way was clear and the ones who waited for the light. Well at some points, crowds just started walking and didn't care if cars were coming and if cars had the green, they slowly rolled as close to jaywalkers as possible and blared their horns. One guy stepped into the crosswalk before he had a walk signal and a taxi was stuck in the intersection trying to get through the light. The walk like came on as the guy was in the center of the intersection and the taxi was inches from him. The taxi driver blared his horn, the guy got startled, pounded on the taxi's hood, pointed at the walk light, and flipped the taxi driver off. Welcome to a standard day in NYC.
I finally reached the ESB and knew right away I was going straight to the top. I didn't care about the cost and I love heights. They mass packed the elevator and it shot 80 floors up in a matter of minutes. But you had to get on a second elevator to go to the 86th floor and they gave you the option to take the stairs six floors up. I took the stairs. When I finally got out on the roof, I had to dodge the large crowd and find a spot on the wall to see the view. It was spectacular. To be able to see the whole city, the harbor, the brooklyn bridge, new jersey, and the statue of liberty as a tiny spec was incredible. If I could've and there were no other people, I would've stayed all day.
My last stop for the day was Ground Zero. It's located all the way at the bottom of Manhattan. I wasn't missing this stop even if the world caught fire. Being at the memorial and seeing the crater where the towers stood, the names of those who gave their lives to save others, and remembering the thousands that died here, let's just say I nearly cried. 9/11/01 lives in my mind as clear as crystal. I was too young to really know or care about what happened that day, but as the weeks went by, my heart ached for what happened, my patriotic pride and voice found itself, and that day has never ever left my mind. This was a major highlight of my trip.
No comments:
Post a Comment