Wednesday, July 23, 2003
(I'm starting a new feature today. Since I'm always listening to my Winamp when I write, I've decided to start every post with the title, artist, and album (in the format Artist, Album - Title) of the song I happen to be listening too while I'm posting.)
what i'm listening to Right Now: Longwave, The Strangest Things - Tidal Wave
The Greyhound was late. By an hour. It's not the most comfortable sleeping position, and the man next to me had his stinky shoes off. But I did have my secret weapon, an inflatable horseshoe that fits around your neck. There would be no jello-y head bobbing this trip. I slept surprisingly well, and it was an uneventful trip. I got as much sleep as a could because I had a big day ahead.
My chronology follows:
8:00am Arrive at Port Authority bus terminal on Manhattan Island. Find 9th ave.
--There is a phenomenon that I discovered on previous trips to NYC. I call it the "Wipe Out." If you ever go surfing, or body boarding, or just swimming in the ocean when a big wave crashes down on you, and you're underwater being tossed by the wave, and you don't know which way is up. This is what happens in New York. You plan your trip out weeks in advance. You've studied your map religiously; daydreaming about which neighborhoods you want to visit and see (so you can later daydream about which neighborhood you want to live in if you ever make it to NYC). You know which subway's to take to get to the places you want to go. But sure enough, you'll come out of the subway, and have no earthly idea of which way is North, which way is South, etc. This same thing happens at the Port Authority so I have to be careful which way I exit the building. I'll get the ole New York Wipe-Out later in the day.
8:30am hit 9th ave, and turn left. This is according to the map so I felt confident. Before I left I used the internet to look up a breakfast place. I decided on the Cheyenne diner, 33rd and 9th ave. It is an one of those train car type diners and it was delightfully uncrowded with delicious food. I think that food in New York is the same as Virginia only a little bit fancier. For instance, I ordered my classic one egg, over-medium, bacon, grits, and wheat toast. Well, this is New York and not Virginia so they don't have grits. The give you potatoes. But these are nicer than regular diner potatoes you get some places. They have tomatoes and peppers in them. Yum! And the bacon was thick and meaty, not all flimsy and fatty like they have every where else. And delicious coffee! I had four cups to get me ready to tackle the city. I tipped an extra big 30% for good karma.
9:00am Go to Greenwich Village to watch it wake up. I thought it would be a cool thing to go down to "the Village" and watch it come to life in the morning. It wasn't that cool. Except it was DEAD. Even as late as 10:30am, New York City was dead! Hardly anybody on the streets, hardly any cars. That part of it was fascinating. Being the only person in Greenwich Village.
10:00am Go to East Village and see Sidewalk and Tompkins Square Park. Check out hipsters. Instead the F,V line breaks down and gets rerouted onto the A,C line so I decide to get out in SOHO and see some beautiful people. Get "wiped-out" when I follow the sign that says "NW corner." (Spring and Varick I think it was). So I think, "NW Corner" plus Spring St. goes East/West equals I'll go right and I should be going east, into SOHO. Instead I see the Hudson River and take a four block round trip detour to get back on track. On the plus side, I do see beautiful people. Lots a Lots of beautiful people.
11:00am See Little Italy and the street Martin Scorsese grew up on. I've been walking and walking and walking and I'm having a great time. I stop and get a picture of a wonderful playground at Spring and Mulberry. Dough-eyed children playing on colorful dinosaurs and beautiful people reading their dog-eared novels. I'm still walking and I make my way up to "Alphabet City" and Tompkins Square Park. Watch the dogs play, and dab a little sun-screen on.
12:00am Find some food. I was planning to head down to the Siren Festival on Coney Island in time to see the Kills at 2pm. So I needed to eat and find the train because I knew it would be a while to get to Coney. I decided I wanted sushi, because I like sushi, but no one I know here in VA does, so I never get to eat it unless I go alone. So since I was alone, and every third store seemed to be a sushi restaurant, I decided to look for sushi. But none of them opened until 3:30 or later. So I decided to go to Time Cafe which is where I was going later that night to see Nellie McKay in the Fez Nightclub which is right below Time. But when I got over there to Time, it was shutdown. There was a sign on the door that said "We regret that we had to shutdown, come back Monday" or something to that effect. I can only hope the Fez show is still going on tonight. I didn't want to think about it so I kept walking trying to find a place to eat. I ended up taking the subway down to SOHO thinking that they would have good food down there. Too touristy/pretentious. I walked all the way back up Broadway to NOHO/Village area and a bunch of blocks out of my way to finally stumble into a crappy, yuppy place that was serving "Brunch." I was boring and just got the cheeseburger. But, NYC being true to form (remember, the food in NYC is the same as Virginia, only a little bit fancier), the burger was served on an english muffin, and banana bread was served before the meal. I left another big tip to keep up my karma level.
1:00pm get on the W train to Coney Island.
------------------------
Thus ends the first installment of my NYC trip. More to come. Hope it isn't too excruciatingly detailed, but I wanted to make sure that this time next year, when I go back and read this, I'll remember everything that happened. If I'm being too long winded Email me and tell me. Or if you like the detail please let me know. I welcome healthy criticism.
P.S. Jinners thanked me for linking her!! Pretty cool!
what i'm listening to Right Now: Longwave, The Strangest Things - Tidal Wave
The Greyhound was late. By an hour. It's not the most comfortable sleeping position, and the man next to me had his stinky shoes off. But I did have my secret weapon, an inflatable horseshoe that fits around your neck. There would be no jello-y head bobbing this trip. I slept surprisingly well, and it was an uneventful trip. I got as much sleep as a could because I had a big day ahead.
My chronology follows:
8:00am Arrive at Port Authority bus terminal on Manhattan Island. Find 9th ave.
--There is a phenomenon that I discovered on previous trips to NYC. I call it the "Wipe Out." If you ever go surfing, or body boarding, or just swimming in the ocean when a big wave crashes down on you, and you're underwater being tossed by the wave, and you don't know which way is up. This is what happens in New York. You plan your trip out weeks in advance. You've studied your map religiously; daydreaming about which neighborhoods you want to visit and see (so you can later daydream about which neighborhood you want to live in if you ever make it to NYC). You know which subway's to take to get to the places you want to go. But sure enough, you'll come out of the subway, and have no earthly idea of which way is North, which way is South, etc. This same thing happens at the Port Authority so I have to be careful which way I exit the building. I'll get the ole New York Wipe-Out later in the day.
8:30am hit 9th ave, and turn left. This is according to the map so I felt confident. Before I left I used the internet to look up a breakfast place. I decided on the Cheyenne diner, 33rd and 9th ave. It is an one of those train car type diners and it was delightfully uncrowded with delicious food. I think that food in New York is the same as Virginia only a little bit fancier. For instance, I ordered my classic one egg, over-medium, bacon, grits, and wheat toast. Well, this is New York and not Virginia so they don't have grits. The give you potatoes. But these are nicer than regular diner potatoes you get some places. They have tomatoes and peppers in them. Yum! And the bacon was thick and meaty, not all flimsy and fatty like they have every where else. And delicious coffee! I had four cups to get me ready to tackle the city. I tipped an extra big 30% for good karma.
9:00am Go to Greenwich Village to watch it wake up. I thought it would be a cool thing to go down to "the Village" and watch it come to life in the morning. It wasn't that cool. Except it was DEAD. Even as late as 10:30am, New York City was dead! Hardly anybody on the streets, hardly any cars. That part of it was fascinating. Being the only person in Greenwich Village.
10:00am Go to East Village and see Sidewalk and Tompkins Square Park. Check out hipsters. Instead the F,V line breaks down and gets rerouted onto the A,C line so I decide to get out in SOHO and see some beautiful people. Get "wiped-out" when I follow the sign that says "NW corner." (Spring and Varick I think it was). So I think, "NW Corner" plus Spring St. goes East/West equals I'll go right and I should be going east, into SOHO. Instead I see the Hudson River and take a four block round trip detour to get back on track. On the plus side, I do see beautiful people. Lots a Lots of beautiful people.
11:00am See Little Italy and the street Martin Scorsese grew up on. I've been walking and walking and walking and I'm having a great time. I stop and get a picture of a wonderful playground at Spring and Mulberry. Dough-eyed children playing on colorful dinosaurs and beautiful people reading their dog-eared novels. I'm still walking and I make my way up to "Alphabet City" and Tompkins Square Park. Watch the dogs play, and dab a little sun-screen on.
12:00am Find some food. I was planning to head down to the Siren Festival on Coney Island in time to see the Kills at 2pm. So I needed to eat and find the train because I knew it would be a while to get to Coney. I decided I wanted sushi, because I like sushi, but no one I know here in VA does, so I never get to eat it unless I go alone. So since I was alone, and every third store seemed to be a sushi restaurant, I decided to look for sushi. But none of them opened until 3:30 or later. So I decided to go to Time Cafe which is where I was going later that night to see Nellie McKay in the Fez Nightclub which is right below Time. But when I got over there to Time, it was shutdown. There was a sign on the door that said "We regret that we had to shutdown, come back Monday" or something to that effect. I can only hope the Fez show is still going on tonight. I didn't want to think about it so I kept walking trying to find a place to eat. I ended up taking the subway down to SOHO thinking that they would have good food down there. Too touristy/pretentious. I walked all the way back up Broadway to NOHO/Village area and a bunch of blocks out of my way to finally stumble into a crappy, yuppy place that was serving "Brunch." I was boring and just got the cheeseburger. But, NYC being true to form (remember, the food in NYC is the same as Virginia, only a little bit fancier), the burger was served on an english muffin, and banana bread was served before the meal. I left another big tip to keep up my karma level.
1:00pm get on the W train to Coney Island.
------------------------
Thus ends the first installment of my NYC trip. More to come. Hope it isn't too excruciatingly detailed, but I wanted to make sure that this time next year, when I go back and read this, I'll remember everything that happened. If I'm being too long winded Email me and tell me. Or if you like the detail please let me know. I welcome healthy criticism.
P.S. Jinners thanked me for linking her!! Pretty cool!
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