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travelling blography

Our last day in NYC and we were feeling ginger to say the least. The extravagances of the previous night were lingering and not in a good way! Still there were places to visit – as there always is in NYC. One place that is not always on the list but is equally fascinating is Roosevelt Island. Formally known as Welfare Island and before that Blackwell’s Island, it is a narrow island in the East River of New York City. It lies between the island of Manhattan to its west and the borough of Queens to its east and has a total area of 147 acres. Most of the residential buildings on Roosevelt Island are rental buildings. To get there one has to use The Roosevelt Island Tramway which is an aerial tramway that spans the East River and connects Roosevelt Island to Manhattan.

A very curious place in the centre of a bustling metropolis this place seems the extreme opposite. Yet another unexpected view of NYC to see.

The New York Subway is a good place to get some photos:

New York City is truly a fantastic place to visit. But I need to go again. You need months to fully get this city under control. All the galleries and museums are a week’s trip. Then to get to know the local attractions is another. Then to see all the weird and wonderful is another week. It has everything and anything. Not all of it you will be thrilled to see but that is what comes of such a unique city. It really is a special place and has whatever you might like.

One of the most memorable images of New York City has to come from the Brooklyn Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the oldest suspension bridges in the United States, stretching 5,989 feet over the East River, connecting the New York City boroughs of Manhattan and Brooklyn.

Upon completion in 1883, it was the longest suspension bridge in the world, the first steel-wire suspension bridge, and the first bridge to connect to Manhattan. Both the views of Brooklyn and the Bridge from Pier 17 are great. But they do not compare to actually being on the bridge.

It is always busy but always worth walking across. The views of Manhattan are iconic. As an interesting side note in 2006, a Cold War era bunker was found by city workers near the East River shoreline of Manhattan’s Lower East Side. The bunker, hidden within the masonry anchorage, still contained the emergency supplies that were being stored for a potential nuclear attack by the Soviet Union! Unfortunately we did not get to see that but worth a visit next time me thinks!

The walk across the bridge is a long one and if you are feeling tired and in need of refreshment on the Brooklyn side you can go to arguably the best pizza restaurant in the world – Grimaldis. The pizza here is the best I have ever had and the restaurant is located just below the bridge with a short walk from another great view of Manhattan!
Seriously cannot overstate how good this place is!

There is also a good ice cream place called Brooklyn Ice Cream Factory for dessert! A wander around the nearby neighbourhood of Brooklyn Heights is also well worth it. The housing and architecture are quite different to Manhattan and the neighbourhoods are quaint. No wonder is to very expensive to live there!

That evening was possibly one of the best in my life! We did not have much planned but I had a yearning for music. Our first stop was Washington Square Burger Bar. Located in Washington Square is a popular outdoor burger bar which serves fast food. The food is good but the location is better with lots of people milling around in a small park decorated with tree lanterns. Idyllic.

A short walk North led us to the Rockefeller Centre. The centrepiece of Rockefeller Center is the 70-floor GE Building at 30 Rockefeller Plaza (”30 Rock”) The building is the setting for the famous Lunchtime atop a Skyscraper photograph, taken by Charles C. Ebbets in 1932 of workers having lunch, sitting on a steel beam, without safety harnesses. Unlike most other Art Deco towers built during the 1930s, the GE Building was constructed as a slab with a flat roof, where the Center’s newly renovated observation deck, the Top of the Rock is located, which was first built in 1933. On the 70th floor, reached by both stairs and elevator, there is a viewing area, allowing visitors a unique 360-degree panoramic view of New York City. It is something else. Unlike the Empire State Building where you are penned in behind wire mesh and five deep tourist line waiting to see something, the Rock is open. Only small glass panels warn you are getting too close to the edge. There are few tourists and you can actually see and hear NYC. It was ethereal. We got the last elevator up at around 11.30pm and I highly highly recommend it.

After that I wanted music. One thing NYC is famed for are its late night music bars. They are specifically piano bars - one bar, one piano and a player and singer. We knew of one called Don’t Tell Mama piano bar. Bearing in mind it was the early hours of Tuesday morning so the place was not packed. But there was a very good singer and piano player. Great entertainment and even though they closed at 2 they knew where we could go after. A short cab ride and we were in another piano bar and drinking Tequila with a load of locals. Extremely interesting and fun – although the next day was a bit sore!

Another very busy and fascinating place to go over the weekend is Chinatown and nearby Little Italy located in the southern end of Manhattan Island. Both are crammed with restaurants and interesting shops. There is even a gun shop that claims to be the oldest in USA – John Jovino Co Inc – although there are few guns on display and the owner seems pissed off that the only people that go into his shop are tourists!

The Chinatown neighbourhood of Manhattan is a district with a large population of Chinese immigrants. Manhattan’s Chinatown is one of the largest Chinese communities outside of Asia. After an enormous growth spurt during the 1990s, it has been declining in recent years apparently. However it is still vastly entertaining with small sweet shops and shops selling anything you could possibly wish for! Great for those cheap New York City tourtisty items like miniature glow in the dark figures of the Statue of Liberty! It may also be a good place to get a Chinese meal!

Nearby is Little Italy once known for its large population of Italia. Historically, Little Italy extend as far south as Bayard Street, as far north as Bleecker, as far west as Lafayette and as far east as the Bowery. Much of the neighborhood has been absorbed by Chinatown. The northern reaches of Little Italy, near Houston Street, ceased to be recognizably Italian, and eventually became the neighborhood known today as NoLIta, an abbreviation for North of Little Italy. Today, the section of Mulberry Street between Broome and Canal Streets, is all that is left of the old Italian neighborhood. The street is lined with some two-dozen Italian restaurants popular with tourists, and seemingly very few locals. Unlike Chinatown, which continues to expand in all directions with new immigrants, little remains of the original Little Italy. It is a shame because it obviously once had character!

A small walk and you could venture into 1st Avenue. I recommend you don’t. If you thought Chinatown was full of cheap rip offs and dodgy people soliciting all sorts, 1st Ave is an eye opener. It is completely different to New York as I knew it. Lots of very unusual things going on and I got the impression one could get anything they wanted in this part of the world. It also goes on for miles! Still worth a look to see though!

Dinner was spent in Yakitori – a Japanese restaurant in 248 East 52nd Street. It offers a great dish where you cook the food yourself on a mini hot stove! Entertaining but watch where you are putting your fingers! If you are feeling a little more adventurous you could try any number of the skewers that they serve of chicken liver/heart/in fact any organ I believe. Quite a range of avian oddities but having been to Japan it is quite a true representation o f what is eaten! Very good for a Japanese restaurant to actually offer something authentic other than just sushi – well worth a visit in my opinion.

New York over the weekend is a veritable market place. Everywhere you walk there seems to be a market on with people selling just about anything you could imagine from old car parts to vintage sunglasses to war memorabilia to cigarette cards to china to old USA flags with some stars missing! These were mainly the 49 and 50 star flags omitting Alaska and Hawaii respectively. It was unbelievable the things we saw for sale. It was also quite shocking to think that some of the items could sell at all! We went to a couple of markets. There is one in Union Square which sells home-made food and art – very good for a bite to eat and they had a meditation session which was free to join in! I bought some sunglasses and a silver wing mirror from a 1960s automobile! Very good if you want to take home a piece of old USA.

Central Park is a large public, urban park located in the heart of Manhattan and is near to the Guggenheim Museum:

Central Park is host to approximately twenty-five million visitors each year. Central Park was opened in 1859, completed in 1873 designed by the famous landscape architect Frederick Law Olmsted and the architect Calvert Vaux. While much of the park looks natural, it is in fact almost entirely landscaped. It contains several natural-looking lakes and ponds, extensive walking tracks, two ice-skating rinks (one of which is a swimming pool in July and August), the Central Park Zoo, the Central Park Conservatory Garden, a wildlife sanctuary, and the outdoor Delacorte Theatre which hosts the “Shakespeare in the Park” summer festivals. However, I found the best part to be rowing on the lake! Very relaxing if not a bit too romantic for my liking.

In the evening we were in the area for some comedy. Another Time Square offer but we did manage to barter. At first the tickets for entry to the Comic Strip Live were $20 but you can get them down to two for that price. It’s not a bad deal except that once you are in the Comic Strip Live, there is a minimum purchase of drinks (two per person) and they are very expensive! Plus the comedy was not all that either. One Irish guy was quite funny but the Americans were poor – of course the American crowd did not think so, but on my side of the Atlantic jokes should be funny. It was a bit of a let down and I don’t recommend it unless you want an insight into the standard of American comedy.

On the up side dinner was good that night. Near the Comedy Store is a restaurant called Big Daddy’s which is a typical in-your-face burger joint. Good potato tots and brilliant service.

Although it is not recommended - a walk through Central Park at night is quite entertaining. A great mix of people and a few chats and it was a very good night!

The problem with NYC is that there are just too many things to do! For travelers on a budget the Staten Island Ferry is a great way to catch a glimpse of NYC and the iconic image of Manhattan.

Also a good view can be had of the Statue of Liberty but make sure you have a decent view on the camera because otherwise you will be a bit disappointed with your shots! Of course, for money you can go Liberty Island. However, I have it on good authority that a trip to Ellis Island is far more interesting and also comparatively quiet especially on the guided tour of the island. Ellis Island, at the mouth of the Hudson River in New York Harbor, is the location of what was until November 1954 the main entry facility for immigrants entering the United States. It is owned by the Federal government and is now part of the Statue of Liberty National Monument, under the jurisdiction of the US National Park Service. At time of writing this I believe the Statue of Liberty is going to be opened up again to visitors to climb the steps to the top. So that might sway your choice!

Whilst you are in that area the financial district is always worth a wander around. It is always quite a sight seeing the New York Stock Exchange. Located at 18 Broad Street, it opened on April 22, 1903. The trading floor was one of the largest volumes of space in the city at the time. The main façade of the building features six tall Corinthien capitals, topped by a marble sculpture by John Quincy Adams Ward, called “Integrity Protecting the Works of Man”.There are also still some angry people who want their money back after the credit crunch collapse picketing outside – they are good for a chat (although they don’t seem to want to talk about anything except bankers (that’s not what they called them though))!

Every NYC trip is not complete without a trip to a Broadway show, apparently. Finding tickets can be tough especially when you want them cheap! Tickts booths are always a good starting point but you should try to get there when they open in the morning because they only have a finite number of good deals which do sell out quickly. Another option is to approach the Times Square sellers for various plays that they are advertising. They sometimes have good deals but the best we found were from the actual theatre. I am not sure whether this is true of all theatres but the Sam S Shubert theatre we went to did student and young persons tickets. A bargain at less than half price, again a finite number so you have to queue from about 6pm. We got tickets to see Blythe’s Spirit by Noel Coward starring Rupert Everett and Angela Lansbury! It was brilliant and Angela Lansbury plays an excellent old lady dancing everywhere!

Day 2 in NYC and all was good. Still slightly full from Rubb we set out to do some touristy things. First stop was the Radio City tour. The 12 acre complex in midtown Manhattan known as Rockefeller Center was developed between 1929 and 1940 by John D. Rockefeller, Jr. The Radio City Music Hall was designed by architect Edward Durell Stone and interior designer Donald Deskey in the Art Deco style. It was stunning. For anyone who is a fan of art deco design this is the place. The entire interior was marvelously presented and the stage has to be the biggest I have ever seen in my life.

Radio City has 5,933 seats for spectators; it became the largest movie theater in the world at the time of its opening. It also had an amazing operational stage fully hydraulic. The Great Stage, is 20 m deep and 44 m wide, resembles a setting sun. Its system of elevators was so advanced that the U.S. Navy incorporated identical hydraulics in constructing World War II aircraft carriers; according to Radio City lore, during the war, government agents guarded the basement to assure the Navy’s technological advantage! We even met a Rockette from The Rockettes are a well-known precision dance company. During the Christmas season, the Rockettes have performed five shows a day, seven days a week, for 75 years. Their best-known routine is an eye-high leg kick in perfect unison in a chorus line. It’s impressive!

A visit to Grand Central Station is worth it for the stunning architecture:

Lunch in the nearby Rockefeller Centre was an eye opener also. We had a salad. True it was $8 but still the price does not do the size of it justice. It was just massive. And delicious. Took all of two minutes to make in a subway style production line of workers. Again another company that could franchise into the UK and make a lot of money!

A brief visit of the 9/11 site was surreal. If you did not know you would just assume it was another building site. What struck me was how big the site is. It is huge. Around the financial district there are lots of great eateries. But the great success was finding Kitchette. It is a small cake and bakery shop but had fantastic lemonade which they served in old style jars. It was something else and well worth a visit at 156 Chambers Street, Tribeca.

Another success was visiting Century 21. A huge department store where all brands are discounted. Managed to find some Converse shoes for myself so I was pretty chuffed!

However, to top the day off we went to Stand burger bar. Burger bars are a common sight in NYC and this one did not look extraordinary but the burgers were incredible! Mine was done rare – a thing that is not so common these days because of health and safety and the fear of being sued! But this was more blue than rare – one squeeze of the burger and blood dribbled out. Granted, this may not be to your tastes but for me it was heaven! Check it out at 24 E 12th Street between University Place and 5th Ave.

New York City. A city I have visited before and I have come across none like it since. Apart from London! Our arrival was smooth enough into Newark in New Jersey. Word of advice – be careful which train you get from the station to get to NYC. There are two services, one Amtrak and one New Jersey Transit. The cheap ticket is for the New Jersey Transit but try and get on the Amtrak train and you will be shouted at! Fortunately our “British” accents got us out of trouble and out of paying the extremely expensive Amtrak fare! We just got ejected off the train. Quite an eventful introduction to NYC but we eventually made it to our hostel.

Chelsea International Hostel is a clean and friendly hostel. Basic rooms but a hostel is a hostel. It is expensive enough at $80 a night each for a twin room which is barely big enough to swing a cat. But the location is terrific between the financial centre and Broadway on the west side. The area seemed very safe and the local night life was very much alive which was fun!

One of the best things about the area in which we were staying was the eateries. There were delis galore and fantastic restaurants. Our first morning we went to Murrays Bagels and the food was fantastic. I got the impression quickly that Americans consider breakfast a key meal. It should be too. However the ease and speed by which you can get a decent bit of breakfast grub is astonishing and something that we desperately need in the UK instead of Subway and McD’s painful excuse for muffins!

Fuelled up and ready to hit the town we decided to try and get our bearings and go for a walk. Times Square, a major intersection in Manhattan, was close by and always entertaining. Such a tourist mecca/trap it is hard to keep moving and not be completely dazed and confused by the bright lights of its animated, digital advertisements. So many people trying to sell everything and anything from theatre tickets to their own rap music productions! It is impossible to pass through quickly, easily and without being harassed but quite entertaining the first time. We also had an extraordinary stroke of luck on our first day in NYC.

In Times Square we came across this woman shouting out “free tickets to the David Letterman Show”. Thinking it was another scam I was dubious and I was also trying to figure out who David Letterman whilst putting our names down! Still without a Scooby as to who Mr Letterman was or what sort of show we were in for, we went to the theatre to get our tickets. There was a lot of crowd cheering and encouragement on entry to the theatre and in the theatre waiting for the show to start. It started with various fairly poor jokes by David Letterman but his star guest that night was Bruce Willis!! It was crazy. Our first night in NYC and we got to a chat show starring Bruce Willis. Great fun!

That night we wandered around Fifth Avenue with all the expensive shops and some outlandishly dressed people! Went for dinner at a bbq restaurant called Rub “The Best Butt In Town”! It also describes itself as “Righteous Urban Barbeque” and is at 208 West 23rd Street. Fantastic food with fried green tomatoes, bbq chicken, beef and spinach. Servings were a little on the big side which is only to be expected. But all in all a fantastic first day!