A Grimy day in NYC
We woke to the clanging and banging of rubbish bins on the street outside. The Americans call them trash cans. We had a B and B basement flat somewhere on West 53rd Street, just off 10th Avenue . It was nice - compact but with everything we needed for a few days in The Big Apple. It was late autumn, nearly winter and it was cold. I remember that even though we'd come down from Canada where snow had started falling a few weeks before we still had to buy some extra warm clothing in New York. A wooly hat for me and gloves for her. The NYC cold tends to be sleety freezing rain cold not the white fluffy snow type as seen on Christmas cards.
The 'trash can' orchestra morphed into morning traffic sounds; the roar of delivery trucks; slushy sounds of taxi wheels on the road; the occasional yell or call from a pedestrian "Hey Mac" (Who, me? "Whyncha watch where ya' going" etc. We decided to get up and hit the day.
We had nothing planned and decided to go wherever we decided on the moment. After ablutions and coffee (tea for her, not for me as we didn't have soy milk) we headed outside - up the short flight of stairs from the basement entrance, on to the street now littered with 'trash cans'. We did our civic duty and righted a few that were near our entranceway and trudged through the slushy ice and snow that was gradually disappearing from the footpaths (pavements). Thank Robert's god for our Canada experience and the awakening to the fact that in North America you can dress as elegantly as you like in the winter but make sure that you have solid footwear. We had bought ours in Toronto - good strong lace-up walking boots that were warm, dry and robust with decent treads.
We found a diner easily enough as there are plenty of these deli-style eating places and loaded up on hot and tasty fare that was tasty and affordable. The ambiance was great with a fug from cooking steam and smoke, damp people drying and thawing out and a general hubbub of conversation and yelled out food orders. It was straight out of the cinema (movies).
We rode the train on the blue line, changing at the Financial District to theGreen Line which took us to Bowling Green. We got out here and mooched around for a while. It is close to the bottom end of Manhattan and isn't as bustling as mid-town. It was a grey day but luckily there was no wind or rain so, dressed warmly we wandered around taking in the sights - the ports, ferries and Ellis Island in the distance.
From here we walked back to the Financial District and saw the still-incomplete tower of the new World Trade Centre. It was a vast improvement on the still-smoking ruin we'd seen 10 years before.
The redevelopment over 12 years was amazing and I'd like to go back in a couple of years to see the final creation. It was way past midday by now so as our walk had made us hungry we found an Italian eatery and had some delicious pizza and small bowls of pasta washed down with a fairly decent Chianti. American pizzas aren't the over-the-top variants we see here in NZ. The ones that we've had are simple but very tasty on a thin base. Just the thing for a snack and to accompany a nice red wine.
As they say "No good deed goes unpunished" so the delight of the simple lunch was counterbalanced when The Old Girl directed me to Century 21 the huge discount clothing store.
This place is pretty amazing. There are others (a few in Toronto we'd been to) but the Manhattan one is very comprehensive.They take in out of season, unwanted, distressed stock etc from the fashion houses and move it through very fast at greatly reduced prices. Thousand dollar 'creations' can be sold for fifty bucks. We went our separate ways and I found an Italian green leather jacket with red trimming. It was very swish and was marked down from $2000 to about $200. I almost bought it but luckily The Old Girl turned up, saw me trying it on and told me that I looked like a gigolo. I didn't buy it, opting instead for some knock-down socks and underwear. The Old Girl of course had loaded up on tops, skirts and a nice jacket which. as time has proven were a very good buy as she still wears them.
The Old Girl sensed that I'd gone past my tolerance for shopping so we headed back this time on the Yellow Line to Broadway. It was late afternoon and getting dimmer as I was so we went to a wine bar that we'd been to on previous visits. This is right in the Broadway theatre area and has a great wine selection. A glass of champagne revived me and we sat at a corner table looking out at the magnificent lights and huge entertainment advertisements.
As we were close to our apartment on 53rd Street we went back to drop off our purchases, had a rest and then changed into some nicer clothes for the evening. We walked from West 53rd to West 44th street to Birdland.
The weather was packing in so we took umbrellas and wore coats for our walk along, once again slushy footpaths (pavements). We had dinner at Birdland and watched a great jazz orchestra while enjoying another bottle of Chianti. (NYC must consume millions of bottles of this).
A short walk home and bed - another great day. to remember. A perfect day.
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| Bowling Green Station |
From here we walked back to the Financial District and saw the still-incomplete tower of the new World Trade Centre. It was a vast improvement on the still-smoking ruin we'd seen 10 years before.
The redevelopment over 12 years was amazing and I'd like to go back in a couple of years to see the final creation. It was way past midday by now so as our walk had made us hungry we found an Italian eatery and had some delicious pizza and small bowls of pasta washed down with a fairly decent Chianti. American pizzas aren't the over-the-top variants we see here in NZ. The ones that we've had are simple but very tasty on a thin base. Just the thing for a snack and to accompany a nice red wine.
As they say "No good deed goes unpunished" so the delight of the simple lunch was counterbalanced when The Old Girl directed me to Century 21 the huge discount clothing store.
This place is pretty amazing. There are others (a few in Toronto we'd been to) but the Manhattan one is very comprehensive.They take in out of season, unwanted, distressed stock etc from the fashion houses and move it through very fast at greatly reduced prices. Thousand dollar 'creations' can be sold for fifty bucks. We went our separate ways and I found an Italian green leather jacket with red trimming. It was very swish and was marked down from $2000 to about $200. I almost bought it but luckily The Old Girl turned up, saw me trying it on and told me that I looked like a gigolo. I didn't buy it, opting instead for some knock-down socks and underwear. The Old Girl of course had loaded up on tops, skirts and a nice jacket which. as time has proven were a very good buy as she still wears them.
The Old Girl sensed that I'd gone past my tolerance for shopping so we headed back this time on the Yellow Line to Broadway. It was late afternoon and getting dimmer as I was so we went to a wine bar that we'd been to on previous visits. This is right in the Broadway theatre area and has a great wine selection. A glass of champagne revived me and we sat at a corner table looking out at the magnificent lights and huge entertainment advertisements.
As we were close to our apartment on 53rd Street we went back to drop off our purchases, had a rest and then changed into some nicer clothes for the evening. We walked from West 53rd to West 44th street to Birdland.
The weather was packing in so we took umbrellas and wore coats for our walk along, once again slushy footpaths (pavements). We had dinner at Birdland and watched a great jazz orchestra while enjoying another bottle of Chianti. (NYC must consume millions of bottles of this).
A short walk home and bed - another great day. to remember. A perfect day.
2 comments:
Well, at least Charlie Parker got a visual mention.
Sorry, old Charlie wasn't there.
Maybe his ghost got confused and went back to the original Birdland location.
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