New York City - Summer, 2004
Tuesday, July 27, 2004 - Big Apple bound
Feeling in need of a little break, we decided to drive to New York for a couple of days. We left Ottawa in the early afternoon of July 27th under scattered clouds and by the time we reached Syracuse it was raining hard. As usual, we stopped at the Carousel Mall to check out various favourite stores and then went on to Cortland where we spent the night and to Eric's delight had free high speed internet in our room.
Wednesday, July 28, 2004 - Big Apple
The next day, we left just after 10:00 am and reached the hotel in Queens around 3:00 pm. In spite of having stayed here on a previous visit, because of the free secure parking, we had considerable difficulty trying to get to the hotel via the Lincoln Tunnel and then the Midtown Tunnel and even went the wrong way on Queen's Boulevard! After settling in, we took the subway to Fifth Avenue and 59th Street and then walked for several hours, exploring old familiar places and some new sights, ending up at Mr. Bigg's Bar and Grill, 10th and 43rd. Here we had wine/beer and a great plate of calamari. This was a small, unpretentious place which was obviously well patronised by the locals, who knew one another and even brought children and babies with them.
Thursday, July 29, 2004 - SoHo, Ground Zero and Coney Island
Since one of the flagship Apple Stores is located in trendy Soho, that's where we headed the next morning. It is located on the corner of Prince and Greene Streets, amid many restaurants and boutiques. Again we explored the area thoroughly and found a great coffee bar with lots of atmosphere, avant-garde art on the walls and an interesting mix of customers. Here we had a fabulous piece of real New York cheesecake. This is what cheesecake is meant to be: not the soft, smooth consistent kind which is more like mousse than cheescake and is usually covered in some kind of fruit sauce, but plain, heavy, almost granular and delicious.
The next stop was Ground Zero, where the World Trade Center used to be, which was rather disappointing. Perhaps in the immediate aftermath, when the area was still covered in rubble and debris and the devastation was clearly evident, the impact would have been more profound. Now, however, there is just a large open space, which has been cleared and covered over with concrete, with a new roadway through it. There is now a new major train and subway station underneath it all, reconnecting the lines that were there before, all operational again. Work is now underway on building the memorial, and soon, the new skyscraper, so it seems more like a construction site. This of course is the reaction of an outsider who has no real attachment to New York City and therefore cannot react today at a gut level to what happened three years ago.
It was a beautiful, hot day and so from Ground Zero we took the subway to Coney Island, deep into Brooklyn, the urban beach. It is through Brooklyn that the subway still goes above ground like the old "els", the elevated trains they used to have many years ago. This gives you a good view of buildings from above and into people's backyards, where laundry was hung. At the beach, being a weekday and somewhat late in the afternoon, there were not the crowds one would have expected, but it was not deserted either. No, we did not have a hotdog at the famous Nathan's, nor did we go for a ride on the ferris wheel, nor did we go in swimming, but did have a nice walk along the boardwalk and out on the pier and sat looking out across the water, taking in some sunshine. The ride all the way back to Queens was long and less interesting.
Friday, July 30, 2004 - Last Day
Friday was another day for walking, but initially we took a local bus to Manhattan, getting off at Bloomingdales. After some window shopping, we hopped a subway back to Soho. We had to make another visit to that little espresso shop from yesterday. Amongst other general browsing the streets, we went into a little gallery in Soho which had an exhibition of original Rembrandt etchings (presumably from an estate sale) which were priced out of this world. Needless to say, there were not many viewers while we were there, and we did not see anyone buy anything, but there were a few little sales dots on some of the items, so there are buyers for everything in this grand city.
Another quick subway ride and we were back in the Central Park area. For a treat we decided to have lunch at the Plaza and this was truly delightful. The food was wonderful, the service attentive (as one would expect) and the wine very mellow. Walking out of the hotel, we saw a sightseeing bus across the street and since we were getting a little hot and tired and footsore from all the walking we had done during the past two days, we thought it would be nice and relaxing to take a bus tour. Even though we saw again some of the same sights we had walked by earlier, it was fun to see them from the top of a double decker bus and the commentary provided by the guide was very informative as he showed us points of interest that only locals would know of. Carol was particularly taken by the residences of some writers of yore in the Village. The tour was a hop-on, hop-off type and so we were able to jump off at South Street Seaport, wander around there for an hour or so and then catch the last tour bus back to the edge of Central Park. From here we took a local bus back to Queens.
Saturday, July 31, 2004 - Homeward
Next morning, Saturday, it was pouring rain and we left just after 10:30 am, arriving home in the late afternoon.
August, 2004