New York

I F YOU HAVEN’T GOT A LOT OF MONEY IN NEW YORK, THEN YOU’D BETTER HAVE A LOT OF TIME; AND IF YOU HAVEN’T GOT A LOT OF TIME, THEN YOU’D BETTER HAVE A LOT OF MONEY

From Niagara Falls we took the relaxing slow trip with Amtrak down to New York. A big comfortable train with nobody on it because everyone drives in the US. Emerged from deep underground at Penn Station onto the corner of 8th Avenue and 31st Street, to our long awaited first glimpse of Manhattan - litter, dirt, noise and chaos, but it was exciting. We needn’t have been concerned about finding our hotel, spotted it straight away on 8th and 30th.

We set off to explore and found ‘The Chelsea Hotel’ in Greenwich Village. It is still full of wacky art, but undergoing management changes to get rid of it‘s eccentric residents. After commenting on a Brett Whitely hanging behind the front desk, the manager, realising where we were from, took us into a back room and showed us another Brett Whitely. It was leaning ignominiously against the wall in a corner, behind various pieces of junk, awaiting a new space to be hung. Over half a million dollars just plonked there.

We had been advised that the wait to ascend The Empire State building was least during the evening, so we got in line. First there was a queue to get in the front door, more a melee, then up stairs to the queue for the security screening (20 mins), buying a ticket queue (20 mins), queue for the lift queue (20 mins) which only went to the 80th floor, another queue for the second lift to the 86th floor (20 mins). Then all we had left was the queue to get down queue! It took two hours to get up and back and no escape or seating once you started. We could have bought a ticket outside the front door at double the price (US$40 each) which by passed all the queues, hence the above quote. It is debatable whether the view was worth the 2 hour ordeal, it was freezing on top, but it’s a view that can be found nowhere else.

We staggered down to Times Square with 5 million other people and lots of rubbish. The lights were fascinating and there was much excitement. People just hanging around and watching the lights. We were hanging around and watching the people.

New York is full of litter on the streets, dirt and grot in the underground (we were unfortunate to need the use of a lift in which someone had urgently defecated), and large piles of big plastic bags outside businesses waiting to be collected. Wendy was in turmoil and attempted to clean up the city.

Visited most or all of the must-sees, Wall Street, the Stock Exchange (with it‘s high security perimeter fence - and there‘s probably nothing inside anyway), Ground Zero, Central Park, Battery Park, Bowling Green Park, walked over the Brooklyn Bridge, wandered around the shops in Soho and took a ferry to the Statue of Liberty. We visited the Guggenheim Museum on 5th Avenue, a beautiful building but not much art on show as half was closed preparing for a Kandinsky exhibition. The Metropolitan Museum of Art could justify a week of visits, but we saw some amazing impressionist art in a few hours, including one of Van Gogh‘s ‘Self Portraits‘. Our last visit was the Museum of Modern Art, where we saw Van Gogh’s ’Starry Night’, Jackson Pollocks, Matisse, Miro, Picasso, Rothko and others.

We paid our respects at ‘The Dakota‘ and at a mosaic plaque, ’Imagine’, in memory to John Lennon nearby in Central Park. We were lucky enough to be in Central Park on a Monday of the long weekend, and locals were out doing everything. Cycling, walking, rollerblading, riding in horse carriages, rowing boats, sailing model yachts, disco skating, picnicking, busking and enjoying the park on a warm summer’s afternoon. For dinner we had delicious corn beef and pastrami on rye sandwiches in Katz’s Delicatessen in Lower Eastside. Katz’s is a well known institution in New York, frequented by Lower Eastside locals and celebrities. The ‘cutters’ made our sandwiches from delicious beef (probably from Australia) piled 3” high, with a side plate of pickles. Interesting little shops, bars and eateries nearby, packed into the back streets. Had to have a drink in ‘The White Horse Tavern’ where Dylan Thomas drank himself to death. Had also been frequented by Bob Dylan, Jim Morrison, Jack Kerouac and others. Lovely apartments in leafy lined streets. Whilst changing trains on the way home we emerged from the subway near Washington Square, and wandered up to one of the buildings of the New York University. After chatting to the doorman he invited us into the foyer of the “Professor’s Residence” to see some tables and a chest which were 500 years old.

New York is crowded. People everywhere you go, bumping into them, jostling in queues, noise, sirens, people matter. Amazingly this didn’t seem to bother anyone but me. Everyone is amazingly friendly, polite, patient and helpful. There is no road rage, violence or abuse in the streets, or drunken idiots. I only heard one swear word the whole time. We felt completely safe everywhere, including the subway. It is amazing how so many people can live harmoniously together in such an intense environment. We have a lot to learn. We were told that the motorcades of police vehicles with lights and sirens blearing were “on manoeuvres“. Is it possible that the fire trucks we frequently saw racing through the busy traffic were only on there way to Mackers!