08.12.08
Poeticmotherlover in New York City part 1
Last time I was in New York I was 11 years old. We just stopped shortly on our way to visit an aunt in Connecticutt. And since my parents are no fun, we didn’t do sightseeing. Well, last week I spent 5 glorious days in the big apple. I must admit that now I feel a bit dissapointed at Miami’s single line metrorail system when compared to New York’s gargantuan (if such word is appropriate) subway network. Oh yes, the dam subway in which I got lost several times. Well, I took the wrong line and ended in Brooklyn, Harlem or Queens a few times, but atleast not in Long Island or New Jersey.
I was advised to take the famous sightseeing bus with the annoying guides explaining everything. Being the urban adventurer that I am, I gave that idea the boot and instead I took the subway to a certain location and then did a bit of foot reconnaissance. Doing this, I got a better feel of the neighborhoods instead of on board a bus like if in a safari. I trekked across the Upper West and East Side, Tribeca, Soho, Chelsea and Greenwich Village. I missed Little Italy and Chinatown (next time). I noticed that Manhattan has many Asian-Americans and white Liberal Hipsters/ along with the other New York ethnic groups: Italian, Puerto Rican, African-American, Irish and Jewish. Mind you I couldn’t visit the other boroughs. My friend Joseph who is spending the summer in his native Brooklyn, disconnected his phone. He would have been a perfect guide. At press time, he still is up there. Joseph is always saying that women in New York are far friendlier than in Miami and are more open to his odd pick-up style.
On my first day in New York, I visited the Empire State Building. after reaching the 83rd or 89th floor platform, the bastards that work there says that we can go to 102nd floor for a small fee. Why didn’t they fucking tell us this info downstairs? Then I would have said “screw the 89th floor, I’m goin’ straight to 102nd”. Still the view was nice. Times Square was pretty cool. I’m still in shock that cars actually respect pedestrians and don’t try to kill you. By the way, Times Square is full of Chinese artists who charge only $5.00 for a black and white portrait. Talk about driving down the price and killing the competition. A $10.00 portrait is cheap as is. But $5.00 is simply too little. The other artists need to make a living too. But alas, that was one of the few cheap things in New York. Decent food was expensive. I survived mostly on hot dogs, pretzels, burgers and pizza slices. When I found a kind of cheap buffet on 34th street, I totally stuffed myself….I’ll tell you next article about the MET.
