USA 2013 – Day 2 – The Big Apple

With all the hard work over I awoke excited to be in New York. The whole key saga had forced me to stay up well past midnight before going to sleep, so jetlag was no issue – I had a full night’s sleep. I took a much-needed shower, briefly admired the view out the apartment window (which included One World Trade Centre) and immediately got back on to my favourite train and shot up to 79th Street to see Sarah at her hotel. We had organised to go have breakfast with some of her running Facebook group at Zabar’s – which was only a block from her hotel. The sun was out, the weather was warm and it was a good day to be walking in New York.

The cafe section of Zabar’s was packed in typical New York fashion. We managed to snag some seats after I collected my breakfast order of a toasted turkey sandwich and some inexpensive, good-for-the-price coffee. That’s when I got my first preview at American serving sizes. The regular coffee was the size of an Australian large and the turkey sandwich had turkey slices stacked 20 deep! Often criticised for stacking up too much sliced meat on my sandwiches, I felt this sandwich to be quite accepting and excusing of my habits. With a very hungry stomach now filled we walked over to Central Park to meet the rest of Sarah’s Facebook running group. Central Park was quite charming with autumn leaves falling and trees displaying all the vibrant red and yellow hues of autumn – sorry, fall. On the subject of American words, Sarah had some difficulty when talking to an American girl from the Facebook group about a dog we saw while walking into Central Park: it was being pushed in a pram like a baby – I mean that in every sense, I think it was even wearing a bonnet! Anyway, she had absolutely no idea what a pram was and Sarah quickly changed it to stroller or pusher. Good fun. We talked to various members of the Facebook group who had come from all over the world. It really was quite an eclectic mix of runners led by the boisterous voice of Steve from Dungog, who was handing out Australian souvenir pins to all the non-Australians. After a few hundred photos of Central Park, with the running group and on the Bow Bridge, Sarah and I made our way into the city to get some local SIMs. Sarah had tried on two occasions to obtain our SIMs from this particular office in Times Square, but no one was ever there manning the booth. This is one of the factors that led to the troublesome time for me when landing in New York. This time though, there was someone at the booth and he set up our SIMs with no problems at all. On the journey there I also got my first sneak peek at Times Square, which looked crazy, and I wanted to explore more. We had no time to however, as we were to go back to the hotel to meet Anthea and then go on to the Empire Hotel to have a meet and greet with Sarah’s Travelling Fit running group. The function was held on the rooftop of the Empire Hotel and offered me the first real views of New York City. The frantic city below, full of taxis, hurried around at a quick pace. The rooftop bar by contrast was very relaxed and accommodating with free food and drinks! I was pretty excited to have my first American sliders and free beer is always good even if it’s only a simple Heineken on tap. We met some more runners, the first timers of which were very nervous about running a marathon tomorrow. With free food and drink supplied not many were really taking advantage of what was on offer, sticking to water and not eating too much – which is completely understandable given that they were all to run a marathon tomorrow. However, I had a good go at all the prawns and sliders they could offer – and they were offering often! I had to start knocking things back as the food was seemingly unlimited and I was quite full (particularly after my 3rd slider!)

After all the formalities of the rooftop bar function were complete we tracked back to Zabars to have a look in the supermarket/deli side of the building. Every time I travel overseas I’m amazed at how cheap the cheese is compared to Australia. Naturally I once again took advantage because of these low prices and because I really love cheese. A sizable block of Austrian Swiss was only to cost around $2.88. The shop itself was quite impressive with a fully stocked deli, bakery and coffee bar with roasting and grinding. It’s not often in New York that you can get most things you want in only one shop. I assume locals have a favourite butcher, a favourite fruit shop, favourite deli etc. and visit them all individually for the things they need. It’s quite good, supporting small business and getting good quality product but for the rest of our time in New York we found it quite frustrating not to have a one stop shop for everything that you need. This probably isn’t the case if you get further out into the suburbs. We picked up a few goodies and also hit up a Duane Reade nearby for a few snacks.

For dinner we visited Serafina’s after a short walk and evaluating that all the other restaurants we not our jam. It was a good choice because the pasta came out quickly and was delicious. It was also a good choice as Sarah and Jo were to be running a marathon tomorrow! Full once again (I was rarely ever hungry during my entire trip in the USA) I went back to the hotel with Sarah and Jo to pick up my suitcase which I had left there the night before. Last night, I wasn’t going to drag my suitcase down to the apartment again on the second attempt of opening the door only to have it not open and have to drag it back again. That’s not how things panned out in the end, but tonight I was to be taking my suitcase back to the apartment. Sarah was tucking in for an early night in preparation for the marathon, but I was not ready to go to sleep in the big city quite yet.

After a bit of a rest back at the apartment, I decided to go back out into the city to see the special lighting of the Empire State building for the New York Marathon: orange, white and blue. Only a block or two down from the apartment I could see the Empire State Building across the intersection and on the horizon. It is quite a picturesque intersection as on the opposite corner there is a fenced in recreation area with basketball rings, like the typical ones you see on American movies, and towering over it in the background is the Empire State Building. This location looks particularly amazing at night – as does most of the city. I didn’t really need to go further to see the Empire State Building, but thought I needed a closer up photo of it and was in the mood to utilise as much time as possible exploring the wonders of New York – even if it was at the expense of sleep. I caught my favourite train once again up to Penn Station and walked across town to the Empire State building. I walked around it, took a single photo and then proceeded up through the city – just exploring. I had gotten as far as 39th street when I realised that I was only a few blocks away from Times Square. Given my missed chance earlier in the day and the fact that it was now a glorious night-time, there was no way that I wasn’t going to revel in the insanity of Times Square.

As you expect, Times Square is off the chart crazy with people walking everywhere and all of those bright screens! I walked around gazing at the screens, walked up to the top of the steps and just stood there for 10 minutes watching everything go by. It was flooded with taxis moving slowly through the mayhem and characters who entertained those around. A grossly overweight gay black man painted as a Smurf, with tight Smurf clothes who was twerking at the request of a group of giggling girls certainly earned his tip. I walked back down to street level and into a large souvenir shop called Grand Slam – which is right there in the action of Times Square. I spent a good amount of time browsing souvenirs and picked up a little something for most of my family members: a Barack Obama bottle opener, keyring, postcards and an NYPD jumper which I was to give to Patto for picking us up from the airport on the way home. With the shop closing down at around 1 AM I finalised my purchases and got back out onto the city streets. I walked onward to 50th Street to catch my favourite train back home to the apartment. On the way I saw another notable character: a lady boy in black lingerie and a very short skirt. I walked past him just outside of Times Square, with a family of two brothers walking just ahead of me. One of the brothers turned around to look at the lady boy after he had past and immediately started laughing. He laughed even more when he made his brother turn and look at what was a man’s small butt wiggling down the street from under a short skirt with a G-string.

Back in the apartment I decided to American it up as much as possible. I sat on the couch drinking my Snapple and eating some Cheese-Its with the cheese I purchased from Zabar’s and watched King of Queens on cable. Brilliant.