OMG! It's been a classic Walker holiday.
I was to meet Darren at the Medical Center Metro. I got there early and read. Darren jumped off the train and I waved. He jumped back on the train and I didn't make it. I waved from the platform and made hand gestures to indicate I would meet him at the next station -yes, it did look as stupid as that sounded. Having finally met up, we made our way to the Chinese Bus Station in Chinatown.
We'd never used this company before, so we had to look around. Found it in a dingy basement. I tried the restroom. It was covered in colorful and imaginative graffiti-mostly pertaining to sexual preferences. I nearly took a photo for posterity, but Darren has told me I need to contain my inner geek.
We waited in the station. It filled up quickly with a mixture of backpackers wearing last year's Mountain Hardwear kit (some women are into designer shoes, I like travel gear), students, the economically challenged, and cheap old geezers like us :) Many seemed to be headed for Philadelphia.
At boarding time, we gathered on the sidewalk. In true far eastern fashion - there was no line and no English. The only words I understood were e-tickets! Waving our printouts, we hustled forward and found seats.
People boarding were still talking about Philly. I asked Darren if we should ask the driver to be sure we were on the right bus, but he pooh-poohed it.
We had an uneventful tour of eastern seaboard Chinatowns until we got to Philadelphia. Everyone got off the bus! It terminated there. Near panic, we bounced off the bus to see if we could get a connecting bus.
A plump young Asian guy met us at the door, waving our connecting tickets. We just had to wait 30 min.
Our evening went downhill after that. We boarded the new bus with no problems. Unfortunately, we chose the seats in front of the loudest people on the bus. I'm sure everyone on the bus heard their mating ritual conversation – “Are you married?”, “ What kind of woman do you favor?” etc.
It went on and on for over two hrs. Made me feel nostalgic for truckers who are direct and to the point – You want sex? No. They move on. Much simpler, saves time.
We heard their whole life stories - and they weren't that interesting. Which shocks me to say, as I'm sure you know, I’m usually very nosy in wanting to hear the details. I also had a headache from my impending cold that contributed to my lack of appreciation of the romantic spirit.
The whole bus heard the young love conversation. I thought the guy was full of it, Darren thought the young woman seemed interested.
As the bus stopped in NY and people started to debark, I glanced back and asked them if this was Chinatown since the fellow had indicated during that horrendous conversation that he often took this bus into NY for his modeling/acting career. He looked a little scruffy to be a model. But he indicated that this was Chinatown. It wasn't, so we got back on the bus.
I was to meet Darren at the Medical Center Metro. I got there early and read. Darren jumped off the train and I waved. He jumped back on the train and I didn't make it. I waved from the platform and made hand gestures to indicate I would meet him at the next station -yes, it did look as stupid as that sounded. Having finally met up, we made our way to the Chinese Bus Station in Chinatown.
We'd never used this company before, so we had to look around. Found it in a dingy basement. I tried the restroom. It was covered in colorful and imaginative graffiti-mostly pertaining to sexual preferences. I nearly took a photo for posterity, but Darren has told me I need to contain my inner geek.
We waited in the station. It filled up quickly with a mixture of backpackers wearing last year's Mountain Hardwear kit (some women are into designer shoes, I like travel gear), students, the economically challenged, and cheap old geezers like us :) Many seemed to be headed for Philadelphia.
At boarding time, we gathered on the sidewalk. In true far eastern fashion - there was no line and no English. The only words I understood were e-tickets! Waving our printouts, we hustled forward and found seats.
People boarding were still talking about Philly. I asked Darren if we should ask the driver to be sure we were on the right bus, but he pooh-poohed it.
We had an uneventful tour of eastern seaboard Chinatowns until we got to Philadelphia. Everyone got off the bus! It terminated there. Near panic, we bounced off the bus to see if we could get a connecting bus.
A plump young Asian guy met us at the door, waving our connecting tickets. We just had to wait 30 min.
Our evening went downhill after that. We boarded the new bus with no problems. Unfortunately, we chose the seats in front of the loudest people on the bus. I'm sure everyone on the bus heard their mating ritual conversation – “Are you married?”, “ What kind of woman do you favor?” etc.
It went on and on for over two hrs. Made me feel nostalgic for truckers who are direct and to the point – You want sex? No. They move on. Much simpler, saves time.
We heard their whole life stories - and they weren't that interesting. Which shocks me to say, as I'm sure you know, I’m usually very nosy in wanting to hear the details. I also had a headache from my impending cold that contributed to my lack of appreciation of the romantic spirit.
The whole bus heard the young love conversation. I thought the guy was full of it, Darren thought the young woman seemed interested.
As the bus stopped in NY and people started to debark, I glanced back and asked them if this was Chinatown since the fellow had indicated during that horrendous conversation that he often took this bus into NY for his modeling/acting career. He looked a little scruffy to be a model. But he indicated that this was Chinatown. It wasn't, so we got back on the bus.
The bus dropped us on a near empty street in Chinatown around 11:30.
It was a dark and clear night in the middle of Chinatown...
We struck off to find our hotel. After consulting the map a few blocks away, it seemed we were going in the wrong direction, so we reversed for six blocks and re-consulted the map (which, by the way, was not designed for the over 40 crowd unless they remembered to pack their reading glasses, which we had neglected to do).
Seems we had been going the right direction originally. So back we trod - with thankfully light packs. We found the Sun Bright Hotel around midnight.
They had kept our room - #23. We laughed when we saw it - I think it must have been a converted broom closet (6 x 8 or so). Seemed clean enough though, didn't notice any obvious signs of the dreaded bedbugs. Walls were paper-thin, a bargain at $80 a night. I was fortunate that I'd brought my white noise soundtrack on my iPod and earplugs. Darren was not so lucky. He didn't sleep well between the talkative neighbors next door, the suspected dorm above us, added to which the hall light shone on his face through the large crack in the door. There was a huge crash on the ceiling at something o'clock in the morning. I missed the whole thing as Darren said I continued to snore away. He commented that NY is the city that never sleeps and when he was here, he wasn’t going to get any sleep either.
We're sitting here at the Chinese bus station. Darren's looking over his pics from this morning on his netbook. I've got my nifty borrowed keyboard, typing on my blackberry.
We made a groggy pair as we stumbled around getting ready Sat. morning. Darren hadn't slept well and I'm just not coherent until I've had a couple cups of tea.
One thing the Chinese do that I love, is they often have hot water on hand everywhere. In China it was easy to come by on trains, dormitories, etc. We lived on pot noodles. It was a pleasant surprise that the Chinese run hotel kept hot water available, especially since we realized the limitations of our heating element (it will boil a cup of water, but if more than one cup - it will only heat the top half). (Yes, I realize we should have tested this before we left home :))
The shared bathroom was clean even though there were just two for the whole floor. In the interests of reduced luggage, I washed my hair with plain soap. I'd read about people doing so and found it to be adequate. This is when I realized we hadn't packed a brush. Early morning packing is not something I do well and since Darren now shaves his head, he doesn't use one now. I did the best I could with my fingers and the unexpected bathroom supplied hair dryer.
To hit the road running, so to speak, we breakfasted on pot noodles, walnuts, an apple, and, of course, tea.
We did not get the early start we hoped for, but it was respectable. It was unfortunate there was track maintenance on the 6 line. It put a crimp in our route. We ended up at Lexington and 63rd St. It didn’t take us long to get turned around.
I approached an older gentleman dressed all in black on the street corner and asked directions to the Met Art Museum. He seemed a little startled. I wasn’t sure if it was the temerity of my question, my strange accent, the untidy state of my hair, or the copious dog hair on my person that he feared would infect his black clothing. Darren stepped forward and asked the direction of Central Park. The gentleman was very helpful and pleasant. I now realize the surprise induced by my question was probably due to the fact that we were some distance from the museum - which again looked closer on the map :) (I must remember to get reading glasses).
Somewhere near the lama exhibit on 5th Ave, we stopped to check our progress on the map. A homeless man stopped and asked if we needed assistance. We indicated that we were ok, but thanks. We were left scratching our heads as he happily continued on into the park. So far New Yorkers were not fitting the stereotypes perpetrated by violent/action TV. I suppose it would be difficult to maintain constant violence/action on a day-to-day basis.
After our refreshing 20 block power walk up 5th Ave, we split up. Darren wanted to continue his power walk around Central Park and I wanted to take in the Met.
I thoroughly enjoyed the museum – or at least the first floor, which is as far as I got before I got hungry. I love to look at the minute/artistic details on everyday items. My camera doesn’t do macro photography or zoom as well as Darren’s, so we switched cameras. The Tiffany stained glass window was beautiful, but didn’t come out well in the pic. The Egyptian section was impressive. They had designed the galleries for medieval artifacts (most being religious in nature) to feel like you were walking through a cathedral. I highly recommend it. We’ll be going back to NY at some point and I’ll see the second floor. http://picasaweb.google.com/117405333436994601330/20101024NYC#
I met Darren for a quick sandwich at Subway, then we headed off to the Rockefeller Center to view NY from above. On the way we saw Sponge Bob Squarepants. They say anything goes in NY :)
The lines looked long at the Rockefeller Center, but the staff were efficient. In no time we were posing to have our photograph taken with the Empire State Building behind us and taking pics for our fellow tourists. At one point Darren extended his arm and took a blind shot of us with Central Park in the background. He checked the picture and took another. Checked it, and snapped another. I asked what was wrong and he replied that his head had a funny shape. So we have several pics of Darren tilting his head this way and that, trying to compensate for a misshapen head. Most of the pics of us were on Darren’s camera and he’s posted them at http://picasaweb.google.com/darren.518/NewYorkWeekend2010#
You can also check out my distressed hairdo. I’ve been working harder to be more color coordinated in pics, but I forgot to get my hair trimmed before the trip.
Then we were zooming off to catch the sunset over Manhattan from Brooklyn. We snapped pics of the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty as the sun went down. The wind was cold, I dug out all those layers I’d been carrying with me all day. Darren said I was likely to be arrested for being drunk as I lay prostrated on the sidewalk to get photos of the statue of liberty without the fence in the foreground.
Feeling pleased at our productive day of touring, we left Brooklyn to hang out with the other tourists at Times Square. I’m not sure what to make of Times Square. That part of my brain that retains a smidgeon of WV sensibility finds it mind boggling. Part sees it as a monument to wasteful consumerism in our society. It’s like going to the circus to be amazed and horrified by feats and freaks.
We stopped off for a bathroom break and tea at McDonald’s – always quick and convenient. The one near Times Square has a fully lighted marquee outside. The inside is designed like a dance club with music videos projected onto the bare brick walls, music throbbing through the entire building. The young woman who took our order impressed me with her calm unflappability in the face of the massive crowd coming in the doors.
We continued our tour of Times Square. Darren took some good shots. We stopped by Walgreens for cold medicine (I’d been looking for a pharmacy all day). I’d been sucking on cough drops all day. We were tired, so we headed back to our broom closet.
If we got up early enough, we thought we’d catch the Staten Island Ferry to view the Statue of Liberty up close. Darren woke up at 4:30. I refused to budge. So he wandered down the hall. He said he saw a woman in just a sweater and her undies heading for the showers. At one point a man was sitting at the one Internet terminal in just his Y fronts (Darren assumed he was French). It was a very liberal hotel :)
I was still up early enough to go for the ferry. We were stymied once again by the subway. We waited 40 min for the M train, as the 6 line was still not running. We gave it up and decided to tour Chinatown. The Chinatown area is more extensive than expected. We walked for a good three hours up and down the side streets and still did not find the outer borders. There was a creepy lack of the American icons – Starbucks, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, etc.
People were bustling about, mostly selling produce, and extremely fresh fish. Darren took pics of all the crabs. We settled on a schizophrenic Vietnamese coffee shop for tea. It had Vietnamese sandwiches, French bread and pastries, Italian gelato, definite identity issues. The tea and coffee were great though.
We were asked again by an elderly man if we needed help when we whipped out the guidebook to check something. I suspect a secret plot to overturn pre-conceptions about New Yorkers.
Our feet were tired, neither of us had slept well. We finally picked up our stored backpacks and propped our weary feet up on a brick wall overlooking the basketball court in a local park.
We got back on the China bus and took the opportunity to nap. I woke somewhere south of Delaware. It was a fairly uneventful bus ride. The dogs and cats were glad to see us when we got home.
On looking over this narrative, it occurs to me that we often come across as the two stooges traveling without a clue. I don’t know if that’s exactly true, but does make for more interesting reading than if we always got it right.
It was a dark and clear night in the middle of Chinatown...
We struck off to find our hotel. After consulting the map a few blocks away, it seemed we were going in the wrong direction, so we reversed for six blocks and re-consulted the map (which, by the way, was not designed for the over 40 crowd unless they remembered to pack their reading glasses, which we had neglected to do).
Seems we had been going the right direction originally. So back we trod - with thankfully light packs. We found the Sun Bright Hotel around midnight.
They had kept our room - #23. We laughed when we saw it - I think it must have been a converted broom closet (6 x 8 or so). Seemed clean enough though, didn't notice any obvious signs of the dreaded bedbugs. Walls were paper-thin, a bargain at $80 a night. I was fortunate that I'd brought my white noise soundtrack on my iPod and earplugs. Darren was not so lucky. He didn't sleep well between the talkative neighbors next door, the suspected dorm above us, added to which the hall light shone on his face through the large crack in the door. There was a huge crash on the ceiling at something o'clock in the morning. I missed the whole thing as Darren said I continued to snore away. He commented that NY is the city that never sleeps and when he was here, he wasn’t going to get any sleep either.
We're sitting here at the Chinese bus station. Darren's looking over his pics from this morning on his netbook. I've got my nifty borrowed keyboard, typing on my blackberry.
We made a groggy pair as we stumbled around getting ready Sat. morning. Darren hadn't slept well and I'm just not coherent until I've had a couple cups of tea.
One thing the Chinese do that I love, is they often have hot water on hand everywhere. In China it was easy to come by on trains, dormitories, etc. We lived on pot noodles. It was a pleasant surprise that the Chinese run hotel kept hot water available, especially since we realized the limitations of our heating element (it will boil a cup of water, but if more than one cup - it will only heat the top half). (Yes, I realize we should have tested this before we left home :))
The shared bathroom was clean even though there were just two for the whole floor. In the interests of reduced luggage, I washed my hair with plain soap. I'd read about people doing so and found it to be adequate. This is when I realized we hadn't packed a brush. Early morning packing is not something I do well and since Darren now shaves his head, he doesn't use one now. I did the best I could with my fingers and the unexpected bathroom supplied hair dryer.
To hit the road running, so to speak, we breakfasted on pot noodles, walnuts, an apple, and, of course, tea.
We did not get the early start we hoped for, but it was respectable. It was unfortunate there was track maintenance on the 6 line. It put a crimp in our route. We ended up at Lexington and 63rd St. It didn’t take us long to get turned around.
I approached an older gentleman dressed all in black on the street corner and asked directions to the Met Art Museum. He seemed a little startled. I wasn’t sure if it was the temerity of my question, my strange accent, the untidy state of my hair, or the copious dog hair on my person that he feared would infect his black clothing. Darren stepped forward and asked the direction of Central Park. The gentleman was very helpful and pleasant. I now realize the surprise induced by my question was probably due to the fact that we were some distance from the museum - which again looked closer on the map :) (I must remember to get reading glasses).
Somewhere near the lama exhibit on 5th Ave, we stopped to check our progress on the map. A homeless man stopped and asked if we needed assistance. We indicated that we were ok, but thanks. We were left scratching our heads as he happily continued on into the park. So far New Yorkers were not fitting the stereotypes perpetrated by violent/action TV. I suppose it would be difficult to maintain constant violence/action on a day-to-day basis.
After our refreshing 20 block power walk up 5th Ave, we split up. Darren wanted to continue his power walk around Central Park and I wanted to take in the Met.
I thoroughly enjoyed the museum – or at least the first floor, which is as far as I got before I got hungry. I love to look at the minute/artistic details on everyday items. My camera doesn’t do macro photography or zoom as well as Darren’s, so we switched cameras. The Tiffany stained glass window was beautiful, but didn’t come out well in the pic. The Egyptian section was impressive. They had designed the galleries for medieval artifacts (most being religious in nature) to feel like you were walking through a cathedral. I highly recommend it. We’ll be going back to NY at some point and I’ll see the second floor. http://picasaweb.google.com/117405333436994601330/20101024NYC#
I met Darren for a quick sandwich at Subway, then we headed off to the Rockefeller Center to view NY from above. On the way we saw Sponge Bob Squarepants. They say anything goes in NY :)
The lines looked long at the Rockefeller Center, but the staff were efficient. In no time we were posing to have our photograph taken with the Empire State Building behind us and taking pics for our fellow tourists. At one point Darren extended his arm and took a blind shot of us with Central Park in the background. He checked the picture and took another. Checked it, and snapped another. I asked what was wrong and he replied that his head had a funny shape. So we have several pics of Darren tilting his head this way and that, trying to compensate for a misshapen head. Most of the pics of us were on Darren’s camera and he’s posted them at http://picasaweb.google.com/darren.518/NewYorkWeekend2010#
You can also check out my distressed hairdo. I’ve been working harder to be more color coordinated in pics, but I forgot to get my hair trimmed before the trip.
Then we were zooming off to catch the sunset over Manhattan from Brooklyn. We snapped pics of the Manhattan skyline and the Statue of Liberty as the sun went down. The wind was cold, I dug out all those layers I’d been carrying with me all day. Darren said I was likely to be arrested for being drunk as I lay prostrated on the sidewalk to get photos of the statue of liberty without the fence in the foreground.
Feeling pleased at our productive day of touring, we left Brooklyn to hang out with the other tourists at Times Square. I’m not sure what to make of Times Square. That part of my brain that retains a smidgeon of WV sensibility finds it mind boggling. Part sees it as a monument to wasteful consumerism in our society. It’s like going to the circus to be amazed and horrified by feats and freaks.
We stopped off for a bathroom break and tea at McDonald’s – always quick and convenient. The one near Times Square has a fully lighted marquee outside. The inside is designed like a dance club with music videos projected onto the bare brick walls, music throbbing through the entire building. The young woman who took our order impressed me with her calm unflappability in the face of the massive crowd coming in the doors.
We continued our tour of Times Square. Darren took some good shots. We stopped by Walgreens for cold medicine (I’d been looking for a pharmacy all day). I’d been sucking on cough drops all day. We were tired, so we headed back to our broom closet.
If we got up early enough, we thought we’d catch the Staten Island Ferry to view the Statue of Liberty up close. Darren woke up at 4:30. I refused to budge. So he wandered down the hall. He said he saw a woman in just a sweater and her undies heading for the showers. At one point a man was sitting at the one Internet terminal in just his Y fronts (Darren assumed he was French). It was a very liberal hotel :)
I was still up early enough to go for the ferry. We were stymied once again by the subway. We waited 40 min for the M train, as the 6 line was still not running. We gave it up and decided to tour Chinatown. The Chinatown area is more extensive than expected. We walked for a good three hours up and down the side streets and still did not find the outer borders. There was a creepy lack of the American icons – Starbucks, McDonald’s, Wendy’s, etc.
People were bustling about, mostly selling produce, and extremely fresh fish. Darren took pics of all the crabs. We settled on a schizophrenic Vietnamese coffee shop for tea. It had Vietnamese sandwiches, French bread and pastries, Italian gelato, definite identity issues. The tea and coffee were great though.
We were asked again by an elderly man if we needed help when we whipped out the guidebook to check something. I suspect a secret plot to overturn pre-conceptions about New Yorkers.
Our feet were tired, neither of us had slept well. We finally picked up our stored backpacks and propped our weary feet up on a brick wall overlooking the basketball court in a local park.
We got back on the China bus and took the opportunity to nap. I woke somewhere south of Delaware. It was a fairly uneventful bus ride. The dogs and cats were glad to see us when we got home.
On looking over this narrative, it occurs to me that we often come across as the two stooges traveling without a clue. I don’t know if that’s exactly true, but does make for more interesting reading than if we always got it right.
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