New York State of Mind

We boarded a bus from Washington to NYC whose driver was straight out of the sixties, maybe. A nice glossy jheri curl and no front teeth and with very little voice left, this guy was the business. Had a definite grandpa flavour about him. The drive was nothing special, but the weather turned and he drove us through a wicked snowstorm like a champ. In some places in New Jersey they got around a foot of snow, and then it disappeared when we got into New York. The cold remained, however. And the wind.

New York City is definitely a lot of city to take in. We had a good view of Manhattan on the way in before we came through the Lincoln Tunnel. Absolutely fantastic. There is something about a super vertical city that does it for me. Myra too. We were dropped off at Penn Station/Madison Square Garden, and bustled down 8th Ave to our hotel in Chelsea (http://www.hotelchelsea.com/).


It's quite a large building, actually. Something like 300 rooms. It was actually the tallest building in Manhattan when it was constructed in 1883, and it has a colourful history. A haven for artists and musicians and the like, such as Bob Dylan, Allen Ginsberg, Patti Smith, Jasper Johns, William Boroughs, and Sid Vicious, who allegedly killed his girlfriend there almost 30 years to the day from when we were there. It still attracts the same crowd (not the murdering type), and is filled with art in the lobby and all 10 floors of the stairwell. There was a band leaving with all of their gear when we arrived - it's apparently a favorite with the musicians because of it's 4 foot thick concrete walls, amongst other things.

Anyway, the room was far less posh than I had imagined, and I thought I had set my expectations realistically. Regardless, it was still a place we would easily return to, and actually boasts the highest return rate for guests of any hotel anywhere in the world. It seems like they know everyone who walks in the place - feels a bit like the kind of place that you have friends working at, and you sort of feel like you are in the inner circle, not just some patron of the business, but somehow slightly above that. Anyway, great place, and great neighborhood, but you could say that about most places in New York. You can't help but to like the place. Hallways kind of reminded me of The Shining though. Couldn't say why.

So we set out for a bit of nosh and headed straight for BLT Burger, which is certainly a place to check out if you want a good burger. Serious, gourmet types.Nice milkshakes too. From there we walked over to Smalls, also in Greenwich Village, a cozy (packed) jazz club tucked into the basement of a nondescript building. Excellent time. Unfortunately we were so tired that we started to fall asleep not long after arriving, and stayed only for the first set, which was a corker. Upbeat Brazilian jazz from a 7 piece band. The conga player seemed like he was on crack (in the impressive kind of way).

The cab we caught to take us back was the fastest we've been in a car this side of a racetrack, which would have been worrying had it not been New York. We stumbled back into our room and fell asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows.

We didn't end up getting up and out of the hotel until late morning, which was my fault, and became a pattern that remained for the whole trip, so we pretty much wasted every morning. Breakfast was always great, and I got my fill of pancakes in one serving. That's pancakes for you though. So great at first, but then you're just totally sick of them. I only got through two. These things were frisbee sized, and soooo good, but man. Pancakes. I actually want some right now, yet still feel some animosity towards them at the same time. Stupid tasty pancakes.

So, I needed a new camera. My camera takes some great quality photos, but it's really getting on in age, is a bit heavy, and when checked by a security guard at the Rockefeller Center, was referred to as a VCR. Everyone laughed. Luckily, I had already purchased a replacement for it earlier that day, showing him the bag to prove it. Upon seeing said bag, he said in his best (albeit native) NY accent, "Hey, great store", to which I replied, "Yeah, I know". Yes. I do know. I know the deal, said I, like someone who had all the inside info and really does know the deal. You had the better of me for a second, funny security guard man, but I know the deal. Now we were equals. We had a moment, the funny security guard and I. An understanding.

So Myra waited patiently for me while I fretted for far too long over which camera to get in this fantastic Camera/Video/Pro Audio shop in Midtown called B&H Photo/Video. Run exclusively by fully traditional Jews, this place was a work of art. Two levels, probably 100 staff or more (on a weekday), and an intricate automated system of delivering goods throughout the store, this is the place to go if you need anything relating to photo, video or audio (but mostly photo or video). Everyone knows their stuff, and we had more than one person talk to us about Alberta. It's apparently a form of polite conversation referred to as Jewish Geography, making conversation by asking where you are from and finding familial connections to that place. Ie, "Jersey? Yeah, my sister lives there...", and you're off to the races. This guy that helped us out actually had a relative who lived in Alberta somewhere, I can't remember where, but his father was actually a prominent Rabbi in Winnipeg for years. It really works. Who knew?

So I ended up getting something that takes pictures maybe not much better than my current camera, but it fits nicely into a shirt pocket and actually has a decent battery life, etc. Technology has moved swiftly on. When I got my camera, and this was quite some time ago, it was somewhere around $400, if I remember correctly, 3.2 mega-pixels, and 256Mb of memory was something like $40. This camera is half the size, nearly 3 times the mega-pixels (I know, it doesn't really improve image quality), crazy battery life, bigger screen, still has a view-finder, is far quicker acting, and is a third of the price. 4GB of memory? £20. Made me feel a bit behind the times.

So aside from the knowledgeable staff and great product, this store has the slickest organization anywhere. Between the two floors, there is a system of rollers and elevators that whisk whatever you are buying from the point of sale to the point of delivery. It zooms around the store, sometimes visible in the counters on the second floor, hanging from the ceiling on the main floor, and in open elevators to get it between and down to waiting hands, so there is this constant moving about of people's purchases making their way around the store to their appropriate destination. It's also just organized really simply in terms of placing the order in one area, paying for it in the next, and picking it up in another area before you leave. I may sound a bit dorky, but I was impressed. The downside? Closed on Saturdays.

To Downtown. Off to get some real shopping done (for Myra), check out some more good food, and see the Statue of Liberty, amongst other things.

We were told that Century 21 was the place to be for picking up mega-cheap designer wares. A veritable cornucopia of virtually free high fashion. Winners on a grand scale would be closer to the mark, only far more crowded. If you enjoy the process of shopping for the sake of shopping, I'm sure this would be a wonderful place. I hate shopping. Unless it's hifi or cd's or bikes, 15-20 minutes in a store is too long for me. I'm in and out. None of this riffling through racks of stuff that's all packed together, taking a look at each and every item, seeing if this or that might work, touching everything to see how it feels. This touching of everything mesmerizes me a little. I don't get it. Women, fairly generally, will almost absentmindedly stick out a hand and give a little feel to whatever they pass in a clothing store. It doesn't even have to be something they're interested in - it just needs to be felt. Maybe I'm making this up. Maybe it's just my imagination, but I don't think so.

Anyway, I had to patiently shuffle around this place because Myra had patiently waited for me to come to a decision about my camera that morning. Oddly, the sum-total of our time there ended up being a pair of jeans - for me. Myra did get a hat, but strangely, not the one pictured. I'll tell you this: there may be a great find or two in that place, but unless you are willing to put in a good few hours to sift through mountains of crap to discover it, you are better off going to a normal shop.

So we headed to the southern tip of Manhattan to have a look at the old lady and a little wander around. Across the street from Century 21 is ground zero, being, of course, a bit of a tourist attraction now, which is odd because its just a fenced off area with a bunch of cranes and construction work going on. It was still pretty cold but was at least nice and sunny, however with so many tall buildings everywhere you're hardly ever actually in it. The statue of liberty is actually pretty far away from Manhattan and we didn't end up going to Ellis Island, so it didn't amount to much, but neither of us is too disappointed. We've all seen it a million times in pictures, and it's just a big statue, really.

Anyway, the game was fast approaching. We got Knicks tickets for their home opener, and we were looking forward to this like fogetaboudit. One of the highlights of our trip, definitely. We grabbed a quick bite and made our way to Madison Square Garden, which made a point of telling us all it was extremely legendary.

We settled in amongst varied company. To our left was a young Japanese couple on holiday, and she actually slept through most of the game. In front of us was a gaggle of teenage girls and a couple of boys, who we both wanted to punch for being teenagers to the extreme. The girls all looked and dressed alike, cheered for the sake of hearing their own voices, and at one point started tickling one of the boys for a while, who was loving it, obviously. Just being annoying teenagers, really, so I can't really blame them, I suppose. The row ahead had a Knicks superfan, who yelled things like "Get in there!" for each and every free-throw, after the ball had left the players hand. Directly behind us were two little boys, maybe 9yrs old, with one of their parents, who had a running commentary throughout the entire game. Obviously big basketball fans, heir analysis and description of events was like what you would hear were you watching the game on TV. They were quite funny, trying to sound all professional and all.

Q-Tip opened the game and played during half time for the home opener, which would have been a treat were the year nineteen and ninety-three. The game itself was great (Knicks won), but the combination of NBA game in a huge stadium, the Knicks being one of the great old-school teams, being in New York, and that it was a splashy home opener, made it a momentous evening. We walked back to the Chelsea and so ended our first full day in New York City.

More to come.