Manhattan - Part One
Leaving Pennsylvania on the afternoon of Monday 15 August, we headed north towards New York City, to enter Manhattan via the Lincoln Tunnel. Proceeding up the New Jersey Turnpike (I-95) through the City of Elizabeth, and passed Newark International Airport towards Manhattan. Coming out of the Lincoln Tunnel, my first impression was: Wow! These roads are really cut up and the buildings look run down and unloved! Isn’t this meant to be high price real estate? Some of the most valuable in the world? Straight away, I suspect government intervention … hmmm. OK, so that was pretty bad, probably the worst section of road I saw.
Being late in the day, we checked into the Hotel Beacon and walked to Dallas BBQ in the Upper Westside. (Why we had to come all the way to New York City for Dallas BBQ, I don’t know.) The food was great, my favourite kind. I enjoyed either a Ribs and Chicken Combo or a Steak and Ribs Combo with a Diet Coke, Mmmm/Ahhh! This place was also my introduction to tipping in New York. So here it is, the 15% ‘gratuity’ was included on the bill, that’s right! We’re not getting out of there without paying that. Let’s get back to basics, a gratuity is a gift, something given without being owed or demanded. Therefore, if a gratuity is on the bill, it is no longer a gratuity, it becomes a fee! So the advertised price on the menu is not the real price, there is a sting in the tail. I’d call that fraud! What gets me even more is that the employer is collecting the money. I want to give the cash directly to the waiter. Its a bit like the employer saying to the customer, “I don’t pay my workers enough, so I am going to hit you up for the extra cash so my worker can buy food for his family.”
The view from my window at the Hotel Beacon.
The first big day, the morning of Tuesday 16 August began with a coach tour of Manhattan through the Upper West Side, Morningside Heights, stopping at The Cathedral Church of Saint John the Divine, and Grant’s Tomb. We continued the tour across town through Harlem along 116th Street, then turned right, back downtown, along Fifth Avenue passed the Guggenheim Museum, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art towards Midtown. We drove passed Tiffany’s, Trump Tower, The Cathedral of Saint Patrick, and the Rockefeller Center. Then downtown through Greenwich Village, Bleecker Street, NYU, SoHo (South of Houston), TriBeCa (Triangle Below Canal), and the Financial District. We enjoyed lunch at Olivia’s (I recall somewhere on Broadway opposite City Hall Park) where I met Lisa who has a relative living in Doonside.
After lunch, the Statue of Liberty (the statue is an iron and steel frame with a thin layer of copper outside; smaller than I expected), then a tour of Battery Park, through Bowling Green (a wireless hotspot) and a meeting with the Charging Bull.
The World Trade Center Site is an entire block of hollowed out land surrounded by wire fences. Boards on the fences display a timeline of events and the names of those who died on 11 Sep 2001. The block of empty land is large enough but I sensed a larger emptiness when I looked into the sky, and imagined the many people named on the boards floating in the air.
Our tour included a seven day unlimited subway ticket, bargain! I first entered the New York City Subway at 72nd Street station on the red line, to head downtown to Times Square. The subway cars are air conditioned; a relief because the stations are so hot! Times Square is the location of the New York Times building and is also the focal point of the theatre district. The atmosphere is pumping, full of people and surrounded by the bright lights of electronic shop signs and advertisements. On the walk back to the Hotel Beacon, uptown along Broadway, there it was, I saw the Ed Sullivan Theatre for the first time, home of the Late Show with David Letterman.
Wednesday 17 August started early with a double-decker bus ride to the set of the CBS Early Show. I was on camera standing between the weatherman and ‘Heather from Perth’. Breakfast at the Cafe Viand was very New York, fast. I could see the momentum of the waiter as he hustled down the centre aisle.
The top of the Empire State Building offers the superior and comprehensive view. Here, you can gain a perspective on the size, density, and character of New York City. Walking along 5th Avenue, we saw Rockefeller Center, The Cathedral of Saint Patrick, Trump Tower (of The Apprentice), and Tiffany’s. After enjoying a pizza in Little Italy with two teachers from California, I spent the afternoon walking all the way from Mott Street (Little Italy) to the Hotel Beacon, primarily using 6th Avenue (Avenue of the Americas). The neighbourhood environment could change across a street. From basketball courts, small no-name shops, street vendors under the hot sun, to brand name, air-conditioned shopping, with workers in suits. The most interesting thing I saw was a lady on roller blades while pushing a pram.
The day of Thursday 18 August started later with another delicious breakfast at the Cafe Viand. Then it was on to The Dakota apartment building, former home of John Lennon and the site of his murder. Across the road was Central Park, where we entered at Strawberry Fields. Central Park is so spacious, sometimes you wouldn’t know you were in New York City, a great escape from the the crowds.
In the afternoon, I joined the Manhattan TV and Movie Tour. The highlight was seeing the Huxtable residence from The Cosby Show (a childhood dream come true). After some free time, The Beast, a high-octane speedboat ride from Pier 83 on 42nd Street to the Statue of Liberty and back. From high speed to high altitude, on a Liberty Helicopter Tour, flying to the Statue of Liberty and along the entire length of Manhattan.
© Danny Haynes
Comments
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Tim Haynes, 17 October 2005, 18:02:
I was just thinking, why have a diet coke if you’re having Dallas BBQ. Texans like their meat big, so after ingesting half a cow you're cutting back on sugar by having a diet coke. It doesn’t make sense to me.