Insomnia.
A blessing in disguise? I couldn't sleep so I got up. 6.20 the New York streets were eerily quiet, just a few random dog walkers, shop keepers and a limping Welshman with a smile on his face. The river was close, the East River, the sun rises in the east. I walked (or limped) I found. I sat, I watched. I took a photo.
Coooorfeee.
The morning star diner, appropriate for an early bird cooooorfee seeker. It looks like the old communist newspaper logo on the door. The coffee was hot and strong the staff friendly and I must go back for the food. :>
Vehicles in New York.
I love the vehicles here, they look so America, big trucks! school buses, taxis. It's such a cliche but I love them.
Part 2
Breakfast
Eggs over easy, bacon, home fries. Morning star you rock.
25 years ago I was told, don't go on the New York Subway if you value your life. So Vaughan and I walked everywhere. This trip I obviously don't value my life, or I am braver, or the subway is safer. But I like the subway, it is fast, easy to use, friendly, better than the Tube.
Coney Island
I probably should have taken the express rather than the local train. It reminded me of a local train I took in Portugal once that stopped at every station and every home on the line. Coney was bright and breezy. A mixture of Barry Island and Brighton. It was lovely to see the sea, to taste the salt on my lips, but that was from a Nathan's hot dog (sorry Lonely Planet overrated.) Apparently they've been selling them since 1916 and to be honest mine tasted that old. Got the local train back as well, picking up people from anywhere and everywhere but no chickens killed in the toilets.
Apple Store.
The apple store in grand central terminal is just in the terminal. Part of it, on the east balcony. How weird is that? Out there in the open.
Part 3
The Brooklyn Bridge
Cyclists are bastards, there I said it. Listen cyclists, I know you are commuters and you are going home after a hard day's work, and I know us tourists are annoying. Boy I live in Prague I know how annoying tourists are, but if you are on a cycle path with tourists can I suggest you slow down and not just speed up and ring your bell. You expect drivers to show you courtesy when you share a road, so show some courtesy to tourists or take the lower level. But what wonderful views the Brooklyn bridge offers at night. A brisk fresh walk worked up a healthy appetite.
McSorley's
The guide book calls it the oldest bar in NYC, it says it is an authentic taste of NYC. Well if the barman posing for photos with the millions of tourists in a bar instead of serving you beer is an authentic taste of NYC, then I was getting an authentic taste. This wasn't a tourist trap in the traditional sense of the word. They were not ripping me off, but there was no one in there bar except tourists, no locals. Which meant that it felt like a tourist trap. That wasn't authentic.
Not as grumpy as I seem.
It seems that my 100 day of grumpy is rubbing off on my blog, but I am not as grumpy as I seem. I had a list of things to do before I came here and I am gradually ticking them off and adding other things and ticking them off too. I like this city, it's easy, easy to be in, easy to get around. The food's good, the coffee's good, the people are nice. So my grumpy is just my tongue planted in my sarcastic cheek.
Cyclists are bastards, there I said it. Listen cyclists, I know you are commuters and you are going home after a hard day's work, and I know us tourists are annoying. Boy I live in Prague I know how annoying tourists are, but if you are on a cycle path with tourists can I suggest you slow down and not just speed up and ring your bell. You expect drivers to show you courtesy when you share a road, so show some courtesy to tourists or take the lower level. But what wonderful views the Brooklyn bridge offers at night. A brisk fresh walk worked up a healthy appetite.
McSorley's
The guide book calls it the oldest bar in NYC, it says it is an authentic taste of NYC. Well if the barman posing for photos with the millions of tourists in a bar instead of serving you beer is an authentic taste of NYC, then I was getting an authentic taste. This wasn't a tourist trap in the traditional sense of the word. They were not ripping me off, but there was no one in there bar except tourists, no locals. Which meant that it felt like a tourist trap. That wasn't authentic.
Not as grumpy as I seem.
It seems that my 100 day of grumpy is rubbing off on my blog, but I am not as grumpy as I seem. I had a list of things to do before I came here and I am gradually ticking them off and adding other things and ticking them off too. I like this city, it's easy, easy to be in, easy to get around. The food's good, the coffee's good, the people are nice. So my grumpy is just my tongue planted in my sarcastic cheek.
Close your eyes, go on close them, I'm not going to do anything bad. Picture New York City, an Avenue lined with skyscrapers, crowded pavements, busy roads, the noise of the horns and the sirens, police whistles and people. What colour are most of the cars? And what do they look like? You probably answered yellow and they look like the cabs in the sitcom Taxi; old cumbersome vehicles with big steering wheels. That's how they were in my mind too but in reality they are not. They are all new cars, all shapes all sizes, all yellow but they are not the iconic New York taxi that lives in my imagination. What's more inside there are touch screens so you can choose your payment type. How dare the whole of New York ruin my holiday by secretly replacing all the taxis in the run up to my trip. bastards! Don't it always seem to go they you don't know what you got till it's gone.
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