altarflame (![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png)
altarflame) wrote2010-08-01 04:20 am
altarflame) wrote2010-08-01 04:20 am
NYC, day 3.
I'm really glad I took a lot of pictures that are in chronological order and remind me of things...otherwise I'd be screwed by now for day to day order of events. Anyway...
This day started out kind of awesome, as the deli downstairs from us delivered breakfast and they're CHEAP. I mean NYC cheap anyway - I got an omelette and Aaron got french toast and we both had bacon and hash browns and it was like $14, DELIVERED, with the delivery tip? And good. Then we were off.
I was seriously impressed with myself because when we came up out of the subway we were actually AT the entrance of the hotel, like I had to walk 10 steps to climb the stairs to the doors. Dropped Aaron off in classes, talked to a few other dance parents and teachers for a few minutes, and went to the lobby.
Where I felt completely brain dead and unable to write anything. Or edit anything. Or care about writing. I was so freakin' happy to be sitting in this cushy hotel lobby couch with my feet up on a chair and be on the internet with nowhere to be for hours, it was...bliss. Between the plastic subway chairs, our rock-bed at the apt and the wooden seat and stools in the apt, I hadn't actually felt a cushion under me in like 3 days at this point, and I was sore all over. It was challenging not to fall asleep.
Then I realized there were no outlets and my laptop battery was about to die. Oh well.
I went out to explore in the Time Square direction. Where there are a thousand people trying DESPERATELY to sell you something.
Guys trying to appear homeless, with massive trash bags, that are actually full of imitation designer purses - they start this low, aggressive rumble of "Handbag-handbag-HANDBAG!!" if you get close enough and there are no cops around.
Rappers literally putting their cds into your hand as you walk by and then telling you that you owe them $10 and thanking you for helping them promote.
Heavily made up women in fishnets, tiny shorts and elegant up-dos trying to sell you theater tickets.
Chicks in jeans and tshirts trying to sell you scalped tickets cheaper.
Asian dudes yelling and grabbing your arm to drag you into their tourist-item stores.
If you slow down, or stop, you disrupt the flow of pedestrian traffic. If someone grabbed your bag and ran you probably wouldn't even be able to tell for sure who it was. And there is forty story high blinky shit EVERYWHERE.
I went into a massively huge Forever 21 store. Went down an escalator. Down another escalator. AND ANOTHER. It was like a journey to the center of the earth. In my backyard, you can't even grow a carrot without a raised garden bed because the ground is coral rock. I thought basements in Boston were noteworthy - this is nuts.
I managed to find cheap stuff (a $6 owl necklace for Ananda, a rubber ducky "dressed" like the Statue of Liberty for Elise, etc) for a couple of the kids and head back in time to pick up Aaron.
It was tricky thinking about where to eat. There were a lot of french restaurants and italian places and it all seemed really expensive. I settled on this diner called Lindy's that not many people were in. We had a pretty fabulous waiter who sat down with us and kept us entertained. BUT.
The menu items were ridiculous - the prices, I mean. I was sitting there like...ok. We have 35 minutes til his lunch break is over. Everything else around here costs more than this. He's been dancing for 4 hours and has 2 more classes after this. We're already sitting down, this guy is being nice. Fuck!
In the end I got a grilled cheese with tomato and bacon, he got a chicken sandwich, we drank water and I let him get a Sprite...and it was $51 with the tip. FIFTY ONE DOLLARS. Paying $50 for an amazing latin bistro meal the night we got into town? Acceptable as a one shot thing. $50 for a couple of diner sandwiches on his rushed lunch? NOT OK! This is when I vowed to pack pbjs for the rest of the week's lunches.
Pretty tasty, in a "COME ON!" kind of way.
I managed to see some of his hip hop class. This was the day Misha and Kenny pulled him out of 100+ dancers and told him to show everyone how it was done :D He was embarrassed but did well.He and two other girls got called the best 3 of that day and did the whole dance everyone had been practicing up front by themselves.
We decided to go back to the apt to drop off the laptop backback, charge my phone, pick up his unicycle and get directions to wherever we would end up.
And we decided on Union Square. We figured we could go back with the camera, and hopefully catch the chalk artist and knife juggler and breakdancers again. There was a transfer involved, it was a lot of subway-ing.
"You're leaning on the 'Do Not Lean On Door' sign!"
When we got to Union Square, NOTHING was the same. The space had completely transformed itself into a huge green market and a massive lot of artist vendors. I took a lot of pictures for my sister and I who salivate at things like fresh outdoor markets. It is really noteworthy to me that none of this is permanent - it's all brought out and taken away by trucks.
We went in the Whole Foods, which was like a wonderland of tourist minutia for bumpkins like us in and of itself ;) They have a CART ESCALATOR to take your carts up and down 3 separate floors. They have a massive color coded lane system where people wait to be called to a line to check out. I don't think I've ever even been in a multi story grocery store before.
This place had a taco bar I had to taunt Grant with. He lusts after the whole concept of a taco bar on a pretty regular basis.
They also had a fucking swordfish head in the seafood department. I'm talking it doesn't all fit in the picture. See, the guy standing there is like, "WTF?" Some appalled vegans were standing there behind me explaining to a group of people why it is not ok to fish for (or display the corpses of) swordfish.
I asked the cashier who rung us up if there's any rhyme or reason to when the breakdancers and other performance artists are out in the square. She said no, but there is a big yearly pillow fight with hundreds of people. Cool.
Welcome to NYC, where a grilled cheese costs eighteen bucks at the diner but you can get Whole Foods creme brulee for $2.79. Sushi, something we normally tell Aaron we can only afford occasionally, was like the cheapest meal option available at $6-8 per prepared tray (in grocery stores). He probably had it 5 times over the course of the week when it's normally a once a month treat.
This squirrel is eating a square of my chocolate, that he took out of my hand!!
There was a magician around. But he was not very impressive, and was kind of harsh and irritating in how he interacted with the crowd.
Back to the subway.
I decided to have a deli sub for my dinner, from the place downstairs, since I did not eat sushi. I couldn't see what the guy was doing as I ordered. I told him, I want a sub. Whole wheat. Turkey, salami and ham. Tomatoes, pickles and black olives. He wrapped it up and I checked out and when I got upstairs - this.
That is, like, regular sandwich bread? With like a pound of meat on it? The olives are WHOLE. We laughed about it.
I mean really.
More great showers, reading to him (Once Upon a Marigold) and reading my book (historical British royalty fiction by the author who wrote The Other Boleyn Girl...this one is The White Queen, and is ok), uploading pics for Grant, talking to all the kids back home. Made a to-do list for the morning (PACK LUNCH, at the top).
Fell asleep like a rock and woke up dazed, as I normally lay awake forever and come to a few times in the night.
This day started out kind of awesome, as the deli downstairs from us delivered breakfast and they're CHEAP. I mean NYC cheap anyway - I got an omelette and Aaron got french toast and we both had bacon and hash browns and it was like $14, DELIVERED, with the delivery tip? And good. Then we were off.
I was seriously impressed with myself because when we came up out of the subway we were actually AT the entrance of the hotel, like I had to walk 10 steps to climb the stairs to the doors. Dropped Aaron off in classes, talked to a few other dance parents and teachers for a few minutes, and went to the lobby.
Where I felt completely brain dead and unable to write anything. Or edit anything. Or care about writing. I was so freakin' happy to be sitting in this cushy hotel lobby couch with my feet up on a chair and be on the internet with nowhere to be for hours, it was...bliss. Between the plastic subway chairs, our rock-bed at the apt and the wooden seat and stools in the apt, I hadn't actually felt a cushion under me in like 3 days at this point, and I was sore all over. It was challenging not to fall asleep.
Then I realized there were no outlets and my laptop battery was about to die. Oh well.
I went out to explore in the Time Square direction. Where there are a thousand people trying DESPERATELY to sell you something.
Guys trying to appear homeless, with massive trash bags, that are actually full of imitation designer purses - they start this low, aggressive rumble of "Handbag-handbag-HANDBAG!!" if you get close enough and there are no cops around.
Rappers literally putting their cds into your hand as you walk by and then telling you that you owe them $10 and thanking you for helping them promote.
Heavily made up women in fishnets, tiny shorts and elegant up-dos trying to sell you theater tickets.
Chicks in jeans and tshirts trying to sell you scalped tickets cheaper.
Asian dudes yelling and grabbing your arm to drag you into their tourist-item stores.
If you slow down, or stop, you disrupt the flow of pedestrian traffic. If someone grabbed your bag and ran you probably wouldn't even be able to tell for sure who it was. And there is forty story high blinky shit EVERYWHERE.
I went into a massively huge Forever 21 store. Went down an escalator. Down another escalator. AND ANOTHER. It was like a journey to the center of the earth. In my backyard, you can't even grow a carrot without a raised garden bed because the ground is coral rock. I thought basements in Boston were noteworthy - this is nuts.
I managed to find cheap stuff (a $6 owl necklace for Ananda, a rubber ducky "dressed" like the Statue of Liberty for Elise, etc) for a couple of the kids and head back in time to pick up Aaron.
It was tricky thinking about where to eat. There were a lot of french restaurants and italian places and it all seemed really expensive. I settled on this diner called Lindy's that not many people were in. We had a pretty fabulous waiter who sat down with us and kept us entertained. BUT.
The menu items were ridiculous - the prices, I mean. I was sitting there like...ok. We have 35 minutes til his lunch break is over. Everything else around here costs more than this. He's been dancing for 4 hours and has 2 more classes after this. We're already sitting down, this guy is being nice. Fuck!
In the end I got a grilled cheese with tomato and bacon, he got a chicken sandwich, we drank water and I let him get a Sprite...and it was $51 with the tip. FIFTY ONE DOLLARS. Paying $50 for an amazing latin bistro meal the night we got into town? Acceptable as a one shot thing. $50 for a couple of diner sandwiches on his rushed lunch? NOT OK! This is when I vowed to pack pbjs for the rest of the week's lunches.
Pretty tasty, in a "COME ON!" kind of way.
I managed to see some of his hip hop class. This was the day Misha and Kenny pulled him out of 100+ dancers and told him to show everyone how it was done :D He was embarrassed but did well.He and two other girls got called the best 3 of that day and did the whole dance everyone had been practicing up front by themselves.
We decided to go back to the apt to drop off the laptop backback, charge my phone, pick up his unicycle and get directions to wherever we would end up.
And we decided on Union Square. We figured we could go back with the camera, and hopefully catch the chalk artist and knife juggler and breakdancers again. There was a transfer involved, it was a lot of subway-ing.
"You're leaning on the 'Do Not Lean On Door' sign!"
When we got to Union Square, NOTHING was the same. The space had completely transformed itself into a huge green market and a massive lot of artist vendors. I took a lot of pictures for my sister and I who salivate at things like fresh outdoor markets. It is really noteworthy to me that none of this is permanent - it's all brought out and taken away by trucks.
We went in the Whole Foods, which was like a wonderland of tourist minutia for bumpkins like us in and of itself ;) They have a CART ESCALATOR to take your carts up and down 3 separate floors. They have a massive color coded lane system where people wait to be called to a line to check out. I don't think I've ever even been in a multi story grocery store before.
This place had a taco bar I had to taunt Grant with. He lusts after the whole concept of a taco bar on a pretty regular basis.
They also had a fucking swordfish head in the seafood department. I'm talking it doesn't all fit in the picture. See, the guy standing there is like, "WTF?" Some appalled vegans were standing there behind me explaining to a group of people why it is not ok to fish for (or display the corpses of) swordfish.
I asked the cashier who rung us up if there's any rhyme or reason to when the breakdancers and other performance artists are out in the square. She said no, but there is a big yearly pillow fight with hundreds of people. Cool.
Welcome to NYC, where a grilled cheese costs eighteen bucks at the diner but you can get Whole Foods creme brulee for $2.79. Sushi, something we normally tell Aaron we can only afford occasionally, was like the cheapest meal option available at $6-8 per prepared tray (in grocery stores). He probably had it 5 times over the course of the week when it's normally a once a month treat.
This squirrel is eating a square of my chocolate, that he took out of my hand!!
There was a magician around. But he was not very impressive, and was kind of harsh and irritating in how he interacted with the crowd.
Back to the subway.
I decided to have a deli sub for my dinner, from the place downstairs, since I did not eat sushi. I couldn't see what the guy was doing as I ordered. I told him, I want a sub. Whole wheat. Turkey, salami and ham. Tomatoes, pickles and black olives. He wrapped it up and I checked out and when I got upstairs - this.
That is, like, regular sandwich bread? With like a pound of meat on it? The olives are WHOLE. We laughed about it.
I mean really.
More great showers, reading to him (Once Upon a Marigold) and reading my book (historical British royalty fiction by the author who wrote The Other Boleyn Girl...this one is The White Queen, and is ok), uploading pics for Grant, talking to all the kids back home. Made a to-do list for the morning (PACK LUNCH, at the top).
Fell asleep like a rock and woke up dazed, as I normally lay awake forever and come to a few times in the night.
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Its fun(ny) to see my domain through your eyes:p
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I'm really glad we went :)
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You look so much like my BBF ( who lives across the country out west and who I miss to death :)in that last pic.
NY in some of those pic really remind me of Mtl...I should do a DITL post maybe ...
AND I LOVE LOVE that pic of the woman on the harp..one shoe off the other half on, seems so relaxed...
again so glad you both had a great time.
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I like seeing peoples' ditls - I wish more people would post, it seems like that community has kind of degenerated into just a few users doing their ditls over and over. Which is ok, I just loved the variety in the beginning.
It's funny you say that about the harp woman, she was really tense in person and seemed super anxious when Aaron said Hi to her and put a dollar in her case.
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The seller there told us that one (full) ostrich egg is equivalent to EIGHTEEN chicken eggs!
Thanks, btw.
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Jeez, another bakery show on TLC? Apparently, if you can sling wedding dresses or are a little person or decorate cakes or are a c*nt who has multiple children and a "p*ssy for a husband or can shoot almost as many kids as there were in my graduating class, out of your womb, then you, too, can be on TLC. Oh, wait I forgot about the hoarders. Oh the hoarders.
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I wouldn't do a ton of things they do, with my own kids, but I still think their kids are better off than most kids out there. Definitely find the show entertaining and think they catch way too much hell overall from people who aren't half as successful/happy.
From what I hear, TLC has definitely become weirdo central.
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They didn't sell those when I lived in NYC. I should ask my sister to pick one up for me :)
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The pillow fights aren't just in NYC: http://www.pillowfightday.com/
Sounds like you had a great time. I'm enjoying reading your posts, seeing the city from the eyes of an outsider.