The Mother of All Recaps [Часть три]
After the night out with the cousin's high school buddies, I was feeling a little woozy, but happy to have met some of the nice, young people from their north Jersey borough*. The first thing I did after my late start was requisition some coffee from the [only] McSpresso place around, which was five towns away, but very necessary, and then stopped by the grandparents' place to do some more chores, drop off a casserole from my aunt, and wait for cousin's friend to arrive. The plan: a last-minute operation to take over New York City.
He arrived around 4pm that Saturday, and as soon as I got the call, I scurried back over to V. from West C., because, damn, I'm 24 years old and I've never spent any quality time in New York. I was excited. We got a ride from my uncle to one of the "nearby" PATH stations, which, for a mere $1.50 will get you from New Jersey into the heart of Manhattan in about 15 minutes. For a Richmonder with no concept of what adequate public transportation means, this was nothing short of a miracle.
Upon arrival, I was immediately thrown into an over-stimulated but comforting blur of people, cars, lights, and sound. We easily picked our way like pros through the rediculous throngs that are apparently characteristic of Manhattan around the holidays. Actually, we were technically part of the problem, because the first things we went to see were Times Square**, The Tree, and The Cathedral. These places are relatively close to one another, but solid masses of humanity plus police*** direction made this a several hour-long process. In the meantime, I'm frantically trying to get in contact with my New York friends at the last possible second, which ended up not working out so well. Sorry to ambroseathan, operasu, and Seth - I'll be back soon.
Anyways, we managed to scarf down some pizza, and jump on the A Train to find a way down to South Street. We started off on the right foot, but after a long while, we realized that we'd missed our transfer station, probably when we noticed that we were in Queens and were supposed to still be in Manhattan. Oh well. It made for an interesting trip. About an hour later, we had corrected our mistake and were tromping around a really cool but bizarrely abandoned [for a Saturday]**** area just south of the WTC site. We holed up in a bar for awhile to watch the Giants lose, and made friends with the bartenders and other patrons. I'm convinced that nothing brings people closer together than good beer. And adversity, but that wasn't really an issue at the time.
Around 11:30pm we started making our way back to the PATH, and got an opportunity to a) see the giant crater that still has such a rediculous negative effect on so many lives, and b) realize that the PATH has an unfortuante absence of any sort of bathroom facility. We reunited with my uncle back in Jersey around midnight, but only after I made a quick trip behind a dumpster to relieve my aching bladder. Good times! Cousin, friend, and myself made it home in one piece, and after while, went to bed to prepare for my long trip to Philadelphia and home.
I now realize that I'm too longwinded. So...later on, I'll get back with Part IV: The Phil4delphia Story, or, "Soylent Green is Falafel!".
*Everyone was pretty much Italian - cousin and I were definitely the only Swedes.
**This is a fitting title. While the "square" is actually composed of the intersection of several major thoroughfares, in reality it's nothing more than a giant sidewalk.
***[Cop, to wandering masses] "You need to go west! If you don't know which way west is...look where my finger is pointing. I'm like your dad - you don't ask 'why,' you don't ask 'what,' you just do what I tell you to do!
****Christine informed me that I was in the financial district, and after Friday the place becomes utterly abandoned.
He arrived around 4pm that Saturday, and as soon as I got the call, I scurried back over to V. from West C., because, damn, I'm 24 years old and I've never spent any quality time in New York. I was excited. We got a ride from my uncle to one of the "nearby" PATH stations, which, for a mere $1.50 will get you from New Jersey into the heart of Manhattan in about 15 minutes. For a Richmonder with no concept of what adequate public transportation means, this was nothing short of a miracle.
Upon arrival, I was immediately thrown into an over-stimulated but comforting blur of people, cars, lights, and sound. We easily picked our way like pros through the rediculous throngs that are apparently characteristic of Manhattan around the holidays. Actually, we were technically part of the problem, because the first things we went to see were Times Square**, The Tree, and The Cathedral. These places are relatively close to one another, but solid masses of humanity plus police*** direction made this a several hour-long process. In the meantime, I'm frantically trying to get in contact with my New York friends at the last possible second, which ended up not working out so well. Sorry to ambroseathan, operasu, and Seth - I'll be back soon.
Anyways, we managed to scarf down some pizza, and jump on the A Train to find a way down to South Street. We started off on the right foot, but after a long while, we realized that we'd missed our transfer station, probably when we noticed that we were in Queens and were supposed to still be in Manhattan. Oh well. It made for an interesting trip. About an hour later, we had corrected our mistake and were tromping around a really cool but bizarrely abandoned [for a Saturday]**** area just south of the WTC site. We holed up in a bar for awhile to watch the Giants lose, and made friends with the bartenders and other patrons. I'm convinced that nothing brings people closer together than good beer. And adversity, but that wasn't really an issue at the time.
Around 11:30pm we started making our way back to the PATH, and got an opportunity to a) see the giant crater that still has such a rediculous negative effect on so many lives, and b) realize that the PATH has an unfortuante absence of any sort of bathroom facility. We reunited with my uncle back in Jersey around midnight, but only after I made a quick trip behind a dumpster to relieve my aching bladder. Good times! Cousin, friend, and myself made it home in one piece, and after while, went to bed to prepare for my long trip to Philadelphia and home.
I now realize that I'm too longwinded. So...later on, I'll get back with Part IV: The Phil4delphia Story, or, "Soylent Green is Falafel!".
*Everyone was pretty much Italian - cousin and I were definitely the only Swedes.
**This is a fitting title. While the "square" is actually composed of the intersection of several major thoroughfares, in reality it's nothing more than a giant sidewalk.
***[Cop, to wandering masses] "You need to go west! If you don't know which way west is...look where my finger is pointing. I'm like your dad - you don't ask 'why,' you don't ask 'what,' you just do what I tell you to do!
****Christine informed me that I was in the financial district, and after Friday the place becomes utterly abandoned.