New York in a 25 hour frenzy
Now that I am home and settled safely in the comfort of DC, perhaps I shouldn't have yelled at that cabbie who dropped me off at Penn Station in NYC. I had exactly 12 minutes to get to Penn Station to catch my bus back to DC. I gave up on the subway cause after 25 minutes, not a single train came by. I hailed a cab, who decided to take me through Times Square. When he turned on 7th Ave, in the heart of Times Square, I proceeded to yell at him. "Why on EARTH did you pick this route? My bus leaves in 10 minutes!" He replies muttering that I looked like a tourist, and thought it would be nice to show me Times Square. I yelled back saying he was just trying to get more money from me, and I was going to miss my bus because of him. With that, he turns off 7th, and magically gets me to my destination two minutes later. What's more impressive, he spotted my boss, parked in front of it to prevent it from leaving before I could get on. At least he redeemed himself. I barely made it on the bus, and as I settled into my seat, I was happy the frenzy of the past 25 hours was over.
I've only been to NYC on a couple of occasions, but it seems each time has involved some sort of frenzy. Some of the frenzy is enthralling, but most of the time it just adds stress, and confirms how happy I am NOT to live there.
This weekend, I traveled to NYC for 25 hours to visit my college roommate who was in town for business. We decided to meet up for a day and just kick around. Even though neither of us are that familiar with NYC, we figured that between two city girls, we'd be able to figure out a way to entertain ourselves. Oh, if only we knew how hard that apparently was. For the city that totes itself as being a place that never sleeps, we seemed to find a lot of evidence of the contrary.
The day started out fair enough, despite the crappy, cold weather. The wind was bad even for Chicago standards, so we decided to go to the Natural History Museum. After getting a tip from the hotel concierge as to which subway stops to use, we made our way over there. She suggested taking a line a couple of blocks down from the hotel, saying that it offers more service on the weekend. Well, getting to the subway station was quite an adventure. There are always massive amounts of people in Manhattan, but the crowds we had to pass through seemed massive eve for NY standards. The reason? A random Scottish parade. We turned a corner, and suddenly heard bagpipes. As much as I love bagpipes, they were blocked us from crossing the street. And who knew there could be SO MANY people participating in a Scottish parade on a single day? After twenty minutes of walking up and down the avenue, trying to find SOME opening so we could cross, we found our way across.
By the time we got to the subway, and made our way to the Natural History Museum, it was getting later in the day. We still had a couple of hours before the museum closed, so we proceeded to spend the next couple of hours. That place is filled with EVERYTHING. We had spent a good hour in just one section on one floor. On realizing that we had yet to see the other three floors, we decided to devise a plan of action. Cause let me tell you, when I mean they had everything, they really did. Nothing from the natural history world was left out. What was more impressive was that most of the stuff was out on display. At first, the museum annoyed me a bit. Being in the museum industry, I found the lack of cohesion very off-putting. What made me even more annoyed was that each label for the objects was super text heavy. Each description was at least a couple of paragraphs long. Most places give a sentence or two. EVERYTHING had a lengthy label. And for someone who likes to read each and every label, I went into sensory overload.
By the time they kicked us out for closing, we both were on information overload. We made our way back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner. Since it was the final four for basketball, we decided to find a pub to eat, have a few beers, and watch the game. Oh, if only we knew how hard it would be to find a pub in Manhattan. The city that never sleeps apparently does not apply to Manhattan bars. We wandered around our area for a while only to discover it only contained fancy restaurants. After consulting Erica's blackberry, Google pointed us to an area that supposedly had lots of pubs. Google DID not tell us of the few fun facts we had to learn the hard way: these pubs charged a $20 cover JUST for the Final Four. The few pubs we finally did find stopped serving food at 9pm. How off-putting is that? Wheaton, IL stays up later than 9pm. We finally settled on a restaurant/bar that was in the basement of the Empire State Building. Ironically, it was a brewery that carried a lot of Midwestern beer. We had one night in New York, and our best option was a Midwestern bar. Go figure. But we quickly learned that this place, too, didn't like staying up late. After we finished our meal, the bartender informs us of last call... at 10:30pm. We had basically spent our entire evening waiting for the subway and wandering around looking for a place that didn't have a ridiculous cover AND that served food. And now it was closing before 11pm. I think we both felt a bit defeated, so we just opted to go back to the hotel room. I had been up since 6am, since my bus for NYC left at 7:30am. I think the frenzy of hundreds of options, walking around in the cold, and the number of beers at dinner caught up with us. The bed was very inviting, cause we both passed out by midnight. The city that never sleeps exhausted us to the point of being passed out, dead to the world, by midnight.
At least this morning we had more bit more time. We had a late check-out, Erica's flight wasn't until 5pm, and my bus was set to leave at 1:45pm. We decided to have a nice brunch and just window shop. Well, the shops around the area (Bergdorf Goodman, Tiffany's, etc) didn't open till noon. Even though we could never in a million years afford anything for those stores, we at least wanted to go inside. We decided to go after brunch, which turned out to be really nice. We found a place called Rue 57. Very chic and fancy, but surprisingly affordable. And the food was perfect, too. Our stomachs full, we decided to window shop. When we entered Bergdorf Goodman, we were overwhelmed by the ambiance and how everything screamed money. We instantly became surround by $4000 hand bags and $900 shoes. We both found this overwhelming, and left because I had to leave for my bus.
And who ever said the NYC subways system is the best in the world was clearly smoking something. I HATE the subway system. It's so hard to read and figure out which trains are local v. express. On top of that, you can't simply buy a one-time fare of $2. It seems you need to buy things in bulk. I needed to refill my card for just one more trip, and ended up having to buy more than I needed. The station manager was nowhere to be found, either. After traveling what seemed a mile underground to the station platform, there were a lot of people waiting. I figured the train would come any minute. In DC, there are these big signs that give you up to the minute information on the trains. It tells you when the next train is scheduled to arrive. In NYC, it's anyone's guess. Twenty-five minutes went by, and there was still no sign of a train. That's when I gave up and hailed a cab. Cause instead of having plenty of time to get to the bus stop (which was only 20 blocks away, and only 2 subway stops), I now only had 12 minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave. And since I had a backpack with me, this labeled me "TOURIST" to the taxi driver, who took me on the longest route possible.
The entire time seemed to be a frenzy. I had a great time catching up with Erica, but it was very disappointing that between two city girls, we had failed to find a good night-life spot. Not that we didn't try, but I guess you really need to know the area. Or at least know a native to take you around.
When I stepped off the bus when we got into downtown DC, things were much calmer compared to NYC. My walk to the Metro was full of confidence, cause I KNEW where the metro station was, and I KNEW my way around. It was like a breath of fresh air: I was in a city familiar to me.
In a couple of days, I'm going to visit another city familiar to me: Chicago. I'll be there for a whole week visiting family, and even have a job interview lined up. As much as I love DC, the idea of moving back to Chicago is really appealing right now.
Time for bed. I think I caught a cold from being outside in the cold all day Saturday. I'm going to sleep it all off.
I've only been to NYC on a couple of occasions, but it seems each time has involved some sort of frenzy. Some of the frenzy is enthralling, but most of the time it just adds stress, and confirms how happy I am NOT to live there.
This weekend, I traveled to NYC for 25 hours to visit my college roommate who was in town for business. We decided to meet up for a day and just kick around. Even though neither of us are that familiar with NYC, we figured that between two city girls, we'd be able to figure out a way to entertain ourselves. Oh, if only we knew how hard that apparently was. For the city that totes itself as being a place that never sleeps, we seemed to find a lot of evidence of the contrary.
The day started out fair enough, despite the crappy, cold weather. The wind was bad even for Chicago standards, so we decided to go to the Natural History Museum. After getting a tip from the hotel concierge as to which subway stops to use, we made our way over there. She suggested taking a line a couple of blocks down from the hotel, saying that it offers more service on the weekend. Well, getting to the subway station was quite an adventure. There are always massive amounts of people in Manhattan, but the crowds we had to pass through seemed massive eve for NY standards. The reason? A random Scottish parade. We turned a corner, and suddenly heard bagpipes. As much as I love bagpipes, they were blocked us from crossing the street. And who knew there could be SO MANY people participating in a Scottish parade on a single day? After twenty minutes of walking up and down the avenue, trying to find SOME opening so we could cross, we found our way across.
By the time we got to the subway, and made our way to the Natural History Museum, it was getting later in the day. We still had a couple of hours before the museum closed, so we proceeded to spend the next couple of hours. That place is filled with EVERYTHING. We had spent a good hour in just one section on one floor. On realizing that we had yet to see the other three floors, we decided to devise a plan of action. Cause let me tell you, when I mean they had everything, they really did. Nothing from the natural history world was left out. What was more impressive was that most of the stuff was out on display. At first, the museum annoyed me a bit. Being in the museum industry, I found the lack of cohesion very off-putting. What made me even more annoyed was that each label for the objects was super text heavy. Each description was at least a couple of paragraphs long. Most places give a sentence or two. EVERYTHING had a lengthy label. And for someone who likes to read each and every label, I went into sensory overload.
By the time they kicked us out for closing, we both were on information overload. We made our way back to the hotel to freshen up for dinner. Since it was the final four for basketball, we decided to find a pub to eat, have a few beers, and watch the game. Oh, if only we knew how hard it would be to find a pub in Manhattan. The city that never sleeps apparently does not apply to Manhattan bars. We wandered around our area for a while only to discover it only contained fancy restaurants. After consulting Erica's blackberry, Google pointed us to an area that supposedly had lots of pubs. Google DID not tell us of the few fun facts we had to learn the hard way: these pubs charged a $20 cover JUST for the Final Four. The few pubs we finally did find stopped serving food at 9pm. How off-putting is that? Wheaton, IL stays up later than 9pm. We finally settled on a restaurant/bar that was in the basement of the Empire State Building. Ironically, it was a brewery that carried a lot of Midwestern beer. We had one night in New York, and our best option was a Midwestern bar. Go figure. But we quickly learned that this place, too, didn't like staying up late. After we finished our meal, the bartender informs us of last call... at 10:30pm. We had basically spent our entire evening waiting for the subway and wandering around looking for a place that didn't have a ridiculous cover AND that served food. And now it was closing before 11pm. I think we both felt a bit defeated, so we just opted to go back to the hotel room. I had been up since 6am, since my bus for NYC left at 7:30am. I think the frenzy of hundreds of options, walking around in the cold, and the number of beers at dinner caught up with us. The bed was very inviting, cause we both passed out by midnight. The city that never sleeps exhausted us to the point of being passed out, dead to the world, by midnight.
At least this morning we had more bit more time. We had a late check-out, Erica's flight wasn't until 5pm, and my bus was set to leave at 1:45pm. We decided to have a nice brunch and just window shop. Well, the shops around the area (Bergdorf Goodman, Tiffany's, etc) didn't open till noon. Even though we could never in a million years afford anything for those stores, we at least wanted to go inside. We decided to go after brunch, which turned out to be really nice. We found a place called Rue 57. Very chic and fancy, but surprisingly affordable. And the food was perfect, too. Our stomachs full, we decided to window shop. When we entered Bergdorf Goodman, we were overwhelmed by the ambiance and how everything screamed money. We instantly became surround by $4000 hand bags and $900 shoes. We both found this overwhelming, and left because I had to leave for my bus.
And who ever said the NYC subways system is the best in the world was clearly smoking something. I HATE the subway system. It's so hard to read and figure out which trains are local v. express. On top of that, you can't simply buy a one-time fare of $2. It seems you need to buy things in bulk. I needed to refill my card for just one more trip, and ended up having to buy more than I needed. The station manager was nowhere to be found, either. After traveling what seemed a mile underground to the station platform, there were a lot of people waiting. I figured the train would come any minute. In DC, there are these big signs that give you up to the minute information on the trains. It tells you when the next train is scheduled to arrive. In NYC, it's anyone's guess. Twenty-five minutes went by, and there was still no sign of a train. That's when I gave up and hailed a cab. Cause instead of having plenty of time to get to the bus stop (which was only 20 blocks away, and only 2 subway stops), I now only had 12 minutes before the bus was scheduled to leave. And since I had a backpack with me, this labeled me "TOURIST" to the taxi driver, who took me on the longest route possible.
The entire time seemed to be a frenzy. I had a great time catching up with Erica, but it was very disappointing that between two city girls, we had failed to find a good night-life spot. Not that we didn't try, but I guess you really need to know the area. Or at least know a native to take you around.
When I stepped off the bus when we got into downtown DC, things were much calmer compared to NYC. My walk to the Metro was full of confidence, cause I KNEW where the metro station was, and I KNEW my way around. It was like a breath of fresh air: I was in a city familiar to me.
In a couple of days, I'm going to visit another city familiar to me: Chicago. I'll be there for a whole week visiting family, and even have a job interview lined up. As much as I love DC, the idea of moving back to Chicago is really appealing right now.
Time for bed. I think I caught a cold from being outside in the cold all day Saturday. I'm going to sleep it all off.